Want More Business? Be the Red Crayon

What You Need to Know

You may prefer to blend in.
Blending in may make you feel comfortable.
It also makes you look like all of the other financial professionals.

Many advisors come to me after trying everything they can to get their stagnant business growing again.

They tell me all the things they’ve tried — online, radio and TV advertising… local sponsorships…expensive dinner seminars…training from top advisors…etc., with poor results, and about all the money they’ve spent.

They tell me why they don’t want to reach out to their warm market or how they hate asking for referrals.

Robert, an advisor in North Carolina, came to me after he had tried most of these.

He was an investment adviser representative and CFP with life and health Insurance licenses.

Robert was grossing a little over $10,000 a month from all sources, but he hadn’t moved much beyond that for years.

He wanted to keep growing but nothing seemed to be working…

The Similarity Problem

One of Robert’s challenges appeared to that nothing about him made him special.

He told people he was a financial planner and that he worked with all kinds of clients.

If you’re just another financial planner, investment advisor, wealth manager, or life insurance agent, you’re faced with competition from hundreds — or thousands — of people that you do.

You’re just another white crayon in a box of white crayons.

Here’s what I mean.

Imagine you’re 6 years old and you find some paper and a box of crayons. You quickly open the box only to find that all of the crayons in it are white.

Does it matter which one you pull out to use?

Then you spot one red crayon in the corner of the box.

Which crayon will you pull out of the box to draw with?

The Different Crayon Solution

If you’re a white crayon advisor, you will get business, but your ability to get more and better clients will be limited.

Sending out mailings, giving people pens and refrigerator magnets, buying lists, making cold calls, and other marketing and sales activities might pull in the occasional new client, but what will work faster and better is having a way to distinguish yourself from all of the other crayons in the box.

Instead of chasing shiny new approaches to getting business: Be a red crayon.

Position yourself as an expert who can fulfill a specific need for a specific type of client.