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How To Reach 'Low Profile' Millionaires

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How To Reach ‘Low Profile’ Millionaires

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Dallas

Want to tap into the millionaire market?

Forget about scouting neighborhoods with big fancy houses, dealerships with luxury automobiles and exclusive jewelry boutiques with high-end designs. Instead, try checking out the affinity groups to which millionaires belong and then “be there,” suggested William Danko, PhD, author of The Millionaire Next Door and other titles, and associate professor of marketing in the School of Business at State University of New York in Albany.

In a speech here at the annual meeting of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, Danko dispelled the conventional view of all millionaires being big spenders with a penchant for a flashy lifestyle or socially prominent individuals.

Only about 20% of true millionaires in the United States fall into the “beautiful people” category, he said. Beautiful people are those who went to college, live in the “right” neighborhoods and have white-collar professional jobs, he said.

About 80% of true millionaires are classified as blue-collar professionals, he said.

Many such millionaires are not big consumers of fancy houses, cars and jewelry, he continued. They keep a low profile. The way to reach them is to go where they aretheir affinity groups.

“Low profile” millionaires that Danko said are the “true millionaires” include podiatrists and chiropractors.

Their occupations may be “less prestigious than that of other physicians,” Danko said, but they have entrepreneurial zeal and will to win and thats what matters.

Other examples he cited include mobile home park owners and auctioneers.

That such millionaires exist in a low profile way has “huge implications” for the sales profession, Danko said.

“Use the law of large numbers,” he suggested. Get yourself identified in a target rich environment of such people.

He suggested going to the library and looking up (in Gales Directory) the affinity groups to which such individuals are likely to belong. The directory lists over 22,000 affinity groups and gives some information about membership, he said.

Pick a group that fits the target marketsay, mobile home ownersand then perhaps write an article for one of the industry trade publications. “Write about what you know is specific to their needs,” he suggested. Even 500 words is enough.

Publishing such articles helps builds credibility in that market. “Its a target rich audience,” he said.

Then, get reprints of the article and take them to the groups next meeting. “Think of this as marketing by psychological limits, not geographic limits,” Danko said.

“Instead of dialing for dollars and cold calling, this puts you in a proactive position. Its the fish chasing the boat.”

Danko also made a strong case for frugality, as opposed to continuous spending and being a “wage slave.”

Often, he said, people who have an ostentatious lifestyle are “false decoys”–they look like millionaires but arent even close.

“If we are to sell our products, we need to ferret them out,” he said. Focus on the frugal millionaires who do have money but spend it wisely, he said.


Reproduced from National Underwriter Life & Health/Financial Services Edition, December 10, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.


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