Among the many possible impacts of regulation is the need to adjust your client base. So while compliance creates new context for who you do and do not work with, this provides an opportunity to re-establish how you define your ideal client and how you market yourself to them.
In his 2017 Annual Meeting presentation, “The great transition to fees,” Angus Donald McQueen, Dip FS, Dip CD, a 19-year MDRT member from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, recognized the importance of developing marketing specifically geared toward your ideal clients who can refer you to other ideal clients. He has even sat down with some of these clients and asked what strategies would work well with people he wanted to get to know.
Targeted events
The client indicated that many of their friends are interested in horse racing, which inspired McQueen to organize an event in which several couples enjoyed a boat cruise during a day of horse racing. During each race, participants got off the boat and watched the race live at the track with food and drinks. This setting provided a great opportunity for McQueen to meet and interact with more of the type of clients he wanted.
For another client, who had wanted a string quartet at her wedding but couldn’t afford it, McQueen worked with her husband to secretly hire a string quartet to play at the client’s 60th birthday party. “When she arrived at her party, the string quartet was playing, guests were having drinks, and she just burst into tears,” McQueen said. “The husband confessed that I had arranged it and paid for it for her.
“Unique, smart marketing has a great impact: That night, she proceeded to introduce me to basically every single person there. And she was so touched by the string quartet that she encouraged all of them to catch up with me.”
Read more in “The great transition to fees.”
Plus
— Learn more about preparing for the rule with this regulatory change checklist.
— Hear how advisors from the U.S., U.K. and Australia adapt to regulation in episodes one, two and three of our DOL-related podcast series.
Written by Matt Pais, MDRT Content Specialist
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