Question: How can I find prospects interested in my specialty so I can be more enthusiastic and helpful, and they are more likely to act?
There are a few problems with the holistic approach recommended for financial planning approach today. You point out the most obvious – that unless you are working in your specialty, you won’t be as compelling and effective as you could be.
And while financial planning tells you that engaging your new client in writing is the first step when taking on a new client, unless you entice them to engage, you won’t get a chance to do any financial planning work at all. My observation is that holistic planning is not a very compelling enticement to engage with most advisors. This is not about the real value of a holistic approach, but about perceived value and that’s what matters at the beginning of a relationship.
A holistic approach also casts a wide net meaning that rather than have unlimited prospects as you’d hope, you get a confusing array of various expectations, cultural differences, financial wants, and occupational backgrounds. That plays to the “jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none” definition of average.
The holistic approach also doesn’t showcase you at your best so you can attract the best prospects for your expertise and experience. You may miss the best business for you and the best clients for your style. It is counterproductive that way.
Finally, it’s a slower approach to a client result because of the time it takes to bring a case to a conclusion. Many advisors would rather have a professional and compliant approach that created a relationship built on a series of solutions.
You need a better prospecting strategy like what I call “Concept Silo Prospecting.” A Concept Silo™ is a complete sales strategy that focuses on one great idea that applies to one specific marketplace. Here’s how it works:
Start with a concept that inspires you and that appeals to the kind of people you want in your clientele. For instance, if you want to work with pre and early retirees, you might choose “Paying Legacy Taxes at a Discount to Maximize your Estate”. Legacy taxes are those taxes that must be paid before your assets become your legacy to those you love.
As you know, some couples want to leave their RRSP/RRIF to their children when they die. The “legacy tax” is the 50% that will have to be paid in income taxes when the last of them dies. Paying that income tax on the terminal return with the seriously discounted dollars of a “joint last to die policy” means your legacy to your family can stay intact. With the right life insurance plan, you can even build up an additional cash reserve if you need it in retirement. Double Duty Dollars as we used to say.
Prospects for this concept are obvious. The Mass Affluent and above group who, if research proves accurate, won’t even spend all their retirement savings are ideal. There are neighbourhoods of people like this. Direct mail and seminars could work. Social media and advertising can attract them. Prospecting among your clientele or working with a colleague who isn’t interested could too. When you know the type of person you want as a prospect, your “who,” you can easily discover what, where, when, why, and how. Clarity of focus attracts results.
The Concept Silo™ approach is simple: “Prospect, we are doing a lot of work with our clients these days to help them leave their RRSPs or RRIFs to their families without them being cut in half by the Legacy Tax. It’s not for everyone but I’d love to get your opinion on it to see if it makes sense. When in the next 2 or 3 weeks could you carve out 30 minutes for me to show it to you and get your thoughts?”
The wise ones among you can see that this approach could easily be modified to a “Keep your Family Cottage in the Family without having to sell it to a mortgage company to pay the Legacy Tax” approach. Or “Keeping Your Unwanted Silent Partner out of your Investment Real Estate. The idea is to fill a silo of similar people who could buy the concept.
Whatever your concept, you still need a Concept Specific Factfinder that not only gets the information you need to deal with the concept, but also will get the rest of the financial situation too. That means you can easily decide then if the Concept that enticed them is their biggest problem or if they have bigger fish to fry. Then you make the professional pivot to do first things first. You’re compliant.
Concept Silo™ is easier because the people you want are easier to find and approach because you are being specific to your passion. Go be amazing!
This column by renowned advisor coach Jim Ruta was first published in the June 2023 edition of Insurance Journal magazine.
For more information on the tools to use to build your brand, check out www.advisorcraft.com/solis
Jim Ruta’s mission is simple – to preserve, promote and propel the financial advisor business. A former insurance advisor and executive manager of a 250-advisor agency, Jim is a highly regarded coach, author, podcaster and keynote speaker. He has spoken 4 times at the MDRT Annual Meeting including the Main Platform. Jim Ruta is an Executive Coach and Keynote speaker specializing in life insurance advisors and leaders. He works with top advisors around the world and re-energizes audiences with his deep insight and passion.
If you have a question for Jim, you may send an email to [email protected]
