Here’s how to create a business development process that avoids the feast-to-famine cycle.
Every spring, farmers diligently plow the land and sow the seeds. During the hot summer months these plants grow and grow. And in autumn, farmers harvest the bounty and reap the rewards of their labor.
Currently, farmers must repeat this seed-to-harvest cycle every year, depending on the type of crop. Alternatively, perennial crops such as apple trees are automatically produced so farmers can harvest more fruit each year.
What type of farmer are you in your business? Does your business struggle to plant fresh crops year after year? do you have
Let’s explore two different advisor scenarios and how to implement a continuous, consistent and scalable business development process.
sow the seeds of exploration
Alex Advisor is Senior Vice President of Large Offices and manages a team of Retirement Plan Advisors. He’s part of a large company, and many of his advisors have clients of his own business, but Alex struggles with internal referrals. He has many years of experience and is CPFA certified. Business owner referrals should blossom left and right. But no…
Alex gets caught up in the famine portion of the cycle. To get out of it, he needs to plant a seed. Method is as follows.
• story time. Every month, when the whole office gets together, Alex has to tell a five-minute client success story. He should share a before-and-after story that explains the value he brings to the table.
• Communicate within the company. Treat your co-workers like centers of influence and communicate in the same way. Simply put, Alex needs to add a colleague to her email campaign. Every week, his colleagues gain new knowledge about what Alex does as he shares industry news, updates, articles, plans, sponsors, his guides, newsletters, videos, and more. This allows other advisors to get an inside view of what it’s like for a client to work with him.
• coffee connect. The purpose of the coffee meeting is to get to know each other better and deepen the relationship. Additionally, as the lead retirement planning advisor, Alex may be able to assist his colleagues with cross-selling opportunities.
By sowing seeds within the company and cultivating communication and relationships, Alex builds the trust of his colleagues and gives them confidence that he is the right retirement planning advisor for his clients.
Read more about Rebecca Hourihan here.
withered vine
Jamie Independent owns her own clinic and employs a team of 5 people. She has loyal and long-time customers. Currently, she is taking on her five new retirement plan clients. Everyone is busy with new business paperwork, conversion coordination, and employee onboarding meetings. Meetings, phone calls and emails are non-stop.
Teams have to sit back and tackle the task at hand. We don’t have enough time to finish everything. So the business development campaign will stop. Weekly emails are postponed. The blog post is dormant. Social media activity is quiet. And just like that, all marketing activity is completely frozen.
It is said that if we do not learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
Jamie is in the feast portion of the cycle. she enjoys the harvest But she’s turning a blind eye to the next spin in her growth.
Here are some ideas for enjoying the feast and preventing famine.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel. If everything you’re doing for your clients is custom, you’re overdoing it. Want to reuse existing materials? For example, at a registration meeting, most of Jamie’s presentation should be based on a template. That way you only have to edit her 10-15% of the deck to address your specific plans and company. This saves time and helps present a unified message to all clients.
• Automation is your best friend. Regular communication is a business requirement. Jamie’s team needs to take the stress out of the weekly shuffle and automate his email campaigns. At the beginning of each quarter he blocks 1-2 hours and pre-schedules his campaigns for communications, including value-added content such as articles, newsletters, guides, infographics and videos. Top priority for future business opportunities.
• feed the machine. All clients, centers of influence, team members and prospects should subscribe to your mailing list and connect via LinkedIn. When Jamie onboards new clients, she needs to request her email address from each decision maker in the company. From the President, CEO, CFO, Controller to the entire Total Compensation team, everything needs to be part of Jamie’s digital communications network. In this way, Jamie is constantly nurturing relationships, so if a decision maker moves to a new company, he will have the opportunity to make a brief introduction.
When Jamie’s hard work pays off, it’s important not to lose sight of the long term. By templating, automating and connecting, she runs a perpetual business. These practice management efficiencies allow Jamie and the team to focus on new growth while nurturing existing business relationships.
May you have a bountiful harvest
A single sapling can produce hundreds of fruits. The same applies to clients. Relationships take time to grow and mature. So marketing is a process. It should be consistent and evergreen.
Whether you’re part of a large team or independent, it’s all about creating a business development process that avoids the feast-to-famine cycle. Take a look at your business and find opportunities for improvement. Think about how you can continue to sow, grow, and reap by managing a prosperous business with communication strategies, sales enablement templates, and automation.
Thank you for reading.
Rebecca Hourihan, AIF, PPC, is the founder and CMO of 401(k) Marketing. She founded it to help qualified professionals run professional businesses with professional marketing materials and ongoing awareness campaigns. This column appeared in the fall issue of NAPA Net the Magazine.