Agents and Advisors: Are You Courting Your Prospects?

Written By : Clifford Blodgett

Meet our fictitious friend, “Justin”…

Justin is a successful, attractive single man. He has decided he wants to get married and start a family, so he crafts a very practical, logical plan to achieve that goal. He joins an online dating website, writes a profile detailing all of his wonderful qualities, and uploads an attractive photo. He includes a strong “call to action”, and feels optimistic about his romantic future.

But after a few months of dating, Justin is still single. He has been on numerous first dates with a few great “prospects” who, by his judgment, would have made great wives.   His business training taught him to always “ask for the sale”, so he applied this practice to his dating life hoping to cut to the chase and be as direct as possible with his dates. After all, he was ready to end his single life right now so why not let everyone know right up front. Unfortunately, Justin’s strategy and impatience made his dating prospects run away.

To add insult to injury, most of those women he dated are now in a committed, long-term relationships with other men they met on the same dating site.

What did Justin do wrong? What did each of those other men do right?

Before we make a very important commitment to someone, whether in our romance lives or in business, most of us prefer to spend time getting to know that person first. In dating, we put energy into a long courtship period. We spend time with that person, we get to know them, we learn to trust them… before we’re willing to make a commitment.

How does this apply to your marketing?

Quite often, financial advisors have great intentions of finding prospects and immediately converting them into clients, but they overlook the courtship phase!

Yes, of course you want to help your prospects achieve financial prosperity. Of course you are an honest, trustworthy, and skilled financial advisor. Of course you have the best intentions! But it takes time for a prospect to see those things for themselves. People are naturally reserved and cautious about making the biggest decisions of their lives, from committing to a spouse to choosing a financial advisor who will manage their money for years to come.

That first date would rarely even say yes to a marriage proposal. So why would you expect a prospect to put their life savings in your hands after one online interaction? Bottom line is that they probably won’t and we shouldn’t have that expectation.

So what does it take to convert a prospect into a client? Just as people go on many dates and spend time getting to know one another before tying the knot, you should expect to “woo” your clients through multiple online interactions. You might demonstrate your expertise through regular blogging, display your personality in a video, or build trust and rapport through social media posts and carefully scripted emails.

Most prospects are not going to “opt in” simply because they see your website and call to action. Just as Justin shouldn’t have been discouraged by the scarcity of women willing to marry him after one date, you shouldn’t be discouraged by the lack of prospects who convert after viewing your website one time! Yet through a continued courtship, you will build a relationship that can lead to a beneficial partnership for both of you. And that is how you achieve online marketing success!

Filed under: Social Media for Financial Advisors