One of the interesting things about fishing in the ocean is, at a minimum, you never know what you’re going to get. Big fish, little fish, good fish, bad fish, tennis shoe. It’s always a surprise.
One of the challenges for financial advisors using media or marketing is casting a pretty wide net and not knowing what’s going to come back. You could get people that have $5 million — or you could get people that have $50,000.
That’s when an advisor might say, we need a qualifier. The question is: does it work? Or is there a better way?
Finding the Right Language
Establishing a minimum can work, if you use some other language around it. In determining a minimum, some advisors use verbiage like: “If you’ve saved $500,000 or more for retirement, give us a call for our free portfolio X-ray.” Again, the question here is, does that work or is there a better way?
Why put a number on that? Because that’s where the power of planning really kicks in. That’s where you’ll see the benefits of investment planning, social security planning, tax planning, and estate planning. That’s where I think it can work for you.
Pin a Minimum Age
But there are some other options for you. You could tie it to a minimum age. You could say something to the effect of, if you’re 59 or older, give us a call. That way you eliminate the 40- and 50-year-olds who really can’t retire yet, and they can’t tap into their 401(k).
Determine Your Range
You could also tie it to a minimum range of wealth.
One of my advisors says, sure, we have people that walk through the door that have $5 million, but 95 % of the people that come see us have been great savers and they’ve saved $2 million or less. He goes on to say, if you’re trying to beat the market by 2%, we might not be a good fit, but if you’ve saved in a 401k and social security and you want to know what your income is going to be in retirement, we are a great fit. Now look what you’ve done. You’ve elevated your client by telling them they’re a great saver.
You’ve also told them that you do deal with people who have great wealth. So, let’s put that one to bed. And when they sit down with you and say, am I a good fit here? You can show them that their needs and your skills are a perfect match.
One place you want to cast a wide net is the Impact YouTube channel. There, you can check out our long-running House Rules series, or subscribe and get every new video right on your desktop!
