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“My number-one challenge is I don’t have enough time to prospect.” That’s what advisors tell me when I ask them what their biggest challenge is.
”I barely have enough time to service my current book of clients, let alone prospect for new ones,” they say.
This is a classic either/or problem: working in your business versus working on your business. It is very common among advisors.
As an independent advisor trying to make a living from what’s called the “expert consultant sales model,” you can very quickly get trapped between two insurmountable obstacles.
Getting a new client is psychologically rewarding at first.
But as you become involved in delivering for that client, there is less time available for you to do your usual marketing activities.
Yet, by the time you find time to service your current clients, you may not have any new ones ready and waiting in your pipeline.
New-client outreach becomes a race, a struggle for survival, which can lower your defenses, making you susceptible to dysfunctional sales practices.
It becomes easier to take on lesser qualified clients that you know will be difficult and won’t lead to meaningful long-term income.
But because you need new business, you have no choice.
You reach for the “lowest hanging fruit” like buying leads, which often make you chase unqualified prospects.
This leads to retreating into your comfort zone of only servicing your current clients, hoping for an occasional referral.
Oscillating between the extreme highs and lows of the feast/famine cycle is perilous.
Having a reliable sales and marketing system that works automatically in the background, bringing in new, qualified leads every month instead of having to go on the hunt, allows you to prioritize your work in a meaningful way.
Is that even possible?
Yes, it is.
Here’s what it takes to build that system:
1. Shift your mindset from outbound to inbound
No more hustling, shaking the trees, networking, etc. When you stop chasing clients and trying to persuade them of your value, you begin attracting them to you. An inbound process maintains your authority, but an outbound (chasing) process demeans it.
2. Believe you can learn to make the sale on the very first meeting
When you switch your focus to inbound, you flip the entire sales proposition from having to prove yourself (they really can’t see your value until after they’re a client) to their present concerns (which they have an immediate and emotional connection to want to solve now).
This eliminates all the usual steps you’d normally go through like a discovery meeting, retrieval of financial documents, free financial planning, and more meetings/activities to follow up. These unnecessary steps can take up more of your time, than the time it takes to service one client.
With the traditional outbound approach, informing and educating your prospect makes them want to consider your ideas and get back to you. But with an inbound approach, it’s all about guiding the prospect into owning their problem and gauging their willingness to commit to addressing it now, rather than later.
Once they own their problem, there’s nothing left to think about. There’s only the decision of whether to move forward with you, and this moment of decision can be reached on the very first meeting, without any pressure.
Having an inbound, problem-centric, marketing process and being able to guide your prospects into owning their problems (instead of informing and educating them about solutions), are the keys to escaping the feast/famine prospecting cycle.
To learn how to create your own inbound lead generation model, order your complimentary book and consultation below.
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after high-net worth/lead generation expert for financial advisors. His newest book, “Trusted Authority” has become an instant best-seller among financial advisors worldwide – you can get a free copy of Ari’s book here and, when you click the “YES” button in the order form, you’ll also receive a complimentary “get new clients” lead generation consultation. Ari has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, INC Magazine and the Australian Financial Review. He is considered a contrarian in the financial services industry and in his book, everything you learned about selling will be turned upside down. No more chasing, no pressure, no closing.
Read more articles by Ari Galper
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
