How to Bring on Clients Using Focus Groups

For years, financial professionals had no problem finding new people to see. It has become increasingly difficult to get a steady, reliable stream of new clients to walk in your door. So, what do you do to get:

More people to see on a regular and predictable basis…without spending yourself into the poorhouse.

Two for the Price of One!
Why not try finding out what people really want and then giving it to them?

Do you really know what your target market wants? If you know the following three things about your target market…you are sitting on a gold mine:

  1. What keeps them up at night? What are they staring at the ceiling worrying about at 3 in the morning?
  2. What frustrates them? What drives them stark, raving mad?
  3. What is the deepest desire? What do they spend every available minute dreaming about?

If you know these three things you are on the road to riches… and the BEST part?  You can make a ton of money at the same time as you discover these 3 things using Focus Groups. 

Here’s my 27-page Focus Group Marketing Guide —complete with invitations, scripts and discussion guides.  All courtesy of 5Q Group.

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How to Get an Accountant to Refer to You

We just wrapped up the tax season… which means accountants are near the end of their money-making season.  Now, of course, they need to take a break after their busy tax season.  But, after that they will have more time to meet, network and build their businesses.

I put together a CPA referral system, with scripts… and MORE IMPORTANTLY… scripts that work because they address how they can make money by working with you… in a way they (and you) never thought about before.  It comes down to… you need to speak their language and this step-by-step system shows you how to do it. 

It’s yours to download at no-cost, courtesy of 5Q Group.

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How Much Does It Cost to Turn a Prospect Into a Client?

Well, according to industry research… it’s about $395.  If you want a more accurate picture of your situation… do your own math.  Add up what you spend on marketing and divide it by the number of new clients you’ve brought on using that marketing.

If you did a seminar that cost $5,000 and you brought on 4 clients… then your cost is $5,000 ÷ 4 = $1250. 

Once you know how much it costs to bring on a new client, then you need to figure out if there is a better or more cost-efficient way to bring on new clients.

On an extreme basis, if you were confident in your sales ability, if you paid someone $1,000 to come see your presentation (yes, I know it’s not allowed, but follow me here) it would be more cost-efficient than spending $1,250 per new client using seminars.

Seminars are neither good or bad… feeding at seminars is neither good or bad… direct mail or Facebook marketing is neither good or bad…

It’s what it costs you per new client, that is good or bad, and even that is relative.

So, once you know how much it costs per new client, think outside the box.  Are there better or more effective ways to spend that money?  For example:

  • What if you put together a list of your best client’s neighbors (that’s easy to do with technology)… and mailed them a (funny, helpful, provocative) post card every week for a year? (I actually have a system that does something like this AND IT WORKS!)  What would that cost?  Let’s say it’s 10 neighbors, at 50 cents a card, multiplied by 52 weeks… that’s a total of $260.
    • How many of them would know your name by the end of the year? All of them.
    • How many of them would recognize you, if you gave them a call or dropped by their house? All of them.
    • What if you reached out to them right after the market crashes… or some other event that would cause concern… would they talk to you… the advisor that has communicated with them 51 times more than their current advisor who only calls them once a year? I know they would.
    • How likely is it that they might bring it up in a neighborhood get-together?  If so, might your good client hear about it and let them know you are a good advisor.  Odds are pretty good.
    • How many might respond to other types of marketing you are doing once they know your name? Odds are really good.
    • There are so many other ways you can leverage this marketing, if you get a little creative.

What are your chances of landing a client?  At least as high as spending money marketing to a bunch of strangers who don’t know any of your clients.

This process does work.  My advisors have done it.  Should you?  I don’t know, how much are you currently spending to bring on a new client.  That number is your answer.

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Get an Immediate Boost in Your Seminar Marketing

Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s I’d tell my advisors to send invites and newsletters via email… because people were getting inundated with junk mail in their postal mail boxes and they didn’t get much in their email box.

Now that is reversed.  People’s email boxes are slammed and their postal boxes are empty.  And it ends up people love getting mail in their postal boxes.  An overwhelming amount of surveys in the last couple of years say people look forward to going to their postal mail boxes, to get their daily mail.

How does that affect you?  Well, in the last 6 months advisors have flocked to advertising via Facebook and digitally because it’s cheaper and novel.  And it has worked so well, it has attracted even more advisors now… in fact, a flood of advisors! 

So, guess what’s happened to the amount of advertising and seminar invites in prospects’ postal mail boxes?  It has fallen off tremendously… so guess what has happened to the effectiveness of postage (mailed) seminar invites… it has spiked upwards again.  Marketing can seem like you are on a never-ending merry-go-round… what works today… doesn’t tomorrow.  What doesn’t work today… starts working again 3-months from now.  Well right now… the postage delivered advertising is working, because so many advisors abandoned it.  You want to be where everyone else ISN’T if you want to be effective.  So, if you haven’t tried direct mail lately… you might want to give it a shot again.

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How to Find and Meet the Best-Connected Person in the Room

The best way to grow your business through referrals, quickly, is to work with highly connected people.  The problem is, those people aren’t always easy to spot.  It’s not necessarily the most “powerful” person in the room.  The best-connected person is the person who knows everybody! 

If you create a friendship, and hopefully a business relationship with these people… they are the people that will go out of their way to promote you.  It’s their personality.

So, whenever you are in a room with people for social or networking purposes… it pays to get to know the person in the room, that knows the most people.  Here’s a simple and easy way to do it.

  • Find any person in the room to begin a conversation with, let’s say it’s Bob… during the conversation ask him if he knows anybody else in the room.
  • Next, go to the person Bob identified and strike up a conversation with that person.  Simply say, “I just finished speaking with Bob and he suggested I introduce myself…”
  • During that conversation, ask them if they know anybody in the room, besides Bob.
  • Repeat this process until the same name(s) come up once or twice. 
  • These names have an over 90% chance of being the best-connected people in the room due to a phenomenon called the “Friendship Paradox”.

Do your best to connect with these people conversationally and find out a bit about them.  Make sure you send a “Nice to Meet You”, handwritten card to them, the next day.  Then, a few days later, give them a call and ask them to breakfast or lunch.  And finally, connect with them on LinkedIn… but only after the handwritten note and lunch invitation. 

Otherwise, if you go straight to LinkedIn, they will feel as if you only view them as a business opportunity… instead of someone you think highly of and would like to know better. 

People that you like… like you.  People that like you, will be much more likely to introduce you to others.  It’s those introductions that will make your business grow.

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Are You in Danger?

Matt Oechsli, president of Oechsli Institute conducted a study to find the top 6 reasons affluent investors leave their advisor. 

This information can be used two different ways.  1) Make sure you do not suffer any of these 6 sins, to ensure you do not lose valuable client. 

2) These things are your competition’s Achille’s Heel… and remember, your best prospect is your competitor’s best client.  How could you use these things in your marketing to attract affluent investor’s, rethinking their advisors?

Top 6 Reasons

  1. Their advisor make’s more than one mistake.
  2. They perceive their advisor is more interested in marketing and finding new clients… than he/she is in taking care of them, the client.
  3. Poor communication.  This means a number of things. 
    • Advisor is not proactive in reaching out to clients… but instead waits for client to call them.
    • All communication is about money.  There are no relational contacts like birthday calls or wishes for the holidays.
    • Advisor does not understand what the client wants for communications… number of contacts per year… phone or in-person… educational content or not… etc.
  4. Not fully (and in a simple way)… covering ALL the fees they are being charged.
  5. Afraid the firm is not on solid ground or does not have a succession plan if something should happen to the advisor.
  6. Investment performance does not meet previously agreed upon expectations.  This means… Do NOT overpromise what you can deliver!

A great advisor should have at least one client focus group a year to gather client’s feedback as to whether they are hitting those 6 benchmarks. Top 6 Reasons

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Pictures Paint a Thousand Words

Concepts can be hard to explain.  Points of view can be hard to explain.  Getting people to change can be hard to do.  If you are looking for a laser that will cut through “hard to do”, look to simple pictures that make sense to everyone… and can be difficult to argue with…

Enter Behaviorgap.com.  Carl Richards is a genius when it comes down to explaining complicated concepts in simple drawings.   Here’s an example:

Carl’s book The Behavior Gap is a great read to get your creative juices flowing!

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Here’s How You Get Your Client’s CPA’s to Refer More People to You

Referrals are great… but referrals from CPA’s are golden!  Wouldn’t we all like more of those?  As with any referral, you should start with a person that both parties share.  In this case it would be… your client… that you and their CPA share!

And NOW is the right time to leverage that shared relationship!  As we go into tax season, I would recommend you find out the contact information for all of your different clients’ tax prepares.  Then, you send them a letter that looks like this…

Hello [Mr./Ms. CPA or Attorney Last Name],

Your clients [Mr. and Ms. Client] recently became a client of mine as well. They spoke very highly of you and the work you’ve done for them. 

Please let me know if there is any way that I can assist you in your work with [Mr. and Ms. Client]. I believe their transition to me went smoothly and I want to make sure that anything we do, dovetails with the work you’ve already done for them.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to give me a call at [your number] or email me at [your email].  I’ve also enclosed a card.  With your permission, I will drop you a note occasionally with matters of interest, just to keep the lines of communication open. 

Best regards,

[Advisor Name and contact info]

First, you compliment them and let them know you share a client… and then you offer to make their lives easier (instead of trolling for new business).   Now, chances are, some of your clients share the same tax preparer… so you might send 3 or 4 of these letters to the same CPA.  What does that say to the CPA?  Holy cow!  This advisor must be good!  Since many of my clients are using them!

Then, after tax season follow up with a call to the CPA and reference the letter to open the lines of communication.  Then, begin to drip with your newsletter to them.  CPA’s only refer to people they know and trust.  By following the procedure I just laid out, they will begin to know and trust you… and the referrals will follow.

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Eggselent Idea!

Do you have a great idea you’d like to share with a big prospect… but they won’t give you the time of day?  Here’s how to fix that.

  • Big hitters are interested in good ideas… that’s how they became big hitters. 
  • On the other hand, they also are very protective of their time. 

So, you need to leverage both those thoughts.  First you need to create a 2-minute Unique Selling Proposition that clearly states the benefits of your great idea.  You need to be able to communicate it in no longer than 2 minutes.

Then, mail your prospect an egg timer set to 2-minutes with a hand-written note saying you’d like to share an idea that would take just 2-minutes of their time.  Call them on the day the mail is likely to be delivered and ask them to start the egg timer for you to deliver your great idea. 

If it truly is a great idea… they WILL give you WAY more than 2-minutes… and likely a face-to-face meeting.

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Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Want a truly effective… and inexpensive way to market?  Look no further than your local paper.  Subscribe to all your local papers, big and small.  Then, start reading them with the purpose of identifying people with whom you’d like to work.  Here are some examples…

  • People that have just had a new baby
  • People that have just been promoted
  • People that have just won an award
  • People that have opened a new business
  • People that have done something remarkable

Now, cut out that article and laminate it.  Mail it to them with a handwritten note congratulating them on their achievement.  DO NOT bring up business in this note!  Simply sign it and enclose a business card.

Then, about two weeks later (before they forget you) follow up with another note giving them additional information on what you do and how that could benefit them.  Add them to your drip list and wait for the relationship to grow!  This is only successful about 10% of the time… but you do the math.  The return on investment is still incredible!

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