Step-by-Step Guide on the

Transcription

1 Step-by-Step Guide on the 5Q Process And how to develop a killer, unique marketing message in less than 30 minutes that will bury your competition. Mike Kaselnak

2 Mike Kaselnak

3 Table of Contents The solution to finding new clients is not yelling louder...4 Using umbrellas to keep you dry is silly!...4 Spending more money on marketing is NOT the solution...5 If you are unique, they will come at little or no cost...5 What s unique about you?...5 Make your own luck...6 Your competitors can say anything they want...6 A total distrust of the industry by the public...7 How? - The 5Qs...7 Simple, easy and quick...8 Benefits of the 5Q process...8 How to use the 5Q process...8 Example of the process...9 Moral of the 5Q story...10 Mike Kaselnak

4 As much as many marketing companies would like you to believe, spending more money on marketing will no longer get you more clients. The solution to finding new clients is not yelling louder Right now you are surrounded by hundreds of people that can use your skills. Heck, you could drive down any street and half the houses are filled with people that would be significantly better off if they would allow you to speak to them. If they would just listen to you, you could put them in a much better situation. That may be more money, bigger returns, more safety or whatever. But and this is a big BUT they aren t listening. John is walking down the street on a sunny day past one hundred vendors lined up selling similar umbrellas, for similar prices; he ignores them. First, he doesn t need an umbrella on a sunny day. Second, all of the umbrella vendors all sound and look the same to him. So, even if it started to rain, who would he buy his umbrella from? The nearest umbrella vendor. If you are an umbrella vendor whether you make a living that day or not, depends largely on luck. Not a great business plan. Using umbrellas to keep you dry is silly! 99% of consumers do not perceive an immediate need to consult an advisor. They are happy where they are at. Just as John walking down the street on a sunny day is happy with his current situation. However, what if 99% of the umbrella vendors advertised their umbrellas as great devices to keep you dry, but Umberto, the umbrella vendor, instead touted his umbrellas as: A great skin cancer prevention tool. Terrific for keeping your small children safe from the harmful sun and less fussy when you are out and about with them. Now, we don t know if any of these things even pertain to John. But if asked which umbrella salesperson that he remembered later that day, which do you think he would mention? And if John should ever experience skin cancer or have small children, who do you think he would buy his umbrella from? Mike Kaselnak

5 Spending more money on marketing is NOT the solution There are tons of horror stories about million-dollar advertising campaigns going no where. There are also stories of virtually no money being spent and products taking off! Take MySpace, for instance. No money was spent on marketing and yet 18 months from inception, it sells for $580 million dollars. Whether to send a seminar invite in a wedding-style envelope versus a postcard makes very little difference except to your checkbook. Paying a lead house to generate names of people requesting generic information about Social Security or tax savings is money down the drain. Don t get me wrong, spending money on marketing does work. Sending direct mail does work. Generating leads does work. But If you are unique, they will come at little or no cost One hundred years ago, in 1907, there were 68 different car companies. Today, only a handful. In the last 50 years it has been virtually impossible for a new car company to crack the market. And yet look on the roads today and what do you see? Hyundais. How in the heck did they crack the uncrackable auto market? By being unique. They offered a 100,000-mile/60-month warranty. Remember, this was at a time when all the other car manufacturers were offering 30,000-mile/36-month warranties. They offered roadside service for all their vehicles at no cost. Remember, this is when only the high-end luxury vehicles offered this premium service. They became unique. The one thing everyone worried about with a new car company was quality. They completely eliminated that worry by not just equaling the established car companies warranties not even just bettering them by a little they blew them out of the water! They were unique! What s unique about you? Financial professionals are commodities. You all sell the same products, at the same price with the same service at least that s how you are perceived by the general public. Why should someone change from their current advisor to you when you both look and sound the same. You make the same claims: Mike Kaselnak

6 We have terrific service. We care about our clients. We are the retirement experts. We are the IRA experts. We put our clients concerns first. Geez! When the proverbial prospect is walking down the street, you are all selling the same umbrellas. They are going to completely ignore you. If it starts to rain, they will pick whomever they are closest to as their new advisor. If you are lucky, that will be you. But but but we really are! (fill in the blank: better smarter nicer ) Saying that about your practice will get you no where. You have two choices: Make your own luck 1. Rely on luck to put you at the right place, at the right time when a rare prospect becomes unhappy with their current situation. Or 2. Communicate with people who are otherwise satisfied with their current situation, but are interested in you because you are different then all the other advisors out there. In other words, trust in luck or take control of your practice and craft your unique message to put you above the crowd. Your competitors can say anything they want Even if you ARE the smartest, most expert and most caring advisor in the world, you will not get any more prospects than the guy who CLAIMS that he is the smartest, most expert and most caring advisor in the world. The only thing accomplished by everyone in an industry saying the same thing is Mike Kaselnak

7 A total distrust of the industry by the public No wonder the public looks at us with distrust as a bunch of peddlers hawking our wares. Don t get me wrong most people love their current advisor (isn t that in itself a problem?), it s all of the rest of the advisors out there we don t trust. You must make your message much more targeted and much more unique than I m the smartest, most expert and caring guy in the world. Because, if you do, you will be able to use that message everywhere effectively: Stationery and business cards Brochures Seminars Direct mail Networking Social situations And the proverbial elevator pitch When you have crafted the perfect message for you and your practice, you will then possess the Midas touch. All of your marketing will turn to gold. How? - The 5Qs You may or may not be familiar with Six Sigma, but it has become the standard for quality control for virtually every Fortune 500 company. It can be summarized by: Define Measure Analyze Improve Control It is from that theory that your solution to uniqueness comes. In the 1930s, Sakichi Toyoda developed a systematic way of looking at problem solving. It has since been adapted worldwide by almost any company you could name GE Microsoft Hewlett Packard Toyota Federal Express American Express and on and on. I simply adapted it years ago to assist the advisors I mentored in crafting their message of uniqueness. I call it the 5Qs. Mike Kaselnak

8 Simple, easy and quick It is unfortunate that so few professionals spend any time trying to figure out what makes them truly different than their competition. The few that I have found that did spend time on it only came up with a message that could be (and was) used by their competition. However, those professionals that had grasped the power of having a unique message were able to come up with a highly effective message in less than 15 minutes using the 5Q process. Benefits of the 5Q process The 5Q process offers some real benefits no matter the experience or maturity of the professional or their practice: Simplicity It is easy to use and can be accomplished in as little as 15 minutes. Effective It truly helps to quickly separate your message from those of your competitors and attracts the exact type of client you want for your business. Comprehensive It is a tool that you can use in any number of marketing methods from direct mail to seminars to networking. Flexible It works with any type of practice. Whether estate planning, collegefunding, 401(k) rollover whatever the business or type of client you are seeking, 5Q will work to get that client in your door. Engaging By its very nature, it fosters a team spirit between you, your team and your client base. Inexpensive - You can either do it yourself for free or hire one of many organizations that now have consultants trained and certified in the 5Q process. Some of these organizations offer their help to you for free as a way to introduce you to their various other services. How to use the 5Q process You can either utilize a consultant certified in the 5Q process or do it yourself by assembling a team of your trusted business advisors and a few select clients. Once you have either found a consultant or have assembled your team: Mike Kaselnak

9 1. On a flip chart, presentation board or even paper, write out a description of what you know about what sets you apart AND what your competitors are saying about what they do. Try to document and describe this as completely as possible. 2. Have all the team members (or your 5Q consultant will walk you through) ask questions like Why, So What, Why should I care, What s so different about that, etc. 3. Continue this questioning process until you have whittled down to the most basic and simple of messages that: Will have a prospect saying, I ve never heard of that. Tell me more! Can be said in less than 30 seconds the shorter the better. 4. If the unique message you come up with seems to meet the above parameters, make sure the team and/or your 5Q consultant agrees and create a program to test the message on the public. Example of the process Below is a basic outline of how the 5Q process worked for one advisor. This is a basic outline; you are not getting all the conversations going on in between the modifying of the message of uniqueness and the 5Q. Instead, just the major changes as the consultant and the advisor move through the process. Advisors Message of Uniqueness (MOUS) before 5Q process: I care about my clients more than my competition does and I put my client s concerns before my own. Problem: Virtually any advisor could and does claim the exact same thing making the message not only worthless but dangerous. Remember that if the general public hears too many professionals saying the same thing, they start to distrust everyone saying it. 5Q Process MOUS: I care about my clients more than my competition does and I put my client s concerns before my own. 5Q: Why should I believe that? MOUS: I have better communication with my clients than my competition has with theirs. 5Q: Why do you say that? MOUS: I am available for my clients whenever they need me. Mike Kaselnak

10 5Q - How can they get ahold of you? MOUS: I give all my clients my cell phone number and address and I carry my Blackberry at all times. 5Q: What s so important about that? Finished MOUS: People don t worry about their money until something happens and then they want answers right now, not tomorrow. I am the only advisor in Omaha prepared to give my clients answers when they need them most day or night 7 days a week. Your MOUS fits you and NOBODY ELSE making you unique! That s the beauty of the 5Q Process it attracts the absolutely most qualified prospects to your practice because your message talks to the Very Person Who Would Value You the Most. How many advisors can say that they are available day or night 7 days a week? I know I couldn t and wouldn t! But for this advisor, he now had a message that made it clear how different he was than all his competitors. He started advertising it everywhere: through direct mail, on his stationery and business cards, on his newspaper ads. And it worked! It worked unbelievably well. Every single type of marketing he had been doing jumped in effectiveness by as much as 50% with no cost increase. In fact, he started getting phone calls from people that had NEVER responded to a mailer, seminar or any type of advertising before from anybody! No one had ever offered them what they really wanted. Someone that would be there for them whenever they needed them. He also started getting phone calls from people that told him they had called their broker two days ago and hadn t received a return call. And his clients finally started sending referrals his way because they now had a way to brag about why their guy was different. Moral of the 5Q story In today s environment of over-regulated, over-saturated marketing, you should not spend another dime on marketing until you have crafted your message of uniqueness. Mike Kaselnak

11 Every dime you spend sending out the same message as your competitors is not just a waste of money, but actually boomerangs back to bite you. If the public hears the same message by too many professionals, it s not long before they distrust anyone saying that message. You need to invest just 15 minutes in the 5Q process to craft a message that differentiates you from all your competition. 5Q will attract the highest quality prospect for the least amount of investment. Do not miss out on this chance to double and triple your business without having to spend one dime more on marketing. Sincerely, Mike Kaselnak Mike Kaselnak

12 Mike Kaselnak