HOW TO START A CLIENT ADVISORY COUNCIL Create a Lightning Rod for Referrals
PRICELESS ADVICE TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS Your best clients know better than anyone what you do well and what you could be doing better. Bringing these clients together as an advisory council can help you find more clients like them and jump-start your business-building efforts. Members of your Client Advisory Council are also likely to increase their referrals when you invite their advice and put their suggestions into action. This brochure offers quick tips on how to get started and how to use the results to your maximum advantage. Not FDIC Insured May Lose Value No Bank Guarantee
INVEST A LITTLE TIME AND REAP BIG BENEFITS Competitor-Proof Your Clients Never before have your clients been bombarded with such a volume of financial information and competing messages from so many different do-it-yourself sources: the internet, financial publications, investing advertisements, chat room advice and 24-hour business television. A Client Advisory Council helps insulate your best clients from competitive threats. When you take the time to involve them in improving and maintaining the quality of your services, you gain their trust and build their loyalty. Build Your Business with a Personalized Focus Group You might suspect you have certain weaknesses, or you might think you re doing a great job. But when you get a forum of your best clients together, you ll find out exactly what they like most about what you do and where they think you could do better. From marketing materials to service issues, a Client Advisory Council acts as a personalized focus group, giving you critical feedback to help you improve your business. Generate More Referrals Perhaps the most immediate impact of a Client Advisory Council is gaining referrals. Letting your top clients the type you d most like to fill your book with know you value them and their opinions, and would welcome their referrals, can be surprisingly rewarding. Your goals are to gain the respect of this group and have them become your personal sales force. 1
STEP 1 ADVANCE PLANNING Select Your Best and Brightest Identify about 15 clients to contact initially, to allow for some who may decline. Ideally, you ll want to have between eight and 12 members on your advisory council, since you want everyone to connect personally. While you ll definitely want to consider clients assets, you should also think about the clients you enjoy working with. Other considerations should include profession and sphere of influence. For example, if the individuals you ve identified, such as attorneys or accountants, have widespread client bases, you may be able to develop promotional partnering opportunities with them. People who enjoy broad spheres of influence typically offer the best potential for putting you in touch with more influential individuals and prospective clients. Choose Where and When Before you invite anyone to be part of your council, you ll want to plan where and when to meet. You want your group to be able to exchange information and ideas easily, without having to speak too loudly or cope with distractions. A restaurant with a private room might be ideal. Personally review the environment and the menus in advance. Checklist Select members Choose meeting place and time Invite members personally Selecting a date and time may depend on the composition of your group. If it includes a fair number of retired people, for example, perhaps a morning brunch would make sense. For business owners, a lunch or dinner might be preferable. Always schedule the date well in advance; allow four weeks for your clients to find room in their schedules. Invite Your Clients Call each client on your list and tell them that, if you could, you d work only with people like them. Add that you have a favor to ask: Would they join a hosted meeting of preferred clients (over brunch, lunch or dinner) and be willing to provide honest feedback about your business and how you can improve it to attract more like-minded investors? After you ve received verbal commitments, follow up in writing, noting the date, time and location. Remember to include your phone number and the phone number of your meeting location, as well as driving directions, if necessary. 2 How to Start a Client Advisory Council
STEP 2 AS THE MEETING APPROACHES Send Confirmations Send a reminder to your group one week before the event. Also, consider sending them an agenda with bullet point topics. Allowing them to think about the topics in advance may help interaction and the quality of feedback you receive. A handwritten note, such as Looking forward to seeing you there, adds a personal touch. Set Your Agenda Whether you send it out in advance or distribute it at the meeting, an agenda will help keep the conversation focused (remember to bring additional copies to the meeting). The list below provides some possible topics. Service. What do you like about the services I provide? What can I do better? Do I contact you enough? Do we meet often enough? Do you feel you can access me quickly and easily if you have questions? How well do I listen? Are my communications clear? Marketing. What do you like and dislike about my informational materials? Would seminars on specific topics be of interest? Make suggestions for seminars and gauge the response. For example, suggest an estate-planning seminar with an attorney as a guest speaker. Business-Building Ideas. Explain that you re trying to do everything you can to give your clients the service they deserve because, primarily, you value their business and want to keep them as satisfied clients. The second reason is that if they feel good about the way you conduct business, you d like their positive opinions to spread. Checklist Send confirmations Set agenda Check details You might say you prefer not to mass market to people you have no connection with. Ask questions such as How would you feel about referring others to me? and What could I do to encourage word-of-mouth referrals from you? Ask the members of your advisory council for ideas about how you can reach more people like them. Focus on Details Don t let details slip by you. They can make the difference between a successful event and an average get-together. Be sure to: Confirm your reservation at the location you ve chosen, and any special details, one day before the meeting. Prepare nametags that can be worn or name cards for the tables to help establish familiarity among your council members. If you d like to give a token of appreciation for your clients participation, please check with your Compliance Department prior to gift distribution and make those arrangements in advance of the meeting. Bring a camera to document the event and send photos with personal notes thanking participants. Have your assistant (if you have one) take notes during the meeting. 3
STEP 3 RUNNING THE MEETING Prepare for a Payoff If you ve prepared well in advance, the actual event should run smoothly. Allow time for individuals to mingle before sitting down to eat or beginning the presentation. Introduce your members to each other and provide some background on each one. The networking you establish could be remembered long after the event, and you ll be the center of that connection. If the meeting is scheduled around a meal, allow everyone to enjoy it before getting down to business. But don t delay too long or your council members could begin looking at their watches. Keep the Conversation Focused Try to keep the group focused so you can cover the topics you want to (your agenda will help). Address everyone by name and consider video-recording the event to provide key identifiers later. Checklist Focus conversation Summarize points Thank participants Don t allow the meeting to turn into a complaint session, which is unlikely, but do be sure to adequately address any concerns before you refocus the conversation. If a concern is specific, arrange a time to call the person or meet individually. Recap Key Points Wrap up the conversation and organize the group s feedback by summarizing the key points of discussion. For example, Emily suggested, and it seemed everyone was in agreement, that changing the statement design would be a good idea. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Remember that even though your advisory council may have enjoyed a nice meal, they re ultimately taking time to provide a service to you. Thank everyone for their participation and remind them that you d like to meet again. Before your next advisory council meeting, make sure to review any changes you ve made based on their recommendations and acknowledge the success of their ideas and/or referrals. 4 How to Start a Client Advisory Council
STEP 4 KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM Thank Your Council You ve just had a successful meeting in which you learned about the strengths and weaknesses of your services and gained useful feedback about your marketing ideas. Your council members seemed receptive to providing you with referrals. Now s the time to leverage the positive momentum. As soon as possible, write down all the comments you received. If you had an assistant taking notes, have them summarized or, if you recorded the discussion, have the comments transcribed. Review the results thoroughly, identifying who made each comment. Within two days of the event, write personal thank you notes mentioning any feedback the council member provided. Also, if you wish, send a token of appreciation, but please check with your Compliance Department prior to gift distribution. Set Up Call Rotations Approximately two weeks after the event, follow up personally. Thank them again for their participation and feedback. Maintaining contact after the event is critical to reinforcing the message that you care about their business and value their opinions and referrals. Staying in touch is a powerful way to remind your clients of your referral message and reinforce their loyalty. Checklist Send thank you cards Begin call rotations Follow up further Take Advantage of Franklin Templeton s Additional BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Tools Franklin Templeton offers a variety of tools focused on business development. To view and order these tools, log on to franklintempleton.com or call Sales and Marketing Services at (800) DIAL BEN/342-5236.
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