Small Business Marketing Strategies Marketing to the Affluent:
The New Normal: What Today’s Economic Climate Means for Advisors of Affluent Clients
One of the most important Small Business Marketing Strategies, to include in your business, is upgrading your clients and prospects and working with more affluent clients.
According to Richard Weylman, a leading affluent consultant and the author of Opening Closed Doors—Keys to Reaching Hard-to-Reach People, the current economic climate offers some of the best opportunities for advisors and consultants wanting to work with wealthy clients. Why? Because today, many high net worth clients are not satisfied with their advisor and they are open to changing advisors.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: Find the Opportunities
Part of the opportunities, in the affluent client market, are caused by the loss of money and a lack of trust, but there’s something more important going on. And it is an opportunity that can change any advisor or consultants business… but you must be willing to act on these opportunities, in a timely manner.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: Pay attention
During this year’s Affluent Summit (AffluentSummit.com), Mr. Weylman told me that affluent clients are getting frustrated because advisors simply aren’t paying enough attention to their clients. “To serve the affluent, you must listen and touch them as often as they desire,” Mr. Weylman says. The reality is that most advisors fail miserably when it comes to paying enough attention to their clients.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: Success is in the execution
Small Business marketing strategies of the past, such as cold calling, are no longer effective. For marketing to work in the “new normal”, advisors must “work on purpose, not on pressure,” Mr. Weylman shared in our interview for this year’s Affluent Summit. When we work under pressure, our clients and prospects can sense it and the result is never good.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: Humanize your interactions
Mr. Weylman recommends that advisors and consultants invest some time and energy in relationship marketing, a way of personalizing and humanizing our interactions with clients and prospects so they know that we really care about them. It’s the ultimate way to “work on purpose.”
Small Business Marketing Strategy: Relationship marketing that works
Relationship marketing, however, is not as simple as remembering a prospect’s birthday or a client’s anniversary. While that’s part of it, the secret to effective relationship marketing is the ability to identify uncommon dates and activities that are unique to each particular client or prospect. Richard shares some great relationship marketing strategies, such as remembering your wealthy clients on the day they began working with you. For years, I have personally used this strategy and it has yielded amazing returns.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: Doing the research
He also shares how important it is to spend time finding out, as much as we can, about our wealthy clients. For example, what do they like to eat? What’s their favorite type of wine or music? What are their hobbies and interests? File this information away, and be alert to creative ways to use it to build and deepen your relationship with them.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: The power of cultivation
According to Mr. Weylman, who’s also the founder of The Weylman Center for Excellence in Practice Management™, an online university for financial professionals and staff who work with affluent clients, getting an affluent client to switch advisors takes longer today than it used to. Even though affluent clients are more willing to switch advisors, they want to make sure that they’re moving to a better situation. Data shows that it takes an average of seven or eight meetings for an affluent client to feel comfortable changing advisors.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: Specialized workshops and events
Relationship marketing will help you make those meetings count. Make sure you invite your prospects and clients to social events they might like. Create specialized workshops in more intimate settings. Use your creativity to elevate the client experience and become the advisor of choice for the wealthy clients you want to attract.
Small Business Marketing Strategy: The power of deep connection and understanding
Today’s affluent clients want more than anything to feel understood by their advisors. If you can position yourself as uniquely qualified to relate to each of your wealthy prospects and clients on an individual basis through relationship marketing, you’ll go a long way toward earning their trust—and their business. You hear the entire interview with Richard Weylman, for free, go to the AffluentSummit.
