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I often hear from financial advisors who, for various reasons, are reluctant to contact prospects who remain in their pipeline. Many are hesitant to pick up the phone because they don’t feel they have anything new to offer, which, in their minds, would amount to an untimely interruption or even an annoyance. Best to avoid calling them, right?
That’s a quandary because if you want to increase prospect engagement with the hopes of moving them out of the pipeline, you actually have to engage them. It is also problematic because, as successful advisors know, prospects’ needs change over time, and the only way to win their business is to be in the right place at the right time, with the right message. That can’t happen if you avoid the calls.
Increasing prospect engagement is not exclusively about making more phone calls. It’s about creating more touch points and opportunities for prospects to engage with you on their terms. They’re still a prospect for a reason—they haven’t said “no” to you outright. You just need to give them a reason to say “yes.” To get there, you have to allow the relationship to develop organically. Keeping them engaged is the way to do that. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
#1. Run an email campaign
Assuming your prospect agreed to opt-in to receive emails from you, there are many ways to increase engagement.
E-Newsletter: Sending a monthly newsletter with relevant and compelling content is always appreciated by people who expect to receive it.
Free offer: If you have a whitepaper, report, or webinar to offer, include a link for a free download. Typically, the link sends them to your website, where the download is available. This increases engagement, and you can track who clicks on the download link using marketing automation software.
Ask their opinion: People like to give their opinion, especially when asked. Periodically send your prospects an email inviting them to share their opinion or weigh in on something.
Webinar invitations: Webinars are highly effective tools to connect with prospects and showcase your value as an advisor.
Segment your prospects: The more you can personalize your emails to appeal to your prospects’ interests, the more you can offer relevant content that will get their attention.
Always include a scheduling link that allows email recipients to schedule a call with you.
#2. Create tailored content
Speaking of content, it’s what people want—if it offers something of value. More importantly, well-conceived educational content on timely topics can be the reason for reaching out to your prospects, but blasting randomly selected content to all your prospects risks winding up in the spam folder.
If you’ve segmented your prospects by niche or common financial objectives, you can create more tailored content demonstrating your understanding of their situation while increasing the chances they’ll respond more favorably.
You should find ways to get your content out to your prospects in different formats, such as a blog, posting to social media, in addition to emails. By consuming your content, your prospects will get to know who you are and get a glimpse of the value you can provide as their advisor.
#3. Engage through social media
These days, most of your prospects are on social media, which is where people go to interact and consume information. It has become a necessity for financial advisors to make themselves available on social media platforms because, if you don’t have that online presence, you are invisible to your market. The key to engaging on social media is to get into the conversation and offer meaningful information—while sharing and commenting on other posts.
Some prospects may send you connection requests. Ask those who haven’t if they’d like to connect. LinkedIn is probably the most effective social media site for connecting with prospects. Its powerful search features also enable you to find potential prospects through networking with your existing connections.
If you’re on LinkedIn or any social media platform, you should frequently post your original content while sharing and commenting on other content. That’s how you increase your visibility as an authority, which appeals to your prospects.
You’ll never run out of reasons to call
Using this multi-pronged strategy will create plenty of reasons to contact your prospects, if not by phone calls, then by personal emails. All touchpoints count.
If you email a newsletter, promote a webinar, or post a blog, you can contact specific prospects to let them know you were thinking of them in particular. Ask them if that subject matter is of interest and, if not, ask them what they would like to see. If they post something on LinkedIn or Facebook, leave a comment or send a private message. After a few months of organic engagement through these methods, it will be time for that phone call to discuss what’s been going on in their lives.
Related: Death of Common Sense