Advisers can benefit from adopting more inventive approaches to generating business and getting clients through the door, writes Vanessa Stoykov
I have always lived by the ethos that if you want something badly enough, you keep trying until you get it.
The same can be applied to landing the clients and partners your business needs. Sometimes good old fashioned stalking can get you a result. By stalking I mean a relentless persistence in demonstrating your value (and not in a way that makes your desired client or partners take out an AVO, of course). Rather, initiatives that are inventive, varied and measured over a reasonable timeframe are needed to remind your prospects why they need you.
There are two variables to this tactic: working to a deadline (ie, a deal only works if a timeframe is met) and your connections.
With a deadline is looming to get a client in the door, I have always found the direct approach to be best. State your case in multiple ways: via email, through a phone call, and also via anyone you know that knows that client. So work your connections. No matter how tenuous it is, some connection is better than going in cold. If there are six degrees of separation between us and Kevin Bacon, then surely there are even less to the client or partner you desire. A common hairdresser? Maybe your child’s school? Or even a sporting team? Once you find a connection, work it.
I always loved the movie Wall Street – yes, I am a product of the 80s. Budd Fox wanted to get to know Gordon Gekko – so he called his office every day for a year, and bought his favourite Cuban cigars on his birthday. He also had the good sense to butter up his EA.
We can all take a lesson from Budd Fox on this. Getting to know our potential clients or partners and make an effort that is about them – not what we want. Sometimes it seems like everyone is so focused on their outcome and what they want, that we forget to stop and think what interests and motivates those around us.
Once you have stated your case, shown interest in them, and gotten to know stakeholders around them, you can stop the stalking. Sit back and wait, and reap the benefit of your inventiveness.
If of course you do not get the desired response, it is time put them in the ‘later’ file (known as your database). Don’t give up. Just wait – an opportunity will come at a later date. Remember, this is a long-term game, and persistence and patience pays off.
