How Many Pitch Slaps Does It Take?

New marketing tactics for financial advisors that clients actually respond to

How many times have you been pitch slapped? How many times have you pitch slapped someone else?

And more importantly, how many times have you made a purchase after being pitch slapped?

Old Pitches Die Hard

When I started as an advisor back in 2006 I was taught a ton about cold prospecting to bring in clients. I did what I was told, but it felt like a part of my soul was being taken away.

I was essentially taught to be a Pitch Slapping Pirate! Going after whatever bounty I could get, at almost any cost, arghhhh!

There has been an interesting transition in the last 10 years, a digital one where the pitch slapping moved from cold calls and door knocking to DMs, email, text, etc. The problem is that these old prospecting tactics, which kinda worked back in the day, just don't work at all in the digital world we are in.

Have you ever sent or received a connection request or DM like these?

"Hi Jane, your profile came up as a suggestion to connect. So I decided to send an invite as I was very impressed by what I saw in your profile and see if you would like to discuss your life insurance needs?"

"Hi Jonathan (Jon) Doe, I see you recently changed jobs, do you need help with rolling over your old retirement account?"

Or maybe something more subtle like....

"Hey Bob, looks like we have a lot of connections in common, would be great to connect with you!"

And if you are having a weak moment and accept the connection request, boom! Now you are flooded with long (and I mean really long) pitch-slapping DMs trying to sell you something.

Really, how often does this annoying strategy actually work? My response to these annoying sales tactics? I literally send them this picture, and nothing else.

There is a better way for advisors to connect with and attract people to become our clients. But first we must know what they want and how they want it. Read on....

What the consumer wants

Virtually all of us are just fine being a buyer. We are all in the market for something at some time. But we want to control the process, we want to do our research, figure things out as much as we can, etc. and when we are ready we will reach out to those that can help us with the purchase/service/product that we want.

This is actually a great thing since, as advisors, we can consider these searchers warm leads. But, we must attract them. We must educate them. We must let them get to know us. We must give them the opportunity to come to us when they are ready.

I love my wife's example of going into a store. Clearly you are there to buy something, maybe it's a TV, maybe clothes, a Halloween costume (pirate anyone?), or whatever. Most of us most of the time want to be able to walk into the store without being swarmed by one or many sales people trying to drive a sale right away. We want to walk in, find what we think we want, read the label, compare products, and then if needed find a sales person to help us with any questions we have AND THEN WE BUY.

People want help with their money, but they want it from advisors that aren't into dry shaving them with a pitch slap! Let people come into our "stores", let them look around, let them approach us when they are ready.

New marketing tactics for advisors to attract clients

Marketing is not prospecting. As an advisor, you must realize you are playing the long game with marketing & content creation. Chances are you will not get a client with your first social post, blog post, or email blast.

Content creation is a way to nurture relationships while leading with value. I have been playing this game for many years now and here is what I have learned to not only attract the right type of people, but convert them into paying customers.

• Know Your Niche: People want to work with people who get them, you understand them, who have unique skill sets to help them with their needs & problems.
• Create Content For Your Niche: Once you know who you are talking to then you can create content that will resonate with them.
• Types of Content: You don't need to become a marketing expert to create content. You can easily, and for free, create social media posts, email campaigns, blog posts, eBooks, webinars, etc.
• Top 5 Tips for Content Creation: I created the following top 5 tips for LinkedIn, but they can be applied to virtually all content you create.

• Be Consistent - Show Up! Like any meaningful conversation you have to be present, you have to listen, you have to engage (like, comment, etc.), and show people you care.
• No Pitch Slapping - Play the Long Game! Even a blind pirate finds a gold coin once in awhile, but that's not exactly thriving is it? Let people come to you through content & conversation. Give them the opportunity to see what you do, who you do it for, and position yourself as a source of education, not pitches. Content creation is the long game, it will take you time, but it also works.

In the last week my organic LinkedIn posts have been viewed ~125,000 times. I have received DMs and emails from people asking to meet with me. They will lead to new business.

Over the last year my posts have reached over 1 million people and led to a ton of business. In fact my blog was just listed in the top 100 for financial advisors.

These things didn't happen overnight, they took time, consistency, and dedication. But they all were accomplished by simply following the points/tips above. If I can do it, anyone can!

You may be thinking, "Ya that's great Derek, but I am 6 months in and need to eat and pay the rent, how does content marketing help me?" OK, I get it, I have been there too. In all reality chances are you will still have to do some cold calling, door knocking, going to networking events, calling your friends & family, asking for referrals, etc.

BUT, that doesn't mean you want to do that stuff forever, do you? Why not start creating content now? Think of it like your a hunter/gatherer who decides to start farming. You still need to feed your family today (hunting & gathering) but you are getting tired with it and want to provide for your family long term (farming). Plant your content farm now!

So, next time you are thinking about pitch slapping someone, think twice and go create some content.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to creating content?

Cheers,

Derek Notman