If the End Is Near, Your Marketing Must Shift to High Gear
By Martin R. Baird

The end is near! If I told you that the economy was at or near its bottom and would start rebounding by October of this year, what would you be doing today?
 
Would you still be hiding under your desk and screening calls so you don't have to hear the crying and desperation when clients contact you? Or would you start moving toward a proactive stance and get ready to market your service? Would you get out and tell the media that now is the time to invest again? Notice I didn't say buy. People need to invest now with a plan in mind.
 
Before I go any further, I must point out that I'm not an economist. I certainly don't have a crystal ball that reveals the future. I didn't even sleep at a Holiday Inn last night. I'm in no way saying that I believe the economy is turning around.
 
But I do think that now is the time to get back on the horse and get rolling again with your marketing. Your clients and prospects are probably nervous for a new reason - they don't want to miss the great financial upturn. They have ridden their portfolio to the bottom. Now they want to be an active participant in the upside that they think or feel is coming. You need to be there for them because this is when people quickly and easily go from investing to gambling, without the free drinks and show girls. They feel like they are so far down that they need to gamble to make it back up.
 
So what are you going to do? This is not a simple question and it's written with all seriousness. What are you going to do over the next 12 to 18 months to help your clients get back on track, whatever that track is or was? This is your time to shine and be ready for what is coming next. Very few people saw this downturn coming and those that did had no idea it would be this devastating. OK, so we missed that boat, but let's not miss what comes next. Prepare for it now so, as it happens, you are leading, not following.
 
U.S. auto makers are in horrible shape because they haven't led the industry in years. I think GM is trying with the Volt. But leaders don't look for one-hit wonders. They always strive for a better way.
 
So what is the better way that has come out of all this financial mess? Is buy and hold dead? Does asset selection need to be retooled? I don't know the better way, but you should. And you should be prepared to shout it from the rooftops so your message gets heard.
 
If the end is near, it's time for real leaders that stand up and stand out. You owe it to your clients to be a leader and help them set their future course. This won't be easy, especially after the tremendous beating that so many people have taken in all their investments - from their portfolio to their home. It's not easy knowing that a 20 percent down payment on a house was wiped out over the last 12 months.
 
OK, back to what I know and that is marketing. We are quickly approaching the time when advisors need to market themselves to gather assets. When clients start to feel that it's time to invest again, many will move to new investment professionals and firms. When someone's portfolio has been subjected to a 50 percent haircut (perhaps more than 50 percent), they see no reason to stay with the advisor that helped them lose all that money. I know some of you are turning beet red in the face and saying, "But if it wasn't for me, they wouldn't have had the money to lose!" Sorry, but the reality is that clients don't care and don't see it that way. Here's what clients care about - what have you done for them lately? That's how they think and what you have done is guide them to big losses.
 
Forget about past client behavior. Many of your clients have been though tough times before and stayed with you. Surely they will again, right? I doubt it. This downturn is different. Our country is going through a time of fundamental change in reaction to the recession. People are questioning the way that they have always done things.
 
For many of you, this means that your business - already slashed by 50 percent because of the market - now could easily be cut in half again because of client departures. I'm not sure about you, but most of my friends who are financial professionals would have a tough time running their business on 25 percent of 2007's business.
 
It's time to market and gather in a big way.
 
So if the end is near, collect your thoughts, do some preparation and be a leader. Press the growth gas pedal to the metal. Growing during this time will be tough, but it will also be critical to long-term success. The financial professionals who do not try to grow their business now could well end up spending their free time with mortgage brokers who no longer have clients.

Martin R. Baird is chief executive officer of Robinson & Associates, Inc., a consulting company that helps financial professionals measure and manage the quality of client service and improvements to their internal operations to enhance business performance and increase revenues. He is a highly regarded speaker in the areas of marketing and client retention and development. Baird is author of "The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing," a book that offers easy-to-implement marketing ideas for financial professionals. Robinson & Associates may be reached at 206-774-8856 or [email protected]