Financial Advisors need expertise in two completely different skills

“The product or service being provided and the marketing of the product or service.”

“Similarly, it wasn’t enough just to be able to put together a good financial plan for a client and have the knowledge and expertise to help them implement the plan. What did that matter if I didn’t have anyone to see?  I needed a simple, comfortable and effective marketing approach. That is what working with Matt was all about.”

“He made the comparisons to our family farm. (My husband and I have a successful farming business) and the fact that there were two separate aspects of that business as well.”

“There was the actual farming of the crops and, of course, there was the marketing of the grain and other business decisions that were vital to our success.”

“Farming and Marketing… two separate skills and both had to be learned.”

“I can tell you that there were plenty of excellent farmers that could raise an unbelievable crop, but they weren’t marketers, and they certainly were not good businessmen.  Consequently, they are no longer in business.”

L.A. Iowa

Financial Advisors need expertise in two completely different disciplines

Matthewbellis1@icloud.com

 

Stop The INSANITY

You may be what we call a Pareto Rule Advisor. Pareto Rule Advisors derive + / – 80% of their revenue from a small percentage, +/- 20%, of their clients.

Most Pareto Rule Advisors want more growth as long as it’s quality growth. Yet they continue trying to grow their business by doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

It’s kind of insane.

Client-centric businesses require a robust “quality prospect pipeline” in order to achieve significant growth on an ongoing basis. However, if you look around, the numbers show very few have this “quality prospect pipeline” in place.

Why, and here’s the insane part, it’s because the traditional lead generation, marketing, and referral strategies – which have been practiced for decades by most of these businesses – produce a small number (+/- 20%) of new quality clients. There is growth but the growth is sluggish. (The Pareto Rule).

Most leaders either don’t know how to break away from this model or they may be afraid.

The insanity can stop.

It’s true that Leaders have reasons to be skeptical. Many have been burned by expensive “growth guru” programs that promised the moon and the stars and delivered very little. It’s understandable that new ideas and change can feel risky.

However, if leaders are willing to park their skepticism and research different approaches, they will find there is a simple and far more productive way to grow the business and it can be tested.

But growth requires a little risk – being open to new ideas, no matter how “different” they may seem.

 

Matthewbellis1@cloud.com

A MODERN STORY SIMPLIFIES QUALITY CLIENT ACQUISITION

A Modern Story simplifies quality client acquisition and grows a book filled with quality clients. 

We’ve talked with countless Financial Advisors and, for the most part, their traditional stories are basically the same.

These traditional stories focus on how their firm is different, where they went to school, the degrees they’ve earned, their expertise, their charitable work, their family, etc.

If your best clients aren’t regularly warmly referring or personally introducing you to their quality relationships, it’s probably because your traditional story isn’t being talked about.

Traditional stories are not remarkable, so consistent quality client acquisition is difficult, as is growing a large book of quality clients.

A Modern Story “IS” remarkable because it is subtly framed to address the predominant worldview of the market… the well-documented distrust of Advisors and the Financial Industry.  (This worldview is a huge obstacle to accessing the network of your best clients’ quality relationships.)

The reason the framing must be subtle is because any form of hype or selling will generally shut the door of opportunity.

When you convey this worldview the right way (subtlety), not only will your best clients respond to you,  they will also talk about you and personally introduce or refer you to their network of quality relationships…  consistently.

So, to rapidly and consistently increase your quality client acquisition and your book of quality clients, test a Modern Story. It’s easy.

Matthewbellis1@icloud.com

It’s Easy To Create Productive Centers of Influence

Transforming your best clients into productive centers of influence and quality introducers has always been the obvious path to quickly, efficiently, and sustainably grow your business… but it has never been a reality… until now.

And it’s easy. So easy that you will receive your first high quality personal introduction from 90% of your current and future quality clients, the clients you want to replicate, within 2-4 weeks.

This greatly reduces or eliminates the time and money you spend on marketing.

A simple “5-minute call,” comfortable for you and your best clients, will give you permission to discuss warm, personally endorsed introductions to their high-quality friends and colleagues… on a follow up call with them several days later.

These high quality, personal introductions are not just referrals.  

At their core, they are an endorsement where your client explicitly recommends the trust they have in you and your value, authenticity, and character. 

This will eliminate or significantly reduce the cost and time you spend prospecting for quality clients.

You have good, trusting relationships with your best clients. These relationships will quickly set the stage for rapid, reliable, and significant growth on an ongoing basis. 


Matthewbellis1@cloud.com

 

 

If You Want More Quality Appointments, Develop A Remarkable Marketing Story

If you are an Advisor you undoubtedly have a group of best clients. Clients who are friendly, appreciative and cooperative. And they generate great revenue.

Wouldn’t business be easier, more profitable and more fun if these clients regularly and personally introduced you to their qualified friends and colleagues?

Advisors come to us wondering why these best clients will sometimes give a referral name but are not making quality personal introductions. When we ask how many first appointments they’ve had with quality friends of their best clients over the last year or two, the answer generally is “very few”.

The very first thing we look at is their story. Because for starters, if their story isn’t “remarkable”, it really isn’t worth talking about.

A remarkable story is about who you are, not what you do. It’s not about your facts and figures. That’s just the same old talk and it doesn’t stick.

We’ve spoken with countless Financial Advisors whose stories are basically all the same; how their firm is different, where they went to school, the degrees they’ve earned, how great their numbers are, their charitable work, their families. There is nothing about their story that clients feel in their gut.

When you have the right Remarkable Marketing Story, your clients will respond to you far differently. We have found that as soon as an Advisor moves away from their old (read: tedious) marketing story to an effective client centric story – one that has meaning to the listener – everything begins to shift. Their qualified activity goes way up, their confidence goes up, and their revenue upticks.

Developing an effective Remarkable Marketing Story is a deliberate process that shows you understand your market and how to address their predominant worldview… a well documented general distrust of the entire industry, including advisors. (See Darth Vader Post) That’s why puffery works against you.

If your story is not authentic (and you don’t live it every day), your clients and prospects will not be fooled. But when it’s done well, it’s what will make your clients dedicated advocates who want to tell everyone about you. Because they see you as remarkable.

So, ask yourself this question. Do you have a lot of quality warm prospect meetings and first appointments warmly introduced to you by your best clients? If not, take a good, hard look at your story.

Client Centric Business Consulting
Great Marketing Stories