Redefining Your Prospects

Today’s market conditions require that you adjust the way you see and define the marketplace.  Successful financial services planners know they cannot be all things to all people.  They have to focus their efforts and relate to the people.

To focus your efforts and establish marketable relationships, examine how people interact and build mutually rewarding relationships with one another.   You will quickly realize that they usually organize or associate with one another based on what they do for a living, (their profession, type of business, or occupation), or what they do for recreation (play sports or join clubs).  Many also organize and associate based on their social, charitable, cultural, or community interests and ethnic backgrounds.  Remember the old truism, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

People associate and communicate with other people like themselves.  For instance, people in the same type of business or profession join together in an association.  People who play golf associate at country clubs.  To gain access to the marketplace, you should divide it based on how they associate and communicate with one another.  The advantage is that by segmenting your market into niches, you can reach out to specific groups of prospects.  They get to know you and the relationship-building process can begin.  Without focusing on specific groups that associate and communicate, your marketing and prospecting efforts will continue to be frustrating and expensive. 

  Think about it:  

• Isn’t it likely that real estate attorneys will associate with other real estate attorneys or orthodontists will socialize with other orthodontists?
• Wouldn’t the members of a bicycle club, tennis club, or ethnic social group compare notes with one another about how satisfied they are with a product or service?
• Don’t the parents of children in a particular elementary school relate and communicate with each other on a regular basis?  As evidence of this, elementary school PTA and PSTA membership is soaring.
• Isn’t it true that people who own auto dealerships belong to a common group with their peers?  Don’t dry cleaners follow the same path?
• Is it fair to say that many corporate human resources directors and other executives belong to a group of their peers as well?

The objective is not to segment the marketplace just so you can divide and conquer, nor is it to get a more defined mailing list of prospects.  You should divide the marketplace into segments or niches to first, better understand the people in the markets and build solid relationships with them  relationships based on mutual respect, honesty, and integrity.  Second, by focusing on how people in the specific markets interact with one another, you can target your relationship marketing and prospecting activities specifically to them and for  them.  This combination of targeted effort and ethical behavior will give you  favorable access to them and others like them.  How, then, can you segment your  clients and prospects so that you know the best markets for you and where you want to concentrate your relationship prospecting efforts? 

Here are several steps to help you find success:

1. Print out your best 40 clients or prospects.  Print the names of the individuals in list form.  It matters not what type of product they have or could purchase, you simply want the names from which to work.

2. Write adjacent to their name what each of these individuals does for a living.  Be very specific in your answers.  If they’re a small business owner,    indicate what type of small business they are in; if they’re a professional, indicate what type of profession (not just “doctor,” but what type of doctor, not just “attorney,” but what type of attorney); if they’re in an occupation, write down their specific occupation.  This will help you later when you group people together that have a tendency to associate and communicate with one another.  Then list what each of these individuals does for recreation and where.  Again, be very specific.  Be sure to include organizations to which they belong.    

Finally, adjacent to their name, list what each of these individual’s special interests are (ethnic, religious, cultural, etc.) and the special-interest organizations to which they belong.  As an aside, if you have no idea what your clients or prospects do for recreation or what their special interests are, you have an additional issue to address.  Is it possible that you’re not meeting all of their needs because you don’t know them well enough?

Perhaps there is an opportunity there to solve other needs or desires that they have relative to their interests and pursuits outside of their business or occupation.  And isn’t it also possible that if you don’t know what they do for recreation or special interest, opportunities to reach other people just like them through referrals, networking, and cultivation techniques could be missed?

3. After you have determined the scope of your clients’ interests and  involvements, begin to group your list together based upon your interest level.  If you want to work with individuals based upon what they do for a living, then group together those that have the same occupation, profession, or small business.  If you would prefer to work with individuals based upon their recreational pursuits, group them likewise.  The same for their special interests.

4. Finally, take a step back and decide which of these groups you         would     like to build future business around.  The most important point to remember is to pick the group or groups where you feel you have an affinity or link.  In other words, work with individuals with whom you feel you have something in common.

By doing this, you will be working with individuals that you’re comfortable with and that associate and communicate with one another.  That means you can associate with them comfortably and they can communicate about you when you’re not there.  Most importantly, by focusing on how people in specific markets  interact with one another, you can target your relationship marketing and prospecting efforts specifically to them and for them.  This combination of targeted effort founded on ethical relationships will give you favorable access to them and others like them.