3 ways to start conversations with prospects

Emails have been opened, messages have been read, and buttons have been clicked. From a pure metrics perspective, everything is looking great — but you’ve still got a few laps to go before you reach the finish line.

Open rates and click-through metrics can provide unique insight into your prospects’ level of interest, but they can’t fully gauge the connection you’re starting to form. People may be reading your messages and learning more about you, but to progress further, they need to form a relationship with you and your firm more than just the content you’ve shared.

Don’t get me wrong, you can still give yourself a pat on the back for sharing your knowledge and building credibility by introducing people to your brand, but now is not the time to sit back and lose momentum. Now’s the perfect time to personally introduce yourself and let the recipients get to know you.

In today’s installment of “Cold to Gold Marketing,” I’m going to cover how to get the conversation started. In other words, how do you make the jump from messaging to meeting?

1. USE OPEN LOOPS

Do you remember back in school when your teacher presented you with a new lesson and asked for class participation? If you had a good teacher, chances are they would break up lectures with student input to help shape the discussion and make the material more relatable.

Effective teachers don’t just stand in front of the class and talk. Rather, they provide the foundational principles and help learners apply the content to their own lives.

There’s a reason why the open–loop method is so successful, and advisors can get a lot of value by taking the same approach.

Instead of imparting all of your wisdom in its entirety or lecturing people you barely know, you’ll want to present about 80-90% of your knowledge and encourage prospects to “raise their hand” or reach back out to get the full lesson.

Let’s take a look at a real example.

Say you’re sending messages about pensions and you give the prospects some information about how to maximize pension benefits.

Raising questions like, “How does your pension affect you and your spouse’s Social Security?”, “Does your pension option provide contingency planning for your spouse?”, and “Do you know all the methods for potentially increasing your pension payout?” will get the recipients thinking about the answers and likely wanting your input.

Think of this method like a movie. If you give away all of the details, no one will care to check out the sequel. When you see the dirt on Superman’s coffin vibrate and rise at the end of Batman vs. Superman, you’re compelled to watch Justice League to see if Superman is alive and coming back.

Everybody loves a good cliffhanger. When you’re presented with an impactful question that stops you in your tracks, you have a strong desire to investigate.

2. VARY YOUR OFFERS

People respond to different types of offers based on their personal preferences.

Think: Do you respond to every Cyber Monday deal you see? Of course not. You selectively choose which retailers are worth your time and money.

On that same note, prospects selectively choose which offers are worth their time and energy.

Some people may respond to an AMA (ask me anything) 10-minute video conference, whereas others may prefer a “fee analysis” or “tax minimization study.” There are several factors prospects consider when determining whether to accept or decline.

Leveraging existing tech you already have — like a complimentary risk analysis with Riskalyze or visual reports from Asset-Map — is an efficient way to position new introductory offers.

Unfortunately, there isn’t one offer that’s going to be the winning method for everyone, so you will likely have to experiment with different offerings. The process requires patience and persistence.

It is completely normal if prospects aren’t 100% ready for a full financial plan. You will likely need to build up to that by starting the dialogue and identifying the path they need to take to reach their goals.

3. SEND VIDEO MESSAGES

Sending a pre-recorded video message to properly introduce yourself to prospects is a great way to show your personality and provide a personal touch.

When we looked at over 30 million data points in our State of Digital Marketing Study, we found that video messages have a 20% higher open rate and 176% higher click-through rate.

Almost 50% of people click through and watch a video message when it’s embedded in an email.

Struggling to know what to say? Use this script for inspiration:

You’ve been on my list for a while, so I wanted to introduce myself a little more personally. A lot of people I interact with don’t have time to follow through with the knowledge I share because they’re busy with other obligations. But taking even small steps early can do much to help you reach your financial goals.

If you’re the type of person who believes planning ahead is important, I’d like to help.

I’m offering you a [personal Q&A session or another offer] where you can ask me about finance and investing. I’ll give you the exact next steps to the best of my ability.

Your goal is to start a conversation and encourage people to take the next step in the customer journey. Being overly pushy won’t be convincing, so prioritize education over selling.

Once the prospect has committed to chat with you, you will likely be able to make a positive impression and earn their trust as you naturally do during other meetings.

That’s all for this phase. Tune in next time when we’ll look at the next step in the Cold to Gold framework: Deepening Relationships.

Robert Sofia is the CEO of the digital marketing firm Snappy Kraken.

Find this series on fintechforadvisers.com.

Related Topics: Digital Marketing