Lemonade from recession’s lemons

“Crisis breeds opportunity” is a common expression among optimists in the investment business.

These days, of course, it’s a lot easier to see the crisis around us than the opportunity, especially if you’re one of the growing number of Canadians who have lost their jobs.

And yet, I’ve recently talked to five advisors who have successfully translated the disruption that arises from corporate downsizing into new clients.

Here’s how they did it:

> Creating A Reputation: The Pension Specialist

In Toronto, one advisor with an independent firm has branded himself as “the pension specialist.” For the past year, he has been running radio ads on the local all-news station encouraging people to call him before making major decisions about their pensions. He has created a dedicated website under the “pension specialist” brand, providing newsletters and seminars focusing on what people need to know when they are about to retire or are laid off.



> Offering “Tips And Traps” Workshops

Another advisor, who works with a bank-owned investment dealer, has created a 30-minute “tips and traps” workshop on the financial decisions that people face when they are terminated. He has approached outplacement counsellors and law firms that specialize in employment law, offering to conduct workshops for their staff on their premises. He also has invited HR managers in his community to attend a luncheon workshop at his office on this topic.

From this, he has received referrals and invitations to run this workshop for a number of companies on their premises.



> Approaching Prospects With Targeted Information

Another advisor with a bank-owned firm scans the news for companies announcing cutbacks. When a company does make a downsizing announcement, this advisor identifies people he knows who work there and calls them, asking if they or a colleague might be interested in some information he has put together on how to minimize taxes payable on a termination settlement.

The advisor has received a good response to this strategy and has picked up some new clients as a result.

Along similar lines, Montreal based PWL Capital Inc. has developed a guide to the financial implications of being laid off to help one client who had been downsized. The guide is comprehensive and includes spreadsheets to help with budgeting. The firm since has turned the guide into a more broadly based piece for all clients.

Because PWL sends copies of all of its newsletters and client communication to members of the media, this piece got picked up by the Globe and Mail’s personal finance columnist, Rob Carrick, and has been featured in one of his columns, building PWL’s credibility with clients and raising visibility among prospects.



> Anticipating Needs With Proactive Contact

Another advisor has taken this idea one step further.

Last fall, he put together a 20-page guide he calls Everything You Need to Know About Being Downsized. In it, he has compiled information from a variety of sources, including articles from magazines and newspapers (with permission from the owners of the copyrights) dealing with issues beyond finances, such as managing stress and staying upbeat, tips on networking and how you tell friends and family the bad news.

The advisor has emailed this package to all his clients, asking them to forward it to anyone who might find it useful. On the first page of the guide, he invites anyone with questions to call him.

Finally, he has put together a list of people he knew who worked for big companies, even those that had not announced layoffs. He has called those people to say he was hearing lots of concern from clients about cutbacks and that in response he has created this guide. He has offered to send copies to them, in the event a friend or someone they worked with might find it helpful.

As a result, some of the people he has approached have become clients, and he has also received some referrals to co-workers of the people he has contacted.



> Becoming The Go-To Resource For Company Employees

My final example relates to a woman in her early 30s who had entered the financial services business about five years ago. Not only has she attracted a fair number of clients from her efforts, but she is well on the way to building an initial client base by positioning herself as the go-to resource for people working for a large local company.

@page_break@She has done this by running a series of seminars earlier this year for employees of this firm, which had recently announced employee cutbacks. Unlike the advisors mentioned previously, who have more experience in the industry and whose target market is senior managers, her focus has been on mid-level employees.

How did she make this happen?

Strategic alliances. This advisor has recruited a lawyer and an accountant to participate in her seminars to add important information and to bolster her credibility.

In her search for candidates to help out in her seminars, she had focused on sole practitioners because she thought they would be more open to investing the time entailed than partners at a big firm would be.

These weren’t big seminars; her goal was to get 12 to 15 people out to each session. The three principals had shared the costs, which were minimal because these were not high-cost events — just sandwiches and pop.

More important than the dollars, the lawyer and the accountant contributed credibility. In exchange for borrowing that credibility, the advisor did all the heavy lifting in filling the room.

The right time and place. The advisor started by booking a meeting room in a hotel across the street from the head office of the company, offering workshops one day a week for four weeks. They ran from noon to 1:30 p.m. and from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Word-of-mouth marketing. Next, the advisor focused on filling the room. What drove attendance the first time was that she had a friend and existing client who worked for the company. That client sent an email out to people in her department, letting them know about the workshop, telling them that she was going to attend and thought they might like to also.

(Note that at no point did the advisor ask for permission from the company’s head office. If you ask for a company’s permission for an effort such a this, chances are almost certain they’ll say, “No.” And then you will have a problem if you move forward. Better just to do it. As the saying goes: “Better to beg forgiveness after the fact than to ask permission beforehand.”)

Targeted content. The three presenters at the seminars agreed to put together short talks that directly addressed the concerns of someone who has just been laid off. Each presenter had 15 to 20 minutes to hit a few key points and then they opened the floor for a short question-and-answer period.

As part of the advisor’s preparation, she familiarized herself with the target company’s pension plan and the specifics of the termination notice and buyout offer. (In this company’s case, some employees were simply terminated, while others were given a choice as to whether to take a package.)

Call to action. All the employees attending got a 10-page workbook. At the end of the seminars, everyone was asked to complete a short evaluation in which they were asked if they wanted more information from any of the three speakers.

Effective follow-up. The day after each session, the advisor followed up with everyone who had attended. She asked if they had any additional questions and if they’d like to meet. She thanked them for their time and also asked whether they had found the workshop worthwhile.

Almost all attendees at the seminars did. At that point, the advisor asked if she could send them an email about upcoming sessions, saying that she would be grateful if they forwarded this email to other people they knew at the company.

The results. These seminars have led to a steady stream of appointments and a number of new clients for this advisor and her partners.

Equally important, she’s well on the way to becoming the “safe choice” for employees of this firm. She has started seeing referrals to co-workers of some of the people who have signed up with her.

And the more clients she has at this company, the more entrenched is her reputation as the go-to advisor for people working there — to the point that she has started receiving calls from people who have heard about her from co-workers.

This advisor has done everything right. She made it easy for people to attend by offering the seminars across the street at a convenient time. She built credibility by involving a lawyer and an accountant. She spread the word from within the firm rather than trying to market from the outside in, and she has worked to get word of mouth going for her. She also followed up effectively after the seminars.

And, last but certainly not least, she had invested the time up front to build her knowledge of the company’s pension and termination offer to ensure that people attending the workshops got real value for their time.



> Three Key Strategies

Each of these approaches has used a different way to attract new clients who have lost their jobs, are being laid off or are concerned about losing their jobs.

However, these advisors do have three key things in common that everyone can learn from.

1. They began with the determination to capitalize on the real concerns created by corporate layoffs.

2. They each crafted an approach to position them as bringing differentiated expertise to people with real problems and important decisions to make — and thus with the motivation to act.

3. They put plans in place to spread the word about their expertise to prospective clients.

Whether your target market is people worried about being laid off or prospects with other concerns, these advisors offer important lessons on what it takes to attract clients today.

Position yourself as offering credible solutions to prospects’ hot-button concerns and you, too, can build prospecting momentum in your practice. IE

Dan Richards is president of Strategic Imperatives Corp. in Toronto. For other columns and access to his blog, visit
www.investmentexecutive.com.

How to use corporate downsizing to prospect clients