Archive for May, 2011

Knowing your Tribe is the single greatest factor when hosting a seminar.  Understanding who your tribal market is can be the single greatest factor in generating the results you want from your seminar. To develop a powerful seminar program you must commit to and totally embrace the concept of Tribal Marketing.

No, that wasn’t a typo. I have always been a big believer in “target” marketing and have always applied it in my many sales positions. In my coaching and training, however I have found most Financial Advisors highly resistant to the concept. Although intellectually they seem to recognize the value, agreeing to the concept and actually applying it seems to be a huge leap and a difficult stretch for most.

I was introduced to the concept of tribal marketing by Dave Logan and John King in their book Tribal Leadership. Where target marketing has evolved into an over-taught redundant concept, tribal marketing helps to bring the concept home. Tribal marketing helps us to embrace the importance of the “niche” concept and validates the need for its application.

So, what is tribal marketing?

Think of a tribe as a group of people who naturally gravitate to one another based on a commonality. It could be your status in life, your religion or beliefs. A tribe is a group of people with whom you feel comfortable, at ease, and accepted. This is the same feeling we are trying to create in your business.

If you prospect individuals that would naturally be a part of your tribe, the process becomes easier, almost effortless. The clients become more loyal than those you struggled to accept. When you can identify your tribe and your tribal market, you will naturally have a better understanding of the challenges they experience, the things that are important to them and the solutions that appeal to them.

So, why is this concept of tribal marketing so important when talking about seminars?

Probably the most common mistake of all seminars is they are not driven by the needs and interests of a tribal market. So much of the time, we focus on what we think our clients and prospects should be interested in, and not what they actually are interested in. Because of this attitude, many financial advisors have had less than successful events. If we can communicate our understanding of what is important to our market, we are better able to attract their attention and interest.

Before you host your next event be certain you have clearly defined your tribal market and that your topic, venue even invitations reflect the style and interests of your tribal market. Stay focused on your tribal market, their issues and concerns and you will naturally begin to attract more of your ideal clients.

I never knew how hard it is to receive. We go through life focused on not being selfish, giving to others but few women have truly been taught to receive. I know I’m not the only one because most of the female financial advisors I coach have the same problem. 

When I ask my clients especially the female advisors “What are you doing well?” there is a long pause as their minds dig deep struggling to verbalize, battling the fear of appearing conceited.  Yet when I ask them what isn’t working the list flows off their tongue in rapid fire bringing lots of emotion to our call.

As women we will never achieve the greatness we are destined to reach until we can learn to give AND receive.  Being able to receive allows us to stand in our power, acknowledging our strengths, gaining confidence in our accomplishments, fueling our fire.  This is a far cry from being conceited. When we deny ourselves this recognition we create a self imposed ceiling preventing the growth and progress we want.

While for many receiving comes easy for many of us hard charging, get it done kind of women receiving is a process we must learn.  Here I am almost 53 years young and I too am working through this process.

1. The first step is recognizing the value and the importance of receiving and embracing your strengths. You must grasp that to achieve the success you dreamed learning to receive is a critical component.  Success is not just about “doing”.
2. Keep a receiving journal, as you begin this receiving journey you may need to keep a mini journal in your purse like me.  I am so use to ignoring and brushing off compliments I fail to remember them at the end of the day so I must learn to write them down when I hear them.
3. Journal every night listing all the compliments and ways you added value to your clients, your family your world.  You need to boastful to help rebuild that aspect of yourself that has been for the most part inactive.
4. Accept compliments without disclaimers do not minimize the compliment or the value you provide. For those novice receivers just say “Thank You” and hold your tongue.
5. Share your strengths each week with a friend. The more you verbalize the more you are building that aspect of your brain that has been dormant

Don’t expect to become a “Receiver” overnight.  We have spent most all of our lives (not counting  the terrible two’s and the selfish teenage years) giving most all of our self away.  It is time to reclaim who we are as women, it is time to embrace and own our strength.  It is then that we can step into our Power and achieve our soul’s desire.

I’m sitting in my home surrounded by good looking men. The saw’s are buzzing with paint fumes wafting through the house.  I’m sitting at a makeshift desk positioned in the middle of my living room.  My desk is way too small and all my files are spread out all over the room.  I had to clear out of my office to make room for the workers.

 I could easily let this disruption distract me from my work, from completing important activities needed to grow my business but I won’t.  Life is all about distractions but how often we let those distractions consume us preventing progress and denying ourselves of the success we want.  

As a female financial advisor it is easy to find 100 reasons why we can’t get to the important activities. We allow phone calls, family issues, paperwork, technology to distract us from what is really important, serving clients and developing new relationships.  We may leave the office feeling busy when in fact we accomplished very little in terms of growing the business.  Barbara Stanny had a fabulous term for this called ATBS = Addicted to busyness Syndrome. 

There is a HUGE difference between being busy and being productive.  We tend to relish in our busy-ness, this hectic schedule becomes our comfort zone, a place where we can justify our daily habits while being less than productive. 

Life will ALWAYS get in the way if we let it, the key is knowing what is important and what activities are absolutely necessary to drive business growth.  As you begin each day look at your To-do list, identify the activities that will have the greatest impact on growing your business.  Put everything else off until those activities have been completed, then at the end of the day be very aware of how that makes you feel. 

For just 1 week, 5 business days, start every morning focused solely on business building activities, hold all calls, postpone meetings, block out everything until you have completed your most important priorities. 

Remember discipline is doing what you need to do, when you need to do it even when you don’t want to…

OK I’m going to get really honest with you today. I just returned from Barbara Stanny’s Sacred Retreat, I loved it but for totally surprising reasons. I have done joint work with Barbara for years, seen her present but NEVER participated in any of her workshops.  So this past week I took the train to Baltimore and spent 4 days with 20 other women watching Barbara do her thing, WOW.

Since I didn’t have a burning need or felt like I had a gaping hole in my life I went into the program being open with no expectations (or so I thought).  The first day my mind was jumbled but I’ve learned enough to let it be jumbled, while I’m always looking to get some new inspirational fuel for my business I didn’t let that dominate my thoughts. What I got was so much more.

I have built my life around giving to others, motivating inspiring other women to be more and achieve more I know this is my purpose in life.  What I haven’t done is learn to RECEIVE.  By not receiving I have denied myself some wonderful friendships with women who can support me, guide me and help ME nourish my soul.  I needed to learn how to be a friend, how to MAKE friends how to stop turning the friendships I have into coaching relationships me doing all the giving and they getting to receive.

What’s interesting is that when I share my “lack” of friendships with the female financial advisors I coach MANY of them admit sharing the same challenge. They have spent so many years surrounded by men, approaching their business life as a man they now struggle to relate and connect with women.  There is something totally unnatural about all this.

We have been taught that it is better to give than to receive but what Barbara helped to clarify is that true greatness is when you can do both.  To receive you must be willing to put yourself out there, share your thoughts and feelings. While I can do that well in a business/coaching relationship I have not allowed myself the true benefits that come from a friendship.

What is amazing about this journey of life is that there is always something new to discover about yourself.  I have spent so many years focused on building a business as a result business activities have become my comfort zone.  It is time to stretch again, time to focus on an area of my life that will enhance my role as a mother as well as a coach and consultant.  I so look forward to developing some new reciprocal friendships with some fun and fabulous women.

Even female financial advisors need to learn how to more effectively connect with the female client.  While for many this comes naturally by becoming more conscious of what you are doing and why it can enhance your ability to connect and attract even more affluent women to your practice.  But the factors that work for the female client also work for the female advisors.

At my workshop The Keys to the Ladies Room I work with the audience to uncover the strengths that women bring to the world.  We then go through the exercise of understanding how women have used those strengths in all aspects of their lives. The concept being those strengths has served women well so why not apply those same strengths to managing their money.

The same holds true for female financial advisors, especially those that have been weaned and trained in the traditional male industry.  If they would only revert back to using their feminine strengths and apply those strengths to managing and growing their business, success will come faster and easier.

In my Savvy Women Invest On Purpose seminar we zero in on three of the most important strengths for women:

• Women are driven by a purpose
• Women require a process
• Women value relationships

As a female financial advisor this is a great place to start, consider the following three strengths and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Why is this strength important to me?
2. How have I incorporated this strength in other aspects of my life?
3. How am I incorporating this strength into my business NOW?