(End of) Summer Reading

8/15/2019

You may have seen our weekly FA newsletter. It features insights from top-ranked advisors and industry stand outs. Here are a few self-serving insights from those Q+As on marketing, promotion and growth.

Louis Chiavacci on landing UHNW clients...

The first [key] is just a realization that it takes a long time, that it’s a long process. It may be one substantial new family every six months. In 32 years in the business, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I was sprinting—but I’ve often felt like I was running a marathon. The second point: With an outgoing effort to establish a new relationship — 30 years ago you might have called it a cold call — if you think it’s going to take 10 to get one, assume that it is going to take 100 to get one. As a young advisor, you have to think that it’s going to take years, not months, and that it’s going to take hundreds of outgoing contacts, not 20. (FULL ARTICLE)

Andy Burish on marketing...

Invest in the business. I literally have, for 35 years, taken half of my earnings and put them back in the business. If we’ve got a 40% payout, I always lived on a 20% payout. We got a 50% payout? I live on 25%. And I made the business really valuable.

The problem you have with people investing in their business is that they want instant gratification. We’ve probably spent $13 to $15 million just in marketing the last 10 years. It takes a while. But here’s the thing. If you go to college, it’s going to cost you a hundred thousand bucks for a state school. You’re working five or six years before you begin to recover the cost of that college education. It’s the same as marketing. You invest the money in marketing and after four or five years of this is exponential growth. (FULL ARTICLE)

Heather Hunt-Reddy on “personal brand”...

In l953, the Ore-Ida potato company … had tons and tons of potato scraps and were wondering if there was anything that could be done with them. So they came up with an internal contest, in which folks came up with different concepts. The Tater Tot won the day. When they put the Tater Tots out on the market, they priced them as cheaply as they made them. And nobody bought them.

When they later re-launched the Tater Tots, all they did—literally all they did—was raise the price. They didn’t change the packaging, they didn’t change the name, they didn’t change the way they marketed it. They raised the price, and Tater Tots became their second-best selling item. Today those sales rival French fries, and you’re even seeing Tater Tots at Michelin 3-star restaurants.

We see our deep discounters at the firm gathering less assets than those who price close to the average. And we see the people who are priced in the average, but have great value, doing a better job of convincing clients to come join them. (FULL ARTICLE)