Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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Dear Readers,
Yet again this week I received a cold email from an advisor seeking to do business with me as a client. The email went like this:
I am a financial advisor with (name removed).
I provide investment management and financial planning services to individuals and families.
Please let me know if you would be interested in scheduling an introductory call with me.
Thanks for your time.
Best, (Advisor Name)
I receive 7-10 unsolicited emails a week, and on LinkedIn I receive about 3-5 per week. Often these are for my business, but many times they are targeted to me as a potential advisory client. Given the work I do coaching advisors and supporting their efforts in marketing and business development, I’m always dismayed by the lack of effort and differentiation in these pitches.
The above is so generic that I’m sure the person didn’t bother to Google me or go to LinkedIn to see that I coach advisors for a living. The email has prompted me to outline a few important ideas for my readers on making cold pitches and trying to gain traction in the market with those you don’t know and who don’t know you:
1. Have a niche. Have a niche. Have a niche. I don’t know how many times I have said this to advisors throughout my career, but I can’t say it enough. “I provide investment management and financial planning services to individuals and families.” That’s the whole entire world, isn’t it? Who isn’t an “individual” or a “family”? Why would this incent me to respond at all? I would hope you are expert in investments and planning, but why should I care? Be clear about who you best serve. What attributes does your target market possess? What do you know about them that makes you the right choice to serve their needs? What evidence do you have that says you can do something differently from your peers because you intimately know your market?
2. Do your research. Don’t bother doing blanket emails. Look at the background of those you are contacting. All you have to do is Google someone or go to their LinkedIn profile and find something about them to show you know what they do or what they care about. Doing this will ultimately save you time and gain prospects because it shows your recipient you cared enough about them. If you care, they will care.
3. Carve out something, anything, about how you do what you do so you can illustrate your clients’ experiences. How do you do your investing, what is different about your financial planning process, why do you do what you do? There are so many ways you can give a cold prospect a window into who you are, what you do, how you do it and why you do it. Make it interesting so the person receiving your email wants to learn more.
4. Ask questions:
a. As a business owner, are you struggling to manage your company’s and family’s finances?
b. Do you know if you are taking advantage of all savings and retirement options available to you?
c. As a working mother, are you finding the time you need to plan for your children’s education, support their dreams and balance that with your own needs?
These examples would have been geared to me had this person taken just three minutes to read anything about me. You can create a bank of these questions and use them over and over again depending on the niche (yes, there is that word again) you are targeting. In a cold call you want to start with some provocative closed-end questions but then in conversation be more open-ended and consultative in approach.
5. Be interesting! You are in a people business. Everyone in this business provides excellence in investment management and financial planning. Many advisors are using the same software for their planning or some variation thereof. While you might have a proprietary strategy for investing, you wouldn’t be getting paid if you weren’t doing it at somewhat of a reasonable level. So, what about you? What’s interesting about you? Why would I want to share my personal story and information about my finances and family with you? Give me insight so I want to engage further.
6. Be considerate and respectful of your audience. “Please let me know if you would be interested in scheduling an introductory call with me.” For what purpose? I had to read the email a few times because, as you can imagine, I have dozens of advisors email me every day with requests for my time. Typically, they are seeking support, coaching, insight, or help. It took me a few reads to realize this was a marketing pitch. Tell me what the “introductory call” would be about. “As a first step, it would be important for me to learn more about the financial decisions you have made and are making to see whether I can be of support to you. An introductory call would allow us the chance to speak about your needs.” People are busy! Don’t leave them wondering what you want, why you want it and whether they should care or not. Be clear and succinct.
If you are going to cold prospect – do it right. Have a niche, have a story that differentiates you, care about your audience, and learn about them. A smaller group of prospects where you have taken these steps is much more effective than a larger group where you are just throwing something out there and hoping you get results.
There is opportunity in the market. People need what you do. They want the help. Give them the courtesy of caring about what they need, so they have a chance to choose you to help them.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 