Advisor Survey

I promised you I would share with you the results of this brief questionnaire. Additionally, I have included some commentary in the hope that you might make better use of this information:

1.My business for 2009 was:
41.9% of those surveyed said their business was “somewhat below expectations.” 25.8% said business was “far below expectations.” This means that approximately 2/3 of those surveyed did not achieve their objectives for 2009.

Commentary
To ensure that this experience is not repeated in 2010, I would urge all of you to complete a thorough analysis of last year’s business. Consider your marketing efforts in detail. Review your business successes and failures. Review all client and strategic alliance relationships. Most importantly, do this from a quantitative perspective. This is always the first step Expanding Horizons takes with its clients. Historians say that without understanding the past, we are doomed to repeat its failures. The exercise of review, if done correctly, will help set direction for you in the coming year.

2. Please indicate the percentage of your 2009 new business in each category (nearest 10%):
a. Life Insurance
b. Assets Under Management
c. Qualified Plans
d. Executive Benefits
e. Planning Fees
f. Other

46.9% of those surveyed found that more than 50% of their business came from life insurance. 66.7% of those surveyed found that assets under management account for less than 30% of their business. Just 22% indicated that more than 50% of business came from gathered assets. Qualified Plans, Executive Benefits and Planning Fees represented less than 10% of revenue for approximately ¾ of those responding.

Commentary
Without exception, life insurance and gathered assets played a major role in the business of the vast majority of advisors I spoke with. Those advisors that focused heavily on the life insurance business demonstrated little regret that they had not placed more emphasis on assets under management. However, the advisor that said they drove business through asset gathering often said they wished they had not “dropped the ball” on the life insurance side of their efforts. One conversation with an advisor yielded a very interesting perspective. He said that he always believed that assets under management was the easiest way to build a steady income stream. He indicated that what he failed to realize was that this approach hurt his business during difficult times because he spent too much time calming clients and far too little time driving new business.

3. Please indicate which of the following were part of your marketing plan in 2009 (Check all that apply):
a. Marketing to existing clients
b. Cold marketing
c. Strategic Alliance Marketing
d. Formal Referral Generation Program
e. Networking
f. Social Media
g. Email Marketing
h. Newsletter
i. Seminars
j. Personal Website Lead Generation

100% of those surveyed said that marketing to existing clients was part of their 2009 business development effort. 84.4% identified Strategic Alliance Marketing as a component of their 2009 plan A few conversations here yielded a “fuzzy understanding” of the detailed elements of these two areas of marketing. Some said they saw client reviews as a means of driving business. Others indicated that periodic meetings with CPA’s and Attorneys Were important to their business. Specific plans and their impact on business Were much harder to identify. 46.9% of those surveyed participated in some kind of networking. 40.6% said that cold marketing played a role in their business. 37.5% identified a newsletter as part of their marketing effort. 34.4% conducted seminars to drive new opportunities. Just 28.1% had a formal referral generation program. Less than 22% of respondents considered social media, email marketing and personal website lead generation to have played a role in their business for 2009

Commentary
The feedback here should not be surprising, but still leaves you wondering why so few advisors have built disciplined marketing plans. Marketing to existing clients should mean identified opportunities with their client base. Additionally, there must be a clearly defined campaign to drive appointments and produce results. Strategic alliances are a much tougher issue. “Hope” which permeates most strategic alliance contact is insufficient to drive business. Again, put a marketing plan in place and execute that plan. Networking probably falls in the same category. What was most striking among these numbers can be found in two different areas. First, it is astounding that only 28.1% of advisors actually believe they have a formal referral generation program. I have always believed that advisors that conquer this element of their marketing program will quickly discover how much easier the rest becomes. Conversations with survey participants yielded an unwavering belief in the importance of referral generation, yet less than 1 in 3 advisors actually take this seriously in their marketing approach. Finally, the playing field is changing. Understanding social media, email and web marketing is critically important to the advisor that intends to market in this next decade.

4. Have you completed formal business goal setting for 2010?
50% of survey participants said that had not completed any formal goal setting for the coming year. Since I did not further clarify the term “formal goal setting,” it is likely that some of those that answered in the affirmative have identified an overall number they would like to achieve, but have done little to break expectations down further.

Commentary
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. To make 2010 a better year than “below expectations,” it all begins with clearly defined goals. When most people consider goals, they start with the annual sales goal. While that is good, it is not enough. The most successful businesses set daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual goals. There must be goals within each component of the marketing plan. Goal setting serves as markers in the road that allow you to make adjustments to achieve the ultimate objective. Failure to do so makes your business very much hit or miss.

5. Please indicate which of the following are part of your marketing plan in 2010:
a. Marketing to existing clients
b. Cold marketing
c. Strategic Alliance Marketing
d. Formal Referral Generation Program
e. Networking
f. Social Media
g. Email Marketing
h. Newsletter
i. Seminars
j. Personal Website Lead Generation

As with question 3, the vast majority, more than 95% said they would market to existing clients (96.9%) and strategic alliances (93.8%). Networking (65.6%), seminars (59.4%) and joint marketing with another advisor (56.3%) were seen as business driving activities. Newsletters and cold marketing were popular with about 1/3 of respondents. It is interesting to note that social media (25.0%), email marketing (34.4%) and personal website lead generation (21.9%) were of minimal interest to advisors as business driving opportunities.

Commentary
What was that definition of insanity? Oh yes, doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Discussions with advisors have led us to the conclusion that most approach marketing with a “this is how I have always done it” mentality. While I would not argue with the choice of activities, it might be wise to ask, “Why do I choose this marketing approach and what can I do to make it more effective?” Someone told me once that they rarely choose what might be the most effective prospecting activities because “they might take us out of our comfort zone.” This may or may not be the case with most advisors, but it is indeed something to consider.

6. Do you keep a formal “pipeline” for projecting future business?
58.6% of survey respondents said they do keep a pipeline for managing their business. Telephone conversations reveal that there are a variety of pipeline tools in use including:
• CRM solutions which include a pipeline (ACT!, Goldmine, etc.)
• Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
• A list of prospects on a sheet of paper

Commentary
A pipeline should be constructed to allow you to make your business more
predictable. In so doing you are able to identify whether you are on track with your goals and reasonably estimate your income. The problem with so many
pipelines is that we are so good at lying to ourselves. I put prospects in the
pipeline who are unlikely to close, but I believe I have a shot. I give
prospects greater value for our pipeline than they should reasonably have. In
short, we are the problem with our pipelines. An effective pipeline must
include at least 3 variables to give the prospect a reality check. Additionally, it is important to have an objective third party help you conduct a reality check
on your pipeline each and every week. Cast off what will never happen and
apply conservative estimates to prospects that remains.


7. How much will you invest in your business development in 2010?
43.8% of those surveyed said they planned on spending more than $10,000 on their business development effort in 2010. 25.0% indicated that they would spend between $5000 and $10,000. It is important to note here that several of the advisors I spoke with thought of their marketing budget more in terms of a percentage of revenue. There seemed to be a consensus of opinion that marketing spending should be somewhere between 1.5% and 3% of sales.


Commentary
I believe that marketing spending must fall in line with the rest of your plan. While it is wise to establish a budget early on, many advisors spend this money on marketing ideas they find throughout the year. The next great system. An ad that will make your phone ring off the hook. A “proven” seminar. I am of the opinion that anything you do can have an impact on your business with the right forethought and planning. Some may say, “How can I plan for our marketing effort if I don’t understand how much I have available to spend?” There is no argument here, except to ask, “How can you decide how to spend your marketing dollars if you don’t have the roadmap for sales?” You will discover that the planning I have described to this point will always make your marketing dollars more wisely spent.

8. In a few sentences, please tell us about your marketing failures over the past few years (These are a representative sample of comments):

Economy is bad so difficult to get an appointment with business owners. Not so
much "failures" as the economic conditions.

Getting qualified leads from CPAs, and attorneys

Starts with me. Enough said.

I hired a guy to do marketing for me with e-relationships, got nothing. He altered it and sent out emails from a list I purchased and then followedd up on those that
opened up the email, got nothing. He got a real job.........

Too much getting ready to get ready. Subscribing to programs that I don't really
use or get any results from using them.

Not enough support! Need a coach!

Tried to be too many things to too many different prospective clients, lack of
focus.

Did not keep life insurance pipeline full; working now to rebuild it

Not following up on plans. No real marketing program!

Persistency and consistency. Staying the course is our biggest downfall.

No specific plan. no extra staff added to run the program, failure to follow up!

Cold calling

Getting referrals has not been to successful. Working with CPAs has not been productive. Surprisingly cold calling is exceeding our expectations

Too low of profile in self promotion.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

There is a belief among those surveyed that 2009 was a difficult year, but 2010 can be successful with the right marketing components in place. With this in mind, I would like to suggest the following process to ensure success:

1. Review the past year. Develop a strong understanding of successes and failures. Analyze existing client and new client business. Quantify your behavior.
2. Establish realistic goals and stretch goals
3. Hone your message and be sure that you are able to convey it with real passion.
4. Define your sales process.
5. Construct a four pronged marketing plan. It is not enough to say I will drive referrals or build stronger strategic alliance relationships. Put a plan and numbers behind your chosen marketing activities.
6. Implement a pipeline that actually helps you accurately predict business and adjust behaviors accordingly.
7. Get some accountability . . . a coach.
8. Eliminate the words “hope” and “wish” from your vocabulary. When you build a plan based on numbers and real process, you will find that your goals are achievable.

There are no magic “systems” to buy that will take you where you want to go. You must create a plan and work the plan. If you would like to talk more about this survey or how you might better implement this approach in your own practice, please give me a call.

Rick Schwartz
Expanding Horizons
303-335-0734