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Industry Spotlight > Women in Wealth

Seminars: Why they work and how to use them

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Many advisors offer workshops and seminars for their prospects and clients. We all know that seminars are tools to educate and inform people about a subject. But have you considered seminars specifically for women? Women want to understand how to handle their money and how to become a “woman of wealth.”

The average woman will live alone for 19 years — due to becoming a widow, divorce, or not being married — and knowing that she will have to handle all of her own financial matters for a long time is definitely an incentive for a woman’s specific agenda.

There are a variety of seminars that are focused on women and financial planning offered in the industry. Most of the major financial firms have invested in such seminars to be used by their advisors to market to females. Product-driven seminars, however, will not be as successful as educational seminars about concepts and ideas. Women are astute about being “sold” a product but will listen if presented with an idea and a process that will answer their questions and solve their financial problems and meet their needs.

Focusing on specific female market segments can also help you, the advisor, to be successful. Examples of segments could include:

  • Working with divorced women concerned about their lower income and less stable financial situation after their divorce.
  • Working with high-net-worth women who are single from widowhood or divorce and establishing their estate plan.
  • Businesswomen who want to have business succession programs and retirement plans put into place.

Preparing seminars to meet these specific topics and showing solutions to these issues can also be a truly rewarding experience.

The place or venue may be just as important as the topic. Consider using several formats and venues depending upon the audience. Conduct “lunch and learns” at corporation conference rooms or invite a small group of your current female clients to your office for lunch. Local colleges, universities, community clubs and churches are all places to offer topics that interest them.

Possible topics for these informal educational seminars could include entering, leaving and re-entering the work place and how it affects retirement planning. Financial planning concepts and investing ideas include ways to send your child to college or how to leave a legacy with charitable giving concepts.

Always ask for feedback and suggestions for future seminars. Ask all attendees to indicate what future seminar topics would they like to hear from you. And if you’re not an expert on the subject matter, help them find the right person for the information they need.

Finally, women who attend seminars and learn something that they can use could produce a new client for you. If you can establish creditability and trust through your seminar presentation, they in turn will speak with other women about what you are doing for them and you will be given referrals — usually without asking. Women like to share with other women what they know and what they are doing. Money is important to them and they want to grow their net-worth and maintain their wealth so they will feel and be financially secure.

*For further information or to contact this author, please use the forum below.


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