Seminar marketing is usually a must
for financial advisors. Now, despite the rise in digital marketing, many
advisors still have a plan to host live events. After all, seminars are a good
opportunity to showcase expertise and build relationships. We show you
nine best practices here.
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Image Source : modelfa.com |
Every advisor usually faces the same
questions. Will it be worth the time and investment? What’s the best way to go
about it? Which details make the difference — and which ones don’t matter?
Unfortunately, finding reliable
answers to those questions is a challenge. Small studies (like this one by Advisor
Websites) have reported that 50% of surveyed
advisors have thought face-to-face events were the most effective way to
connect with prospects. The problem is that the Advisor Websites study was done
a decade ago with a very small group of advisors.
And yet, the last few years saw a
proliferation in vendors selling services that make it easier for advisors to
host live seminars. So, workshops must be working for some advisors!
In our own practice, we have seen
advisors have tremendous success with live workshops (25 buying units, 80%
appointment schedule rate, $2M in AUM added within a week) — as well as fail
miserably (2 RSVPs, both of them no-shows). Like many other marketing
strategies, seminar results are driven by a complex mix of the advisor’s presence,
event promotion strategy, and a dash of luck.
However, there are several things
advisors can do to improve the success of their seminars.
As an advisor, we are responsible for
important variables, from event targeting (audience, topic, time, location) to
promotion strategies, pre-event relationship building, and post-event follow
up. Testing those variables and getting them right takes time, and too many
advisors give up on seminars before they have given themselves a fair chance to
get good at it.
We show you nine best financial
advisor seminar practices.
1. Define the objective of the seminar
This tip applies to all of your
marketing efforts, and you would be surprised at how many financial advisors
skip it.
It is not enough to go into a seminar
with the goal of adding a certain amount of AUM, or scheduling a certain number
of appointments. The problem with these goals is that they don’t help you plan
a successful event.
Instead of focusing on us, we could outline
our objective for the event using this prompt:
“At the end of the workshop, I want
attendees to do this: _________________.”
Notice that this prompt is focused on
the audience. It also requires us to think in actionable terms. After all, the
goal of any marketing is to change people’s behaviour. If we can verbalize the
change or action you wish to see from our audience, we can then align the
presentation to naturally lead your prospects there.
2. Know the audience – then choose event logistics
A solid understanding of the audience
will help us define the topic of the seminar, the promotion strategy, and even
event location and start time.
There are some general guidelines
- Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, and Thursdays work well for seminars.
- Monday
and Friday are to be avoided
- Avoid
scheduling events on the day following national holidays (Memorial Day,
Labour Day, etc.)
- The 5-6 weeks between
Thanksgiving and New Year is not too good a time to host a seminar, as
people tend to focus on family and holidays. If we are planning to use
Facebook ads to promote the event, we will also have to deal with holiday
price surges. Apart from this, best practices for logistics will vary by
audience, location, and advisor.
For seminars that target seniors,
4:00-4:30PM start times work best. For Boomer-focused events, 6PM – 7PM start
times are more appropriate. For events that face prospects, we recommend that we
stay away from daytime scheduling (some research has shown that conversion costs could be 30% higher for a
daytime event than for an evening event).
Consider location options carefully. If
we wish to host a seminar outside the
office, there are two main choices for workshop location. We can opt to host a
seminar in a library, local college, or a community center, which could make it
feel more “educational”. We could also pick a food-centric venue like a
restaurant, coffee shop, winery, brewery and so on.
Each option has its pros and cons.
Educational seminars typically have a lower response/show-up rate. They do
however make up for it with stronger audience engagement, as attendees have
come to learn. Dinner seminars tend to have higher response and show-up rate,
but lower engagement during the seminar (even despite a more intimate feel and
the trust-building dynamics of breaking bread together). We need to think about our message, budget,
and personal fit before you make our choice.
3. Scout out the location
When it comes to these seminars, location
is very important. We need to to walk through the entire space, from the
parking lot to the room itself. Make note of any special directions that may be
required. Some locales are straightforward. Others come with tricky parking or
less-than-obvious navigation.
Be cognizant of the time that your
event is scheduled for — and match your walkthrough to experience the facility
in the same conditions as your attendees will. Will they have an easy time
finding the event? Do you need to post directions or signs? Take notes and ask
the facility staff about what’s allowed.
4. Build a plan to promote the event
The outcome of a seminar is driven in
large part by the quality of attendees. And, if you want great prospects in the
room, you need a plan to reach them and give them a compelling reason to
attend!
The earlier strategy for promoting
financial seminars had relied heavily on direct mail. While direct mail is
still relevant, response rates hover between 1% and 2% (which is light years
away from the 5%-6% response rates of the past). Advisors have had success with
mailers that stand out (hand-addressed envelopes, wedding-style invitations,
etc.) However, those eye-catching extras tend to be more expensive. We need to
evaluate the lifetime value of an ideal client against the quality of our
typical prospect and our budget to make a balanced choice that makes sense for
you.
Even if we plan to use direct mail, we
could consider multiple channels to expand our reach and improve attendance.
Here are some options.
- A
facebook campaign could be run. Facebook advertising can be finicky, but
the recent iterations of the platform allow you to fine-tune your ad’s
settings, reach, and audience. Start small, test different visuals and
headlines, and monitor ad performance closely. Advisors can connect the ad
directly to a sign-up form, or they can build a simple landing page to
showcase the event’s date, location, topic, and key value points (i.e.
reasons why someone should attend).
- Send
workshop announcement to your email list. Keep in mind that a sequence of
2-3 emails that highlights different value points of the seminar will have
a better chance of building your attendance list. For example, if we are
hosting a workshop on preparing for retirement, one email could highlight
taxes in retirement, another could address paying for healthcare, and the
third one could speak to the importance of estate planning.
- Call
the prospects we know of and invite them to attend the seminar. This may
not be practical for all, so we need to consider our resources and make
the choice accordingly.
- Announce
the event on your social media. Social media posts are easy to share,
especially if your posts add value and focus on the pain points that are
highly relevant for your audience.
- Consider
adding event announcements to the signature block of your email. Email
signature is an underrated but valuable piece of marketing real estate.
Change it up periodically to promote upcoming events!
- We could reach out to our active referral
partners and ask them to promote the seminar to their lists. Offer to
provide the email they can use to make it even easier on them.
5. Confirm attendance — and stay in touch
When someone registers for a seminar,
plan to send a minimum of 3 emails: one immediately upon registration, another
one day before the event, and the third one on the day of the event. If the
prospect registers for an event far in advance, our sequence should include 2
additional emails to be sent 10 days and 5 days before the event.
In addition to these automated
emails, it’s a best practice to also:
- Call
each prospect within 24 hours (sooner the better). A personal phone call
can solidify that they have made a good decision. It will also make the
seminar more “real” in their minds, which can lead to better attendance. Definitely,
mention any subsequent communications the prospect should expect. It helps
prepare them for what’s next while also building trust.
- If time
permits and if you get the prospect’s mailing address, send them a
physical letter. It will serve as a tangible reminder of their commitment
to attend.
- Call to remind them 24 hours before the event.
Highlight that you have saved them a spot and that you look forward to meeting
them.
6. Make it professional
A seminar is a great opportunity to show
us as a credible, authoritative figure. Here are some ideas to raise your
perceived expertise (some are free, others require an investment).
- Have a
team member introduce you before you get up to speak. This requires
minimal prep and doesn’t cost anything at all — and yet it can be very
effective in setting the stage.
- Consider
getting a banner with your branding. It will look good in pictures and
instantly dress up and elevate the room. A simple retractable stand-up
banner can cost you as little as $100, is easy to store and transport, and
will last for years. Any printshop will have some options to offer.
Online, you can look at Displays2Go, Ace Exhibits, and Vistaprint.
- Professionally printed handouts and brochures
make for nice take-aways. We need to work on getting several quotes from
local and online printers, and be cautious with ordering large quantities
to bring the per-piece pricing down. We don’t want to get stuck with
thousands of pages of collateral if we decide that they need an update 6
months down the line.
Finally, if you are planning to use a
presentation deck, it’s a good idea to invest in a polished set of slides. The
deck does not have to be stunning to be
effective. Opt for a clean look given by well-chosen text and visuals, and
clear branding. If we don’t have internal resources to handle deck layout and
design, we can hire a freelance designer on a platform like UpWork. Be sure to
get clear quotes and estimates before proceeding!
7. Have a plan to maximize your time with prospects
The time we spend in the seminar room
is precious — from the moment we first walk in, and up until the last prospect
walks out. We need a plan to maximize every minute. A checklist will help
- Use a
checklist to double-check all supplies beforehand. We could keep a special
box for all seminar-related materials and supplies, organized and ready to
go
- Bring
extras. That goes for batteries for the clicker, pens, business cards,
note pads, and a flash drive with a copy of your presentation
- Greet
prospects as they come into the room. Many advisors prefer to escape into a conversation with
a co-worker (checking email on a smartphone is another popular
distraction). Resist those temptations and spend the time with the audience
instead.
- Give
each team member a well-defined job to do. That will help us set
expectations and make the seminar more productive for everyone
- Make a
plan for getting you out of conversations that don’t go anywhere.
Unfortunately, seminars often have one or two attendees that are happy to
chat with you for an hour — even when it’s clear that they are not a real
prospect. Brainstorm with the team on some polite ways to wrap up the
conversation and give you the chance to connect with others who have
questions
- Decide how you will deal with disruptions.
Occasionally, we may encounter an attendee who comes in just to throw a
wrench into your presentation. We need to be prepared to remain calm, de-escalate
the situation, and move on.
8. Commit to post-event follow up
As we wrap up the presentation, we
and our staff will be inviting prospects to schedule the next step (usually a
one-on-one appointment).
Our experience tells us that the
show-up rate will be higher the sooner you can schedule the appointment. One to
two weeks after the event is a brief enough period where the seminar will still
be fresh in the prospect’s mind. Go much beyond 3 weeks, and we may see a drop
in attendance and interest. So, it’s a good idea to clear our schedule
beforehand to make sure that you will have sufficient open time to accommodate
prospect meetings.
Keep in mind that you will need a
separate follow-up plan to address each of the following 3 scenarios:
- The
prospect attended the seminar and scheduled an appointment
- The
prospect attended the seminar but didn’t schedule an appointment
- The prospect RSVP’ed but did not attend the
seminar
Be sure to add any new contacts to
your CRM system and tag them properly to allow for follow-up email sequences,
drip campaigns, and future event outreach.
9. Have a plan for project-managing the event
As we can probably see by now,
putting on a financial advisor seminar is a big project. As such, it can
benefit from a dedicated project manager. We need someone who is committed to
managing all the logistics, from venue to supplies, promotion, and post-event
follow up.
The best place to start is by making
a complete list of everything that must be done. From there, you can assign
responsibilities and set deadlines. We will also need a plan to supervise the
preparation. This is the process that forms the foundation of every successful
workshop.
Keep in mind that the first workshop
is likely to be more labor-intensive than any subsequent events. Be sure to
save any checklists, scripts, emails, and any other collateral for future
use.
We can see this is really not all
that difficult. As they say, anything which is done is worth doing well.
We hope you found the above useful
and would love your views on this article
This article was originally published at ModelFA.com
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