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Grant Hicks, CIM
You won't find this
idea in a book, even though I wrote about it in my latest
book "Guerrilla Marketing For Financial Advisors". You won't
find this idea at a seminar, course or workshop.
Not even online or any website. In fact, you won't get this information from
top financial advisor performers, but you will find the idea where you work. It
will change the way you think. It will change your business strategies. It will
make you take a close look at what your doing right and what you need to
improve on. The idea will help you grow, develop and build your practice to
heights you thought weren't possible. It will make you understand your business
better, even more than hiring a consultant. It is a marketing idea which
is investing time energy and imagination into your business. This one idea may change
your business in 2020 and beyond. Once you start to apply the idea over and
over, your clients will see tremendous value in you.
If I was asked to give only one idea to build and scale a financial advisory
practice, this would be the idea.
Create a board of directors with your top clients and centers of influence. Ask
them for feedback and ideas on every aspect of your business from advice to
marketing, client appreciation, and client communication. Invite from six to
ten of your top clients in one meeting for an hour and get valuable feedback on
your image, identity, business, and marketing. Two things will happen at the
meeting. First, your ideal clients will give you valuable feedback on the
future direction of you and your practice. Valuable feedback on marketing,
communications, and value-added processes that only they will see value in.
Second, you will teach them how to refer and give you favorable introductions.
Imagine doing follow up calls and getting referrals? That is exactly what happened
when I did this with my ideal clients. Not only did they refer names to me,
they asked me to join events where I might meet more people like them.
Your network of professionals luncheon
Hold a second meeting for your top centers of influence or referral sources.
Hold these meetings three to four times a year and buy your "network of
professionals" lunch for giving you valuable feedback on all areas of your
business. It will cost you less than $200 and a few hours of your time. Each
time you are creating formal feedback for your business. The most amazing thing
happens when you tell people you are working on your business. When you do the
follow-up phone call, your clients already have someone in mind you should talk
to. Within 30 days you get referrals to more like-minded people and gain
additional top clients. This is how you clone your best clients.
Case Study
It is gutsy to ask for feedback from your clients since they have given you all
their trust. At the core of trust is your client’s desire to help you and your
business. For example, if I have never experienced being one of your clients
for a period of time, how can I give you long-term valuable feedback on what
you are doing, how you communicate with people and how your business is
perceived? It is this valuable feedback from your top clients and centers of
influence that is going to give you the edge over your competitors.
Create an agenda
Plan to spend an hour discussing your business and items you are working on.
When I first did this, I asked my clients about a golf appreciation day I had
planned. I wanted to hire a golf pro, offer lessons and hand out golf balls and
prizes to say thanks to my top clients. At the feedback meeting, most of my
clients liked the idea, especially the golfers. But one of my clients made an
interesting comment. He said, “Not everybody golfs, so for the clients that
don’t golf, why don’t you get a hanging basket of spring flowers, drop by to
have a coffee and say thanks.” My response was to thank him for the great idea.
The following week, I picked up some hanging baskets of flowers and dropped by
my top clients to say thanks. A week later a top prospect comes into our office
to see us. We asked how they came across us. The client said, “We went to visit
our friends down the street and asked where they got the nice hanging basket,
and they raved about you and your firm, so here we are.” They became one of our
ideal clients through our ideal clients.
Grow your practice, by asking for feedback
Try it once and you will get feedback on your business, as well as referrals.
Once advisors discover how powerful this idea is, and how easy it is to do,
they will want to create groups of client feedback forums. They will deliver
more value to their clients and attend events with clients and get favorable
introductions. They will get referrals from the Network of professionals and
all they did was start with feedback.
How about your goals for your practice in 2021? Our Practice management
checklist or fee audit checklist
While each financial advisor's practice may have a different approach, advisors
need to
understand where their practice needs help, and will they get the right help
for the right part of their practice. What areas does your practice need help
with? Get a copy of our updated 21- page “Comprehensive Practice Management
Strategies checklist” by going to our website https://www.advisorpracticemanagement.com/about-us or
clicking here https://practicemanagement.getresponsepages.com/
Fee audit checklist for ideal prospects, click here https://feeaudit.getresponsepages.com/
Call me
Contact us to help get clarity around your goals on paper, and having the goals
conversation by contacting grant at grant@ghicks.com
or click on the link to set up no-obligation 20-minute discussion https://my.timetrade.com/book/JMTNJ regardless if we work
together, let’s have a chat and listen to your biggest practice management
concerns to help you get clarity around your future business.
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