Stranger in a strange land
The following is based on one of The Covenant Group’s clients. All of the names and telling details have been changed.
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A couple of months ago, a stranger stopped me on the street and asked if I knew where The Royal York was. “You’re right here,” I said. We were standing next to the main carport. We all do that sometimes — ask for directions to a place when we’re already there. But I find that advisors do this more than your average person. Isaac Keen was a perfect example.
Last year, Isaac, a veteran advisor of twenty years, sat in my office and pointed to a weekly business magazine featuring the city’s top entrepreneurs. “I need more appointments with people like that. What’s the trick?”
Like the stranger on the street, Isaac was standing right in front of the answer and couldn’t see it.
“Isaac,” I said, “If there’s a trick to getting appointments with high net-worth individuals it’s to look inward. They’re right inside your own client base.”
“I have a few wealthy clients, but I want more of them.”
“Isaac,” I said, “there are two types of marketing: internal and external. The purpose of internal marketing is to create client capital, which is measured by the depth and breadth of the relationship and the degree of loyalty or attachment. The purpose of external marketing is to build a brand with people who do not know you. We need to do both, but before you start thinking that the big opportunities lie outside, you have to make sure you conquer the inside first.”
“I know, it’s easier to sell to an existing client than to acquire a new one.”
“That’s true, but internal marketing goes way beyond that. An effective internal marketing strategy helps you build on existing client relationships as well as leverage those relationships to create new opportunities within your client network. The cornerstone of your internal marketing strategy is periodic reviews.
“Your first step is to map out who you will be conducting periodic reviews for over the next year. You should target at least your AAA clients. Once you do that, you follow a simple six-step process. The first step is to have someone from your office send out a letter positioning the review for four to six weeks from that time. Ten days later, a call goes out to your client, preferably from someone other than yourself, to set the meeting. Then, ten days prior to the date, you send out a reminder with an agenda. Your agenda addresses service, sales as well as marketing issues. Two days before the meeting, someone from your office calls to confirm the agenda, not the meeting.
“In the meeting, your commitment to service is demonstrated by recapping and updating your understanding of the client’s situation and objectives. That may open up sales opportunities with your client or their family. Then you deal with outstanding service issues. By addressing marketing issues, you are able to use the review to dramatically grow your business. For example, if your client is a golfer, you can invite them to a golfing event that you have already booked as one of your marketing initiatives. You ask them to bring a guest, someone that would benefit from meeting you and who fits your profile. After the review, you send the client a Summary Letter, with specific action items identified. This is a simple process, but few advisors do it, even for their top clients.”
Isaac liked the plan. After a year of conducting periodic reviews, his revenue was up 35% and he had actually gained two clients from the people featured in that magazine article. Both had come as guests to a golfing event. If it weren’t for his periodic review strategy he would never have known that the network within his own client base included the very people he so eagerly wanted to meet. He’d been standing under the hotel carport all along and never knew it.
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The Covenant Group is referred to by many as the place entrepreneurs go to become Business Builders. They are considered to be thought leaders and have authored the best-selling books, The 8 Best Practices of High- Performing Salespeople, The Entrepreneurial Journey, and The Business Builder.