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    • Financial Advisors: Here's How To Get 3 New Clients In The Next 30 Days...
    • I Analyzed The Websites Of Barron’s Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors: Here’s What They Do Differently…
    • 4 Things I've Learned From Testing 3.2 Million Financial Advisor Emails
    • What Is The Optimal Number Of Clients For A Financial Advisor? (My Answer May Surprise You...)
    • Will Financial Advisors Become Obsolete? (Future Outlook For Financial Advisors)
    • How To Become A Virtual Financial Advisor (Plus Traits And Tools To Help You Work Remotely)
    • An Open Letter To Financial Advisors With Imposter Syndrome (Plus 4 Tips For Overcoming It)
    • How To Overcome Objections As A Financial Advisor (The Right And Wrong Way)
    • 7 Priceless Tips For Financial Advisors Who Want A "Lifestyle" Practice
    • 9 Research-Backed Stress Management Tips For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 3 Powerful Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Webinars To Get More Clients
    • 10 Catastrophic Ways Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Own Success
    • These 5 "Weird" Tips Can Help Financial Advisors Form Better Habits
    • 5 Financial Advisor Follow-Up Tips (That Won't Annoy Prospects)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Write A Book (And Use It To Get Clients)
    • 7 Ways To Make Your Financial Planning Firm More Profitable
    • 7 Actionable Goal Setting Tips For Financial Advisors
    • 10 Of My Favorite Productivity Tools For Financial Advisors
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make A Phenomenal First Impression
    • 3 Reasons Financial Advisors Should (And Shouldn't) Start A Podcast
    • Financial Advisors: 4 Reasons Why Buying Leads Is Like Burning Money
    • 11 Tips For Writing A Stellar Financial Advisor Bio (With Examples)
    • 7 Traits Successful Financial Advisors Have (From Someone Who Has Worked With Thousands Of Advisors)
    • 6 Common Financial Advisor Interview Questions (And How To Answer Them)
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Know Before Buying A Book Of Business
    • Looking For A Financial Advisor Internship? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know...
    • How Hard Is The CFP® Exam? (Plus 5 Of My Favorite Tips To Help You Pass)
    • 10 Insurance Marketing Tips, Ideas, and Strategies (That Actually Work)
    • How to Become a Financial Advisor In 5 (Not So Easy) Steps
    • How To Make Six Figures As A Financial Advisor
    • 11 Lucrative Cold Calling Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Things I Wish All Entry Level Financial Advisors Knew
    • 6 Video Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors: Why Video Marketing Is So Powerful
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Sales Training Completely Fails
    • Pros and Cons of Financial Advisor Coaching - Should Financial Advisors Hire a Coach?
    • 9 Elevator Speech Tips for Financial Advisors
    • A Day In The Life of a Financial Advisor: 7 Things You Can Expect
    • 7 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Services
    • Pros and Cons of Being a Financial Advisor: The Dirty Details Nobody Tells You
    • 8 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Financial Advisor
    • 10 Things Financial Advisors Wish They Could Do Differently
    • 10 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 12 Best Financial Planning Questions to Ask Clients
    • 5 Online Reputation Management Tips for Financial Advisors
    • Here's Why Clients Fire Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Never Do With Their Clients
    • 9 Cold Email Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Tips for Avoiding Burnout as a Financial Advisor
    • 9 Tips for Creating a Financial Advisor Business Plan
    • 7 Must-Know Google Ads Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Awesome Tech Tools for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Insurance Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
    • 12 Facebook Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 3 Lessons From An Advisor Losing $1,000 Every Day
    • 7 Easy & Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Door-to-Door and Cold Knocking Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things People Really Want From Financial Advisors
    • 5 Client Loyalty Strategies to Help You Retain More Clients
    • 7 Client Referral Ideas to Help You Get More Referrals
    • 8 Tips for Attracting UHNW Clients (With Proof That They Work)
    • Top 10 Best Books for Insurance Agents (2020)
    • 15 Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas & Techniques That Work!
    • 11 Awesome Client Appreciation Event Ideas for Financial Advisors
    • Life Insurance Leads - Should You Buy Them?
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    • 7 Reasons You'll Fail as an Insurance Agent
    • 7 Horrible Insurance Marketing Ideas
    • 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • Social Media Tips for Financial Advisors: Experts Weigh In
    • The Secret Behind Awesome Financial Advisor Value Propositions (Plus Examples)
    • 5 Tips for How to Sell Insurance Over the Phone
    • 15-Step Client Onboarding Checklist: Onboarding Process for Financial Services
    • The Best CRM for Financial Advisors (CRM Software for Financial Services)
    • 10 Actionable Seminar Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 9 Effective Appointment Setting Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 19 Financial Advisor Email Marketing Tips
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    • How to Handle Rejection In Sales: Overcoming Your Fear of Rejection
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Websites Are Terrible
    • 27 Financial Advisor Marketing Ideas & Strategies That Work!
    • How to Become a Successful Financial Advisor: Your First Year
    • Top 10 Best Books for Financial Advisors
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    • 5 Ways to Generate Leads Without Cold Calling
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5 Ways To Generate Leads Without Cold Calling

Man generating leads without cold calling
NOTE: If you’re a new financial advisor, make sure you check out Your First Year As A Financial Advisor, where I reveal several things every new financial advisor ought to know.​​​

How can you generate leads without cold calling? You've come to the right place...

Is cold calling dead? I still think it’s one of the best ways to build a business, but I’m not naive. I completely acknowledge that industries across the board have been getting diminishing returns from cold calling over the years.

Here are some statistics on cold calling:
  • According to the Keller Research Center at Baylor University, 28% of those cold called engage in conversations.
  • 1% of cold calls ultimately convert into appointments (also from Keller Research).
  • 42% of sales reps feel they do not have the right information before making a sales call. (Lattice Engines, 2013)
  • According to Telenet and Ovation Sales Group, it took an average of 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect in 2007. Today it takes 8 attempts.

The good news is that if you are cold calling and know your statistics, you can develop a relatively predictable revenue stream. But if the results are slowly diminishing, you need to be prepared to do something else.

So what can you do? Here's how to generate leads WITHOUT cold calling... 
​

1. Use Social Media.

Thanks to the internet, email, and social media, we now have a new way to do business. I think it’s so cool that you can speak directly to your leads at any time of the day, and they can read/respond at their leisure. Your leads can respond to a message with less effort or ignore it easily if it’s not applicable. You can send out 20 messages way faster than you can make 20 phone calls. Everyone’s happy.

However, make sure that you’re smart about using social media sites like LinkedIn to get new prospects and clients. Make sure that your online presence is tailored to a particular niche and that you personalize everything you send.

I recently read an article about LinkedIn that said, “Every new connection you make is an addition to your email list”. Wrong! Please don’t add people to your mailing list if they haven’t opted in. I can’t begin to tell you how many advisors have added me to their little monthly newsletters. It’s annoying and they’ve damaged my perception of them from the get-go.

ALSO READ: 9 Actionable Facebook Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors

2. Send Direct Mail.

I think direct mail is incredibly underrated. I have personally built a business on the back of direct mail, and plan on building a few more.

In most cases, direct mail won’t work for selling a low-dollar product or selling to people with a small customer lifetime value. But for financial services, there is a large lifetime value per client, which means that more often than not, it makes sense to be using the heck out of direct mail.

For all of you who want to target millennials and think direct-mail is old-school, think again. 36% of people under 30 look forward to checking the mail every day, and since people are receiving less mail than ever before, your mail pieces will stand out.

If you do it correctly, you should be getting a 1-2% average response rate from your direct mail campaign. The problem is that most financial services companies completely fail at direct mail. In The Ultimate Financial Advisor’s Guide to Getting More Clients, I tell the story of how I kept getting letters to insure my teenage driver…. but I’m not a teen, I have no children, and no teens live in my household. What a complete waste. I’ve also heard stories of people in young, upscale neighborhoods getting postcards talking about Social Security with an elderly couple’s picture on it. What a waste!

ALSO READ: 5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Improve Direct Mail Marketing Results

Man checking the mail, which is a great way to generate leads without cold calling

3. Get Speaking Engagements.

Another way to generate leads without cold calling is to book speaking engagements. There are so many clubs and associations that are looking for speakers on a regular basis. It’s just up to you to make sure you’re the one speaking. I mean, these are great opportunities to get in front of a room of dozens of prospects at the same time. As long as you speak about a topic that interests the audience and don’t solicit like crazy, you might even be invited back!

There are so many opportunities for you to get in front of people, and it’s easier than ever before. You can use the internet to find:
​
  • Service clubs – Kiwanis, Lions, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, etc.
  • Colleges and universities.
  • Business networking groups.
  • Special interest clubs.
  • Conference directories.
  • Trade associations.
  • Large companies.

All of these are prime opportunities to get the word out! Pick one or two of these ideas to get speaking engagements and go after them. Simply make contact, ask if the group accepts speakers, and present your credentials and proposed topics.

ALSO READ: 9 Seminar Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors

4. Get Referrals From Current Clients.

Your current clients probably know far more prospects than you think they do. After all, they work with them, hang out with them, and spend time in the same social circles. Your clients also know better than anyone else the real value of what you do – not just your investment advice or wealth management approach, but the impact that you have on their lives. Make sure that you’re using the relationship you’ve established with your current clients, and thanking them for the referrals they send your way.

5. Use Your Website.

If your website isn’t bringing you in a steady stream of inbound leads, you’re doing it wrong. There are so many different ways that you can get people to your website, with the end goal of filling out a “contact me” form. 

​(Unfortunately, most financial advisor websites are terrible.) 
​
  • Optimize your website for SEO. At the very minimum, you should make sure that your website is optimized for the keywords of your name, title, and location. The whole idea is to place strategic keywords into key areas of your website to effectively communicate your page’s message to the search engine. For example, my website is currently optimized for “financial advisor marketing” and “how do financial advisors get clients”.
  • Make it easy for people to contact you once they reach your website. People aren’t going to spend that much time on your site. Even if you are exactly who they’re searching for, if they can’t immediately see a way to get in touch with you, they’re going to bounce. Make your contact form, direct email, phone number, etc. as prominent as possible. On my own site, I have a “Call me at 937-REVENUE” at the very top.
  • Develop an off-site strategy to drive traffic. Do whatever you can to make sure people know about your website – after all, it is working for you 24/7. One of the best ways that I’ve found for financial advisors to drive traffic to their site and capture inbound leads is by blogging, specifically publishing on LinkedIn. 

So there you have it... that's how you generate leads without cold calling. 

P.S. If you're a financial advisor who wants to get more clients from LinkedIn, make sure you check out How to Get Clients With LinkedIn: How Financial Advisors Can Set Appointments and Convert Prospects With LinkedIn
MORE THAN 50,000 FINANCIAL ADVISORS SERVED... ARE YOU NEXT? CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE. 
RESOURCES
"Financial Advisor Marketing" Podcast​
How to Get Clients With LinkedIn
The James Pollard Inner Circle Newsletter
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  • Home
  • Get Clients With LinkedIn
  • Webinar
  • For New Advisors
  • Products
  • Inner Circle
  • Blog
    • 50 Things I Wish Financial Advisors Knew About Marketing
    • What's A Good Financial Advisor Marketing Budget? Here's What I've Found...
    • 5 Reasons Why Hiring A Financial Advisor Marketing Agency Is A Bad Idea...
    • 5 Elements of High-Converting Landing Pages For Financial Advisors (With Examples)
    • Why "Branding" Is A Terrible Idea For Financial Advisors
    • 9 Inbound Marketing Strategies For Financial Advisors That Are Working Right Now... (With Proof)
    • Financial Advisors: Here's How To Get 3 New Clients In The Next 30 Days...
    • I Analyzed The Websites Of Barron’s Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors: Here’s What They Do Differently…
    • 4 Things I've Learned From Testing 3.2 Million Financial Advisor Emails
    • What Is The Optimal Number Of Clients For A Financial Advisor? (My Answer May Surprise You...)
    • Will Financial Advisors Become Obsolete? (Future Outlook For Financial Advisors)
    • How To Become A Virtual Financial Advisor (Plus Traits And Tools To Help You Work Remotely)
    • An Open Letter To Financial Advisors With Imposter Syndrome (Plus 4 Tips For Overcoming It)
    • How To Overcome Objections As A Financial Advisor (The Right And Wrong Way)
    • 7 Priceless Tips For Financial Advisors Who Want A "Lifestyle" Practice
    • 9 Research-Backed Stress Management Tips For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 3 Powerful Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Webinars To Get More Clients
    • 10 Catastrophic Ways Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Own Success
    • These 5 "Weird" Tips Can Help Financial Advisors Form Better Habits
    • 5 Financial Advisor Follow-Up Tips (That Won't Annoy Prospects)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Write A Book (And Use It To Get Clients)
    • 7 Ways To Make Your Financial Planning Firm More Profitable
    • 7 Actionable Goal Setting Tips For Financial Advisors
    • 10 Of My Favorite Productivity Tools For Financial Advisors
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make A Phenomenal First Impression
    • 3 Reasons Financial Advisors Should (And Shouldn't) Start A Podcast
    • Financial Advisors: 4 Reasons Why Buying Leads Is Like Burning Money
    • 11 Tips For Writing A Stellar Financial Advisor Bio (With Examples)
    • 7 Traits Successful Financial Advisors Have (From Someone Who Has Worked With Thousands Of Advisors)
    • 6 Common Financial Advisor Interview Questions (And How To Answer Them)
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Know Before Buying A Book Of Business
    • Looking For A Financial Advisor Internship? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know...
    • How Hard Is The CFP® Exam? (Plus 5 Of My Favorite Tips To Help You Pass)
    • 10 Insurance Marketing Tips, Ideas, and Strategies (That Actually Work)
    • How to Become a Financial Advisor In 5 (Not So Easy) Steps
    • How To Make Six Figures As A Financial Advisor
    • 11 Lucrative Cold Calling Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Things I Wish All Entry Level Financial Advisors Knew
    • 6 Video Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors: Why Video Marketing Is So Powerful
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Sales Training Completely Fails
    • Pros and Cons of Financial Advisor Coaching - Should Financial Advisors Hire a Coach?
    • 9 Elevator Speech Tips for Financial Advisors
    • A Day In The Life of a Financial Advisor: 7 Things You Can Expect
    • 7 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Services
    • Pros and Cons of Being a Financial Advisor: The Dirty Details Nobody Tells You
    • 8 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Financial Advisor
    • 10 Things Financial Advisors Wish They Could Do Differently
    • 10 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 12 Best Financial Planning Questions to Ask Clients
    • 5 Online Reputation Management Tips for Financial Advisors
    • Here's Why Clients Fire Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Never Do With Their Clients
    • 9 Cold Email Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Tips for Avoiding Burnout as a Financial Advisor
    • 9 Tips for Creating a Financial Advisor Business Plan
    • 7 Must-Know Google Ads Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Awesome Tech Tools for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Insurance Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
    • 12 Facebook Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 3 Lessons From An Advisor Losing $1,000 Every Day
    • 7 Easy & Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Door-to-Door and Cold Knocking Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things People Really Want From Financial Advisors
    • 5 Client Loyalty Strategies to Help You Retain More Clients
    • 7 Client Referral Ideas to Help You Get More Referrals
    • 8 Tips for Attracting UHNW Clients (With Proof That They Work)
    • Top 10 Best Books for Insurance Agents (2020)
    • 15 Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas & Techniques That Work!
    • 11 Awesome Client Appreciation Event Ideas for Financial Advisors
    • Life Insurance Leads - Should You Buy Them?
    • 5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Improve Direct Mail Marketing Results
    • 7 Reasons You'll Fail as an Insurance Agent
    • 7 Horrible Insurance Marketing Ideas
    • 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • Social Media Tips for Financial Advisors: Experts Weigh In
    • The Secret Behind Awesome Financial Advisor Value Propositions (Plus Examples)
    • 5 Tips for How to Sell Insurance Over the Phone
    • 15-Step Client Onboarding Checklist: Onboarding Process for Financial Services
    • The Best CRM for Financial Advisors (CRM Software for Financial Services)
    • 10 Actionable Seminar Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 9 Effective Appointment Setting Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 19 Financial Advisor Email Marketing Tips
    • 5 Ways to Overcome Call Reluctance
    • How to Handle Rejection In Sales: Overcoming Your Fear of Rejection
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Websites Are Terrible
    • 27 Financial Advisor Marketing Ideas & Strategies That Work!
    • How to Become a Successful Financial Advisor: Your First Year
    • Top 10 Best Books for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Fatal Prospecting Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make
    • 5 Ways to Generate Leads Without Cold Calling
    • 7 Ways Prospecting Is Like Dating
    • 5 Reasons Why You're Not Getting Referrals
    • 5 LinkedIn Tips for Financial Advisors (Plus 3 Things They Should Be Tracking...)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Build Client Trust
    • 11 Reasons You'll Fail as a Financial Advisor
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make More Money
    • 5 Best Niches for Financial Advisors
    • How to Sell Without Being Pushy
    • How Advisors Can Get Out of Their Comfort Zone
    • 5 Characteristics of Successful Insurance Agents
  • Contact