Natural Target Marketing
Background – The Problem All Advisors Face
“Like trying to find a needle in a haystack...”
This expression is a perfect example of the frustration financial advisors experience when searching for their ideal client: the one client who meets the 3 “A” tests:
- The client has a great attitude – he wants your advice
and wants to work with you. - The client takes action in a timely fashion – does
what he needs to do when he needs to do it. - The client advocates for you – he will
introduce you to other ideal clients.
Your goal should be to work with ideal clients 80% of the time. I know an advisor has not achieved this goal when I hear statements such as:
- Every ‘no’ gets you closer to ‘yes.’
- You need 10 prospects to make one sale.
- Hang in there...you’ll eventually get there.
These are common expressions – I’ve said them in the past, and hear them on a regular basis from my coaching clients and other financial service professionals.
When successful financial advisors are asked how they developed their natural target market – or if they can describe their natural target market – my experience is that most advisors cannot easily answer these questions. The typical response is: “I don’t know – it just happened.” They may say it took 10-15 or even 20 years to develop a natural target market. The goal of our natural target marketing program is to help you discover your natural target market profile more expediently by using our software program, “The Invisible Market Matrix.” This software, which is in the final stages of development, helps you improve your marketing skills by identifying your natural target market profile, and your ideal client within your target market. Using our software will allow you to cut years off the time it typically takes for an advisor to discover their natural target market. Purchase our unique IMM software now!
What Is Marketing?
Marketing describes all the activities you engage in to put yourself in front of potential clients. These are the 3 most highly recommended marketing channels:
- Referrals from Clients
- Referrals from Centers of Influence
- Referrals from Centers of Service (often called networking)
Everyone we work with agrees: Effective marketing depends on having a very clear idea of your natural target market. The problem arises when you have to actually identify or describe your natural target market profile.
A Radical Idea
I was trained, as were most people I’ve talked to and worked with, that we choose our target market. If you want to work with doctors because you have identified them as your target market, ask for referrals to doctors. The same holds true for any niche you may select. Is there a problem with this approach? The simple but radical answer: Yes. You don’t choose your target market – your target market chooses you. Chasing after the wrong market doesn’t improve sales, but does increase your marketing effort and costs.
How do we know that you don’t choose your target market? We asked. Having done extensive research with networking groups (also called leads groups) and with very successful producers – as well as average producers – we have repeatedly discovered that in most cases the self-identified target market is different from the advisor’s actual target market. Here are some examples:
| Category | Stated Target Market | Actual Target Market Using the IMM Software* |
| Insurance Sales | Corporate level executive earning $200,000 per year |
Mid-level executives earning $80,000 - $125,000 per year |
| Mortgage Broker | Men 35-50 in corporate management positions |
Single or divorced women business owners, 40-55, willing to take financial risks. |
| Muffler and Auto Repair Store Owner |
Women needing repairs after their car warranty has expired |
Small car/truck fleet owners with 2-6 vehicles |
Looking at these 3 examples (where the results are quite typical) we can easily see why marketing efforts take so much time and effort: most of us are not directing our marketing efforts at the people who want to do business with us.
I’ve often heard it takes X no’s to get a yes. Sometimes it’s 10 no’s or 20 no’s; whatever the number, this train of thought exists because we don’t know who our target market is. Thus we have to spend a lot of time talking to the wrong people before we get to the right ones. If we can’t pinpoint who we are looking for, we simply waste a lot of time and energy.
How to Improve the Odds
The simple answer is to concentrate your marketing efforts on members of your natural target market. Since you don’t choose your target market or ideal client (it chooses you), you need to discover the profile of your target market and your ideal client. As mentioned above, we have developed an easy-to-use software program called “The Invisible Market Matrix” to help you do this. The IMM asks you to input data on your 25 best clients or prospects (you may profile more than 25 clients if you wish). We then ask you to provide demographic and psychographic characteristics for each person. When completed the survey answers these basic questions:
- What are your basic demographic characteristics?
(age, gender, income, education, marital status, etc)
- What are your clients’ basic demographic characteristics?
- Where do your interests and your best clients’ interests intersect? The IMM report reveals the characteristics you and your best clients have in common – and provides clues as to how you can gain access to members of your target market.
- Finally, the survey reveals how much you know about your best clients. The higher the Validation Index (this index measures how complete your client knowledge is), the better your chance to find and contact members of your target market.
What can you expect to learn from your IMM results?
- Occasionally, you’ll discover that you are working and marketing to your target market/ideal client.
- Typically, you’ll discover a fairly large difference between what you thought your target market was and what it actually is.
- With this new information, you’ll be in a much better position to define and refine your marketing efforts towards people who meet your natural target market profile.
- You’ll stop wasting time pursuing the wrong prospects.
- You’ll make more money – or spend less time working to generate your current income.
Three Positions the IMM Can Help Profile
| Position | Person Tested | IMM Results | Issues Revealed |
| Manager/Sales trainer or recruiter |
Prospective Agent | Agent Demographics Client Demographics Client Access Points Target Market Profile Agent’s Validation Index (VI) |
Does prospective agent have access to his natural target market? |
| Is this a target market you wish to pursue? |
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| Does this prospective agent / advisor have demographics that fit your agency’s ideal agent profile? |
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| Does the prospective agent / advisor have good long-term success prospects? |
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| Agent/Advisor |
Agent (new and veteran agents) | Agent Demographics Client Demographics Target Market Profile Agent’s Validation Index (VI) |
Does the agent have access to his natural target market? |
| Is the agent obtaining enough client data? |
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| Is the agent using a printed fact finder on a regular basis? |
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| Has the agent chosen the best marketing channels? |
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| Is the agent open to changing his/her marketing activities? |
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| Agent/Advisor Selling a Practice |
Buyer and Seller | Buyer's profile Seller's profile |
Are target markets similar? |
| What are the chances of a successful buyout? |
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| Should this deal be made? | |||
The Marketing Process
The Invisible Market Matrix Profile
Validation Index: 81% (60.8% Adjusted) **
| *** | Agent Characteristics | Natural Market Characteristics |
| White Married Male No children at home Owns Primary Residence Straight 65 - 74 years One income earner Married or partnered 6- 10 years Owns Vacation Home or Timeshare |
White Married Male No children at home Owns Primary Residence Straight talkative 55 - 64 years Two income earners Married or partnered 11+ years 100 - 149K Household Income |
This Venn diagram shows how to access members of our natural target market:
shared interests and activities.
- How would you describe your client?
- What are the access points to meeting your ideal client?
- How would you improve your marketing effectiveness?
Purchase our unique IMM software now!
* These are actual examples of a natural target profile.
** The Validation Index tells how much you really know about your clients and prospects.
*** These lists reveal demographic profiles.