The Medium, The Message, and The Financial Adviser
By Paul McCord


The typical financial adviser will spend over 650 hours a year studying their profession through
reading professional books and publications, on-line classes, seminars, listening to CD's, and
other study methods. That's almost 17, 40-hour weeks of study a year to become good at what
they do. Broken into the equivalent of college courses, it equates to about 3 full semesters of
college work a year.

Three years into the profession, they will have completed the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree,
plus a semester of graduate school. After only 5 years in the profession, they've invested the
equivalent of 7 ½ years of class time. Since most enter the profession with at least a Bachelor's
degree, they have, in essence, earned a Ph.D.

During the same time, they have invested little, if anything in their profession's other side–
th
learning to sell and market their services. By the end of their 5 year in the profession, most
advisors have invested little more than a college semester in learning how to generate the clients
necessary in order to practice their profession.

Unfortunately, being technically good is useless if you don't have a client to work with. Being
half a financial adviser will get you nowhere except into another profession.

Many advisers struggle when it comes to generating new business. Some cold call. Others
network the local chamber of commerce. Some stick their business cards to bulletin boards at
restaurants or under windshields in parking lots, send unsolicited emails, fax fliers all over town,
invest in direct mail, buy leads, or purchase expensive advertising. Yet, few invest their time and
money in learning more sophisticated prospecting and client acquisition methods.

When acquiring complex and sophisticated services such as financial products, prospects want to
work with an adviser they believe to be expert. Indeed, whether their assumptions are correct or
not, prospects make a number of assumptions about what an expert is and how experts acquiretheir business. They assume that experts are not cold calling, sending unsolicited emails,
sticking business cards on windshields or bulletin boards, putting up cheap yard signs on street
corners, or faxing fliers. Rather, prospects assume that experts don't have to do these things
because their practice is populated through referrals from the adviser's current client base.

Consequently, the very act of cold calling, faxing fliers, blasting emails, or engaging in any other
form of prospecting that prospects identify as crude, sends the message that the adviser is not
what the adviser proclaims himself or herself to be–an expert. These prospecting methods
confirm Marshall McLuhan's proclamation that "the medium is the message." The medium used
to communicate to the prospect shapes the prospect's perception of the adviser far more than the
content of the message. Unfortunately for the adviser using these media, the message the
medium communicates is the exact opposite of what the adviser seeks to communicate.

Nevertheless, there are client acquisition methods available whose medium message can
reinforce the adviser's content message. Learning and perfecting these formats requires as much
dedication and commitment as learning the technical aspects of the profession. Alternatively,
hiring someone who understands the financial adviser's business and can perform a number of
these activities for the adviser will both expedite the process and free the adviser from the time
commitment to learn and hone the required skills.

Communicating an expert message requires you use the media of an expert. Mixing an expert
message with a non-expert medium doesn't send a mixed message. Rather, it sends the dominate
message of the medium--a message that the adviser is just another one of the crowd.

What are the media of an expert? There are many:

Networking: Networking through various organizations and associations is an expert format.
However, as all things associated with the expert, how and where you network is crucial. An
expert is more likely to be networking through specialized business, industry, and charitable
associations than through more general organizations. Working within a physician, engineering,
architectural, CEO, or charitable organization is more "expert" than surfing the local chamber ofcommerce or breakfast networking group. In addition, becoming an active member and
developing relationships without overt "prospecting" is more "expert" than trying to evangelize
someone you just met. The relationship converts the prospect, not the overt "selling."

Referrals: Prospects assume true experts acquire clients through referrals. Generating a large
volume of high quality referrals requires learning and practicing a well-developed process that
leads clients to a comfort level to give strong, quality referrals. Simply asking doesn't produce
the quantity or quality desired. However, there are processes used by the top sales professionals
that work extremely well.

Press Releases: Learning how to write and distribute well-written press releases about yourself
and your practice will have far more impact than advertising. Most prospects are resistant to
advertising and direct mail. Press releases, on the other hand, have the authority and subtlety of
being reported as hard news.

Published Articles: Becoming a published author on technical subjects important to the
prospect demonstrates expert knowledge–and is in a medium most prospects recognize as
educational and informative, not one that is "selling." With the thousands of article databases on
the internet, becoming a published author is quick and easy if the article is well-written,
educational, and void of overt self-promotion.

Speeches: Giving educational speeches to local business and civic groups and organizations will
also establish your credentials as an expert. Moreover, like writing articles, the medium used has
automatic expert credibility. By appearing before the group as an expert, you become an expert.
And like writing articles, the emphasis is on education, not self-promotion. Experts are far more
effective at promoting themselves when they don't overtly promote themselves.

Becoming an Expert Source: Recognized experts are interviewed and quoted in various
media–print, audio, and visual. The "experts" quoted and interviewed in your local media have
worked hard to become expert sources for the reporters, columnists, and freelance writers
interviewing or quoting them. You can become an expert source also by learning the ins andouts of working with the media and establishing yourself as a source for information, quotes, and
interviews when they are dealing with a subject that you can address as an expert.

By carefully matching the medium you use with the content of your message, you can establish a
public image and reputation as an expert in a matter of months that will continue to grow over
the years. These media are not easy to use, nor are they a quick solution to client acquisition.
They are, however, highly effective and they come to the prospect in a format that doesn't
confuse the message or, worse, defeat the content of your message.



Paul McCord is a recognized authority in prospecting, referral selling, and personal marketing. He is the
author of the best-selling book on referral selling, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales
Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), and the upcoming SuperStar Selling: 12
Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar. He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com or visit
his website at www.powerreferralselling.com.

Copyright 2007, Paul McCord. Article may be reprinted without any changes, with proper attribution,
and with bio of author. Send notification of when and where article to appear to
pmccord@mccordandassocites.com.