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Here are two key lessons I’ve learned from coaching advisors.
Justifying your value is counterproductive
Much has been written about the need to justify your value. Once you buy into this premise, there’s no end to the advice about how to do so.
It’s a terrible idea.
I tell my clients to never raise this issue. If a prospect or client asks about it, advisors should explain the services they provide and leave it up to the investor to decide if they have value for them.
You could state something like this: “Here are the services I provide. Only you can determine if they add value for you.”
I recently asked my wife this question: “Have you ever paid for services or for a product where you didn’t understand the value you were receiving?”
She responded: “Why would I do that?”
If you have to explain your value, it means the client doesn’t see it or that possibly you aren’t adding value. Why would you want to keep them as a client under those circumstances?
It diminishes your professionalism to try to persuade a prospect or client of your value. Digital marketing isn’t for everyone
“Digital marketing” is any strategy premised on social media. It typically includes paid advertising or aggressively trying to identify prospects on social media. I’m not including search engine optimization (SEO) in what follows. SEO should be part of your digital marketing strategy.
I get pitches for digital marketing services every week. A recent one involved “scraping” LinkedIn names to generate likely prospects. The vendor promised up to 30 new prospects a month.
When I reviewed the vendor agreement, it was clear that implementing this strategy violated LinkedIn’s terms of use, which would subject my account to suspension.
More common strategies involve using LinkedIn and Facebook to identify prospects and then posting advertisements intended to grab their attention, often by offering a “lead magnet” that can be downloaded on your website.
A new advisor client told me he had been paying $1,600 per month for over two years, in fees and advertising costs, to implement a strategy that promised a “sales funnel.” He had received no qualified leads.
I told him to save $19,200 a year and to stop paying these fees. Instead, at a fraction of the cost, our graphic design team redesigned his newsletter, and he focused on creating helpful original content geared to his demographic.
I did some research before writing this article. I posted on social media and published an inquiry on a website that seeks sources to quote in articles. I usually receive good responses from both venues.
I asked for any financial advisors who had a positive ROI from using a digital marketing strategy to contact me.
No one did.
Marketing Services For Evidence-Based Advisors...and a New Book!
We offer consulting services on how to convert more prospects into clients through Solin Consulting, a division of Solin Strategic, LLC.
We offer a full range of digital marketing services exclusively to evidence-based advisors through Evidence Based Advisor Marketing, LLC. You can see examples of our work here.
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How to Relate to Anyone
Is now available in all formats. For more information, click here.
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I contacted one advisor I knew with a specific niche. He told me digital marketing was effective for his firm. It generated six to nine leads per month.
If you are appealing to a general demographic (like executives, business owners or pre-retirees), be skeptical about digital marketing.
When digital marketing vendors contact our agency, they tell a great story about how using Facebook and LinkedIn ads can create “a steady flow of leads.” I always make the same offer: Give me the names of five advisory firms that have used your services and generated a positive ROI.
No one has fulfilled this request.
Dan trains employees in The Solin Process℠. He makes this guarantee: If his training doesn’t result in an immediate, transformational change in your personal and business relationships, and an increase in your conversion rate, his services are free.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
