3 ways to get the low-hanging fruit

 by Tony Vidler.

Everyone wants business to be as easy as possible, yet we so often make it harder than it has to be. What's wrong with living on some low hanging fruit if there is more of it than you can eat?

Nothing is wrong with it - it's smart business.  It's not always simple to recognise where the easy business is, but some very interesting and provocative numbers have caught my attention recently, and provided the answers to where the "easiest" business is to be had.

• 81% of New Zealand consumers get their primary financial information from somewhere other than an adviser
• 60% of advisers describe themselves differently to what they actually do.
• 79% of marketing generated leads never convert to sales/customers

If you think about it, you know instinctively that the more time you spend with people giving them good practical help without pressure, then the more likely they are to turn into good long term customers that trust you and follow your advice. The statistics above merely provide evidence that this is so.

There is strong international evidence showing "nurtured" leads make 47% larger purchases than newly qualified people who are being "sold to" immediately. Those nurtured leads also have higher conversion rates - 50% more result in sales. From a cost per client perspective the research says nurtured leads actually cost about 33% less to acquire in marketing costs, than quick one-off sales.

Several conclusions stand out:

1. There HAS to be a massive opportunity for advisers to engage better with their existing clients. The stats say most of your own clients don't see you as their primary information source. Adviser check: Do you have a content strategy within your marketing to ensure that you are delivering the right sort of information consistently to be THE trusted source? If not, why not? It HAS to be where the easiest wins are - or the "low-hanging fruit" (and lots of it too it seems).

2. There HAS to be a trust-barrier between the consumer and the adviser if what the adviser says they do, is not what the consumer sees in action. That HAS to affect the advisers ability to do the business. Adviser check: is your marketing, information, branding and labeling actually consistent with what you really do? If you have a clever and grand-sounding title is it consistent with what the consumer sees and hears you talking about? If not, change the title. Or do what you say you are.

3. Given the choice between spending limited marketing budget on generating new leads - most of whom you will never get across the line - or spending it on existing customers, which is logically the best allocation of your limited resource? Adviser check: if you dare, work out how much you spent on marketing for new clients, and how many new clients you actually got for it. Compare it to how much you spent on "marketing" to your existing clients - and how much you got from that.
 

The conclusion is a simple one, and so simple it is almost unbelievable for most advisers. But the evidence in the form of pure sales results and client engagement that are being generated by advisers who have tried it are compelling.

Here is their formula:

• Talk to your own clients and networks. 
• Tell them what you do. 
• Try to help them and give them useful information - be there for them. 
• Be the person they trust for reliable and practical financial information. 
• Do your job well, and place their interests first. 
• Do it all constantly.

Simple and consistent content marketing of useful information to build trust and credibility, within your own network and clientele to begin with, is the most effective marketing spend. It is also the most effective way to get the low hanging fruit - and there is a lot more of it ready to be picked than most advisers realise.


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