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Most people would never guess that I am terrified of flying. As a result, I’ve learned to distract myself by stirring up conversations with random strangers at the airport as a coping mechanism – which has benefitted my business tremendously!
Here are some ideas for meeting prospects in a transient setting such as an airport, bus terminal, train station, doctor’s office, Starbucks coffee lounge, etc.
Being spied upon
I was eavesdropped upon twice in my past life as an advisor and the results were fabulous.
One led to a juicy lead and the other a lon-term client. In the first case, I was checking my email in the balcony lounge at the Harvard Club when I couldn’t help but burst into laughter over something my friend wrote. I didn’t realize that this stirred up tremendous curiosity from the man sitting behind me who inquired, “I can’t help but ask what’s so hilarious? You’ve got me grinning just listening to you.”
Well, one thing led to another and that was the start to a relationship in which he revealed to me that he was unhappy with his current advisor who was a legacy handed down from his wife’s side of the family.
In the other instance I was passionately speaking on the phone to a friend, another advisor, in a private co-working lounge discussing the state of affairs for the industry. After I hung up the phone, a nicely dressed gentleman approached me and asked, “Did I just hear you say that you’re an investment advisor? I’m looking for one for my uncle.” Turns out he was an attorney who had just been appointed as a trustee for his uncle’s estate and had no clue what to do.
I didn’t realize how loudly I was speaking.
There I go with my big mouth again. The end result was a client relationship and we’re still in touch to this day despite me not being in the business anymore.
When among affluent company it isn’t always the worst thing in the world to be eavesdropped upon. Why? Because one of the biggest roadblocks people have with advisors is the fear of being sold something. Spying on you makes people feel like they can listen without the pressure of the sales pitch.
Staging an eavesdrop
As my examples illustrate, being spied upon is a viable prospecting technique. But how do you engineer this so that it happens at the frequency you desire and you can fill your pipeline?
Try this tactic I used when I was recently flying to Boston to give a keynote presentation.
While seated in close proximity to others, as in an airport lounge waiting for your flight to board (which is sheer boredom for every single one of us),, speak over the phone to someone just loud enough so that the people around you can hear. And make it humorous.
Here’s what worked for me. Calling my sister-in-law:
Looks like the flight is on time but I have to tell you I broke my own rule about not checking baggage. Yup, I couldn’t sneak it in. Bummer. We’re going to have to meet at the baggage claim instead.
Timing? No I think we’ll be okay. I don’t give my keynote talk until noon. They said there’s tons of people registered for my session though.
As I’m saying this, I’m observing the man to my left taking pause while he’s reading his iPad. It took a bit of finesse, but after I hung up the phone I was able to make eye contact and continue the humor ever so gently.
“What about you – did they get your 30 bucks too?”
That then turned into a conversation about how frequently he flies, which of course led to the fact that he’s a salesperson for a large publicly traded corporation. And on and on.
It’s amazing what people will tell someone they’ve spied upon.
The other aspect than the humor that made this eavesdropping technique successful was that I was complaining. Better said, I was complaining in a funny way. Let’s be honest – people love to chime in on that. It relieves stress when they have someone they can commiserate with and that person makes them feel better about the issue.
Humor + pretend complaining + making it easy for others to spy upon you = pipeline growth
Sara’s upshot
One common theme I keep reinforcing in my articles is for advisors to get away from what they think they should say to prospects. Do the opposite: Come across as a human being and appeal on a human level. Casual conversations that happen to be overhead can be very inviting, although it will take some practice.
Try it and let me know how it goes!
I’m having a webinar on this very topic of how to meet prospects through casual conversations – only the focus is on how to do this during the holiday season. The webinar is free, brief and takes place on November 28th – register here.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in quantitative finance.
Read more articles by Sara Grillo
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
