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Meeting strangers online during the pandemic is difficult to build trust. Working with existing family members who already work with you and trust you is easier than meeting cold prospects, or online marketing. Spend more time with your ideal clients and find out about their families.
When I ask financial advisors, how do you generate more introductions from ideal clients, there is a variety of answers, but no process. Here is a simple process to implement. First, meet with your ideal client and go over their wealth planning and advice. Second, plan a secondary meeting after the meeting. For example, meet at 11 am and take them out for lunch. Then you can bring up conversations about the family that takes time, which is difficult to do in a progress update meeting. These secondary meetings are where family introductions can happen, but it takes time. Imagine if you had 10 family meeting conversations, do you think you will get introduced to other family members? Family members have been the number one source of new business during the pandemic and last two years. (Source July 2021 Ensemble practice survey) Think of moving upmarket with siblings and parents of your wealthiest clients.
Change your language
The financial industry needs to change their language and how they grow their practice. What I mean is, financial advisors, talk about clients and households but we need to start talking about ideal families. For example, a client might pay you $5 to $10,000 per year a household might pay you 10 to $20,000 per year and if you get the whole family they might pay you $20 to $100,000 per year if you include all the family members parents aunts uncles relatives, cousins etc. Typically it is 3 times more revenue when you go from an ideal client to an ideal family.
So how do you have family conversations and what are the questions you need to ask. Here are a few questions to start engaging people in family conversations. Tell me Mr. and Mrs. client what was money like growing up in your household?
Client answers
Tell me more about what money was like growing up in your household?
Client answers
Who in your family did you get your money values from?
Client answers
Who in your current family do you talk about money with?
Tell me more about those people
Client answers
When you look at the potential opportunity sitting in your existing database you need to figure out two things. First, asking the questions and having the conversation, and second, digging deeper into those people in the family where you should consider having a conversation with a potential family meeting or additional discussions this will eventually seem obvious to the family that you should be talking to these family members but if it is not obvious then you want
to be very subtle about bringing it up.
Now let's look at the potential opportunity in your current database. how many households do you currently manage and how many families do you currently manage?
_____ Clients
_____ households
_____ families
How many households do you have?
Now, how many households were clients do you think you could convert into additional family opportunities. Let's give an example let's say you have 200 clients or 100 households and currently you're only managing 10 families now in the next 12 months imagine if you expanded to 20-25 families
$5000 per client x200 = $1 million
$10,000 per household x 100 households = $ 1million revenue
Each family represents $20,000 + revenue
Add to existing or find 10 new ideal families in the next 12 months = $200,000+ revenue lift
Do your own math- figure Out how many potential family opportunities exist in your current database and build a database of 20 to 30 potential ideal families to have this discussion with. Now you have a potential opportunity of $20,000 per family times 20 to 30 families equals 4 to $600,000 of potential opportunities
your job is to get the data and turn that into an opportunity. The trust is already established with current family members so it's easier to establish trust with other family members instead of going after perfectly total strangers and trying to engage them this is called finding the money because it currently exists in your database we just don't know where to start in 12 months from now if we now have the data on our top 50 clients Anne had a family discussion then you will see how to flush out those 25 opportunities to acquire 10 more ideal clients and add at least $200,000 of potential revenue to your business this year with existing family members.
Build your database of family opportunities current families potential families and potential prospects. Now you have a database of $500,000 of potential opportunities just by having really valuable conversations with your ideal clients and their families and finding out their values.
Roy E. Disney of Walt Disney Co. said, "When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier."
So, if you don't use your values to make decisions and guide your actions, then why have them? If you do not value your values, no one else will. Most financial advisors never get values so this is the opportunity. Go ahead, make a list of potential ideal families.
Related: The Five-Touch Client Acquisition Process for Financial Advisors Wanting To Grow in 2022!