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I’ve learned a lot running my digital marketing companies over the past five years. Although I have options not available to advisory firms, you may find these six lessons helpful.
1. What’s the goal?
It may seem obvious, but I found it helpful to clearly define why I engage in what I’m doing. For me, it’s mostly about helping people. I enjoy the interaction with my clients. I take pride in consulting with advisors who are benefitting the lives of their clients.
I also like generating revenue.
Defining my priorities gives me perspective. I don’t need to squeeze every bit of revenue out of each engagement. I have the freedom to provide services without charge (or at a discount) to start-ups who can’t afford us.
It’s also why we limit the clients we serve to evidence-based advisors.
2. Refining the niche
When we started, we were happy to work for any evidence-based advisor who engaged us. We already had a niche. Why refine it?
I found we were busy, but not very profitable. We struggled to keep up with the volume of work.
Advisors looking for a new or refreshed website have different requirements. While most want their website to be “different,” only a small percentage have the budget to pay for custom designs and content written by a team of knowledgeable experts.
I changed our focus. For the past several years, we only serve the higher end of the market. We refer other inquiries to DIY websites or to bundled providers who use templates and themes.
We can’t compete with them on price. They are a better fit for many firms.
I feel good about referring to them.
3. Lower volume. Higher profits
Reducing our volume and refining our niche had some unexpected benefits.
Our profits increased.
We were more efficient and more focused.
The quality of our work improved. We spent more time on each project and raised the bar for making our work the best it could be.
Our team was happier. They had more time to do their best work. There was a calmness to our workday that compared positively to our prior frenzied activity.
4. Less follow-up
We’ve all had the experience of prospects who inquire about our services and then ghost us. I tried different methods of following up, ranging from cliché (“Just checking in...”) to drip marketing.
None of them felt right. Drip marketing seemed manipulative.
We now follow up “lightly” or not at all.
I’ve found that, when firms are ready, they’ll contact us. They don’t need us to nag them. If they don’t get back, we probably weren’t a good fit.
5. No value justification
Compared to bundled providers, our fees are higher. But our offering is very different.
More AUM. Better Relationships.
Guaranteed
My micro-learning course will increase your AUM and deepen your relationships.
If not, I’ll give you a 100% refund of the $29.95 cost.
Volume discounts are available.
It’s rare that I’m asked to justify our fees. When this inquiry is made, I make little effort to do so. Instead, I invite prospects to review our work and compare it to lower cost alternatives.
They are the best ones to determine if we are worth the extra cost.
6. Exercising caution
Life is short. We are a boutique firm. Working with us is an intense experience that can last three to six months. If the chemistry is wrong, we will both be unhappy.
If I get an uncomfortable feeling, I decline the business. I suspect prospects do the same.
These tips have not just increased our profits, they have improved our quality of life. We aren’t working as hard, which gives me and my team more time to live a balanced life.
Dan trains executives and employees in the lessons based on the research on his latest book, Ask: How to Relate to Anyone. His online course, Ask: Increase Your Sales. Deepen Your Relationships, is currently available.
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