Study the methods of your competitors and do the exact opposite.

There’s Money Lying on the Floor that You Haven’t Picked Up

Study the methods of your competitors and do the exact opposite.

David Ogilvy

If you don't change what you are doing today, all of your tomorrows will look like yesterday.

Jim Rohn

The following was a short conversation between one of our former clients and a current one.?

What do these guys do?

Well, they found money lying around my business that I didn't know was there.

Existing practices, even fairly well-established ones, need to start somewhere. Many clients assume I am going to find this magic, low-hanging fruit and create some big marketing deal from nothing. Certainly, that happens.??However, in all most all cases for?the “low hanging fruit” the place to start is with your current resources.???Look internally first.

Most advisors have money lying on the floor, so to speak.?It’s just that they don’t know how to see it, or just haven’t looked.??This money often comes in the form of lists, in the CRM, on Excel files, or names on pieces of paper.????The most obvious starting point is your unconverted leads.???Prospects who registered for an event and no showed.??Perhaps they met with you once but didn’t move forward.???Or they just responded to an offer and were never converted to an appointment.???Nearly every advisor that I’ve talked with do a horrible job with follow-up on their unconverted prospects.???Some will follow-up for a couple of weeks or couple of months but I always essentially follow-up “forever.”???By the way, all of the research shows that if they went with someone else for their needs,?in a year or two they are likely to be unhappy and willing to move on it someone asks in the right way. (Remember that stat with your own new clients!)

Many advisors have quite a bit of?potential income hiding in former client lists—people who used to be a client and who might be interested in working with you again? Or perhaps former clients from whom you could generate referrals, rather than parting ways completely.??If invited to educational events live in person, or online they may attend and may bring family and friends.

You may well have many clients who aren’t letting you handle all of their money. That really should be stipulated when you create your relationship, but that’s another topic.??Others have had their situation changed since you last asked.???Perhaps an inheritance.???A promotion.??Real estate sold.??Maybe they sold their business or, a portion of it.??If you aren’t regularly communicating, you can miss a huge number of opportunities.???Often, they have needs that you should solve, and they just don’t realize it.

The advertising legend David Ogilvy said it this way: “You aren’t advertising to a standing army; you are advertising to a moving parade.”??Their needs change.??Their perspectives change.??Their life situation changes.

For myself and my team, when accepting a new advisor as a client,?the first thing I do is make sure they get significant results quickly.??That’s why I usually start with places where it’s easy to scoop up a bunch of additional revenue with minimal investment.

Most advisors are too obsessed with constantly changing new leads to get new clients, rather that maximize what they have first.??However, the important thing to realize is that everything you need is often already there in your past leads, prospects, and clients.?

Just because some potential clients did not answer the phone or did not call back does not mean they are not interested in working with you. There could be a million reasons why they didn’t pick up the phone or didn’t respond to your email.

Maybe they were busy. Perhaps you caught them at a bad time. There is a chance they did not need your services then but do now. Or said a different way, they’ll be ready in 3 months or even in 24 months. There are endless reasons and scenarios as to why these contacts could become future clients, even if you were not successful with them in the past. These contacts are gold mines, but you have to get back to them in the right way, which is always our first plan of attack.

One prime example comes in the form of a client of ours, a very intelligent client at that. He was learning about direct response marketing and set up a series of 29 emails to send to his prospects. They would get one email a day for 29 days. Each one was designed to look and feel personal and conversational. On the surface, this sounded great, but then I asked him what happened after 29 days???Well, if they had not responded yet, he would then remove them from his list assuming they were not interested.??That response gave me huge stress.

This is a common mistake when it comes to follow-up and nurturing. He was essentially basing his entire system on them either being “interested” or “not interested” in 30 days. Either they needed his services or not. Just because a potential client does not need you or realize they need you in September does not mean they won’t really need you in December. In the past, I have sent potential clients emails and updates for over basically forever.??I asked a group of clients how long they paid attention to me before becoming a client.?The answers included 3 years, 5 years, 7 years even 9 years.???Within that group if I had given up in a month the vast majority would never have become clients.

You never know when you are going to catch someone at just the right moment. It is important to keep in mind: just because someone hasn’t reached out or responded with interest does not mean they are not interested or won’t be at some point. It may simply mean that you have not reached them effectively or they just do not need you quite?yet.?

When I asked this client what else he was doing beyond the MailChimp style email marketing, he looked puzzled. Email is one thing (we’ll talk A LOT about email a lot in a different chapter) but what else are you doing? Are these potential new clients getting sequential autoresponder text messages? Are they getting a package in the mail? The term ‘snail mail’ may have bad connotations but it is actually a very effective form of marketing if done correctly (see Chapters on direct mail).??As I’ll discuss again, most people prefer to receive something physical and regardless they likely only get 3 or 4 pieces of mail daily versus the over 200 emails.

I played prospect for a local firm recently.??Haven’t met them but, I very impressed.??They sent a big “shock & awe package,” they subscribed me to their monthly physically mailed newsletter, they invite me (via mail and, email) to events a couple of times per month, and more.

Unfortunately, this client in question mentioned above did not have any kind of direct mail set up, such as sending potential clients his book, special reports, a postcard, a newsletter, or anything else.???When I asked him what a client was worth to him, he revealed that on average, over the length of time they used his services, a client would spend around $50,000. More immediately, he claimed they were worth around $5,000 to $7,000 in the short run. I questioned why he wasn’t willing to pay for a first-class stamp for a letter or at least send a postcard to someone who was potentially going to be worth $50,000 or even more to him.?

For my own businesses we automate sending retargeting ads, texts, emails, voicemails, a “shock and awe” package, even popcorn and chocolates along with a series of “hand-written” notes.??We automatically send a “V-Card” or contact record to their phone so that they’ll know it’s us when we call.???And,?once on the list they’re on it forever.

You can send a postcard for next to nothing. You can mail a book for a few bucks. You can call them. You can text them. You can leave automated “ringless” voicemail messages. While, as I explained before, email marketing can be effective, it should not be your only form of marketing. Each person gets around 200 emails per day, so the chances of them not seeing or even ignoring yours are quite high. So,?if you have a lead, why not follow up sequentially forever with every mechanism that makes financial sense????By the way, the same principle applies to lost clients.

You can email, text, voicemail, call, send direct mail, and retarget on Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook. That way, not only will you definitely be seen by them, but you also stand out from that crowd. After all, an email can get lost in a junk folder. Most everyone ignores phone calls from unknown numbers. As mentioned above, that means you need to email & text them your contact record to add to their phone. If you get in touch via all these avenues, you guarantee eyes on your message.?

I mentioned retargeting. If you don’t know what this is, you have definitely experienced it first-hand. If you are shopping around for a product, say a video camera on a few different websites, you may later find that advertisements for similar video cameras pop up everywhere you look. This is just one example, but it can be applied to a number of different areas.?Most retargeting happens because they visited your website.??However, there are many other ways to pull it off.??For instance, if there is a new prospect who raised their hand at a live event and you retrieved their name, email address and phone number you can retarget on Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook. You can email them, you can text them, you can have a real-live person call them, but also you can get Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook to show targeted ads to them.??

The very purpose of events and marketing campaigns should be to get their full contact information so you can contact them immediately and target them (nurture them) forever. It’s great to convert them to clients immediately.??However, you can pick up A LOT of business by never giving up.

There are even more modern ways of quickly sharing your information at marketing events these days. Various pieces of technology, such as wristbands and virtual business cards, allow you to send someone your contact record and details in seconds. That way if you do call someone further down the line, your number will not show up as unknown because their phone already has your contact record. People are far more likely to pick up if they see your name or your business name.?

Coming back to the starting strategies to implement in your business, ask yourself the following:

·??????What are my current opportunities?

·??????What makes me special?

·??????What is unique about me?

·??????Did I have a career before this???What opportunities does that open up?

·??????What are my current resources??

·??????What do I do??

·??????What's my background??

·??????What affiliations do I have??

·??????What organizations am I involved with??

·??????What are my hobbies?

For example, I talked to someone recently who used to be the mayor of his town. Not only is this a very interesting backstory, but it also meant he had past relationships and contacts with all kinds of mayors, politicians, local businesspeople and more. Another client is a Porsche enthusiast and had an existing relationship with a Porsche dealer with whom he probably has spent $2.3 million or more with over the years.?Your unique history can lead to a number of client opportunities. Do you have an affinity with a particular group? Do you have a list of them? Are you in their association? Do you go to meetings? Do you get a magazine? Are you on their newsletter list? What is it?

If I look further into the idea of having a Porsche dealership contact, there is quite literally money lying on the floor waiting for you to pick it up. Anyone who deals with that dealer is possibly going to affluent and have money to spend. So why not market to their client base? You could have a live meeting in the dealership. You could have an in-person meeting at the dealership where they can see all the cars. Newsletters, PCA (Porsche Club of America) events, track events, magazines, are among the ways to reach these clients easily and regularly. This is a walking database of potential new client names, clients who already have something in common with you and therefore are likely to hit it off with you.???You could be a columnist for their local, regional, and national magazines.

Think about your hobbies.?Who do you have affinity with????Would they possibly be good prospects????How do you develop that existing affinity and create a systematic way to generate new clients who share your affinity?

Let’s look at another example. I had a client who was really into Star Wars. He went to all the conventions; he has a room in his house full of memorabilia with shelves full of amazing stuff. Of course, there are millions of other people out there who love Star Wars. So why not use that to market and reach new clients? I suggested that he use photos of himself dressing up as Han Solo at Comic-Con, among others, in his marketing and go all out.???Find places to target others who have affinity to that hobby.

Every year my son tortures me through San Diego Comicon for three or four days.??It’s interesting but, not really my thing.??However, if it were there are lots of likely prospects who show up at that show.??Even more so there are comic book fans, Marvel, or DC, and more?who would really click with someone who’s into the same thing that they are.??I convinced Dan Kennedy to show up for one of my live client events a few years ago because he was on a book tour, and I knew he was into comic books.??I found a big hard-bound compilation and sent it via Federal Express with a cover letter.??“Thought I’d sent you this big-ass book, to get your attention about how I can help you create your next “big ass book.”???Did something similar to get Chuck Norris to show up a number of years ago as well.

If you try and look like every other advisor with the oak desk and the JC Penny suit, you are going to become everyone else, meaning you do not stand out. Before you know it, you are marketing by zip code and that is all. That is never going to be a growth strategy. You are not going to get many referrals or much repeat business that way.?

No one is going to go out for lunch with their friends and tell this amazing story about their new financial advisor who is… well, boring. On the other hand, they may well go out to lunch and tell a great story about their new financial advisor who is a huge Star Wars fan and has all these cool memorabilia in his house. This is how you get people talking and how you convince people you are worth referring. You want to build authority in what you are offering, but also be interesting when you are doing it. Maybe you were on TV. Perhaps you wrote a book or did an interview on the radio. You don’t have to be super extroverted, but you need to build authority in a unique and interesting way.

The key to success is to find a way to stand out—to be the purple cow in a field of monochrome Holsteins.

Seth Godin

This is why it is so important to ask yourself these questions and figure out who you are, what makes you interesting, what makes you stand out. Build a personality based on who you are. Ask yourself:?

·??????What are my current opportunities?

·??????What makes me special?

·??????What is unique about me?

·??????Did I have a career before this?

·??????What are my current resources??

·??????What do I do??

·??????What's my background??

·??????What affiliations do I have??

·??????What organizations am I involved with??

·??????What are my hobbies?

Some people believe that authority comes from those special letters you can acquire after your name like PhD and MBA. I did a quick “Google Search” and among Financial Advisors, Wealth Managers, and Life Agents, there are almost 300 different designations, they include CFP, CSA, MRFP, RICP, and a BUNCH more. I know a lot about the industry and frankly don’t have a clue what MOST of that means. Imagine trying to impress a prospective client with the “alphabet soup” of designations and certifications.???Competency is a starting point, but a bunch of alphabet soup shared by thousands of others.??In the U.S. alone there are 92,055 CFP’s (2021.)??Great credential but doesn’t make you very memorable, does it?

Of course, these types of qualifications prove that you have received an education and have certain knowledge on a subject, but it doesn’t do anything when it comes to attracting new clients. It also does nothing for retaining clients.

Back when I worked in franchising, our company had one of the most expensive franchise lawyers in North America. However, even to this day, what I remember most about them is not their credentials but the fact they were really interested in mountain biking and hiking. Every single lawyer is going to know the same legal terms, but their personality made them stand out from the crowd. There was a certain uniqueness to who they were as a person and that made them a joy to work with. This even extended to their offices. It wasn’t the typical boring and stuffy building you might associate with the field of law. It was laid back and it was fun. Often, they often had a birthday cake for one of the associates or some other celebration going on when I visited their office. It wasn’t your stereotypical white shoe, oak panel bore-fest. It was a building full of people who had personality and loved what they do.?

A close friend is a very highly paid attorney.??He also he also plays in a mariachi band, makes CDs, and travels around playing shows. He has all these high-end clients who not only enjoy the service that he provides, but they also have an affinity with him. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are into mariachi as well, but they associate that cool hobby with him.?It’s something unique and fun about his personality that makes him stand out from the crowd. Of course, no amount of personality and uniqueness can make up for providing a poor service. Quality of service has to be number one. But there are hundreds, even thousands of people out there providing the same service, so you need to make yourself known and make yourself different.?

We speak to so many people who are doing a really good job at getting online publicity, but they are struggling to turn that into new clients. Compare this situation to my late martial arts instructor. He had appeared on TV countless times. He had been in countless magazine.??He spoke at the UN, coached Tony Robbins, Muhammad Ali, and hundreds of other interesting personalities. He had this amazing portfolio of publicity, and he knew how to make the most of it. If you met with him, he has made his own magazine full of all the articles he has appeared in. He also had a reel of all the TV interviews he had ever had. Anyone who came within five feet of the man was shown that publicity. They received an autographed copy of the magazine. They got a copy of the DVD with all the TV interviews. Of course, it cost him money to get these made, but he knew the value of securing a new client who will pay above and beyond what he ever paid for the DVDs and magazines.?

Imagine if I applied this same logic to a new prospect and your targeted marketing. Perhaps you email, mail, and text them a link to follow that takes them to your web page. On this web page, you have a TV article, a TV interview, magazine articles—information about a specific topic that relates to them. That is going to impact them – seeing you as “the expert” when it comes down to choosing their next financial advisor.?

They may not need you or take action right away, but when the time comes to hire a new financial advisor, their mind is going to go straight to the person who sent them that impressive portfolio. Why??Because you have personality, uniqueness, and authority, as well as being proactive in seeking them out and putting your name in the hat. I recently saw a statistic that 60% of people are unhappy with their current financial advisor and half of those are actively looking to move on to someone new. There is always an opportunity out there to convince someone to give you their business. You just have to stand out from the crowd.?

Start by keeping things simple. How are you going to add $10,000 a month in revenue? How are you going to add $20,000? $30,000? $40,000? How are you going to add revenue into your pocket? Then, how are you going to do that in the least expensive way possible??That is the whole concept of picking up the money lying on the floor. The whole reason it is lying there is that nobody was looking for it there.?

Ask yourself: What lists do I have? Do I have a list of people who've raised their hands? Do I have a list of people who are referrals? Do I have a list of people that I talked to and didn't turn into clients? Do I have a list of people who used to be clients who aren't clients now? Do I have clients for whom I’m only managing a portion of their assets (big no-no by the way)? How about clients whose parents, spouse, kids, really need my support as well?

Start with lists of people that somehow you have touched already and then ask yourself: What are my personal resources? What are my staff resources? What resources do I have already?

I know and who sits in her office building surrounded by other small businesses that should be feeding her traffic, but she has never bothered to talk to them. At one stage, she even shared a conference room with an estate planning attorney, yet she never engaged in a conversation with them about helping each other.??That is the very definition of money lying on the floor. In fact, that is money stacked up in piles on the floor! They should be feeding each other clients, literally walking them over for a brief introduction.

Within my own business, I had a regional director and Board of Director’s member for McDonalds, the regional distributor for Paul Mitchell products, the chief financial officer for the Denver Broncos, the President of a $780 million dollar electronics chain, the marketing director for the Denver Nuggets, and the Human Resources Director of the state’s largest employer as clients and I could go on and on. Luckily,?I recognized opportunities in all those relationships and maximized them in every way possible.

Go through your current list of clients and pay attention to what resources they have access to and, utilize those contacts. Start thinking, who are my current clients? What organizations are they involved in—social groups, hobbies, where do they work, who do they know? Who are my friends? What organizations are they involved with? What are my hobbies and how do I leapfrog off them??Then you go through all the lists of people you have already interacted with in some way and figure out how you can turn that into new clients.?

Those lists of existing clients and the prospect lists of people you know are the ones you can attack really fast. You can get an email, a phone number, and an address, and you can be setting up meetings starting today. The truth is a lot of advisors just choose not to or are not aware of the value in really expanding your network.?

This brings us back to our earlier point: just because someone was not interested in September, does not mean they won’t be interested in December. It is just a horrible assumption to make in business. It does not mean they won’t be interested a year down the line, or two years, or three, or ten! What’s certain is that they will never become a client if you don’t even take the time to reach out. The worst that can happen is they do not respond and you try again later. After all, you haven’t lost anything beyond a small amount of time and maybe a few cents here and there. In the best-case scenario, you get a new client who spends a lot of money with you.?

You need to take that list of prospects and make the time to call them, email them, mail to them, all the things I have talked about. If those people raised their hand and told you they wanted to talk to you or wanted some more information, that is a better starting point than any list of prospects you can purchase from a lead service.?Even if the prospect talked to you and said they did not need or want your services at this time, they are still one hundred times more likely to purchase than someone off a generic list you purchased. They may not be a client for the present, but they could well be ones for the future.?

These existing client lists and the idea of the money lying on the floor are the first points of attack. I have literally seen businesses double within months just by targeting these key areas. Simple things that they were not doing before. Of course, the plan of action does not stop here. It isn’t that I don’t want to or would choose not to do all the other things I have talked about, but this is definitely the place to start. In working out a robust marketing plan for a business, this is certainly step one.?

You always start with looking at what resources you aren’t using. It's like my podcast (Stephen Oliver’s Financial Advisor Marketing) that I’ve been doing for quite a while, before launching I sat down with a blank legal pad and said: "Well, who might be an interesting guest?" Obviously, I know a lot of Financial Advisors, but who else?... I know just about everyone who’s in or has been in the “Planet Dan” orbit around Dan Kennedy* and his various associates (all great marketers). Chuck Norris is a friend of mine, that might be interesting! I’ve done a number of things over the years with Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, and a bunch of others in that field. I know Jordan Belfort's college roommate and best friend; he might be interesting plus he also runs a big nutrition company (Nutrabio). I have a good friend of Dick Grasso’s who was in charge of the New York Stock Exchange. I know the former police commissioner of New York, who’s also tied to the financial industry, the wolf of Wall Street and the head of Wall Street. I went to Stratton Oakmont before it imploded but I don't have a direct tie. However, I have a good friend who will probably do anything that I want, who can help with that…” You get the idea.

This is how you start. You start by going through the list and asking yourself, “Who do I know, firsthand or secondhand?” Most of us have this big database of names, numbers, email addresses, contacts, and potential clients, but many people don’t take the time to write it all down and make the calls. If you were an actress, who do you know in the industry? Who do they know? If you were a pilot or an EMT in your previous career, who do you know there? Are any of those people a part of a big group organization? All of a sudden you start coming up with all kinds of interesting names.

*Dan Kennedy is?the?direct response marketing guru and a personal friend.?

Coming in September! Keep an eye out for the release.