Get your business on course

After the round, while everyone is enjoying hors d’oeuvres and wine or beer, Anderson tells everyone that this is a client appreciation event and that she would be happy to talk to anyone who would like to have his finances looked at. That’s all the pressure she applies. And to end the day on a high note, Anderson gives out prizes. She offers free golf lessons – with a pro, not her, as she calls herself a terrible golfer – gift cards for dinner, hot air balloon rides and more.

Herscher also conducts medium-sized events for his clients and prospects. He and his fellow advisors hold financial seminars at various country clubs in his area of Florida, and when they do these they put up flyers or buy ads in newsletters highlighting a free golf clinic they are going to offer at the club. Herscher pays for a group lesson so everyone can be taught by the club pro, and the club will usually offer a discount on the green fees if Herscher takes the group golfing after the lesson. It’s a good way to meet 10 to 20 new prospects and begin building relationships with them.

Q. When do I talk business?

A. In an industry where long-term relationships create the best client base, a four- or five-hour introduction is hard to beat – especially when that introduction takes place in a laid-back atmosphere where business talk is kept to an absolute minimum.

Advisors who have spent a lot of time on the course with clients and prospects almost all say the same thing: Let prospects be the ones to bring up talk of financial affairs. There is no faster way to go from magnanimous to petty than to ask, “So, who wants to talk about annuities?” – especially if someone is in the middle of his backswing. But don’t worry, talk of finances almost always comes up.

“They are the first ones to bring up money,” Herscher says.

Q. Where do I set my event?

A. Try to find courses that present an ample challenge, and look for courses that are well-known in a particular area but may be difficult for people to gain access to – private clubs, expensive public courses, etc. Herscher and Anderson both like to rotate their events. Doing so gives Herscher the chance to meet new people all of the time, and if Anderson has any repeat clients from year to year, they can play on a different track.

Q. Who do I contact to set something up?

A. At many courses, the head professional will be the best point of contact, especially for advisors who want to offer a free group lesson. The pro can come up with something for the advisor that will suit his needs in most cases.

Some courses are more prepared. Tustin Ranch Golf Course (www.tustinranchgolf.com) in Tustin, Calif., has a corporate clinic coordinator, Karen Tucker, who organizes large and small events for clients ranging from independent financial advisors to corporations as large as IBM. Tucker and the staff have created two offerings for their corporate clinic clients, each of which can be customized.

The small-group clinic consists of everything an advisor might want for his event: professional instruction, video swing analysis, high-speed launch monitor, golf clubs for those without, and the latest equipment available to test. And people like Tucker are available to coordinate it all, if the advisor puts in the time to research courses in his area.

Q. What if I want to offer lunch or breakfast?

A. Usually, the head pro or the clinic coordinator won’t be able to handle the food portion of the event, but they certainly will know who can. Again, a little bit of research can yield dividends in this area, as most of the nicer courses – the courses where ideal prospects play – have Web sites with important information posted.

Q. How do I know I’m getting the right prospects?

A. Well, advisors who are worried about possibly wasting time with mismatched prospects may not know their client base well enough. People tend to know other people much like them, so if an advisor’s clients are the kind of people he wants to work with, the chances are good that those clients will bring similarly situated friends to the golf events.

“The nice thing,” Herscher says, “is that their net worth is usually not a question. If your clients are worth between $500,000 and $3 million, their buddies probably are, too.”

Even when events are open to anyone at a particular country club, advisors have a pretty good idea of the people they will meet if they know the demographics of the club. As Herscher says: “If you target the right clubs, you’ll get the right prospects.”

Mark Twain famously said that golf is a good walk spoiled, and many who have put on the spikes and hacked away can relate to his sentiment, even if most players today ride a cart. But with the right combination of setting, atmosphere, people and planning, golf can be a fulfilling way for senior advisors to reward current clients and prospect for new ones.

Looked at in a new light, golf doesn’t have to be something advisors don’t have time for. Every second spent on the course with the right prospects is a second invested in a future relationship – a hole-in-one on a scorecard full of double and triple bogies.

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