Whites Of Their Eyes

Want one of the cheapest yet most effective ways to brand yourself and increase your business?  Use the thing you do every day… countless times. Use your email signature.

What does your email signature look like?  How are you using it to promote your business effectively?

See if you are doing these 4 things to make your email signature work for you:

1. Do you use a professional headshot picture next to your name?  Headshots instantly get people’s attention and are proven to create more trust with your reader.  (Remember the key here is PROFESSIONAL headshot.  Use a pro to create the image that illustrates the emotion you want to invoke…. friendly, professional, creative, serious, or whacky.  Whatever fits your overall brand).
2. This seems like a no-brainer, but make sure ALL your contact information is there… phone, email, links to your website, social media, and physical address.
3. Make sure your email signature looks professional and consistent. It should not look like you cut and pasted info below your name.  Remember, there are plenty of professionals that can help you with this for a relatively low cost. Think of Fiverr.com and other freelance resources.
4. Consider adding a tagline, motto, or unusual sign off.  Here are the three I used (please create your own that leverage you and your strengths).
   • Tagline: Doing the things other advisors forget to do
   • Motto: You deserve all the benefits you are owed but are not receiving
   • Sign off: Happy Trails

Are you doing all these things?  If not, you are missing a free way to market your business and leverage your brand.  Please take a Friday and lock all these things down, and remember, once you have done the work… these things will work for you going forward!

I lied to show you that it works… Top 10 Lists… and for that matter, any list grabs people’s attention.  They can’t help it!

Come up with a steady flow of top 10 lists:

• Top 10 tax savings ideas for retirees
• 10 best online tools investors can use to make better investments
• 10 things that can financially ruin your retirement… and how to avoid them

And it doesn’t need to be ten:

• 5 ways to instantly increase your retirement income
• 3 ways to boost your Social Security retirement income
• 5 ways to both increase your vacation’s fun… and decrease its cost!

You are tapping into people’s curiosity.  Did you know that over 1/3 of Buzzfeed’s posts have a number in the title?  People love short, easy-to-digest information.  Lists give them that.

What do you do with your list?

• Email them to your clients and prospects
• Create a video about them
• Add them on your website
• Send out a press release
• Make them a part of your monthly newsletter

And the great thing about these lists is that they can be recycled.  Use them once a year or when something occurs in the news that would make your list apropos.  

You are walking down the street when you come upon two homeless people.  Both hold signs, but the message is different on each:

1. “Can you spare a few dollars? God bless you.”
2. “I can’t afford to feed my 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter… I feel like a terrible dad. Can you please, help me be a better dad until I can find work?”

Would you treat or think about these people differently?  Which would you be more likely to give money to?

Most people would give a lot more money to the second person.  Why?  First, they are being specific as to why they need the money and what it will be used for.  Specificity equals believability.

Second, it is using the power of standing for something bigger than yourself.  It makes people care.  And when people care, they act. 

Here are some ways you can use this concept in your business… all while making the world a better place:

• Take a stand on an important issue… tax reform, affordable housing, and senior hunger. Be passionate and logical in your argument.  Use that argument in letters to the editor, on blogs, in press releases, at your place of worship… become the rallying point for the issue.
• Instead of offering the same thing, the same way as all your competitors… sell a philosophy. Create a book of heroic stories where you’ve changed people’s lives by solving problems or creating opportunities.  People get emotional over stories.  And we all know people’s decisions are based much more on their emotions than their logic.

Successful marketing comes down to igniting passion and emotion in your prospects.  Quit being like your competitors, who simply get lost in the noise with their logic and product pushing.

Your hot prospect ghosts you.  The deal you thought was closed gets stalled.  That terrific referral just will not respond to you.  We’ve all been there.

So, how do you get these people moving and taking action again?  Watch this video where I walk you through 30 effective emails you can send to get those people… and your business moving forward again!

Our moms taught us to give before we get.  Ends up, that’s great advice for your business as well.  So, the question is how much should we give before expecting reciprocation?  Obviously, that varies from person to person. 

Many advisors assume it is a 1:1 ratio.  If they give a prospect something and the prospect does not buy it, well, then they move on.  I recommend the 8:1 ratio.  Give people 8 value touches on average before you should expect engagement from a prospect.  The great thing is that these valuable touches don’t have to cost you much if done right.

Value touches could be voice mails, digital or snail mail newsletters, postcards, videos, online or in-person workshops… any of these will work, as long as you give them helpful, actionable information.

So, if you want to create a reliable stream of incoming appointments… reset your give-to-get expectations:

• If you want an appointment… touch them 8 times with valuable information… BEFORE you even hint at them coming in for an appointment.
• If you want a testimonial… give them 8 value-added touches before you suggest they give you a testimonial.
• Looking for a referral?  I’d bump it up to 16 value-added touches before you suggest they refer somebody to you.

Does this sound like a lot of work?  Yes, but if you have automated systems in place, your workload can be cut by 80%.  AND… you already spent the money to get that person where they are right now, whether they are a client or prospect, why not spend a tiny bit more money and some elbow grease to make the relationship pay off for you and them.  Your only other option is to flush the money and effort you’ve already invested down the drain.

Give… Give… Give (at least 8 times) before asking for anything back.  Do this and you will reap heaps of benefit.

Summer is almost upon us.  Are you ready to capitalize on it and bring in more business… while having a great time?

Every summer I hosted a client/prospect BBQ, and I always made way more money back than the cost of the event.  For many years, I would have over 90% of my clients show up!  It’s such a great way to bond with your clients and give them a reason to introduce you to their friends… because of course, you encourage them to bring their friends!

To make it easy for you, I’m giving you our step-by-step guide on how to create a fantastic experience effectively and economically for your clients.

You can get it here, courtesy of 5Q Group.

Like it or not… more and more people are deciding to handle their own money.  However, they are still OK with seeking what they see as free advice whenever they can.  They will come to your seminar… respond to your advertising… accept your advice… for free.  They just won’t move their money.  Or will they?

For over 23 years I have been using the same formula and template to get DIYers to move ½ of their assets to me.  I walk you through exactly how to do the same in this video… start at 27:29 to jump to this technique.

Would you rather have 100% of nothing… or 50% of something good?  I hope you said, 50% of something good.  If that is the case, then you just might be sitting on a ton of new business.

I had a colleague who had a wonderful assistant.  He offered you 30% of the compensation he received on any new business she referred.  She promptly referred an uncle of hers, and the business ended up producing over $15,000 in commissions and fees.  Was the advisor happy? Nope, he stiffed the assistant and only gave her $1,000.  He told her that he did all the work and was taking all the responsibility for the client, so he, in good conscience, couldn’t give her the $5,000 (30% of the $15,000) he owed her.

Well, I knew this woman and knew she was a fantastic assistant, so want to guess what I did?  I poached her away from the colleague.  Now, fortunately, she had known me for some time and knew that I was honest and a straight shooter.  So, when I offered her… not 30% of any business she referred, but 50%… she trusted that I would not welch on the promise as the advisor she just left did.

Results?  Over the next year, she referred me three new clients.  The gross profit from those 3 clients was $62,000.  I HAPPILY paid her $31,000 and pocketed the other $31,000.  She continued to refer people to me under the same arrangement over the next two years before she retired. 

Have you made this offer to your staff?  If you haven’t, you are missing the boat.  If costs you nothing… it is pre-sold because your staff member has talked you up… and it makes your staff that much more loyal to you.

Artificial intelligence and more specifically ChatGPT has been all the rage in the news lately.  It’s writing children’s books… taking law school entrance exams… and just about any other task people are throwing at it.

What it is doing is scouring the internet for information based on your questions.  It then organizes that information into a logical, effective answer. So, why not use it to create a script that is based on your most important offering to your clients.

Interested in how to do this?  Read this How-to article from Entrepreneur Magazine

You want more clients and referrals?  Then you better look different than all of your competitors.  So, with that said… what do you offer or what value do you provide to your clients that your competitors are not offering?

My advisor clients use 21 such tools to grow their businesses.  I thought I’d give you one, easy tool this month that you can use to start your journey into creating a thriving practice by making yourself standout from all of the competitors in your area.

Watch this coaching video that will:

• Give you the tool
• Walk you through why it is so important to your clients
• Give you the script on how to present it to your prospects, to leverage it most effectively