Archive for August, 2010

Statistics indicate that women will soon be controlling the majority of the country’s wealth. This realization has really shaken up an industry that has long ignored the female segment of the market. Masculine marketing campaigns were redesigned to catch a woman’s attention, and educating Advisors about the specific needs and concerns of women has suddenly become a focus.

At the same time, we are still reeling from the meltdown of 2009. Bernie Madoff, Enron and derivatives will haunt our industry, and our clients, for a long time – a stain of greed and corruption that will be hard to escape.

With a traumatized industry, increasing numbers of women controlling wealth, the role of female Advisors is more important than ever, I believe the time is right for a revolution in financial services – and I see women leading the way.

The Time is Right for Feminine Traits in the Financial Industry

      A higher level of ethics

      Gatherer vs. Hunter

      Oriented toward more security, less risks

      Better Communication

      Empathy

      Nurturing

      Inclusive

      Collaboration

      Diffused Awareness

      Global/Community perspective

Female Advisors the time is NOW.  Don’t overlook the power of your natural strengths, the industry is craving what you provide naturally.  Be yourself in EVERY aspect of your business and the business will come.

I don’t get it. The absolute, number 1, no doubt about it factor that can have the single greatest impact on accelerating the growth of your business is having a clearly defined target market, yet this single concept continues to elude financial advisors, circumventing their progress.  You can have a fabulous investment model,  all the best systems and processes in place, you can invest in a consistent marketing strategy, you can incorporate events, workshops even conference calls into your business but unless you have a clearly defined target market you will expend tremendous effort generating minimal results. This concept of targeting marketing is not new and is actually working effectively in many other aspects of your life you just don’t recognize it. Here is a perfect example:

Years ago my husband and I decided to buy a new car, we had no idea what we wanted.  So one weekend we went car shopping going from dealership to dealership, listening to all the sales presentations, only to return home more confused and frustrated.  So my husband and I sat down at the kitchen table and discussed what we want the car to do for us.  We knew we wanted the car to be able fit 8 adults to accommodate our family.  We also wanted a car that come hell or high snow drifts we could get out of the driveway and allow us to make our way to work, thus 4 wheel drive was a must.  Lastly as value was more important to us than image we wanted a reliable car at a good value.  With a more defined description of what we wanted we went back out to the dealerships for one last attempt.  This time we spent less time, expended less effort and achieved success more quickly.  We purchased a Nissan Armada, we had never noticed a Nissan Armada before but with a clear focus as to what we were looking for the Armada easily stood out.  As we drove off the lot, although we never noticed the Armada’s before we immediately started noticing our same car everywhere, they were passing us on the road, parked in the street, driving out of driveways. We never noticed them before, but now that we had one they were popping up everywhere.

Our car buying experience is no different than the power of having a target market.  When you can clearly define who your target market is, your prospecting efforts become more focused and efficient.  When you focus solely on the needs and interest of a particular target market, like our Nissan Armada opportunities will begin appearing everywhere, opportunities you would have otherwise missed.  If you do not currently have a specific target market, if you can’t clearly describe your ideal client in a manner that is compelling then stop everything and take the time and make target marketing your number one priority.