The Importance of Branding and How to do it.
Branding is probably the most overlooked aspect of any small business. When I say small business, I mean businesses with revenue under 25 million dollar a year. It’s true you are a financial advisor, but ultimately you are working for yourself. Just like any other business owner your level of success depends solely on you. For these reasons it is absolutely vital for you to brand yourself in order to secure your future.
I have seen too many people receive pink slips after building a strong foundation of clients and then falling into a slump. The fact of the matter is, your clients belong to your employer. When you were prospecting your clients I bet nine times out of ten you sold the client on the company you work for, such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, or Charles Schwab. Ultimately, you just sold yourself out of a job. Why would a client transfer with you to another financial company if you sold them on how good your previous employer was?
Your goal should be to sell your clients on you-the person and service you can offer your clients no matter what company you work for. Ultimately, you want your client to be a loyal to you.
Getting Started
Branding is very powerful; it can convey exclusivity, preferential treatment, desirability, value, dependability, stability and quality. Believe it or not people are extremely loyal to brands and you want your clients to be loyal to you. In order to achieve this you must give your clients something that is very limited or cannot be had anywhere else or at least anywhere near your prices. Your clients must see you as the only choice, not the just the best choice. You can do this in several ways, in which we will explain later.
Let give the difference a brand make. You have a lot of entrepreneurs that doing real estate these days. You know the normal purchasing of run down homes that they buy, fix and then turn around and sell (some turn the properties in it rentals, but that a different story). Most these people do not have a brand. There is no company that is going acquire or merger with a company with low value.
When you build a brand your company itself becomes an asset within itself. Competitors and consumers look at you differently. You are taken more seriously. You have an asset that worth something, Wall Street calls it good will. It’s not that your company does anything more than your competitors, but critical difference is your company has a brand. Imagine the name (the brand) of your organization being worth millions of dollars alone, because what it means to prospects. How much do you a company would pay Microsoft, IBM or Coca-Cola for their name and just their name. I would safely estimate a hundred million dollars or more.
A lot wall street analysts that have formed their own a brand. Their name and approval on a stock or mutual fund report could easily earn millions for a company. Take Jack Gurdman for example, he built a brand so powerful that when he said WorldCom stock was a buy, people brought it. If Citibank had let Gurdman go before the WorldCom sandal Gurdman broke, you could have bet your last dollar that the top 10 financial service firm would have been fighting to get their hand on him. And ultimately that’s what you want to achieve for your business. People trusted these analysts because they were suppose to be the best in the business and your customer must trust that you will do what you say it will do.
Continue Here
Bobby Ellis
Xspology.com
I have seen too many people receive pink slips after building a strong foundation of clients and then falling into a slump. The fact of the matter is, your clients belong to your employer. When you were prospecting your clients I bet nine times out of ten you sold the client on the company you work for, such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, or Charles Schwab. Ultimately, you just sold yourself out of a job. Why would a client transfer with you to another financial company if you sold them on how good your previous employer was?
Your goal should be to sell your clients on you-the person and service you can offer your clients no matter what company you work for. Ultimately, you want your client to be a loyal to you.
Getting Started
Branding is very powerful; it can convey exclusivity, preferential treatment, desirability, value, dependability, stability and quality. Believe it or not people are extremely loyal to brands and you want your clients to be loyal to you. In order to achieve this you must give your clients something that is very limited or cannot be had anywhere else or at least anywhere near your prices. Your clients must see you as the only choice, not the just the best choice. You can do this in several ways, in which we will explain later.
Let give the difference a brand make. You have a lot of entrepreneurs that doing real estate these days. You know the normal purchasing of run down homes that they buy, fix and then turn around and sell (some turn the properties in it rentals, but that a different story). Most these people do not have a brand. There is no company that is going acquire or merger with a company with low value.
When you build a brand your company itself becomes an asset within itself. Competitors and consumers look at you differently. You are taken more seriously. You have an asset that worth something, Wall Street calls it good will. It’s not that your company does anything more than your competitors, but critical difference is your company has a brand. Imagine the name (the brand) of your organization being worth millions of dollars alone, because what it means to prospects. How much do you a company would pay Microsoft, IBM or Coca-Cola for their name and just their name. I would safely estimate a hundred million dollars or more.
A lot wall street analysts that have formed their own a brand. Their name and approval on a stock or mutual fund report could easily earn millions for a company. Take Jack Gurdman for example, he built a brand so powerful that when he said WorldCom stock was a buy, people brought it. If Citibank had let Gurdman go before the WorldCom sandal Gurdman broke, you could have bet your last dollar that the top 10 financial service firm would have been fighting to get their hand on him. And ultimately that’s what you want to achieve for your business. People trusted these analysts because they were suppose to be the best in the business and your customer must trust that you will do what you say it will do.
Continue Here
Bobby Ellis
Xspology.com
posted by Xspology.com at 7:39 PM
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