Understanding the Perspective of Potential Customers

Marc Rogers of Producers Prospect is joined once again by Ryan VanSickle of Leading Response.  Too often, as advisors, we get busy, we don’t put thought into making all of our marketing vehicles work cohesively, and we don’t consider the perspective of our potential clients – the ones we want to bring in.

Sales and Marketing Funnel with Ryan VanSickle

Ryan describes the sales and marketing funnel.  Often, we gravitate toward “low hanging fruit” – the 10% of clients that know they have a problem.  But what about the top of the funnel?  What about the 90% of potential clients that don’t know they have an issue with their current advisor.  This is where not just dinner seminars themselves, but the touch points before and after, come in.

It may be human nature to write off a dinner seminar participant as a “plate licker” if they don’t become a client immediately.  But they might not just be ready. Changing advisors is a complex decision for investors, with potentially life-altering consequences.  Also, where are they in the funnel?  Are they still at the research phase? Maybe they need more information before they’re willing to commit?  Maybe topic-specific events can be employed here – related to taxes, social security, and more.

It’s all about being in the right place at the right time for when the potential consumer is ready to make a decision. And that means providing value, and fighting off the stereotypes that your dinner seminar or other content is just a “commercial” trying to sell something.

When potential clients move from the research phase to the evaluation phase, you want to have a wealth of material and touchpoints available to them, on their timeline.

Marc closes with an example of a pair of advisors who don’t take a dime from potential clients until they complete a seven meeting process.  He explains how and why that works.

Marc and his team at Producers Prospect have launched a turnkey dinner Seminar Steps for Success.