Referral Magnet (eBook)

Growing Your Financial Practice Through the People You Already Know

Kelly Edwards (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
274 Seiten
Lioncrest Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-5445-0971-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Choosing a financial advisor is one of the most important decisions people make in life. They're entrusting someone with their livelihood, their future, and their family, so the choice is not something they take lightly. Given the stakes, the search almost always begins with a referral, and that's why the most successful advisors in the industry are the ones who know how to get them and are proactive in doing so. In The Referral Magnet, Kelly Edwards shares the formula for generating more referrals than ever before, all without asking for them. Her proven approach has been used by successful advisors all over the country to become more referable and make small but impactful changes in how they operate. This paradigm-shifting book is packed with practical advice you can implement right away, and includes downloadable content for each chapter along with stories from the industry's top advisors about their creative solutions, lessons learned, and mistakes made along the way. The search for a 'magic bullet' is over. Referrals are-and always will be-the best way to grow your financial practice, and this book shows you how to get more of them than ever before.

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Choosing a financial advisor is one of the most important decisions people make in life. They're entrusting someone with their livelihood, their future, and their family, so the choice is not something they take lightly. Given the stakes, the search almost always begins with a referral, and that's why the most successful advisors in the industry are the ones who know how to get them and are proactive in doing so. In The Referral Magnet, Kelly Edwards shares the formula for generating more referrals than ever before, all without asking for them. Her proven approach has been used by successful advisors all over the country to become more referable and make small but impactful changes in how they operate. This paradigm-shifting book is packed with practical advice you can implement right away, and includes downloadable content for each chapter along with stories from the industry's top advisors about their creative solutions, lessons learned, and mistakes made along the way. The search for a "e;magic bullet"e; is over. Referrals are-and always will be-the best way to grow your financial practice, and this book shows you how to get more of them than ever before.

Textauszug

Introduction

“How do you get new clients?” That’s one of the first questions I ask every financial advisor who hires me, and the vast majority give me some variation of the same answer.

“I know this is bad, but they’re mostly just referrals. I know I should be doing marketing; I just never have. But that’s why I’ve hired you!”

I love hearing that answer, and not because it means I’m getting a new client. I love it because it means I’m about to give them a big paradigm shift, and it’s going to be the first step in a process I love—turning them into a Referral Magnet.

Most advisors think of their referrals as a naturally occurring thing, and if they really want to grow their business, they need to do marketing to reach people they have no connection to. In most industries, they’d be right, but this is not like most industries.

The Anomaly of Advisor Marketing

Over the last twenty years, I’ve done marketing for lots of different industries. From real estate to restaurants, from hotels to hospitals, I’ve done it all, and I can tell you that advisor marketing is truly unique for several reasons.

First of all, in most other industries, the sky is the limit when it comes to how you’re allowed to market your business, but it’s not that simple in the financial world. There are rules—lots and lots of rules—from FINRA, the SEC, brokers, and more. Trust me, I work with compliance on behalf of my clients every day, so I know how frustrating all the rules can be and how hard it is to keep up as they change. You can’t just listen to a marketing podcast or read a hot new marketing book and implement what you learn; you have to figure out what you’re allowed to do and how you’re allowed to do it.

The restrictions really complicate things, and marketing is complicated enough in the digital era. Twenty years ago, when I started my career, digital marketing was just a small segment of the industry. Now it is the industry. It’s the dominant form of marketing today, and the platforms and methods are constantly changing. There’s always something new around the corner, and it’s hard for advisors to keep up with what they should be doing and whether they’re allowed to do it.

The rules and restrictions definitely complicate things, but that’s not the main reason advisor marketing is an anomaly. It’s because of what’s at stake when someone is looking for an advisor.

Think about this for a second. If you were deciding where to go for lunch today, how would you make the decision? How much time and energy would you put into choosing the restaurant? If you’re like most people, it would just come down to what’s convenient and sounds good. What if you were deciding where to take your spouse for a special anniversary dinner? Would it still be a spur-of-the-moment decision based on what was most convenient and sounded good? Hopefully not! If you value your marriage, you’d probably plan ahead, ask for recommendations, and maybe read some reviews. Your approach would be different because there’s more at stake.

Now think about how you’d approach an even bigger decision, like what city to move to. You’d research the schools, the crime rates, the cost of living, and the distance from work. You’d probably talk to people who live there to see how they like it, and drive around to see the shops, restaurants, and parks. You’d go through a very different decision-making process than you would for choosing a restaurant because the stakes are much higher.

When someone is looking for a financial advisor, they’re looking for someone to help them grow and protect everything they’ve worked so hard for. What’s at stake is their lifestyle, their legacy, and their ability to provide for themselves and the people they love. A good or bad decision could impact their financial security for the rest of their lives, and that’s why it’s not a decision people take lightly.

They’re not just going to pick an advisor because their office is nearby or because they saw an ad on Facebook. They’re going to do their due diligence to make sure they choose an advisor who knows what they’re doing and is trustworthy to look after their best interests. That’s why marketing for financial advisors is so different from any other industry. Instead of starting the process with a Google search for “financial advisor near me,” most people start the process by asking people they know and trust, “Who is your advisor?”

And that, my friends, is why marketing for advisors is an anomaly and requires a totally different approach.

The natural process most people go through to find an advisor begins with asking for referrals, and that’s why your marketing approach should be centered on referrals as well, not marketing to get the attention of strangers. In other words, the goal of your marketing isn’t to create a new stream of prospects in addition to your referrals. It’s to turn your existing stream of referrals into a river. Simply put, if you want to grow your financial practice, you have to become a Referral Magnet, and I’m going to show you how.

My Story

I’m one of those rare people who actually works in the industry I got a degree in. In fact, my lifelong love for marketing started when I was in high school. I needed an elective and thought marketing sounded interesting, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve also always loved helping business owners succeed. Coming from a long line of them on both sides of my family, I have a deep appreciation for the courage, sacrifice, and hard work it takes to make it.

I’ve always been fascinated with consumer behavior and studying how and why people make certain buying decisions. When people think of marketing, they often think of snazzy ads and clever slogans, but marketing is so much more than that. At the core, it’s all about telling the story of a business in a way that compels its target market to take action. You have to understand what consumers care about and what their decision-making process is like, and you have to know what’s different and special about the business so you can highlight the right things in the right ways.

Over the years, I’ve done all kinds of marketing—huge international brands, tiny mom-and-pop shops, and everything in between. No matter the industry, I’ve always loved what I do, but when I started working with financial advisors in 2012, I fell in love in a whole different way and decided to focus solely on this industry moving forward.

Why on Earth?

When I meet other marketing people at conferences and events and tell them what I do, they usually look at me like I’m crazy before asking, “Why on earth would you want to work in the financial sector?” They know the rules and restrictions and think it’s crazy for someone to want to deal with all that. Heck, I even have financial advisors ask me why I would choose this niche. No, I’m not a glutton for punishment; the truth is, I’ve just always loved a good challenge, and helping advisors do great marketing despite all the obstacles is definitely a challenge.

Plus, I can truly relate to what advisors like you do. When your clients first come to you, they don’t understand their financial situation or what they should be doing to maximize and protect their money. There are so many different options out there and so much bad advice floating around that it’s hard to know what to do—and that’s where you come in. You look at the big picture of where they are and where they’re trying to go, and then you explain everything to them in a way that makes sense. You give them clarity to make the right decisions, and then you guide and support them along the way. You take them from a place of confusion where they’re on the wrong path—or no path at all—and you get them on the right path.

And that’s exactly what I do for advisors when it comes to their marketing.

What You’ll Learn from This Book

In this book, you will learn:

• Why referrals will make or break your business
• The common mistakes that drive referrals away
• How to create a referable brand
• How to appeal to your target market
• How your staff impacts your referrals
• Why your website is crucial and how to improve it
• How to craft the right USP and elevator pitch
• What social media strategies you should be using
• How to boost your credibility and reputation
• How to use client events to get more referrals
• How to put it all together and become a Referral Magnet

You’ll see that the book is divided into two parts: Part I is all about making yourself and your brand as referable as possible. The foundational principles in Chapters 1–5 are critical in order to become a Referral Magnet. In Part II, we’ll dive into the active marketing and branding strategies you can implement in order to build stronger relationships with the people you know and drive more referrals to your practice.

As we go, I’ll use real-life examples from some of my most successful clients to teach you what other people in the industry are doing. You will also see links to additional resources throughout the book where you can go online and download free tools to help you implement what you learn and become...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.6.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Marketing / Vertrieb
• ISBN-10: 1-5445-0971-5 / 1544509715
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5445-0971-6 / 9781544509716