Build Your Client Base by Nurturing Leads with Social Media

Written By : Clifford Blodgett

Imagine that you speak to a prospect at a networking event, we’ll call him Jeff.  Jeff fits your idea of the perfect client: He’s a business owner, in his fifties, and earns about $300,000 per year. He tells you about his wife and two children in college, and speaks of planning his daughter’s upcoming wedding and his hopes for grandchildren.  I can really help this guy, you think to yourself. We can put together a fantastic plan and leave a legacy for those grandchildren.

You ask Jeff if you can give him a call sometime, to discuss ideas you have in mind for him. He gives you his card, but tells you that he’ll be in Europe for the next two months on an extended anniversary trip with his wife. You promise to call him after he returns.

When that day comes, you give Jeff a call at his office. He’s courteous, but brief. He isn’t interested in discussing investment options at this time.

What happened?

Jeff lost his motivation. To you, this call was an important date marked on your calendar. But meanwhile, Jeff was in Europe, touring vineyards and visiting historical sites with his wife. He returned just in time for his daughter’s wedding, and now he’s back at the office catching up on events he missed while his right-hand man was in charge. To you, the day you met Jeff was a hopeful moment. But to Jeff, you were just a blip on his radar. Remember, Jeff is approached by financial advisors all the time.

What could you have done differently?

Now imagine if you’d had a way to stay in touch with Jeff while he was away on his trip. Calling him would have been overly pushy, and that’s why you didn’t do it. But you needed to keep his interest alive, and provide the motivation for him to look forward to your future phone call. You needed some way to nurture the lead.

While Jeff was in Europe, he probably checked his email every day. Most likely, he also posted some pictures of his trip to Facebook, or kept in touch with colleagues through LinkedIn. These were user-controlled experiences. Jeff wasn’t bothered by anyone during his vacation, but he was still in touch with his regular contacts.

Imagine if you had sent Jeff frequent email updates full of relevant information.  Or what if you had been present, posting interesting blogs, in his LinkedIn or Facebook news feeds? Jeff would have been reminded of you regularly. He would have clicked through to read some of your blogs, or perhaps he would have read your emails with interest. Now you wouldn’t have been just a blip on his radar.  Jeff would have remembered your name, and viewed you as a trusted source of valuable information.  Jeff would have been waiting for your phone call, and he would have received it much more willingly.

Nurturing a lead can be a tricky business. The last thing you want to do is allow ideal clients to forget about you. But you also don’t want to bombard them with constant annoying messages, or irrelevant content that doesn’t interest them! Remember to carefully craft your messages, whether they are blog articles or email newsletters, and provide content that your prospects will actually want to read. Then make sure you are contacting them frequently enough that your name becomes familiar to them, but not so much that you turn them off.

Once you master the fine art of email and social media marketing, you will discover that prospects like Jeff don’t forget about you. They feel as though they already know you, and they’re ready for your call when you make contact. They may even come walking through your door.

Need help putting this type of social media program in place?  Let us know and we can help!

Filed under: Social Media for Financial Advisors