Seminars help draw in female prospects

Frances “Frannie” Gardner, CFP, has just about cornered the women’s market in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. She has done it without directly selling anything but her professional skill and her empathy for the special financial concerns and perspectives of women.

The tool of her trade is the educational seminar, and in her case, the term “educational” isn’t marketing hype. Her two-session, six-hour “Taking Control” seminars take place at local community colleges and earn the attendees continuing education credits, for which they pay $59. She never mentions products and does not hand out business cards. The content is strictly generic and focused on women’s financial needs, from the basics of budgeting to taxes, risk management, investing, estate and retirement planning, and decision-making in divorce and widowhood.

Attendees turn in a financial data sheet at the second session, and from that, Frannie develops a personal, comprehensive financial plan that culminates the course. The plan’s recommendations usually lead to sales of insurance products and transfers of assets to manage — but those are choices the clients make: Frannie lets the plans do the selling.

“I tell the ladies that if they bought one of these plans off the street, so to speak, it would cost $1,500,” Frannie says. “Nine out of 10 women who attend sign up for an appointment to see me after they get their profile.”

Editor’s Note: The preceding tip was taken from “Helping Women Take Control,” a Producer Profile by Gordon Bess, FLMI, that ran in the March 2006 issue of Life Insurance Selling. To read the full article, click here.