You work hard to put on an event. You send out invitations, you fill the room and you get your presentation ready. Everything runs smoothly. Upon leaving your guests thank you, you are pleased because they seemed to have enjoyed the event.Great – right? Maybe yes, maybe no because it’s what happens next that really matters and for all too many advisors – the answer is, nothing much!If you are an exceptionally well-organized advisor you’ll have a list of attendees who you call once or twice after the event and then give up. If no new accounts are opened from the event you call it a failure. And, even if one or two accounts are opened over the next few months as a result of the event, most advisors would think that was a lot of hard work for little return.Does any of this sound familiar? We interview hundreds of advisors and we listen to their successes and their failures and one thing never ceases to amaze us -- how little effort goes into the follow up, after an event. And, yet, that’s precisely where the effort ought to be. It doesn’t matter how many people came, if the follow up isn’t done or isn’t done properly.Those of you who read us regularly know that we specialize in helping connect advisors to the most lucrative market in history – women. So, when we say the follow-up after an event is crucial, we are generally talking about female centric events, it’s because the average number of times an advisor connects with a woman before she becomes a client is – seven! Related: This Is Your Practice Without Women So the next time you are thinking of putting on an event start backwards rather than forwards. What does that mean? It means you should start with the results you want to achieve and work backwards to see what has to happen for you to get there.We call it “nine steps to success.”
Nine Steps to Success Prospecting Women
Step 1:Ideally how many accounts you would like to open? Let’s be optimistic and say you want to open 5 new accounts with women who attend your event.
Step 2:Remember, you will likely have to follow up at least 6-10 times with each of these 5 women to open their account. Are you ready to do that?
Step 3:Also, the faster you identify the 5 women who most likely will open an account, the better for you.
Step 4:You need to make sure that you have invited the right women and that you can quickly identify the 5 best prospects.
Step 5:Invite only women who need financial help now or in the near future (this means vetting your list). This is less about quantity than quality.
Step 6:Consider the type of women likely to need financial help now or in the near future: Women who just inherited money; have recently been issued corporate stock; have just been fired; have just retired; recently sold a business; have been made a partner at their firm; are unhappy with their current financial advisor.
Step 7:Create an event that each of these women would find interesting: what’s on their mind now based on recent financial events (see Step 6)? Consider putting on your event by going through an organization they belong to already (their company or an association).
Step 8:Make your presentation all about the women in the audience, not about what you do. Leave the discussion about you for much later in the follow-up calls.
Step 9:Do capture enough information about each woman who attends to give you a reason to call them later. After each follow-up call, make sure you have a reason to call them the next time with something that is relevant and of interest to them (e.g. Tell them about an event you heard about that you thought might interest them – don’t just make a reminder sales call!)If you follow each of these 9 steps with thoughtful consideration, you will be successful with any event you put on. It’s better to do fewer, more targeted events each year than many events with little or no follow up.To find out how to follow up for success or for a free Lunch & Learn presentation or webinar for your team on the subject, contact us through
www.strategymarketing.ca
