In all the years I have been helping financial advisors with prospecting , I have rarely come across an advisor who has strategically identified how to prospect to women effectively, by understanding women’s challenges. Prospecting is all about the strategic identification of an opportunity and implementing a new workflow generating new revenue. Therefore, the prospecting process must involve the engagement of potential clients who want or need your services.
Prospecting new customers are the foundation of making sales in a business, making it a critical stage for any business to thrive.
Statistics show that financial advisors who focused on prospecting in their career end up being successful, far more so than other advisors.
This article will discuss some of the most productive prospecting ideas that will bear fruit when put into practice and provide a way of generating leads rather than buying them.
Let’s get right into our topic and first explore the benefits of prospecting.
Why Is Prospecting Important?
Prospecting helps develop a pipeline of target clients that can and will be interested in what you offer. A systematic way of developing sales leads comes first and then building upon the leads and making prospects out of those you attract.
If you’ve read my other prospecting blogs then you know that I believe the time spent prospecting should be higher the less time you’ve been in business.
For example, less than 5 years in business you should be prospecting 50-75% of the time in your model work week. Any ambitious advisor will make prospecting part of their daily responsibility.
What Is The Best Approach To Use When Prospecting To Women?
We can all agree that prospecting takes guts, but it is the key to getting more clients as a financial advisor. It means that the advisor and the prospecting process are intended to be bonded to one another.
The bonding takes place when an advisor address the hot buttons and points of pain that women experience in their finances.
You may need to work intelligently and be strategic. As you focus on bringing in new prospects, you can establish a magnet to bring women clients to you.
Here are useful financial advisor prospecting ideas to get more female clients
1.Overcome fear – women are easy to talk to!
A financial advisor, who is well aware of prospecting’s importance, will often avoid doing so due to fear of the outcome. In some cases, they may face rejection, especially if they are not well prepared or lack adequate in-depth knowledge of their specialization area.
Proper preparation reduces the risk of being rejected and can improve confidence in future prospecting.
At times, financial advisors may find themselves commiserating about how they hate prospecting.
Such negative thoughts will affect your performance in bringing in new clients. Whenever this happens, it is good practice to shut out the negativity and focus on the positive. Use motivation to keep going with your prospecting tactics.
2.Keep track of your numbers – metrics are important
Focus on the numbers. They are essential in prospecting since the number of prospects you speak with will lead to predictable outcomes.
A clear understanding of your numbers helps you in planning appropriately to achieve the set targets. Given the many external factors that may come into play, variations will occur in the numbers, but you will always have an accurate picture of your sales process status.
Remember, it is the number of people you speak to and the number of people who say “yes” to a first meeting.
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION:
How many “no’s” do you get before you get a “yes”?
3.Use a CRM to track female clients – know your next step
CRM software will make your life easier since it will generate the statistics you need. This is a way of being able to develop an action plan for pending tasks alongside the prospects you are communicating with.
4.Handling rejection – it’s not you, I promise
Rejection is a healthy part of the prospecting process. How you handle rejection as a financial advisor is what defines the boundaries of your ‘business health’. Advisors who have a hard time accepting rejection may feel hopeless.
Don’t take anything personally! Prospects are not rejecting you! “No” might be the answer now, but “yes” could be in your future soon.
5.Create a custom script to speak to women prospective clients
What works for one person will not necessarily work for you, so having an original script makes your contact unique.
A script for every stage of the prospecting process is necessary as it will help you eliminate any surprise elements along the journey. It gives you confidence knowing the direction you will take your conversation.
The scripts may vary from one contact to another. Your script may start out one way and take a different turn. It’s important to flesh out the possibilities. The prospecting efforts of any financial advisor will be improved when a script is used.
Try this prospecting script here: https://www.prosperitycoaching.biz/blog/x-financial-advisor-prospecting-script-first-meeting/
6.Leverage your client list
Leverage will amplify your business. It involves maximizing your advantage. It begins by identifying your loyal clients and studying their patterns or the specific characteristics that make them essential to your business.
Understand them fully and you will achieve a milestone towards leveraging your relationship with them.
THE KEY: Contact them on a regular basis and find many ways to ask for referrals in a natural and creative way.
7.Express appreciation to your women clients
Plan out your year and organize at least one client appreciation event. Here are 5 excellent ideas for Client Appreciation Events. During Covid, we may need to be more creative, so here are 20 more ideas.
8.Create strategic alliances that serve you
Referral partners are vital in the life of a financial advisor seeking prospective clients. These partners include insurance agents, estate attorneys, or CPAs. A good opportunity may be inviting these referral partners to the client appreciation events I mentioned earlier.
It’s important to have several CPA’s to refer your own clients to, so find 3 -5 suitable prospects. Teach them that you work with women and that you understand their concerns.
9.Use of direct mail
While direct mail is not the best avenue for advisors who work with anyone and everyone, when you work with women as your target client, direct mail can work to garner interest. Get to their hot buttons and points of pain in the direct mail. See my image above at the top of the blog post and you will get a few ideas.
10.Get involved in your community in women’s issues
Interaction with the local community and organizing small volunteer events will enable you to meet more people and a minimal cost—the choice of the event in which you volunteer matters. Get involved in the events that you are passionate about, not just joining for the sake of it.
11.Cold Calling women prospects
Effective use of cold calling can attract more prospects if you have a script (see above) and something of value for women to offer them. An ebook about women and money. An event focused on women’s financial issues.
It is not always about the number of calls, but the quality of the content delivered.
If you make 25 calls to get 1 “yes”, then making 50 calls will get you 2 “yes’s”!
12.Utilize LinkedIn to find women prospective clients
Networking on LinkedIn can open your circle in many ways. A financial advisor prospecting for women clients can become actively involved in groups for women. Something as simple as asking a question in a group, while using a visual image, can call attention to your financial practice.
13.Perfect your elevator speech
It is always good to appear professional even when you are caught unprepared. A dream prospect may approach via phone or at an event when you least expect it. Creating small talk when you have excellent elevator speech will help you gather your thoughts quickly while remaining relevant.
Remember, the conversation is critical since it can help you win or lose a prospect.
Looking for a great guide to writing your elevator speech?
14.Leveraging your website
Your website is a robust tool that is entirely under your control. The website is capable of sending warm leads your way even when you are not making any effort. I like to say that your website works for you 24 hours a day, even when you are sleeping.
Maximizing your website is a simple process. As a financial advisor, start by creating a landing page for women in various stages and transitions of life. Speak to their pain and concerns. Have a way for women to book a call with you by using Calendly or ScheduleOnce.
Final thoughts
Prospecting is a form of marketing, but all marketing is not prospecting. Prospecting is face to face communication and stepping outside your comfort zone to attract women clients, whether via cold calling or using your website. Clients events or centers of influence.
Attracting women clients is about identifying a market gap. Women are under-served in financial services and you have a passion for working with them. Use some of these ideas to attract more female clients!
