March 17, 2009
Merging client and prospect communications
Going forward, successful advisors will not have separate streams of communication for prospects and clients, but will instead integrate their communications with clients and prospects.
Rather than telling prospects that you’d like to send them an information package on your services, advisors will say: “I’d like to put you on the distribution list for the material I send my clients, so that you can get the sense of the kind of communications my clients receive.”
Rather than spending money on brochures and audio and video business cards, advisors will build client friendly websites, packed with useful information and resources for clients – and then invite prospects to browse their site, giving them a sense of what life as a client would be like.
And rather than invitations to special workshops or lunches for prospective clients (and risk having these prospects attend with their defenses up, waiting for the sales pitch), advisors will say: “I run a regular series of sandwich lunches in my boardroom for interested clients, talking about what’s happening in markets. If you’re interested in sitting in, I’d be happy to have you join us.”
It would be wrong to suggest that this approach is entirely new.
In the late 90s, I talked to an investment advisor focused on high end investors with $5 million plus about how he built his client base. What had worked best for him were monthly lunches at a private club for existing and prospective clients. Some clients attended two or three times a year, many others never attended. In his view, the key was that all clients had the opportunity to attend.
These lunches were very informal – typically he spent no more than 20 minutes highlighting recent market developments and his outlook for the period ahead. Then he opened the floor to questions and discussion. He limited attendance to twelve people – if there was more demand, he held another lunch.
He tried many ways to bring new clients on board before hitting on this approach – but found this had far and away the most success. When talking to prospective clients, his goal was to get them to attend one of these lunches and, over time, his clients became comfortable inviting friends to attend with them.
His approach was critical to getting clients to bring along friends. The week before the lunch, he’d call up clients who had accepted his invitation and say: “I’m delighted you’ll be able to join me next Thursday. While this lunch is for existing clients, I do have one spot available – in the past you’ve mentioned your partner Pat, I wonder whether she might be interested in coming along with you?”
All of this assumes, of course, that advisors have client communications to share with prospects– whether it is investing in a client friendly website, sending articles on a regular basis from credible sources, offering conference calls or hosting client luncheon roundtables and presentations
Advisors who invest the time and effort to ramp up client communications and extend them to prospects will discover it is an effective and efficient method of building your client base… and it will allow you to get past the downward spiral in response rates to mass prospecting.
* Dan Richards conducts programs to help advisors gain and retain clients and is an award winning faculty member in the MBA program at the University of Toronto. To see more of his written and video commentaries and to reach him, go to www.strategicimperatives.ca.
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