SMART ADVISOR MARKETING

A week or so ago we got a call from one of our customers who wanted to know if we did ‘email capture’. We explained that his website visitors can sign up for a newsletter, request information or enroll for an event and when they did that they supplied their email address.

No, that’s not what he was looking for, he said. He had heard about some software that could be put on a web page that would spy on visitors and capture their email address. This is a form of spyware. And no, we don’t offer anything like this. But it raises some important questions about email and why you need to be completely permission based with your email marketing.

So what’s the goal? To grow a large list or create new clients? If the goal is create new clients, then they have to be reading your messages. If your emails are blocked by the ISP, or put in the Junk folder or deleted, you don’t accomplish the goal. The best way to get your messages read is to be a ‘Trusted Sender’ in the eyes of your recipient.

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We just returned from the Senior Market Advisor Expo in Las Vegas. We can’t say enough about the quality of the folks that came by to see us. This year there was a genuine interest in trying to offer quality service to their clients. Most of the advisors were trying to build systems to stay in communication with their clients. Most of the advisors we spoke to were also recognizing that they needed to get a strong internet presence to reach the baby boomer market. And many advisors were focusing on systems to reach the children so they could keep the assets.

The educational sessions were similarly focused on communication and building stronger relationships. The most highly regarded session had to be from Kelly Shaw, who talked about the ‘Top Ten Tips from Leading Advisors’. He constructed it by interviewing top advisors at the conference - these are guys who are generating $750,000 to over $1 million a year in income.

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Now is not the time to hide from your clients. Yes, the financial markets are in more turmoil than they have been in a couple of years. Yes, there’s a national election on the horizon that could change many of our tax and retirement plans. Yes, there’s the potential for greater terrorist violence. But now is the time to be proactive with your clients.

Here’s what’s interesting about crisis situations - people want to connect. We can look back at 9/11 and see how communication impacts client relationships. According to studies by CEG Worldwide, when clients were contacted, over 97% of them saw their esteem for their advisor’s rise. But there were practical ramifications as well. Over 78% of affluent clients who were contacted said they were likely to move more assets to their advisors’ while ‘almost none’ of the clients who were not contacted were inclined to add assets. Almost 40% of those who were not contacted were seeking a new advisor and 0% of those who were contacted were looking for a change.

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Washington, D.C., Aug. 7, 2007 — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced today that the agency will hold its second annual Seniors Summit on Sept. 10, 2007, at the SEC’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. The event will further examine how regulators, community organizations, and others can increasingly coordinate efforts to protect older Americans from abusive sales practices and investment fraud.

AARP, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) will be other leading participants at the Seniors Summit.

“Americans are living far longer than ever before. As the Baby Boomers reach retirement age, more than 10,000 Americans are turning 60 every day – and the net worth of older Americans is growing to historic proportions. That has made seniors the prime targets for scam artists and securities swindlers. So the SEC is attacking the problem of senior fraud from all angles, with aggressive enforcement efforts, targeted rules and examinations, and investor education focused not only on seniors but their caregivers and pre-retirement workers as well,” Chairman Cox said.

[Via SEC]

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In February 2007, Javelin Strategy reported that 8.4 million Americans became victims of identity fraud in 2006. The FTC calls it the ‘fastest growing white collar crime’. When we surveyed advisor’s recently, they told us that almost 40% of them had experience with identity theft with their friends, family or clients. In a follow up question, less than 25% had spoken with their clients about the problem of identity theft.

Affluent clients are becoming increasingly concerned. As CEG Worldwide said in June, 77.5% of affluent investors they surveyed are very or extremely concerned about having their identity stolen. Your best clients might also be the best targets for identity theft - that’s where the money is!

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