Strategy Highlights

Week 24
________________________________________

Strategy 5: Nail the Wealthy Client Experience

Make the second-opinion offer

Introductions by existing clients to friends, family members and associates are one of the most effective ways of bringing in new affluent clients. But you have to be proactive in seeking these introductions. Clients may occasionally make introductions simply because you provide high-quality service and they enjoy working with you, but this will not happen often enough to significantly grow your affluent client base.

So while satisfied clients are generally happy to provide introductions, they need a way to do so. Through your second-opinion service, clients will have the opportunity to share with the people they care about most the superior experience they are receiving with you.

We recommend making the offer when a prospect first becomes a client during the Mutual Commitment, again at the 45-Day Follow-up Meeting and then at every Regular Progress Meeting. You should also make the offer at the end of each of your client events.

Follow these three steps:

  1. Describe the offer. Strategy 5 provides detailed scripting for making the offer.
  2. Extend the offer again. Once you have received a name, extend the offer again. Just say this: “Great. Who else comes to mind?”
  3. Request a personal introduction. In most cases, the most effective way to establish contact with the prospective clients is to have the client contact them to let them know that you will be getting in touch with them very soon. Use our recommended scripting in Strategy 5 to explain this to clients.
If you have clients who prefer to communicate with you via email, it can be effective to conduct a one-time email campaign to make your second-opinion offer to these individuals. Strategy 5 provides email templates and a customizable flyer for your use.

Follow-up effectively

Once you have received an introduction from a client in response to your second-opinion offer, follow up to optimize that chances that the prospective client will schedule a Discovery Meeting with you and that the client will provide more introductions in the future.

First, contact the prospective client. Your goal for the initial contact should be to schedule a Discovery Meeting so that you can gather the information necessary for you to formulate a second opinion on the prospective client’s finances and to determine whether you would be able to add significant value to his or her financial life.

The person will respond in one of three ways, each of which requires a different response from you. In every case, have the appropriate script from Strategy 5 ready.
  1. “No.” The prospective client will typically want to decline because he or she already has a financial advisor.
  2. “Maybe.” You will seldom get this response, but when you do, it is most often because the prospective client has hesitation about the cost.
  3. “Yes.” Schedule a date and time for the Discovery Meeting. Explain that you will send the prospective client a follow-up letter outlining the financial information and records you would like him or her to bring to the meeting in order to make the meeting extremely productive.
Once you have contacted the prospective client, close the loop with the client who offered the introduction. Keep the client inclined to make additional introductions by expressing your appreciation and by informing him or her about the outcome of the introduction.