Only two things matter when you seek to improve production. You have your choice of one or both of two strategies:

A. Increase Sales Activity

B. Work with Larger Cases and Larger Clients

If you cannot meet with more clients than you do at the present time, examine your activities. Look for tasks you do that could be handed to an assistant.[1] Your role is simple; meet with clients, design strategy, and implement solutions. Marketing and selling[2] to different groups requires different strategies and tactics, and as a group, high net worth individuals[3] require different strategies and tactics.

MARKETING

Top-performing professional service providers possess many common denominators, including a focus on marketing to High Net Worth (HWN) people, as well as a marketing and follow-up strategy that includes the following five steps for growing a practice and increasing the bottom line:

1. Provide a Personal Touch In Your Marketing Strategy – To develop relationships, you must know your clients. The more personal your communication with clients, prospects and centers of influence, the more effective your message will be.  The secret in your personal touch is to know your clients and focus on the value and benefits you bring to relationships.

2. Communicate Your Benefit-Based Defining Statement (BDS) – Successful professional service providers understand how important it is to differentiate themselves from the competition. Your marketing message needs to communicate your unique value proposition in the form of a BDS, which is short, repeatable and focused upon the needs of the client, not what you do. Communicate your BDS through traditional and online strategies. Traditional strategies should include postcards, letters, cards, and tasteful, appropriate gifts.[4] Your online strategies will include e-mails, social media and article marketing. Make sure that your marketing message is consistent, stands out and resonates with your target audience.

3. Know Your Market – The core of your marketing strategy needs to focus upon a niche market or markets. Once you identify the clients you want to serve, you can then find out everything you need to know to dominate that market. By working with a group of people with similar needs, you can learn exactly what they see as challenges and opportunities, which allows you to provide a better service experience. When your affluent clients experience this level of care, they provide high quality referrals.

4. Networking – One of the easiest methods for receiving highly qualified referrals and introductions from other professionals in the same niche is to network with the purpose of building professional relationships, which provide opportunities for sharing referrals. Networking, professional, and community events provide tremendous opportunities for business expansion. In addition, using social media marketing strategies designed to identify potential mutually beneficial relationships results in an amazing amount of new business.

5. Maintain Consistency In Your Client Contact Strategy – Top advisors touch their affluent clients between 18 and 36 times per year. Depending on your clients needs, you may need to touch them even more or less. To achieve this goal, it’s essential that you include an automated follow-up process in your marketing plan. Use technology to automate and drive your marketing activities. Task an assistant (preferably a dedicated assistant) with managing your marketing program. Meet at least semi-monthly with this assistant to review results and schedule activities.

SELLING

Marketing to HWN’s differs from broad based marketing. The same can be said for presenting and selling to these people.

1. Approach – Introductions and referrals work far better than direct calls and letters. Letters can be effective, but avoid form letters at all costs. If you choose to use letters make certain the letter is personalized. In addition, use introductions for mutual acquaintances whenever possible. For maximum impact, send the letter by overnight or priority mail.

Often HNW’s do not open their mail, and you must overcome secretarial screening.  Often a personal card can be effective. There tends to be widespread warm response to personalized, signed, stamped letters. Some HNW’s are receptive to highly targeted, well thought-out brochures, but they must be brief, direct, to the point. Given their HNW status, these individuals receive many solicitations every week from the typical providers who try to sound like an old friend. The main point is to be memorable.

2. Expertise – Many HWN’s are skeptical about the ability of others to make better decisions than they do. Financial advisors must demonstrate superior knowledge and experience. Prospects in their 30’s and 40’s are more likely to defer to recognized authorities; but prospects in their 50’s are more likely to see themselves as the best judge of an offering or solution. It is not necessary for an advisor to be an expert in all areas of service to the client. It is necessary for the advisor to be able to bring in specialized expertise seamlessly when it is needed. Regardless of your expertise, you must demonstrate confidence in your recommendations, with a solid plan and backup information if the HWN wants more detail or documentation.

3. Informed Decision Making – Few affluent individuals want to turn major decisions over to another party. Many prefer to be educated as to the process and the choices in a time-efficient manner, and to stay in control of the decision-making process.

4. Access to a Wide Variety of Solutions – Many affluent individuals want access to the widest possible variety of products and product providers, rather than proprietary products. The intelligent firm may offer its own funds or products, but will also have the flexibility to go into the market and access any service or product the client may need and desire.

5. Client Focused, Holistic Orientation – HNW’s typically have complex personal and financial profiles. Most advisors focus on their own functional area of expertise. The advisor who integrates and coordinates different aspects of the client’s situation and sees to the complete and accurate implementation of recommendations, with ease of implementation for the HNW, provides a valuable and rare service.

6. Relationships with Advisor – HNW’s value a strong bond of trust with their advisors, and transition to a new relationship can be problematic. HWN’s expect advisors to act as advocates. They also expect new, creative, customized ideas or opportunities about new products or services that may be of benefit to them. For the most part, HNW’s are not concerned about the age and gender of the advisor, but rather their competence, communication skills, and ability to identify solutions. In addition, premium service delivery and kept promises create loyalty and keep business.

High net worth client development calls for a particular focus and attention to detail to client contact and needs, and an attentive, personalized relationship. There is no understating the importance of knowing your clients at a deep level, and tailoring your marketing, ideas, and recommendations to meet their unique needs. When these principles and strategies are applied to a professional services practice, business grows exponentially.

[2] Many professionals feel they don’t “sell.” However, when business is done a sale takes place, even if the person only buys you, and ultimately that is the sale that matters

[3] This applies to individuals, couples, families, and businesses. ALL interactions are ultimately individual – and personal – interactions.

[4] Make certain to know the compliance guidelines for gifts in your profession.

The banking industry has caught its share of flack for the industry’s part in what has come to be known as “The Great Recession.” Not without cause, mind you, but virtually nobody saw what was coming. With the exception of a handful of people such as Steve Eisman, Michael Burry, and Greg Lippmann (read Michael Lewis’ book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.) bankers not only did not see but were hurt by the financial collapse of 2008 as much as any sector. In fact, in 2004 the FDIC said, “Within the banking industry, we conclude that each of the three main sectors—community banks, regional and other midsize banks, and the largest banking organizations—has favorable prospects for the years immediately ahead, even though the number of institutions is likely to decline further. What could materially diminish these relatively favorable prospects?”*

The question is simple; where do bankers go from here? With a return to conventional lending standards, and the inability of the majority of consumers failure to qualify for those standards, bankers face a double-edged sword. With the flight to security of depositors and the inability to lend those funds to qualified buyers, banks find themselves in a unique paradigm.

The immediate challenge is to stay active in the communities in which these banks and bankers work and live. Good banking business is still out there, bu the days of sitting in the bank waiting for business to come in the door are over. The flight to quality in loan underwriting notwithstanding, bankers must compete and win the battle for quality relationships like never before. Forget marketing; does your bank have a CRO (Chief Relationship Officer) tasked with developing a strategic relationship development program for its officers and directors? It is no enough to join organizations and be visible.  Banks must aggressively and strategically develop a plan to own the key relationships in their marketplace.

*The Future of Banking In America; George Hanc; Former Associate Director, Division of Insurance and Research, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Traditional client appreciation events often are inexpensive banquets at best and poorly masqueraded sales seminars at worst. Either one can serve a useful business purpose, but consider hosting a slightly different client event – a event based upon “purpose.”

Recently I visited with a financial advisor in the mid-south who takes a novel approach to client events. This advisor sponsored a golf tournament; nothing unique about that. What made it unique was it was a charity event tied to a major national charity – The V Foundation. From the Foundation website: “It has been just 17 years since The V Foundation for Cancer Research was founded by ESPN and Jim Valvano. And what significant work has been accomplished during that time! Since 1993, The V Foundation has raised more than $90 million and awarded cancer research grants in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Researchers have developed their laboratories and taken their science from the labs to the clinics with the help of funds raised by The V Foundation.”

The event was replete with unique gifts from national sports celebrities, creative hole sponsorships, and appearances by regional sport icons. Clients loved it, and the event drew a huge number of affluent prospects. In addition, considerable publicity mentioning the advisor’s name offered significant favorable exposure.

This advisor used this event for a good purpose. A wonderful charity received tens of thousands of dollars, and the advisor is viewed as someone who puts something back into his community and society. Consider this type of client event next time you decide to host another boring chicken dinner.