Why is lead generation easy for some advisors and hard for others? Even if you believe it is easy, we all face occasional lead generation frustrations. A few typical frustrations I hear most often are: not enough time to do lead generation; not enough referrals, low quality referrals; low attendance at seminars; and I refer to other professionals (CPA's) and receive nothing in return.
Wouldn't reducing or eliminating these frustrations make lead generation easier (more effective)? In order to eliminate a frustration you must first uncover and resolve the underlying causes of the frustration. Here are the three underlying causes to most of your lead generation frustrations:
1. No Strategy, only tactics
2. No clearly defined target market
3. The Knowing - Doing Gap = actually doing the things we already know we should do
Strategy Must Precede Tactics
We all tend to fall into the same trap; falling in love with marketing tactics. Tactics are things like your brochure, cards and website plus the activities you do, like: asking for referrals; networking; seminars; advertising; direct marketing; to name just a few.
We are a society and an industry of "doers". Our first instinct is to do something - hold a seminar or mail out our shiny new brochure. We rarely stop long enough to develop a clear strategy to determine how and if the activity we have decided upon is really the best way to generate leads. How many networking events have you attended and then decided once you were already there, this is a big waste of your time? We need to make sure that our target will actually be "touched" by the lead generation activity we choose - read the brochure; attend the networking event; read the advertisement; hear the radio show, etc.
For that to happen, part of your marketing strategy should be defining your target markets in a way that will enable you to easily find them, connect with them and ultimately service them. Strategy is the thinking and analysis you do prior to taking any actions.
First WHO, then what
Strategy is about making choices. Choosing WHO you want to work with is a critical business decision. One of the reasons lead generation is "hard" - or harder than it should be - is our reluctance to choose a target market. Because we believe our service is right for everybody, we chase everyone. Chasing is prospecting; targeting a specific type of client is lead generation. Targeting means you are aiming at something very specific, for specific reasons, using specific tools to reach them.
Say you were going fishing. The way you choose which body of water to fish in, which equipment you need (type of boat, rods-n-reels, etc.) and what type of bait to use would depend on the type of fish (target) you were going after, right? The same is true for lead generation. Knowing who we are going after will give you clues as to where you might find them, the tools and tactics you will need to reach them and the type of message (bait) that will attract them to us. Most of are just using what ever rod and bait we have and casting it off the pier and wondering why we can not catch the big fish.
Narrow Your Focus
Not only will you make lead generation easier you will also make client service easier by narrowing your focus and clearly defining and continually refining your target market. Why do you need a narrowly defined target market? It is impossible to please all people all of the time. You want to target only the ones that you can best service. The problem is most advisors work with far too many different types of clients, which is also an underlying root cause of many time and profit challenges.
Every business, not matter the size, has limited resources. How we use these resources to both attract (generate leads) and service clients is critical to your growth and success. Chasing too many different types of clients (opportunities) is actually a barrier to sustainable growth, due to the time consuming nature of both client service and finding new clients.
Closing the Knowing - Doing Gap
A great way to get results from lead generation activities is to actually do lead generation activities. We all know we should be doing lead generation activities every month. We all know we should be asking for referrals, but we don't always. I am not trying to lecture you, I am simply pointing out that knowing what to do and actually doing it can be difficult.
A great way to consistently implement your lead generation process is to live by a marketing calendar. Use it to schedule, pre-plan, and track lead generation activities and results. An average strategy implemented will always produce better results than a great strategy never put into action.
Your Take-Aways
There is no one right approach to building a client base, no single model that works for everyone. It depends on your interests, your personal and professional strengths, and vision for what you want to accomplish. In working with highly successful financial advisors over the years, it's clear to me that there are three things they have learned to do consistently, that most others don't:
1. Marketing strategy always comes before marketing tactics
2. Working with a clearly defined target market
3. They live by a marketing calendar
We can make lead generation easier and produce much better results simply by being more focused and then actually doing the things we know we should do.
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Kevin Poland is the CEO of The Renaissance Group, an E-Myth consulting and coaching firm. If you are looking for new business ideas as well as accountability support and tools to take your business to the next level, contact us for a no obligation consultation. Kevin can be reached at 813-636-9181 or by email at Kevin@RenaissanceConsultants.com. New Group Program now available.
Turning Point just hosted a Tele-Seminar Event - "Lead Generation Made Easy" presented by today's contributor, Kevin Poland, CEO of
The Renaissance Group. In case you missed this Free seminar, it is now available for download on our website by clicking
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