Seminar last night
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[quote=etj4588]
[quote=ColoradoRep]
What’s been successful in a ‘free-format’ evening for me has been to go around the table and ask people what specific questions or concerns they have. Those are written down by the guest speaker or myself, and then the evening just flows from discussion point to discussion point.
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Are these clients and friends or prospects? Also, how are you getting the follow up appointment?
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About 50% clients, 25% guests/friends of clients, and 25% prospects. I also invite CPA’s that I’m trying to develop relationships with so they can see the useful content of my monthly events. The follow-up appointment is tough to nail down, but I bring my calendar with me and attempt to schedule appointments right then and there, before guests leave. I really believe that using an agenda and repeating key phrases has helped increase my follow up appointments.
I also try to do some one-on-one chatting (aka ‘schmoozing’) with first-time guests to get a sense for them personally as well as financially, then try to lead them to wanting an appointment.
Hopefully my key phrase has struck a chord with them and they think they really need to take advantage of an appointment with me.
CR.
[quote=Squash1]Interesting that you invite CPAs… Have you made any connections with them??
[/quote]Out of 10 that I keep in frequent contact with (monthly mailings + lunch every 2-3 months)...not really. 8 of the 10 don't RSVP to my events and don't show up or send their clients.
After 2.5 years one CPA and her accountant are starting to bring guests (referrals) and have introduced me to individual clients as well as business owners.
Another CPA has come to a few events on his own.
CR
That was a great story, i’m sure You felt pretty good after that. I don’t mean due to the mist in the air from the crying but just that you were part of something bigger than what you could of imagined. SAVING their money, even if it still lost some over the last year it likely was not near as much as the market itself. Their are some horror stories out there i’ve read that were opposite of yours.
Talk of seminars on here reminded me of "the power of the seminar". If a seminar is done correctly it can have a huge impact to your business. I've conducted seminars for 10 years now. I remember back in 2003 when a colleague of mine made the comment that seminars were dead and would never come back again. 6 years later for our firm they are going strong. I think our approach is a little different than what i've read here. We do them monthly and 95% of the attendees, usually 50-60 of them, are completely new prospects so not usually too many existing clients. Maybe we should invite them too. Kind of an addition to regular client meetings away from our office. Take care allLOL, we probably should keep that one on there for good. We are slowly getting things up loaded. The main video is complete on the main page, let me know what you think. Also in the free stuff section we have a video of a seminar we did last month, quality is not the best on that one but we’ll be doing another in June so will try and make it better. We should have a lot more on the site over the next couple weeks.
There’s a big link on the main page now. All that’s in the free stuff section is one live seminar that’s butchered to hell in editing. We’ll be putting the invite, ppt, and handouts on there for that particular seminar in the next week.
I love how I look like Ray Charles in the video and even wave my stupid head all over like a blind man. Now I know why most people don’t put video of themselves online.
J
Jason,
Is your website a backdoor attempt to sell formula folios to advisors? Be honest. I had a friend who received an email saying they could buy into your proprietary system, and they better act quickly, because it would soon be released to the advisor community. Well, I'm assuming this is the advisor community, and advisorcontrol.com is just about trying to hawk your wares while making us feel privelidged for getting free stuff. Sound about right? BTW, I tried watching your video on the homepage. It took 30 minutes to download on a T1 and then didn't even play.howie,
I believe Jason is attempting to sell their proprietary portfolio management strategy, but that their marketing tips are free. my guess is that they will continue to contact you if you get their free stuff so that they can eventually sell them the system. btw- I don't have a problem with that. And Jason - I know you said that you just got the site up and running - but you guys should have waited until you got it working right. We are totally redoing our website and until it is fully functional, it stays offline.I’ve got no problem if the site is what it says it is and adds true value (it actually sounds kind of cool). However, the seminar that I saw doesn’t add value unless you want to buy his product. Why would they give away their marketing tips free when they are selling those through advisor marketing systems? Doesn’t make sense to me…and seems like no one would pay for what they could get there for free…
Yeah, I can’t watch the video either. I think it hogs too much bandwidth or something. It’s all jumpy.
[quote=Moraen]howie,
I believe Jason is attempting to sell their proprietary portfolio management strategy, but that their marketing tips are free. my guess is that they will continue to contact you if you get their free stuff so that they can eventually sell them the system. btw- I don't have a problem with that. And Jason - I know you said that you just got the site up and running - but you guys should have waited until you got it working right. We are totally redoing our website and until it is fully functional, it stays offline.[/quote]@Morean -
Since the site is free - I don't really care what people think. It's an experiment - plus I do what I want and tend not to care what others think.
The input is appreciated, though.
Nothing is for sale. There will be no system for sale. Some people may want to use our 3rd party money management - but most won't. No big deal.
@Howie -
The one video in the free stuff section does require massive bandwidth as it's over an hour long. It will be redone with mp4 so that it does buffer and play pretty soon.
Think of the site like a blog that chronicles the work of a million dollar practice. Nothing will be held back. As far as I know, there is no one willing to give access like this to what they do to make their practice grow. I hope people take it at face value (it's free).
This is important to all:
Content of seminars matters very little. Getting people there and then motivating them to see you is all that matters. What people should take from that video (if they get it to play) and others of our live seminars is the process. You can literally plug whatever content you want into the presentation so long as it builds trust and desire.
So if you have something cool that you like to share with prospects and you feel very confident that it will likely improve their investment psychology and strategy - but that out there. The most important part of my seminars is what happens to get them there and the last 10 minutes of the presentation that guides people into an appointment.
Be that as it may - having something unique that has worked well doesn't hurt. Doing something different when everything that is common hasn't worked will get response.
So get creative. Using what we do as a template, create something that works for your practice. Create a plan for success and do it. The biggest problem most have is they do nothing and swear it doesn't work or make some other lame ass excuse. Get out there and do something; it's a killer time to get new clients. More than anything we're just trying to give advisors motivation and some shortcuts to creating their own success.
Lastly...
If there is anything people on this board what to know that would make for a good video or report, shoot me a pm and we'll work on getting it done and on the site. I'll make sure it's no bs, step by step instructions and not some hidden sales pitch for a product or service.
[quote=howie]I’ve got no problem if the site is what it says it is and adds true value (it actually sounds kind of cool). However, the seminar that I saw doesn’t add value unless you want to buy his product. Why would they give away their marketing tips free when they are selling those through advisor marketing systems? Doesn’t make sense to me…and seems like no one would pay for what they could get there for free… [/quote]
I licensed stuff that is a few years old to AMS and have nothing to do with it. Everything we’re giving away is stuff we’re using right now. We’ll even document each seminar so you can see what we spend, what kind of people show up, how many appointment, clients and AUM are gathered.
Since I don’t make any money or have anything to do with AMS I have no reason for holding back. Just keep an open mind and enjoy. Maybe we’ll put some of the marketing companies that want to get into your wallet out of business. That would be cool.
Why can’t I find the video… under the free stuff it asks for a password, how do i get that?
[quote=chief123]Why can’t I find the video… under the free stuff it asks for a password, how do i get that?
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Check your spam folder - it looks you didn’t confirm your email for the mailing list. Once confirmed you’ll get a password.
If you can’t find the original confirm message than just re-sign up on the main page, then confirm, then you’ll have the password within a few minutes.
J
[quote=howie]
Jason,
Is your website a backdoor attempt to sell formula folios to advisors? Be honest. I had a friend who received an email saying they could buy into your proprietary system, and they better act quickly, because it would soon be released to the advisor community. Well, I'm assuming this is the advisor community, and advisorcontrol.com is just about trying to hawk your wares while making us feel privelidged for getting free stuff. Sound about right? BTW, I tried watching your video on the homepage. It took 30 minutes to download on a T1 and then didn't even play. [/quote]I never sent such an email and have no idea what your friend is talking about.
There is no backdoor. Our portfolios are already available for 3rd party use and have been for over a year - so I'm just as confused as others on this thread. 3rd party management is like anything else; some use it, some use funds, some do it themselves. That doesn't really matter to me, though it's nice, I'm just trying to do my part to help people out.
I could see if I could dig up the email to post (from JF), but if you're designing a site to help out advisors then I'm all for it....you've got some good experience to share and whenever someone is genuinely interested in helping it will always be met with suspicion. I look forward to seeing the rest of your site...
BTW advisorcontrol, your video is up and working now. Looks good. I’ll be checking back in with your site as you update it.
You mention in the paragraph above the video about seeing the invitations… Do you have plans to post an example on the website?