Background:
John Walker of RETIRE INVEST is a Certified Financial Planner in Sydney.
For a number of years, John has been an avid student of direct response marketing principles, and wanted to implement these in his business.
However, as in the case with most small business owners, there were never enough hours in the day to sit down quietly to strategize, implement and write the copy to be sent out to clients, prospects and joint venture partners.
John had been on our newsletter list for at least a couple of years, and enjoyed reading our articles. However, he never took action until he booked into a “1 Day Boost Your Business Seminar” we were running.
Subsequently he signed up for our Marketing Program. (John is a classic case of someone who takes action due to our “drip feed”, “keep in touch” marketing approach)
Objectives:
John engaged us in order to achieve the following:
- Get clarity as to how he should go about marketing his services, what to offer and how to communicate his message to the market place.
- Outsourcing the crucial elements of the marketing process
- Structuring the marketing strategy to run on autopilot.
- Develop a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). This is something John grappled with for a long time. Given that there are any number of Financial Planners and Advisors out there, it is vitally important to be clear and concise as to whom you can help best and what areas you specialise in.
- To find possible joint venture partners within his centre of influence who could help him grow his business, and benefiting for themselves.
- Support and guide him in negotiations with potential joint venture partners.
- Implementing – Which meant writing marketing material, white papers, sales letters etc.
One of our first tasks with any new client is to audit where they are, set some goals and then create a strategy and implementation plan.
We found there were a number of issues holding him back…
- Too much information – he couldn’t see the forest for the trees
- He was unclear which market/niche to get started in. He was a generalist and as such competed with every other Financial Planner out there.
- There was a lack of structure in his marketing approach
- He didn’t know how to get started and follow through on the multi touch multimedia approach
- There were never enough hours in the day to sit down quietly, strategize, implement and write the copy to be sent out to clients, prospects and joint venture partners.
John (like the vast majority of financial planners) had a large number of “clients” on the books. People he was receiving a trail commission from, but hadn’t seen in years.
So our first task was to see how we could re-establish contact and bring in more sales through reviewing polices, superannuation etc.
As such we created an insurance review campaign encouraging clients to come in and meet with John, which produced immediate new business.
Our second major task was to set him up for long term success.
Australia has an ageing population, a significant proportion who’ll eventually need some form of aged care.
Moving into aged care can be a very complex process – with major tax and pension ramifications.
John had done a lot of work in this area, so we recommended he position himself as an expert in this area.
We created marketing collateral including a White Paper and Case Studies detailing some of the issues that could be faced, and how John could help navigate and project manage the process.
This marketing collateral forms the basis of John’s lead generation system and is given to prospective clients, referral sources (so they can give it away), listed on his website, handed out at seminars etc.
John had an extensive network of professional service providers and associations like Alzheimer’s Australia.
John fully understood the power of joint ventures to generate more business for both parties through cross fertilisation of client lists and referrals.
So we worked with John to form strategic alliances with people he knew – accountants, stock brokers, solicitors etc., who had clients in this age group or parents looking to move into aged care.
However, talk is cheap. To facilitate action, we also created specific material the joint venture partners could send to their clients, recommending John.
Results:
John now is in the possession of a great deal of useful and if necessary amendable marketing collateral including a step by step marketing and follow up process that is easily applied.
With the material and the process and structure we created for him, John now has a far greater chance to achieve his goals, personal as well as financial, within the time frame he’s set for himself.
He also has a clear idea who his market really is and what it is he can help them with best. He’s no longer a “me too” financial planner, his message to market match has become crystal clear. This reduces his marketing budget significantly and increases his sales conversions.
