Fifth Article in the Series:
Attracting Your Ideal Client
This is a favorite of many financial advisors; those wonderful Centers of Influence (COI) who are already known, liked and trusted by your Ideal Prospects. A referral or recommendation from them to you can be golden. But how do you stand out among all the others who would love to be recommended by this Center of Influence?
Here are a couple of different ways:
Know your clients’ Centers of Influence. This is the easiest, most common-sense way to get known by a center of influence, that is to meet your clients’ other professional advisors. Too few advisors do this, so that will differentiate you from the start. Get to know the CPA and attorney that serve your client. It is a responsible and team-building step to take to make sure you and the other professionals are working in concert on your client’s behalf. It also allows these other trusted advisors to get to know, like and trust you, quite often leading to referrals to other of their clients. Make a habit of asking your clients for the names of their other professionals and reach out to each of them.
Find different Centers of Influence. Identify “other” COI’s who also work with your Ideal Client. If you specialize in working with physicians, then get to know the other professionals who serve your client, beyond the CPA and attorney. That could be a practice management consultant or a recruiter for nursing staff.
If you serve small business owners, get to know others that do the same. Payroll providers, human resource professionals and insurance brokers are just a few that come to mind. Think about your Ideal Client. Who else serves their needs? Ask your Ideal Client who else they trust and respect with regard to their business. It is likely that those other providers also specialize in serving the same client you do.
As you focus more and more on your specific Ideal Client, you will find yourself becoming more deeply enmeshed in the community. What began as a large group becomes a smaller, more tightly-knit community. You will find your business growing through word-of-mouth. Happy and satisfied clients referring you; all types of Centers of Influence recommending you; your firm and its services a resource to the community.
Remember that every action you take in this community will be observed by people all across the spectrum of influence. We don’t often see or know of some of the hidden influencers in our communities and can often be quite mistaken in our assumptions about who wields decision-making power. Treating all people respectfully and fairly is a tremendous trust builder and simply the right thing to do.