Back in January, deep into the throws of winter, I wrote about the duality of marketing and prospecting, emphasizing the benefits to advisors who embrace both activities in their pursuit of client acquisition. In response to that article, I’ve had a number of advisors ask me for more specifics on how to optimize this duality, and more specifically, what proven combination of the two works best for gaining new clients.
Interestingly, my response to both sides of that question always leads me back to one of my favorite marketing and prospecting methodologies: presenting financial seminars and/or workshops. Seminars worked very well for me in building my own book of business (and brought in my first million-dollar client over 30 years ago) and continue to help financial advisors grow their businesses today. In fact, marketing, prospecting and presenting seminars and workshops are among the top methodologies of client acquisition that our coaching clients look to us for help with.
On the marketing side, presenting financial seminars allows you to advertise your subject expertise, en masse, to the market that you are looking to attract – specifically, your ideal client profile (professionals, business owners, retirees, young families, etc.). In order to attract these potential attendees, your advertising needs to highlight the specific issues that you will be addressing (the financial pain-points they suffer) while hinting at the solutions you employ to alleviate their pain. In doing so, you are looking to promote your role in educating and empowering those who attend, which begins to lay the trust-building groundwork that you will be able to expand upon during your presentation.
Of course, your ability to generate leads and attendees will be enhanced greatly by the quality and quantity of the media you employee in your marketing:
- Word of mouth (clients, centers of influence, networking group)
- Social media (facebook, Meta for Business, Instagram, LinkedIn)
- Business website
- Video marketing
- Print (flyers, local newspapers)
- Radio (expensive in most markets)
- Television (very expensive in most markets)
- Or employ a marketing firm that will do most of the above, while you prepare to deliver an engaging presentation
The prospecting side of the duality comes into play the moment you start your seminar. By following the process below, you will stoke within your attendees the desire and the ability to book an initial meeting with you to further discuss their personal financial situation.
The Targeted Seminar Process:
- Know your target market (your ideal client profile)
- Show up as the expert (your media reflects your subject expertise)
- Work your prospecting plan (self-promotion or use a marketing firm to fill the seats)
- Deliver an engaging seminar (more questions and stories; less data and case studies)
- Book the appointments (during the seminar and with a follow-up process)
- Monitor and review the results (feedback from attendees and a colleague is essential)
So, a concerted marketing effort to attract seminar attendees fulfills the first half of our client acquisition duality, while the direct offer during the seminar to meet with the attendees post-presentation completes the prospecting element within the duality.
Marketing: check. Prospecting: check. Few other strategies within an advisor’s client acquisition methodologies so beautifully combine the two. For many advisors, financial seminars have been their ticket to a continuous stream of qualified prospective clients. The beauty is, it’s all very learnable and repeatable. As the ad says, just do it.
About the author:
Daniel Collison is co-founder and managing partner with Advice2Advisors, which trains, mentors and coaches financial advisors of all tenures.
To learn more, contact us at: www.advice2advisors.com or 1-833-226-2242.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.