Ellis Communications, L.L.C.

Tough Times Call for Drastic Action by Financial Advisors;
Stop Taking Up Space, Stand on the Edge and Give It Away!

International unrest and threats of war.  Corporate layoffs.  Subdued consumer spending.  A soft economy and shaky stock market.

With a business climate like that, what can financial advisors do to attract new clients and manage more of their existing clients’ assets?

"Hold on to your hats folks," says Martin R. Baird, president of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Advisor Marketing and author of The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing.  "Give it away.  Give your services away or something not linked to services that has value for clients and prospects."

Baird cautions advisors to resist the urge to raise fees, rates and commissions to make up for lost or slow business because clients will feel pressured if they’re expected to pay more for the services they’re already receiving.  Giving things away is a marketing model that works, he says.  But he also cautions advisors to choose their giveaways carefully because it may be difficult to charge for them again later.

"If you’re not standing on the edge, you’re just taking up space," Baird says.  "In tough times like these, you need to put your feet on the edge and let it all hang out.  Right now, it takes more than the ordinary to get through to people.  It takes the extraordinary.  Hyperbole about service and experience are not enough.  It takes a drastic shift to get people to change their state of mind and try something new."

Baird offers the following ideas.

Free Days.  Baird suggests advisors set aside their typically slowest business day for free meetings with clients.  "If they want to buy or sell an investment, they must pay for that, but your time is free,"  Baird says.  "Break it up into 30-minute sessions and once the day is full, people will have to wait until next week or pay the traditional fee if they expect you to squeeze them in after regular hours."

Free Asset Rebalancing.  “Many advisors charge for asset rebalancing but people balk at paying and with the way the market has behaved the past few years, their investments could be seriously out of balance,"  Baird says.  "If their situation gets worse, that’s not in their best interest or yours.  You can do the calculations at minimal cost.  Give it away and help them."

Free asset rebalancing could be part of a frequent buyer program.  Clients with certain investments or with assets of a certain value or higher would receive the service for free, Baird suggests.

Charity Work in the Community.  Give free financial advice to professional organizations or community groups that are in your target market, Baird says.  "This could be free meetings one day a quarter,"  Baird says.  "Work with local high schools.  Spend one day a semester with the students, then spend one night a semester with their parents.  Obviously, adults need financial advice.  But most people don’t realize that teen-agers carry credit cards and spend billions of dollars a year.  They are future clients."

Free Reports.  "What about giving away a calculation or report that’s easy to do with your whiz-bang software?"  Baird asks.  "Sure, you may have charged for this in the past, but now it’s too important for your clients not to have the information."

Town Halls.  "People in your community have financial issues and concerns," Baird notes.  "Get them together for a free town hall on a weekly or monthly basis to talk about them.  They just might walk away with some free ideas.  Politicians use town halls very effectively and they can work for you, too."

For the first few meetings, advisors should come prepared with their own materials and answers to common questions, Baird suggests.  It could take a few sessions for people to get the hang of it.

Town halls can be leveraged with coverage from local news media, Baird points out.  Send a press release announcing the town hall and reporters may show up.

Nonservice Giveaways.  Package items you can acquire at minimal cost, such as information products or software, and give them away to clients.  Software can be acquired inexpensively if it’s purchased in bulk or downloaded off the Internet, Baird says.

"Let’s say you work with older people," Baird says.  "These clients are often interested in genealogy.  Find some good genealogy Web sites and software and put it all together as a giveaway.  You and your client work together to create their financial legacy.  You can give them the tools they need to create a family-history legacy.  They and their family will appreciate that.  They will remember you."

Baird says he is often advised to take cash generated by his business during the good times and save it for the tough times.  "By offering some things for free, you’re reinvesting from the good years to make it through the leaner ones."

Baird feels so strongly about the concept of giving it away, he is offering free copies of his book "The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing."  The book is loaded with marketing tips and tactics and may be ordered by calling Advisor Marketing at 480-991-6421.  Ask for Lydia Baird.

Advisormarketing.com is the premiere Internet-based source for free marketing advice, information and tools for self-driven, success-oriented financial advisors who are demanding information that helps them market their practice, meet the needs of their clients and increase sales.  It offers such services as a free weekly electronic newsletter, free reports on how to conduct different kinds of marketing and evaluation of advisors’ marketing materials that is provided at no charge when the critique is posted online for all advisors to read.  Advisormarketing.com also offers an electronic forum where advisors can learn from each other by discussing common problems, sharing ideas and gaining new insights from their peers.  Advisor Marketing may be reached at 480-991-6421.