The most valuable business opportunity for you this year can be found with your existing clients.
Because you have already succeeded in converting existing clients, a major portion of the marketing process has been completed.
Engaging them in your marketing strategy allows you to build upon your past successes and deepen your relationship.
Get information on past actions for future success
To get insight into how you can do that, however, you must undergo periodic reviews.
As I explained in a recent presentation at the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ Annual Conference (NAIFA), this is a six-step process and should be part of a regular follow-up schedule that you maintain for each of your clients.
- Explain to your clients that you like to conduct periodic reviews
- Send an invitation between two and four weeks ahead of when you would like to meet. Call them to establish a concrete date and time.
- Send a meeting agenda a week before this date. Sharing an outline for the meeting will make it a more constructive discussion for you and the client and will allow both of you to organize your thoughts ahead of time.
- Telephone once again to confirm that your client received the agenda and ask if there are any questions he or she would like to ask ahead of time or that should be covered in more detail during the meeting.
- When you meet with the client, you can ask for feedback on your performance and for suggestions of how you can provide added value. This is a great opportunity to have your clients reaffirm their satisfaction with your service and confidence in your abilities.
- Here is the transition point where you ask for referrals and introductions. At this point, describe who your ideal prospect is, and guide the client through a few questions to help him or her identify potential leads. Now the client will be primed for you to ask for a personal introduction (a much more effective tactic than cold-calling referrals).
In both the introduction-request and review processes, following up with your client is essential. Let him or her know how it goes with the prospects they identified.
Similarly, contact clients with whom you conduct reviews to:
- thank them for their time and feedback, and
- let them know what course of action you plan to take as a result of their critiques and/or suggestions.
To access a more detailed description in how to engage in an effective periodic review with your clients, please visit our Learning Library where you can download our white paper on Maximizing the Client Experience.
