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March 03, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Advisors and agents have tried for years to develop successful prospect-generating strategies. Some strategies have worked and others have produced disappointing results. Today, everything that relates to marketing is changing. And that’s good news for those who want to grow their business!
Amidst all of the uncertainty in the industry, the marketing of financial services is having seemingly unusual results. Strategies that may have had limited success in the past are now generating significantly more interested prospects and producing more new clients. Really! But how and why is this happening?
The economy and the stock market are the number one story almost every day in the news. There is an elevated sense of urgency and a need for answers and advice and investors who may have thought they had their financial situation under control are realizing they need help.
Today, people are seeking a trustworthy, intelligent, calming voice that will provide an individual approach, analysis and solution to their financial situation. There has perhaps never before been a time when advisors and agents have been needed more. In the past, advisors and agents may have had to “sell” services to get someone to do business. Today people are looking for you!
Red Zone Marketing has been conducting an ongoing survey asking financial advisors who manage assets between $250 million and over $1 billion what they are saying to clients and what activities have been working to continue to grow their business. Also, in the past 2 months, as I’ve traveled across the United States presenting to groups in more than 30 cities, I have been asking ‘what’s working right now.’ Here are the findings.
Seminars
Public seminars/social events
Just when many people had written off seminars as an expensive strategy that hasn’t been as successful as a few years ago–they are working again. And dramatically! The large public seminars are generating more qualified attendees than ever before. By using a proven seminar marketing system, advisors are starting to see response rates that have doubled in the past 3 months.
Referral-based seminars
An idea that has worked in the past and continues to work with low risk and low cost is niche-based referral seminars. With a “5-5-5-20″ seminar, for example, you pick 5 or more clients that are in a niche (e.g., individuals who retired from the same company). You mail each client 5 invitations to an upcoming workshop on a seminar like “How to Retire from Local Company in Volatile Market Conditions.” Then you make phone calls to the 5 clients to personally ask them to pass those invitations to others who are preparing to retire from this company.
Right now this strategy is generating more than 20 people in attendance at each seminar for advisors. It costs very little (about $2.00 for the mailing). Attendees are interested in the timely and targeted information. And you don’t even need to serve dinner! Advisors are conducting these seminars at community centers, libraries and in their offices.
