7 Tips for Getting More Meetings with Prospective Clients

Posted by:CLIFTON WARREN onAugust 22, 2019

Building a successful financial service business is not complicated, but then again, I won’t pretend that it’s easy. If it were, there would be a lot more top producing professionals.

In the 20 years I’ve been advising, coaching and training professionals I have identified the biggest challenge for many professionals: getting meetings with qualified prospective clients.

Here are 7 proven tips top professional use to obtain new business meetings with prospective clients:

Tip 1: Never purchase a cold list

According to research, everyone knows between 300 and 600 people. Rather than buy a list, construct your own.

Using your old address books, contact lists, and social media connections, assemble your list on a spreadsheet or a contact management system, such as Outlook.

Tip 2: Be sure to categorise your list

Not all contacts are created equal. Sort yours into categories:

Category 1 – Strangers, or people you don’t know well.

Category 2 – People with whom you have some affinity – members of a club or association.

Category 3 – Current clients, past or lost clients, and prospective clients.

Focus only on individuals in Categories 2 and 3 – people who already know you.

Tip 3: Use multiple contact or reach-out methods

A reach-out is an attempt to make contact with a prospective client. Try various approaches, including direct mail, warm emails, networking, seminars, attending conferences, obtaining referrals and, of course, phone calls.

I like to use email (I work hard to make these ‘warm’) followed by a phone call to arrange a meeting.

Choose two reach-out methods.

Tip 4: Don’t forget to follow up

At any given time, only 3% of your market is actively buying, 40% is poised to begin, and 56% is not ready. Follow up methods include phone calls, emails, newsletter, website and public relations.

Selecting one follow up method to complement your initial reach-out approach.

Tip 5: Create a nurturing plan

For prospective clients who are not yet ready to do business with you, you should have a ‘nurturing plan’, so that you stay on their radar screen. Nurturing approaches might include blogs, articles, books and white papers.

Choose one nurturing approach to keep prospective clients alive in your sales pipeline.

Tip 6: Block out some marketing time – every day

Treat your marketing tasks like an appointment you must keep. Start with just 15 minutes per day and build up to 30 minutes – every day. The secret is always to be marketing.

Marketing for just 15 minutes per day adds up to more than one hour per week. That’s five hours per month!

Tip 7: Try ‘gamifying’ it

At the start of the year, comedian Jerry Seinfeld would hang a large year-at-a-glance calendar on his wall. Every day, he would write new material (a joke), and draw a big red ‘X’ over that day’s date. He was motivated because he didn’t want to break the chain.

It can work for you.

Do your marketing first thing every morning and don’t break the chain!

Follow these seven tips and your marketing will soon become a habit that, over time, will generate a 20% to 50% response rate.

At that point your marketing will become more enjoyable, predictable and rewarding!

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