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04/08/23 1

Elevator Marketing; Mastering What Clients Say About YOU!

Maria Umbach, MBA, CLUVice President and Chief Marketing Officer,

Individual Products

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• Know You Better

• Know Your Ideal Client Better

• Bring Them Together

• Your Results Get Better

That’s Elevator Marketing in a Nutshell….

Nutshell ViewNutshell View

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If I could snap my fingers . . .If I could snap my fingers . . .

• Making more out of each client relationship?

• Getting more referrals/prospects?

• Working fewer hours without sacrificing income?

• Keeping more clients?

• Achieving bigger ticket sales?

• Improving my close ratio?

• What else?

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How do these things occur?How do these things occur?

YOUYOUR MARKET

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How do these things occur?How do these things occur?

Alignment between what you say you are, and what they say you are

YOUYOUR MARKET

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A Tale Of Two ElevatorsA Tale Of Two Elevators

Elevator Speech Reverse Elevator Speech

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Aligning them…Aligning them…

My Real Value Proposition

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So Who Is Your Market?So Who Is Your Market?

Too General

• Business Owners

Too Specific

• Left handed chiropractors in downtown Chicago named Mabel.

- Specific vs General

- Findable

- Big Enough To Be Meaningful

- A Match for YOU!

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How Do you Find Your Ideal?How Do you Find Your Ideal?

Who Do You Wanna Clone?

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Get a Good Description…Get a Good Description…

• Demographics (easy)

• Geographics (easier)

• Psychograhics (not so easy)

• Behavioristics (kinda hard but worth it)

How do the best of the best do it?

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How to gather factsHow to gather facts

• Secondary– Google

– “Community Talk”

– Book of business analysis

• Primary– Observation

– Questioning

– Listening

– Analysis

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An In Depth Psychographic Study of Small Business Owners

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Who They AreWho They Are

• Only in Business because of family• Never expected to own business• Least likely to enjoy being own boss• Just in business for the money, once I can sell it, I’ll move on • Faster is Better, Reluctant

• (Not) My business is my lifelong passion• (Not) My business is my life• Relaxed, Patient

OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

UNEXPECTED OWNER27% of Market

• I currently feel financial secure• (Not) Afraid my HH is saving enough• Do not need more help managing business or personal finances• Optimistic, Patient

LIVING THE DREAM23% of Market

OK FOR NOW21% of Market

• Afraid my HH is not saving enough• Do not currently feel financially secure• Not satisfied with current size of business• Impatient, Impulsive

• Need more help managing business and personal finances • Not satisfied with current business size• Worth paying a little more for employee benefits that is easier to administer/manage• Optimistic, Innovator

CHASING THE DREAM10% of Market

OPEN TO SUGGESTION19% of Market

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What They WantWhat They Want

• Moderate level of problems managing business/personal financial situation• Lowest level of current ownership of financial products• Products likely to acquire/increase: Mutual Funds, ST/LT Investments,

Individual Life, Long Term Care

• Low level of problems managing finances• Low level of receptivity to additional help

• Products likely to acquire/increase: Mutual Funds, STG/LT Investments

OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

UNEXPECTED OWNER

• Least likely to have problems managing finances• Highest level of ownership of financial products• Products likely to acquire/increase: ST/LTD Investments, Mutual Funds

LIVING THE DREAM

OK FOR NOW

•High Levels of problems managing business/personalfinancial situation financial situation

•Products likely to acquire/increase: LTD Investments, Mutual Funds, ST Investments, Individual Investments

• Moderate level of problems managing business/personal financial situation• Lowest level of current ownership of financial products• Products likely to acquire/increase: Mutual Funds, ST/LT Investments,

Individual Life, Long Term Care

CHASING THE DREAM

OPEN TO SUGGESTION

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Where They Get Their AdviceWhere They Get Their Advice

• Financial Planner

• Accountant/CPA

• Lawyer

• Accountant/CPA

OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

UNEXPECTED OWNER

• Financial Planner

• Accountant/CPA

LIVING THE DREAM

OK FOR NOW

• Financial Planner

• Accountant/CPA

• Insurance Agent

• Accountant/CPA

• Financial Planner

CHASING THE DREAM

OPEN TO SUGGESTION

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Big “Ahas”Big “Ahas”

• Not all Business Owners Are Created Similarly

• Some are not good prospects

• Lose the Scare Tactics

• They are not that well served

• They want business opportunities from us too!

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Do try this at home . . . Do try this at home . . .

Marketing Research That Is “Just Right”

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What Do They Say About You?What Do They Say About You?

• How do they describe what you do/did for them?

• What was the moment of “aha” when they knew you were the right advisor for them?

• What would they say to friends about that experience? What are they not telling you?

• Are you ready to ask?

Wanna Be Your Own Marketing Researcher?

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The Dialogue of IntentionThe Dialogue of Intention

• Picking brains versus asking for referrals

• Elevating importance, but with a reason about them

• Recognize that good clients want to help you too

• Create a forum for them to lead

• Listen to THEIR language, habits, venues

• Provide value without expectation of immediate reward – they will come back

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What to Do With It?What to Do With It?

• Get your own data baseline

• Adjust your elevator speech if necessary.

• OR, adjust your behavior and subsequently the reverse elevator speech.

• Be objective about how well they match. Bring in a third party.

• Get the discipline of target marketing in your business.

• If it’s already a perfect match, add another target market!

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Elevator Speech

Target Market Assessment

Marketing Research On A Shoestring

Reverse Elevator Speech

Action Steps

Helpful “Starters”Helpful “Starters”

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Your Elevator SpeechYour Elevator Speech

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Target Market AssessmentTarget Market Assessment

Name Ideal Clients

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Describe Why They Are Ideal

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Target Market Assessment (cont.)Target Market Assessment (cont.)

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LIST Common Descriptions of Ideal Client(s)

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Insert Marketing Consultant on a ShoestringInsert Marketing Consultant on a Shoestring

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The Reverse Elevator SpeechThe Reverse Elevator Speech

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Actions to Align Elevator SpeechesActions to Align Elevator Speeches

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