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June 01, 2012 at 12:00 AM
10. Social media.
Don’t pitch your wares! People want to do business with people they like and trust. Start a conversation, establish rapport, and you’ll build a relationship. LinkedIn tip: Connect with friends, colleagues and people you’ve done business with. Also, set up the app Job Change Notifier. The app sends you an email whenever your connections change their employer. Great for those working with 401(k) rollovers or simply a nice way to congratulate them and keep your network engaged.
9. Head of the class.
My best marketing tactic still remains teaching an adult financial educational course at a local university. It is an excellent way to build credibility, trust, honesty, and potential clients. My largest high-net-worth clients have always come from referrals from the students who enroll in my classes.
8. Social Security planning.
As opposed to calling a list of pre-65 prospects to sell Medicare Supplements, which everyone is doing, call a list of pre-62 prospects to offer services on Social Security planning. Help them determine when they should start receiving benefits. This will allow you to build the relationship with the client. Also, you can start with a pre-59 1/2 list. Then schedule appointments to see if it makes sense to take withdraws from their retirement plan and invest elsewhere. The key is to think differently and do what others are NOT doing.
—Roger Fishel
7. Private client dinners.
I will contact a group of four to six clients and let them know that I want to keep them up-to-date with what’s going on in the economy and would like to invite them, along with their family and friends, to a complimentary dinner seminar. Most clients bring two to five guests each and I’ve been able to acquire new clients as a result — all with no marketing costs.
—Anthony A. Saccaro
6. Mitigate the risk.
When selling LTCI, first help your prospect fund the premium: What accounts can be used to provide 3 percent to 6 percent of their retirement income to pay the premium without invading their monthly budget? Second, show them the pool of money 25 or 30 years from now compared to the accumulated premium; if they don’t see the value in leveraging their savings, they probably won’t buy. Explaining that 25 years of investment won’t even cover one year of care in the future should convince them to mitigate the risk by transferring the catastrophic portion to a third party.
—Mike Westling
