When finding clients who fit is a “shoe-in”

As financial advisors, we need clients. We all face the issue of finding new clients, though, especially clients who are a good fit for us. I recently tried an idea to address this challenge that I wasn’t sure would work, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did. For me, that idea is my sneaker raffle, which quickly opened some unexpected doors.

After I relocated from Pennsylvania to Florida, which is more than 1,000 miles away, I needed to find more clients, especially those clients in a target market authentic to who I am. I was also open to new ideas.

Target marketing with a raffle

I regularly work out and am interested in physical fitness, so clients who share an interest in healthy lifestyles seemed like they would be a great fit for me. While I talk to people in the gym where I work out, that wasn’t where I wanted to aggressively market. So, I asked a local sneaker store if I could run a raffle there.

I told the store manager that I would take care of everything for the raffle. I started running it right before and during the busy holiday shopping season. I promoted the raffle on my Instagram feed, put a box in the sneaker store and asked people to enter their name for a chance to win a pair of high-quality sneakers. I made sure there were disclaimers that let them know that by entering the raffle it gave me the right to contact them to give them information about what I do as a financial advisor. 

So far, I’ve run the raffle twice. The first time I ran it I got 10 names and selected a winner. The second time I got 15 names and selected a winner. Besides several solid leads, I got two good clients from this — a chiropractor and a personal trainer with their own businesses. This marketing cost the price of two pairs of sneakers, so about $400. It’s like buying leads. 

The raffle follow-up

For each of the leads I get through the raffle, I call and email them. I send them a brief introductory email on my first attempt to contact them, and then I call them after that. Usually after I email them my information, they are open to talking on the phone. This way, they have a good understanding of who I am, what I do and how I can help them. I also send them a free copy of my book to read before we meet in person. This helps to build trust before we meet since people want to make sure the raffle wasn’t a scam, which in today’s day and age is understandable.

The raffle also was successful for the sneaker store, which received traffic from it. So, they’re interested in me running the raffle in their other nearby locations.

What I initially thought would be a silly idea ended up working out well for both the store and me. It allowed me to lay the groundwork for acquiring clients in my newly established target market in a short amount of time and get my name out into the new area I am in. Overall, it’s been a win-win.

Anthony Castro is a four-year MDRT member.

For more marketing ideas, read

• “Mastering marketing on a small budget”
• “All marketing is niche marketing: Proven ways to attract and keep ideal clients” (MDRT member exclusive)