War Stories From The Trenches That Financial Advisors Can Learn From

Here are two businesses whose lessons apply very well to financial services. These are from real businesses here in New Zealand that happened in the past twelve months.

A builder: This business had been static for some time, his advertising efforts being in all the normal media such as radio, press and directories. Wanting to grow the business, the builder analyzed the last 20 jobs and was stunned to find that ALL were from referrals! Until he had looked closely at them he just assumed that the advertising must have been generating the work.

So, he made up a list of potential and existing Centres of Influence, being architects, structural engineers, developers, the local authority staff, real estate agents and previous clients. He then arranged breakfast meetings with them in small groups. He called them (surprise, surprise) "Friday Breakfasts," so EVERY WEEK he invites two or three of them to meet informally with him and his staff over croissants and coffee.

Business has gone up 100% in just twelve months. His profit has risen as not only is he saving on advertising but he does not have to compete with as many when tendering. The staff love them as well and as an unexpected bonus, motivation and productivity have increased.

The lesson: What are the real drivers of your business - referrals, advertising, sponsorship or something else? If it's referrals, do you have a proactive plan for cultivating more of these? The builder in this case study has obviously found a low-cost and apparently very effective plan.

A consulting engineer: This engineer's clients are local government and large developers. Advertising to date was primarily in relevant industry journals. He undertook a small amount of informal research, which revealed that his clients did not know the range of services he offered. So, he created a simple monthly newsletter that went to his clients explaining the full range of services.

Issue #2 generated a phone call that lead directly to a $40,000 contract, while issue #7 generated a $120,000 contract! Both contracts were from existing clients who had not realized until then that he offered that particular service.

The lesson: Do your clients know what you do? There is a good chance they only know you for the single product you may have sold them in the past. What are you doing about this?

Nothing beats personal contact, be it by mail, email, phone or in person. The trick is the frequency. It must be very high and relevant to the recipient. I think this builder and engineer have shown some lessons here that are directly applicable to other professional service providers such as financial advisors.

Paul Watkins has helped financial advisors grow their businesses for nearly two decades. The secret to growth is not a single silver bullet but appreciating that the best techniques are simple, small, inexpensive activities that can mostly be put on auto-pilot. Paul has more details on his web site http://www.financialadvisormarketingtips.com

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Key Words That Can Excite A Financial Advisor's Prospect

I was at a BBQ and over a drink got into a conversation with two people about insurance and investment. The conversation raised the issue of where you go for financial advice, which developed into a rather interesting discussion. I encouraged the debate and treated it as a research opportunity.

Of note was learning about the importance of key words in motivating consumer behaviour - which I will explain. By way of background, the two I talked to have the profile of almost perfect clients. They both enjoy well-above average incomes and high levels of net personal wealth. They were aged 54 and 49 (I asked). The older one is a successful accountant while the other owns his own business and also sits on public and private boards.

Sorry to say, but both had somewhat cynical views about advisors in general, recounting stories of 'idiots' they had met. These were some of their comments. "I don't trust how they make their money. I have heard that they can make 150% on the premiums of some insurance products." "I hate the way they have to sell you something to make money. That must influence their advice." "I've got four life policies. Two of them are more than 25 years old. I should cash them in."

Clearly they were somewhat ignorant as to the way advisors work. Which means that neither of them have proper financial advisors in their lives. The real value from the conversation however was their reaction to some specific words. When I talked about how many advisers work, it was key words that made the biggest impact. Notable among these were:

"Audit." I suggested that a good adviser would be able to undertake an 'audit' of their financial lives, including their investment and insurance portfolios. This instantly got their attention. The word 'audit' has a powerful meaning to business people.

"Plan." They both felt that advisers had tried to sell them individual products, not any sort of financial plan that put everything into perspective.

"Fees for advice." They were both impressed with the idea of paying a fee for a financial plan, regardless of whether the recommendations were taken up. This seemed to overcome the issue of a plan that might favour an adviser's remuneration. Interestingly the accountant said "So, what would you pay? A couple of grand?"

"5-step process." This really hit home. I explained that a financial plan looks at the 5 key aspects of your financial life and how it was almost impossible to separate them. They asked what the 5 steps were but I told them to ask their advisor. As you can guess the accountant in particular loved the word "process." He had never thought of it as a process before, just a sort of 'sell-as-much-as-you-can' approach.

Watch the reactions of client when you talk to them. Are there some words that seem to have a considerably greater impact on them? There will be, it's just a matter of recognizing them.

Paul Watkins has helped financial advisors grow their businesses for nearly two decades. The secret to growth is not a single silver bullet but appreciating that the best techniques are simple, small, inexpensive activities that can mostly be put on auto-pilot. Paul has more details on his web site http://www.financialadvisormarketingtips.com

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