Advisor marketing: Become an ACE

Today I want to share with you a quick idea from the book “Creating Trust,” co-authored by Matt Zagula and Dan Kennedy. It deals with the concept of the ACE (authority, celebrity and exclusivity) principle and how to create it with prospects. You can check out my video version here.

Dan Kennedy says, “Consumers buy the who, not the what.” To master this concept, all of your marketing, everything you’re doing, needs to be centered around the idea of creating or manufacturing ACE, which leads to trust.

Here’s a quick example that costs you nothing and gets you started down the path of manufacturing exclusivity in your practice. Greg, one of the advisors I consult, has transformed himself into an advisor who has submitted $4.8 million year-to-date. Greg made two simple changes in his meeting process:

1. No meetings last longer than one hour. Not finished? You need to book a follow-up appointment with his assistant to get you in as soon as Greg’s schedule allows.
2. His assistant knocks on the door with a “10-minute warning,” letting both Greg and the prospect know his next appointment will be arriving shortly, and they need to wrap up. This happens regardless of whether another appointment is booked.

Greg’s clients and prospects maximize their use of his time, and he has now positioned himself as exclusive. It’s amazing the transformation you will see with clients opening up in the last 10 minutes of the appointment when they know that it is their last 10 minutes.