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No one said it would be easy.
Our inboxes and phones are overloaded with emails, texts and voicemails. Our To Do lists have grown exponentially.
So how do you create a compelling message to capture advisors attention in less than 30 seconds?
Today's advisor wants you to:
1) Know their business: what their challenges are and how to solve them.
2) Communicate on their terms: understand them at a deeper level to engage them.
But here's your challenge. You can know their business but if you don't communicate your message in the advisor's style, your message is lost. Translation: NO SALE.
Let's look at an example.
Paul Holcomb is a top advisor and you have the perfect annuity for him to add to his clients portfolio. His communication style is Lifestyle which means he likes the big picture, enjoys being around people, talkative and always upbeat.
Your marketing department just emailed him The Top 10 Best Annuities (of course, your annuity is #1). Paul opens the email and all he sees are your logo and lots of words. He immediately deletes it. Why? He prefers bullet points and pictures. All of your cleverly crafted words and details of your #1 ranked annuity did not even register with him!
Your internal sales desk is part of this campaign so shortly after the email is delivered, they begin making the calls to get advisors educated and excited about this product. Paul is in Ron's territory, so he jumps on the phone to Paul. He takes the call because he knows Ron and your firm. Ron's communication style is Information so he starts the conversation by giving Paul all the pertinent facts and is proud of it because he knows the advisors business!
What he doesn't know is that Paul stopped listening within a minute. Why? Because Paul wants someone to set the big picture context first and then talk about how other advisors are using it. Details of the product offering are secondary to Paul so he will either ask the questions later or look it up online.But Paul is polite, thanks Ron for calling, and ends the call. Ron feels positive about the call and he continues on with the rest of his calls with the same script.
Now let's move to the other integral part of this campaign: the external wholesaler. Luckily, Jennifer's communication style is Lifestyle so she presents the annuity to Paul in exactly the way that appeals to Paul. He now understands the annuity, how it differs from the competitor's product, and how to position it in the client's portfolio. SALE IS MADE!
But what if Jennifer wasn't the same communication style? The three-pronged marketing campaign to promote your #1 ranked annuity would fail on more than half of the advisors. Not because you don't have a good product but simply because you haven't customized your message.
Still thinking the soft side of big data doesn't produce revenue?
Maybe now is the time to take a look at a behavioral marketing system that can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.