We’ve all seen, and probably used, a quote like, “Compounding is this century’s greatest invention!”
Well, are you compounding your marketing? Once you’ve spent your hard earned money on marketing to get people in the door… what do you do with those people? (Especially those people that raise their hands to show interest, but do not become clients.)
If you’re smart, you continually follow-up with them, thus compounding the marketing dollar you’ve already spent on them. It’s a simple fact that the more you follow up… the more likely they are to buy (see below).
I’m not sure if most advisors get this fact. Based on these numbers, they must not.
-58% of all advisors quit completely after just one sales contact
-20% give up after just 2 contacts
-7% make it up to 3 contacts
-15% make 5 contacts or more
Here’s the telltale statistic. The 15% that make 5 contacts or more with prospects… produce 75% of all business. Did you get that? 15% produce 75% of all business.
So what is the best way to follow up? Here’s what I would recommend:
1. Have a system – In order to make follow-up as painless as possible, have a system that happens automatically… without you having to even think about it.
2. Communicate with several different media—Mix it up. Use newsletters, email, the phone (phone broadcasting has worked wonders for me! And virtually no other advisor uses it.), handwritten notes, postcards… keep reaching out.
3. Be a valued resource—Give them information they can use, right now, for free. It shouldn’t be just about money… there is tons of info that people want that would make you a needed resource in a very short time.
4. Let them know you’re famous—If you have been quoted or have a letter to the editor printed, let them know about it.
I, and the advisors I coach, use ALL of the above techniques. We send out a monthly newsletter, a monthly referral email (an email that has great info that our clients love to forward to their friends and neighbors, broadcast phone messages (that our clients love!), regular handwritten notes and postcards… and it’s always with information that the clients can use right away… but never about the money.
As an aside, I always get the question, “Why don’t you send out information about money?”It’s simple. They don’t care how much you know… until they know how much you care.
If all I talk about is money, they assume that the only thing I care about is getting my hands on their money. Providing great, helpful information identifies me as a guy who actually cares, not just another advisor after their money!
Does this approach work? All I can say is that over 15 advisors that I coached make over $1 million a year, and all of them use ALL of these techniques. Are these techniques solely responsible for their success? Absolutely not. Are they partially responsible for their success? They will all tell you… Absolutely.
