Win wealthy clients with aura of exclusivity

Cultivating an aura of exclusivity will induce existing clients to help you reel in big accounts. When word gets around that you’re only interested in a select number of high-calibre clients, being in your book will become something of a status symbol.

The details of this strategy were explained to me in an interview with the founder of a financial services firm based in Pennsylvania.

Exercise

Think about the biggest and best clients in your book. How many clients that size could you add to your practice, within these constraints:

• No additional sales support or interns.
• No reassigning or giving away accounts – the new clients are in addition to your current clientele.
• Everyone gets the same level of service.

At what point is your service model severely strained? For many established producers in the U.S. the number is under 10.

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Conversation

Tell each of your larger client relationships you’ve completed a business plan for 2013 and will be adding seven new relationships similar to theirs. Then say, “Before I add them in the traditional way, is there anyone you’d like to recommend to be one of the seven?”

Result

Several thoughts go through your client’s mind:

• You’re able to deliver great service because you’re not constantly adding small relationships to your practice. You’re focusing on servicing a specific number of clients.
• You have seven slots available and offered them the opportunity to recommend one. But it’s human nature to want more. This is good from your point of view.
• They’ve experienced the high level of service and attention you provide. They assume others know about it too, so they assume the slots will be filled by Easter. When they speak with friends they communicate urgency: “If you are seriously considering changing advisors you need to act now.”

Read: Valuable lessons from an unsuspecting prospecting attempt

Other considerations

The strategy is best suited for established financial advisors who already have a large clientele. Newer advisors planning on adding 50 new clients don’t convey exclusivity.

Once you reach your target you can’t just keep adding new clients. You’ll appear untruthful and word gets around.

But there’s a solution: once you reach your number “circumstances have changed.” You now have additional sales support. A few accounts were reassigned to another advisor in the office. These changes allow you to add an additional three relationships to your practice.

Read: 9 ways to generate new clients