Jane Gilbert is an insurance broker and a member of Caroline’s Club. She attended one of our meetings last week and said ‘I clear my diary to attend your meetings because they are hugely enjoyable’
What makes them so much fun? It is because the meetings understand human nature. We have all been to networking events where we have been cornered by a fellow professional eager to ‘push product’ and wished we could move him off to talk to someone else.
This resistance, which we all hate, is called the ‘innate fear of the influence of strangers’ which I write about in my book ‘Reimagining the role of the private client industry’ post lockdown.
There are four ways to get around this innate fear – and the most powerful is client stories.
So, at our meetings we simply share client stories – which as Jane says are hugely enjoyable but they are also 1,227% more memorable.
At our meetings I give a three-minute introduction and then we have a panel of private client professionals which is hosted by a sponsor and each panellist shares their client story with the attendees.
This is followed by a question-and-answer session which is recorded with the panel session and uploaded onto YouTube on our ‘How to keep your Money’ series.
We then break out into network bubbles of about 8 private client professionals where each shares a client story with other professionals.
But the aim of Caroline’s Club is not just networking, it is to win business.
Fist we segment our audience into 4 different meetings which are held at different times of the day to reflect the different time zones in the world the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia and our private client professionals are encouraged to go to the meetings where their clients have interests
Martin Territt a professional lobbyist living in Ireland was a panellist in our meeting last week. He said he ‘won significant business from another member after just two meetings.’
This is not an isolated occasion, Joe Field a lawyer with Pillsbury in New York was immediately after the meeting contacted by Charles Garland of Claremont Corporate Services our meeting sponsor and I know John Cross a banker in Switzerland with Mirabaud has also had discussions with Charles.
I made the distinction earlier between networking and winning business, because although networking with other private client professionals is fundamental to winning new private clients – it is not the only way to win business which Caroline’s Club recognises.
We encourage our members to share what they do for their clients in a recorded interview which can be uploaded onto their profile in our directory, but it can also be linked to their email signature. I have a video link to what I do and the benefits of Caroline’s Club linked to my email signature and enjoy watching how often it is opened and watched by my contacts, clients and colleagues.
At Caroline’s Club we carefully craft and record an audio interview to show our members off to best advantage which can be seen by anyone at any time
The other area of concern from many private client professionals is how to cross refer business. When I was at Simmons & Simmons we were flown around the world to meet other lawyers in different jurisdictions for partners meetings, but very rarely was business discussed in any detail – so this expense in time and money, produced only a low return on investment, because of a failure to understand the innate fear of the influence of strangers – and how to overcome it.
Caroline’s Club can also be used by our members for cross referral of businesses by asking our professionals from organisations with many different departments such as a large law firm or firm of accountants to host a panel session and to invite colleagues from different disciplines or jurisdictions to share a client story of what they do for clients. They have then not only shown our network their strength in depth but have also got a link to client stories from colleagues which they can use for internal marketing purposes.
Of course, Caroline’s Club would not have happened but for the pandemic, because although we had the ability to connect remotely, we did not, we were used to jumping on planes and staying in grim hotels – simply because we did not know how else to win business – but now there is another way.
Caroline’s Club provides an effective and efficient way to network, cross refer clients and win business which saves on time and money on travel, hotel bills and events. We can now reserve our trips and face to face meetings to client – who can then decide when and how to engage with their adviser and whether they are prepared to pay for a personal face to face service
We therefore invite you to join Caroline’s Club. In the club you will learn how to create client stories (we have an excellent template for those who want it), join our meetings to network, craft your own audio brochure to link to your email signature and host a panel session to display your strength and depth. Not only has the Club proved to be an effective and efficient way to win business but it saves the organisation huge costs on travel and accommodation by enabling the professionals to connect with others from the comfort of their own home or desk.
If you would like to promote your services and skills to our network of private client professionals and join our Culture of Care click here to find out more and if you would like to join Caroline’s Club simply register here where you can see what we are up to and if you would like to join simply upgrade your membership.
If you would like to find out more simply register here