In my book ‘Reimagining the Role of the Private Client Industry’ I make the observation that Private Client Professionals network, because everyone else networks –it is what is expected. However, the consensus of opinion is that the return on investment (ROI) is ‘poor’ if at all.
In marketing ‘speak’ networking is B to B marketing; Business to Business, the other form of marketing is B to C; Business to Consumer.
In our industry the Consumer is and wants to remain private. It may be tempting to go to events where you can meet your ideal client such as the Monaco boat show or the Frieze Art event. But this simply does not work; it did not work pre lockdown and is even less likely to work now, because your ideal client has gone to the event to indulge his or her passion; not to talk ‘stuff’. Imagine that you love football, and as you are watching your favourite team play someone try’s to talk to you about your risk profile! Imagine how you would feel about the intrusion.
So, the preferred way to market is B to B which is networking.
In essence a Private Client Professional needs to meet other Private Client Professionals who have the type of clients they would like to work with, in the hope that they will refer their clients to them for their services.
Private Client Professionals, before lockdown – loved industry events, but in many cases they are confused between education and winning business.
The first type of event is industry specific events. These are full of other people doing your type of work – so no one is going to refer you business, because they will do the work you want themselves!!! Furthermore if you need to gain CPD points, there are far cheaper and more efficient ways to learn through industry webinars.
The second type of event is non-industry specific events where all the people in the room have different skills but the same type of clients. The trouble here is finding content which appeals to all the delegates. The danger here is that the speeches are of little interest and most delegates use the time to check their emails. An expensive place from which to work!
The value of the meeting they are told is in the ‘valuable’ networking break-out session.
But how valuable are these break-out sessions?
Maybe over the course of the day a Professional will have had one coffee break, one tea break, a buffet lunch and maybe a drinks session. At each break out they will have picked up four or five cards, which will mean in total over the day between 16 and 20 cards. Maybe they look at each of them filter out who they want to follow up with and send them one maybe two follow up emails. Most professionals have around 2,000 such connections with whom they rarely follow up. It is hardly surprising little business is won from this sort of activity
For B to B networking to be effective and efficient there needs to be four factors present
1 Information on what is special about their organisation
2 Client Stories on what the professional does for their clients
3 Both 1 and 2 need to be remembered and repeated and
4 Easily accessible for referrals to be made
There are four ways to make networking more effective and efficient
First we must stop trying to get, and start trying to give; this is what I call a Culture of Care. If we are to build trust with our clients, we need to look after their wider interests; and to refer other Professionals to our clients when the opportunity presents itself
Second, we need to decouple education from networking – effective networking has nothing to do with speeches
Thirdly, we need to say something about ourselves and our organisation when people have time to learn. Podcasts are trending, much more than webinars, because they can be listened to when we are doing other things; driving, walking the dog, mowing the lawn, or cycling in the gym and
Fourthly we need to convey our services in a manner in which they will be remembered. Client Stories are 1,227% more likely to be remembered than any other form of information.
Put all these factors together and you have Caroline’s Club which has now been recognised by City Wealth and shortlisted for Power Woman of the Year 2021 see below for your chance to vote!
If you would like to serve your clients better and network more effectively and efficiently join Caroline’s Club, simply register and join our Client Stories Zoom meetings here.