At some point every successful business has felt pain, whether it's not enough sales, internal team conflict, file disorganization, calendar overload or emotional fatigue—the list goes on and on. However, there are remedies you can use to alleviate the pain.
One pain we hear often from advisors is a lack of leads. “How do I get more leads?” “If I could only get more leads, it would fix all our problems.” In this post, we’re going to write you a prescription.
How to Get More Leads
Take any sales course and they will tell you to start with a pipeline funnel. The funnel shows the stages of prospects as they gain awareness, interest, decision, and action. As each prospective new client goes through the pipeline, they convert from a prospect to a lead. What’s important is that they start as a prospect.
You can’t get more leads unless you get more prospects. So let’s start with how to do that.
Build a List
Identify the companies you want to work with. Access the 5500 Search database. Then select the companies you want to target as prospects.
Connect with all of their decision-makers on LinkedIn. Technology is a beautiful thing. Historically, we were limited to only knowing the name of the plan administrator. Nowadays, however, it’s easy to find the rest of the C-suite and their contact information.
Post retirement plan news on LinkedIn. If these decision-makers are involved in their companies’ retirement plans, your posts will be meaningful to them. They will associate your retirement plan content with your ability to help them manage their plans. After seeing your 401(k) posts consistently, they may click on your profile to learn more about you and how you can solve their retirement plan problems.
Gather Email Addresses
In addition to creating a list, you will need email addresses. Gather the addresses of the prospects you want to convert into leads.
Implement an Email Campaign
Take the next step and get into their inbox. Whether it is a quarterly newsletter, a monthly article or a weekly multi-dimensioned content campaign, implement a consistent way to deepen your digital relationship.
Read more commentary by Rebecca Hourihan here.
Stand Out as the Expert
As you post retirement plan news on social media and drip plan sponsor facing content into their inboxes, they start to notice you. Your prospects are slowly becoming warm leads. They now know your name and your firm’s name, and are feeling confident that you are an experienced retirement plan advisor. With each new piece of content—401(k) best practice guides, participant educational information, explainer videos, newsletters and more—you’re digitally deepening their trust in you. Each new email with relevant plan sponsor information accelerates their progress through the pipeline toward becoming a qualified lead.
Ask for the Meeting
Now that your prospects are ready to open a conversation, give them convenient ways to meet with you.
Technology is wonderful. Today, there are a lot of ways warm prospects can connect with you—email, LinkedIn, via your website, conference calls, video conferences, face-to-face meetings, and more. The ways in which we communicate with each other are evolving every day.
From Cold to Hot
Throughout this process, your cold prospect has converted into a hot lead. However, it takes time. By starting with a targeted list, an influential social media strategy, a plan sponsor specific drip email campaign, and convenient ways to contact you, you’ve created a consistent pipeline. Turn your prospects into leads and convert them into happy clients.
Follow this regimen regularly to increase your prospect pipeline, and ultimately gain more hot leads.
Thanks for reading and Happy Marketing!
Rebecca Hourihan, AIF, PPC, is the founder and CMO of 401(k) Marketing, which she founded to assist qualified experts operate a professional business with professional marketing materials and ongoing awareness campaigns.
