There is No Shortage of New Business
Financial services professionals tell us that finding new business is their #1 challenge. But it's crazy. Each day, tens of thousands of people send checks to Fidelity, to Vanguard, to USAA, Prudential, Hancock, and other financial services companies that don't even have a sales force. So there is no shortage of prospects; its that life insurance agents, annuity agents, financial advisors, stockbrokers--they mostly chase after insurance leads rather than pull them in, as the large companies do.
Large companies use a very simple strategy. They toss out bait such as an offer for a booklet "How to Rollover your IRA" by running a full page ad in the NY Times. Over the next 48 hours, they likely get a couple thousand responses. And now they have the couple thousand people who are really interested on what they offer. Individual financial sales professionals, on the other hand, hunt after people they have no idea are interested. They do everything from cold calling to networking to begging for referrals. But, the individual financial professional can instead use the same very effective methods of the large companies.
A Small Marketing Budget is Sufficient
You don't need a large budget. You simply need to offer "info documents" like the large players do. For example, check out the Sunday newspaper. You will likely see some big ads offering booklets like "Three Ways to Have a Worry Free Retirement" or 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Rolling Your IRA." Fidelity, Merrill Lynch and others get thousands of calls from motivated and interested prospects. Why do you chase prospects rather than have the same method of having prospects call you?
You don't need to have thousands of dollars to advertise in the Sunday newspaper. You can use the Internet for very low cost. You can use Adwords pay per click advertising or run text ads on specific sites. For example, doing a search on "Columbus Ohio senior" revealed 6 web sites that cater to seniors in that city. Seems like a good place to run an ad for your booklet "Pros and Cons of Annuities." I started by own practice exactly this way with a $52 ad in a senior newspaper advertising such a booklet. I was then talking to the interested people rather than using a shot gun trying to contact anyone that would listen.
Time Tested System
The prospect calls for your booklet. You send it. You follow up in 2 days with a non-threatening phone call inquiring about the value of the booklet. You ask questions and have the prospect reveal their interest or concern, what motivated them to order the booklet. if you have sales skills or talent, you can convert a significant percentage of these inquiries into appointments. By the way, when I invited these people that ordered the booklet to my seminars, 33% showed up. Now you know how to find responsive prospects for a small investment.
