7 Steps To Ramp Up Your 2016 Prospecting Efforts

By Stacy Mercer

With the first quarter of 2016 in its final weeks, now is the time many of us start seriously thinking about how we are going to kick-up our prospecting efforts. Maybe you have tried a few things, but are looking for some new ideas.

Many successful financial professionals have shared that boosting their sales is often a matter of systematically contacting clients. This involves asking for and building new relationships as well as leveraging information from your office staff or other resources so you can reach out at appropriate times.

Here are seven suggestions to help dial up your lead generation potential to generate a profitable year.

7 Steps To Build Stronger Client Contacts

1. Send five personal notes to clients today. Thank them for meetings, congratulate them on their promotions or accomplishments, or send a copy of an article they might find interesting.
   

2. Look at your LinkedIn contacts to see who has changed jobs or had a work anniversary. Touch base with job changers about money in old retirement plans. Follow-up with long-term employees to see how you can help round out their current benefits.

3. Sign up for a webinar, continuing education or another learning opportunity. Pick one tip from that session to share with select clients via email.
   

4. Check to see whether there have been any recent beneficiary or address changes. Get in touch to see if you can help or provide assistance.

5. Reach out to five long-term clients and ask for referrals. Many satisfied clients are happy to share their experiences. The simple act of asking for referrals can help boost your client base.

6. Contact five clients who were heavily impacted by taxes to help them plan for the next tax season. It’s never too early to help clients uncover ways to lessen their tax burden.

7. Invite a local accountant or attorney to lunch. In addition to learning about new developments that you can share with clients, you can build a rapport that can lead to future referrals. It’s also an excellent opportunity to network and gather cross referrals.

As a bonus, here are seven easy tips to share with clients to help them achieve financial success.

1. Pay off expensive debt. Juggling multiple balances across multiple credit cards can be stressful. Pay more than the minimum amount or consider a personal loan to pay off higher-interest debt faster.

2. Track your spending. Even a month or two of recording where every dollar goes can reveal expensive “money drains” that clients may want to reconsider.

3. Check direct debits and automatic credit card payments. Try highlighting “must have” expenses in one color and “wants” in another. Clients may be surprised how quickly those “wants” add up.

4. Create an ICE (in case of emergency) folder. Have clients include information on accounts, passwords, insurance policies and anything someone might need if they weren’t able to manage their finances.

5. Make savings automatic. We all have the best intentions of saving for a rainy day. But automating those intentions is the best way to make sure that they actually happen.

6. Review beneficiaries. The person listed on your client’s beneficiary form for insurance, pensions and retirement funds is the person who will get the money. Make sure that’s where your client really wants it to go.

7. Max out retirement savings. At a minimum, be sure to save as much as necessary to get the employer’s match. But, to put retirement savings into overdrive, your client should work toward increasing their contribution every year until they’re automatically contributing the maximum.

Use these checklists to remind yourself and your clients to focus on simple, actionable, achievable steps to ensure success and prosperity this year.

Stacy Mercer is director of marketing and strategic initiatives at Sammons Retirement Solutions. Stacy may be contacted at [email protected].

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