I happened to be at a speed networking event in my hometown last night. It was a very small, intimate group of locals, gathered together to drum up business. Out of the 10 people who showed up, 5 were wealth advisors. And sadly, they looked and sounded like they were anything but prosperous. As an Elevator Pitch coach and Marketing Strategist, I think I have a few theories about why. If you’re in that industry, listen up.

Cold Calling Is Still Taught

I could hardly believe my ears as a Millennial wealth advisor told me that his primary method of getting new clients was cold calling. I had to shake myself to make sure that I hadn’t fallen back in time to a time warp in 1980. I calmed myself and asked him how many calls it took to get a meeting. This was his answer “well I can only actually reach 2 people out of 10 calls. Then out of 10 people I reach, I get maybe 2 meetings.” I was appalled at that ratio. What’s more appalling is that praying and spraying is still the primary method taught in this and many other industries that are sales driven. I have nothing against cold calling but there are soo many more effective and efficient ways to get clients in today’s world.

Nobody Has a Target or a Niche

The biggest issue for all of the advisors that I met was that none of them had a specific industry or interest group target and none were specialized in any one need for that target. They simply rattled off a bunch of services for a very generic group of people. Generic is the kiss of death in marketing because it makes absolutely 100% sure that prospects forget you. So I took the 5 minutes we were given for our speed networking to educate them about this tiny fact.

Results

At the end of the night, I felt satisfied. I felt like I’d helped each and every one of those wealth advisors without wealth. I gave them ideas for marketing tools to focus and to niche. I told them success stories of clients I’d helped niche. In the morning, I got an email from the organizers of the speed networking event saying that although I had selected no one, everyone had selected me for a next contact. As a result, I was invited back for free as a permanent guest at their events! Well how do you like them apples!!

So please, if you’re a wealth advisor and you’re reading this article, just try one of these suggestions and in no time, you’ll be investing your own riches!

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