How to prospect for new small business clients

Question: How do you prospect for new small business clients? Have you found there to be any “hot-button” issues that you can raise with a prospect that will help motivate them to get serious about listening to you?

Sarah J. Kaelberer, CFP, ChFC: I prospect by being where business owners are — attending Rotary meetings, chamber of commerce meetings, executive roundtables, etc. I network with other advisors and keep them informed on pressing issues, which has them turning to me for guidance on certain issues. On occasion, I will target specific businesses and find inroads through others who may know the owner. If I continue to do what I say I will do, do it when I say I will and be courteous, I will stay referable, which is the primary source of my new business.

Sarah J. Kaelberer, CFP, ChFC, is vice president of Business and Estate Advisors Inc. in Wayzata, Minn.

Editor’s Note: The preceding tip was taken from “Small-business succession planning can mean big business,” a Producer Roundtable by Charles K. Hirsch, CLU, that ran in the January 2011 issue of Life Insurance Selling. To read the full article, click here.

To read last week’s Tip of the Week, click here.