Archive for the ‘Good Marketing’ Category

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I Wouldn’t Want To Run An Airline

May 17th, 2012

This blog is about seizing the opportunity to become an indispensable resource to your clients. You become indispensable when you know your clients, when you understand what motivates them, and when you willingly take the time to help them.

Can you imagine a worse job than being the CEO of an airline?

No matter how hard you try, most people think you are doing a terrible job. The odds are stacked up against you. You have a crazy responsibility – to move as many passengers as possible, as quickly and affordably as possible, while simultaneously delivering a fantastic experience. You can’t win.

The airports are a pressure cooker of miserable, unhappy people stewing in a toxic mess of barely concealed rage.

There are so many variables you can’t control – if the price of oil goes up a single cent per barrel and your fuel costs explode. Labour is expensive. Equipment is expensive to acquire and maintain and profit margins are so razor thin they are almost theoretical. Not to mention that the competition is ferocious and we haven’t even considered the weather. And don’t think for a second that you are going to catch a break on the weather – forget it. Thunderstorms in August are your responsibility too so you better divert them, and fast.

So all of these people working together manage to load you into a pressurized tube, lift it 36,000 feet in the air, where it then travels at 600MPH and rockets you across the continent in just under 5 hours and somewhere along the way someone is going to ask you if you want the chicken or the beef. For your sake I hope you don’t want the fish.

When you consider it all – isn’t it just amazing that an airline can do all that it does as consistently as it does?

Luckily for you, you don’t run an airline …

Because I fly so often I experience a very special level of service. When I have a problem I find out after it’s been solved – when I hear, for example, that my flight is delayed or cancelled I don’t even consider it. I know that Air Canada knew before I did, and by the time I find out they have already solved my problem by rerouting me somewhere else.

When the whole crowd groans, swears or complains I just call Air Canada Super Elite line to get my new marching orders – it takes me less than five minutes.

I’m sure that the CEO of Air Canada wants to treat all of his clients like that, but the reality is that he just can’t. Every day he has 1000s of clients to take care of, and there are only a handful of Super Elite members, and with all due respect to my fellow passengers, they are not the clients paying the bills. I am.

You don’t have 1000s of clients. You might only have 200. Why wouldn’t you take every measure you could to make sure that every client you have is treated like a Super Elite member?

Your clients want to feel valued. They want to feel known. They want to feel like someone, somewhere in your organization is thinking about them and working in their best interest. Your clients want to know that problems get solved and that everyone is contributing to their experience.

When you have your assistant confirm a conference call ahead of time you are not only being courteous and professional – you are also reinforcing your brand – and your brand is that you care. You want your client to know that you value them, and you are demonstrating this by taking the time to reach out (in this case ahead of time) to confirm that everyone is set.

When you have your assistant wait for your clients in the lobby, rather than have the client check in at the receptionist, you are reinforcing your brand and your commitment and you are completely enhancing the experience and the dynamic between you and your client. You are saying: “We value you. We want you to feel appreciated, and we want you to know that we take our professional responsibility to heart.”

Who are your VIP clients and relationships?

Do they know?

 

Posted in Blog, Client Service, Good Marketing |

Getting it All in Perspective – Sales

May 16th, 2012

It is all about your intention.

In the Experience Economy your sales process is not about ‘closing’ or ‘doing business’. Instead, consider that what you do is guide a client through a process of commitment.

If you believe that actions speak louder than words then you have to accept your client commitment process will leave a lasting and indelible imprint on the overall impression you make on a client.

What impression do your actions make?

Hint: just because you ‘closed’ someone does not mean that you made the right impression.

Posted in Blog, Experience, Good Marketing, Prospecting, Referrals |

Getting it All in Perspective – Marketing

May 14th, 2012

The distinction between sales and marketing is a blurry line for most. The problem with this perspective is that it distorts your worldview and does not allow for the reality that sales and marketing are very different. Sure, both activities play important roles in generating revenue but they are still different. When it comes to solving business constraints, you will not be able to solve a sales issue if you have it lumped in with marketing. Likewise, you will not be able to solve a marketing issue if you have it lumped in with sales.

A professional services provider needs a distinct sales process to continue securing work/clients AND a deliberate and focused marketing process to consistently create opportunity. It is true that marketing feeds sales AND it is also true that they are not the same and are separate systems in your business.

The secret to a marketing system for a professional services provider is choosing a set of simple, effective actions that are done consistently. The true secret to successful marketing is the consistency with which the activities are done.

If you want to get unstuck from the gray area between sales and marketing start by separating the two and taking the time to write out and document your process for marketing.

Posted in Blog, Good Ideas, Good Marketing |

Are You Sure?

May 8th, 2012

I recently read a report that said that the majority of business leaders in large and small enterprises across different sectors were able to clearly articulate the competitive strategy of their competition in clear and specific terms. However, when asked to describe the competitive strategy of their own business their language becomes uncertain, uncommitted and vague.

Lack of clarity about the strategic direction of your business is a sure fire way to spin your wheels and not realize the full potential of your efforts. Always remember there is a difference between being busy and being effective.

Being effective means you have a clarity of purpose and a defined objective and know exactly what needs to get done and why. Being busy means just doing whatever hits your desk that day.

Which are you?

Posted in Blog, Client Service, Good Marketing |

Announcing the Self-Directed Study from DMW Strategic Consulting

March 27th, 2012

“We feel that we have brought a practical solution to advisors that they can use again and again to add value to their business. It is excellent value at $600.”
- Dennis Moseley-Williams

DMW Strategic Consulting is pleased to announce the release of the DMWSC Self-Directed Study. The Self-Directed Study is a stand-alone solution that has been designed for the advisor who is looking for an easy way to inject meaningful innovation into their business.

For years audiences have been hearing Dennis Moseley-Williams’ compelling message about building a world-class wealth management business. The DMWSC Self-Directed Study is designed to create a lasting impact based on proven practices to generate high levels of trust, innovation and implementation.

The DMWSC Self-Directed Study comes on an interactive DVD and will improve your capacity for innovation and implementation through a step-by-step program. The DVD provides an advisor with a selection of proven business strategies and contains a full selection of videos and resources to ensure that you have the basics you need to get up to speed.

If you are looking to drive your Inspiration through to Innovation and Implementation then the DMWSC Self Directed Study will be an invaluable resource.

You can order the DMWSC Self-Directed Study by calling Nick at 1-613-729-0419.

DMW Strategic Consulting is a boutique firm that specializes in providing business solutions that allow entrepreneurs to make meaningful change in their lives and the lives of others.

Posted in Blog, Client Service, Good Ideas, Good Marketing, Services & Solutions |

Fight Through Resistance

February 10th, 2012

Right now is a really good place to start. Don’t get overwhelmed and stalled by focusing all that has to be done, that is The Lizard talking to you and that is how he wins. You may not know how to finish, but you do know where to begin – so start there.

This is how things get done, by getting started.

Posted in Blog, Experience, Good Marketing, Services & Solutions |

Advisor Interview – Heidi Helmeke

November 23rd, 2011

The day I met Heidi, I was working in Minneapolis, and my client had arranged a personal meeting with some advisors. I was told ahead of time that they have a great business, and that I would enjoy meeting them.

Charles (Chuck) Blossom and Heidi Helmeke are fantastic financial advisors, and the entire team at Prestige Wealth Management come together to offer a fantastic client experience.

They take a complete and comprehensive approach to their financial planning process, but they are as passionate about their client relationship which is what sets them apart.

As Heidi put it “For sure we have a complete financial planning process, and every client we have understands it, so yes we do a great job of caring for them from a strictly technical perspective – but we put a lot of effort into ensuring that we create a sense of family or belonging here. We want people to look forward to seeing us; and to having their meeting – those are two separate things”

In addition to the photo albums of client events, Prestige Wealth Management also hosts several impressive client events including a Holiday event where they book an entire movie theatre, and for Halloween they delivered pumpkins to over 20 houses that had grand kids. “People love it, and our movie day for many of our clients has become one of their family traditions – which is really nice for us.”

Name: Heidi J. Helmeke

Family: Married to Rob Helmeke and have two children Garrett age 7 and Brooke age 5

Current Position: Senior Vice President, Prestige Wealth Management

Years in Business/Brief History: I have been in the securities business for approximately 20 years originally to start up an investment program within the bank where I was acting vice president.  I later moved into the independent RIA channel with Prestige Wealth Management 12 years ago.

Staff: Prestige Wealth Management has three support staff, an operations director and the President of Prestige Wealth Management who is the other Advisor in the office.

Assets under Management: 51,000,000 and growing steadily.

DMW: How did you get into this line of work?

HJH: My path into this line of work started at age 16 when I was hired as a bank teller.  My work experience in the financial arena continued through out my pre-dental scholars’ program years at Marquette University.  After 2 ½ years I realized that my financial burden for undergraduate and then Dental school would leave me in debt until I was at least 40 years old even with a dentist’s income.  That was not what I wanted out of life and changed my degree to psychology in order to be able to finish in 4 years.  I had no idea at the time how valuable that degree would be for me in the future.  I took the first job out of college that would pay me enough so I would not need to move home.  That meant I would be working in finance since that is where a majority of work experience was concentrated.  After making my way up the banking ranks into a vice president I was asked to start up an investment department.  In doing so I was able to see that I wanted to explore this avenue that was very new to me.  Once I started working with clients I realized I needed more information to be able to assist them in their financial decisions and therefore obtained my certified financial planning certificate.

DMW: To what do you most attribute your success?

HJH: My dad.  He not only had a strong farm work ethic that he passed on to me he was also an incredibly smart man who did not go past the 6th grade.  He could add and subtract in his head faster than I could with a calculation however because of his lack of education he never had confidence in his ability to understand finance.  He started his own successful business and was able to provide for our family however he died without ever writing a check.  I continually see “dad” every day meeting with clients whether they are scientists, engineers, executives, lineman, or school teachers.  It doesn’t matter what, if any, education they have the complexity of the financial world creates a need for me to bring confidence and education to their world.

DMW: What would you say are the five key elements for starting and running a successful financial planning practice?

HJH:

  1. Health – Both mental and physical
  2. A Strong family relationship
  3. Passion for your clients
  4. Establish a business plan that will withstand the ups and downs of our industry similar to the plans you do for clients.
  5. Continual personal growth – never stop learning

DMW: If you spoke to a squeaky new fa on his or her first day……

HJH: Get to know your client one conversation at a time.

DMW: I really like that – one conversation at a time – it sort of suggests that you should be patient. Seek to understand your clients. Know them intimately.

DMW:  What keeps you interested about this career?

HJH: The desire to assist my “business” family with every new challenge and opportunity that occurs daily.

DMW: People’s lives are always changing – I always think about me, my own financial life and how semi-complicated it is, financially speaking. Granted I run a business, but most of my friends don’t and their lives are financially complicated too – mortgages, investments, retirement, promotions, layoffs – everyone is always in flux.

HJH: Keep connected with your clients – you have to check in, that is how you find your place to help.

DMW:  Tell me about a time when you had to overcome difficult times in your practice, and what you did to get through it.

HJH: In looking back at some of the most difficult times in my practice they have always happened when my focus strayed away from the client toward outside influences that I could not control such as the markets, economy, political environment and competition.

The first step was to recognize what had occurred.  The second step would involve revisiting my goals and reasons for being in this business. Finally I would take action to make the client my primary focus again using various top of mind tools or simply mentally shutting the door on outside influences.  The future will always involve difficult times however experience has proven to me that the time involve in recognition and resolution of the challenge keeps shortening.

DMW:  Why do you think you do so well – and can other FA’ duplicate your success by embracing your philosophy?

HJH:  I think I do so well because for me this is not a job or even a career.  It is my passion and purpose.  If a new FA truly cares about your clients above all else the success will follow.

DMW:  What kind of culture exists in your organization?

HJH:  Our organization strives to create a feeling of family both internally and externally.  This is accomplished by establishing relationships that involve more than finances.

DMW: What 3 pieces of advice would you give to an FA who wants to realize…….

HJH:

  1. Find out if you have the internal desire for this business beyond the external gains of money, success, education etc…
  2. If #1 is true then cultivate that desire by enhancing your client relationships and in turn their experience with your firm.  (If not be honest with yourself and either accept you position in the field or do what you are passionate about)
  3. Surround yourself with positive influences both personally and in your business.

DMW: How do you go about marketing your business?  What has been your most successful form of marketing?

HJH: We market through introductions, workshops and client events.  Our most successful marketing is small client events where they bring a guest to introduce to our firm.

DMW:  Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?

HJH:  I would say solely based on recent experiences as a consumer I would say Starbucks and Ann Taylor.

DMW: Yeah, I have a nice Ann Taylor pantsuit … wait did I say that out loud?

Bonus Round

DMW: Do you have any idea what Poutine is, and do you think it should be legally recognized?

HJH: No idea, so I am not sure.

DMW: Did you hear that Governor Rick Perry signed a pledge against Poutine?

HJH: (laughing) No I did not know that.

DMW: Well he did, or at least he is pretty sure he did.

HJH: Well … Is that a bad thing?

DMW: Depends I guess on what your feelings are about complex carbohydrates. I don’t want to get all political on you, but the way I see it all carbohydrates are created equal.

DMW: Ever been to Canada?

HJH: No.

DMW: What? Are you kidding me? I thought for sure … you live in Minnesota?!

HJH: I know, but no, I have never gone.

DMW: Well there goes my next question … So, what’s your favorite part… of Canada?

HJH: I have a lot of dual citizenship clients, so I am going to say “wherever they are from, and wherever you are.”

DMW: Oh that’s sweet – and that’s going in the interview.

 

DMW: Okay where would you go if you went anywhere in Canada?

HJH: Honestly … I probably wouldn’t go.

DMW: What? We are your largest trading partner … we’re right here, we like you guys, and we look like you. Is it our liberal opinions and radicalized support for Poutine?

Posted in Blog, Experience, Good Marketing, Referrals |

Thanksgiving Season Campaign Part Deux … This Time Its Personal

November 7th, 2011

You can read Part One here if you missed it.

Thank you for all the feedback on our blog last week, we appreciate it. Look for an Advisor Profile later this week that you will enjoy.

This blog is about the next step of the Thanksgiving Season campaign where we are looking to uncover new opportunities within your own business. This isn’t hard to do, and with very little effort you can do this all the time.

Last week you were going to send everyone a card using this incredibly handy service, you were going to call your clients, beginning with your top client, and gather CLAN information (Career, Life Goals, Activities, Next of Kin).

You can get the campaign rolling in about 20 minutes by visiting here. If you need any help, email us info@moseleywilliams.com and someone will walk you through it.

The feedback so far is that the service is pretty straightforward.

How you can leverage the CLAN info that you gathered.

Lets agree that profiling clients is always important, and always a benefit. Undoubtedly sometimes you will walk right into new business, but I would encourage you to take a longer, more patient view. This work is important, necessary and will pay off.

Just by calling and profiling your clients you are building a wall around them – you are protecting your most valuable asset, a client who is onside. Think about what a single client is worth to you, year after year. What does a client pay you per year in fees, what does that client pay you every 5 or even 10 years? These numbers can be staggering.

So again – at the very least we are protecting this income, now let’s see how we can grow a little.

Look for family information – specifically parents.

When you ask about Thanksgiving dinner, and you find out who is going to be there, ask a few qualifying questions to flush out a better picture of the family dynamic.

Obviously you are going to want to know more about my parents – and it’s likely that most of your clients who are in their forties have parents who are at least in their mid sixties. In my case, my mother is in her late 70s, and my father is in his mid to late 80s and lives in a long term care facility.

 

If you called me and asked me what my plans were, you’d find out that I have 4 older brothers, that I will likely have dinner with two of them, and that most likely my mom will be there. My father isn’t very well, so you might find out that we are going to visit with him that day, probably in shifts, and that it’s unlikely he will join us that night.

My brothers are all married, they are all professionals and we are all friendly with each other. One of my brothers you would like to have as a client, and probably could if you lived in our town.

You might ask something about kids, and find out that there are enough Moseley-Williams grandkids to field a team, and that they range in age from 4 to 25. We are a family that goes to University and College, most of my nephews and nieces will graduate from post-secondary education. There are a lot of 529 plans (RESPs in Canada) to consider.

There are some great opportunities here to help me, to diversify your service and to further build a professional relationship. All you have to do is ask, and you have permission to do this.

Elder Care is an important issue, and a great opportunity.

In the cases where your client might have a similar situation to my own, consider sending out a letter after you make the call and offer to be a source of clarity and assistance as it relates to possible elder care issues.

“Dear Dennis,

You have been on my mind since I spoke with you the other day. I have been thinking about your parents, who I will assume are well taken care of. With that said, more and more I get questions from my clients whose parents are nearing, or already in retirement.

Obviously a proper will and estate plan is an essential piece of your financial planning puzzle. I am going to assume that all is well taken care of, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t reach out to you.

Please find enclosed a little information on the subject that highlights a few issues that you should be aware of. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Seminar for elder care? With a speaker? A Retirement Symposium?

One of our clients leveraged this simple campaign – a card, a call, and some profiling, into a seminar for retirees featuring a gerontologist as a speaker. The subject was retirement lifestyle planning, The New Retirement, and it was incredibly well received.

The audience was a mix of existing clients, their parents, and some prospects. It was an exceptional event, and the topic was timely, appropriate and appreciated.

A fistful of other ideas

What if you don’t have the elder care event as a possibility? Not to worry. There are all kinds of other opportunities. Remember, you are not trying to sell a product; you are trying to create a client.

Career – can you send anything out to a client who is thinking of changing careers, companies, or who is uncertain about long term job security?

Lifegoals – Are your clients planning any trips? This is usually an easy one.

Speaking personally I have already booked two ski getaways, January and February and I have a third “almost booked” for March – just need to finalize the dates.

What is significant in my case is that I am booking these trips as rewards for some heavy work I am doing now, so this is also related to CAREER stuff. Namely I am finishing a book, launching two products and I am currently in the midst of finishing a complete rebuild of my consulting program.

Anyone can get on GOOGLE (it’s new) and wherever your clients tell you they are going, type in something like: Best restaurants in Location. Can’t-miss attractions in Location. Secrets-of Location.

You will get millions of possibilities, you need two. Check out the links, print what is appropriate and send the printed pages out to your clients with a little note:

“Dennis, I enjoyed speaking with you the other day, I love that you are always looking ahead and planning some fun. Keep it up. I have enclosed a little list of things to do when you are in Location skiing. I’m sure you are doing your own homework, but according to those who know, you don’t want to miss …”

That’s it. That’s all you have to do. All you are trying to do is demonstrate that you listen, and you care and that you are willing to bring a little value when you can, and maybe you will find out that it really helped them. You are buying your own space in their story.

Activities – Think hobbies, and what is going on closer to home. Do your clients have a boat or a cottage or lake house? When do they close it up? Are they an avid runner, biker or swimmer? Are they involved in a fund raiser or community activity that you could sponsor or in some way assist with?

Next of Kin – This is a huge opportunity. Imagine if you sent a book like The Richest Man in Babylon, or The Wealthy Barber to every teenage child of your top clients who has a job. To every kid who makes $216 every two weeks from working at her or his job at a retail store.

What would that say about your commitment to your clients as a Personal CFO? Write a note that says this:

“Ella, I was speaking with your father/mother the other day and they were telling me that you have joined the workforce. Congratulations! Your parents are understandably very proud of you and they should be. I have enclosed this book for your consideration, and encourage you to read it before you get too many pay cheques.”

Make sure you call your client and let them know that you have sent along the book, and then suggest that they bring in their son or daughter to meet you at their next review meeting.

Speaking very personally – nothing means more to me than my daughter. Anyone who makes any effort to help me be a good dad is an important ally in my life.

Become Indispensible

The bottom line is this – you have to stir the pot. You have to stay in touch. You have to remain top of mind and you have to add value.

Sending a statement isn’t adding value. Sending a market update isn’t market value either – frankly it’s your job.

Don’t measure your value by doing what you are hired to do. Measure your value by doing things that are nowhere in your job description.

Once again – if you want to get this campaign going, start with a card and you can get going here.

After the card is sent out, hop on the phone and gather your CLAN information then use a little imagination. The more you do it, the more easily you will manufacture runs.

Posted in Blog, Campaigns, Client Service, Good Ideas, Good Marketing |

Kick off Thanksgiving Day Campaign Part One

November 1st, 2011

Every year at this time I get my clients excited about the possibilities of the season. We all know that at this time of year friends and family members get together, visit, catch up, and share news.

Rather than write a great big long missive about this campaign and how it works, I am going to break it up into 3 parts.

This first post is all about reaching out and contacting, and profiling your clients. In the follow up posts, I’ll tell you how to further leverage this information. We have even provided a useful link to a site that can help you get this started right away.

STEP ONE – MAIL A CARD.

Begin by mailing all of your clients a Thanksgiving Day card. It’s a nice gesture, and while everyone sends out Holiday Cards, or Christmas Cards very few people send out Thanksgiving Day Cards.

Send everyone a card. We rely on this simple service that allows you to choose your card, put in a personal message, and then it handles the mailing for you.

STEP ONE – PART B.

Your top clients should receive a card, and a center piece for their table. It’s a great idea, one that I know works. Its not hard to imagine your best clients having a dinner party and having a guest comment on their table decoration. They may not say “my advisor sent it”, but that isn’t really important. What is important is that it is a good idea that stands out and every time someone mentions it they will think of you. If your name comes up, even better.

STEP TWO – PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL EVERYONE YOU SEND A CARD TO.

There are a few reasons that you are making this call.

  1. To book a financial appointment to discuss their investments leading up to, or just after the Holiday season. Get a date solidified.
  2. To profile your clients and insulate them from competitors.
  3. Uncovering hidden opportunities – as you will see in a moment, we want to capture as much CLAN information as possible, and see what sort of new opportunities we can stir up. This will be taken up in follow up blogs.

Call the clients that make the most sense to you and your business. Think ahead of time about what revenue they generate, and how ideally they match your ideal client profile. Everyone will get a card, but perhaps not every client merits a personal call?

GATHER C.L.A.N. INFORMATION.

Before you call each client, consider … Do they consider you a friend? Do they value your advice? Are you their primary financial advisor?  Do they have additional assets held at other institutions? Have they ever provided you with a referral?

Don’t mention the card that is in the mail, and in specific cases do not mention the center piece either. Let that be a surprise. There are so few anymore …

Simply call and ask this question and see where it leads: “What are your plans for Thanksgiving?” Remember your CLAN information that you want to gather and be ready with some paper to write on. Specifically you want to learn about:

Career news.

Life goals.

Activities & Interests.

Next of Kin.

When you ask “What are your plans for Thanksgiving?” you may find out about relatives in the area – specifically whose table your client is sitting around, and who else will be there. You might hear about siblings in the city that you have not been introduced too. “I didn’t know your brother lived in the city … are you close? What does your brother do?”

Remember that networking involves familiarity and take the long view. All you are trying to do on these calls is gather information.

Perhaps your clients are going to tell you that they are going on a holiday for Thanksgiving, a trip, or something related to their personal interests and hobbies. The value that you get from this exercise is completely related to what you do with the information.

Capture it all in your client profiles and then see our next blog on how you can leverage it.

TAKE ACTION …

This is how you can get these cards set up, and sent out today:

We have tried to make these instructions as thorough as possible, but if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask nick@moseleywilliams.com.

Go to www.sendoutcards.com/dmwfriends and click Join to sign up for a retail account. This will give you access to the standard system features such as a Contact Manager, PicturePlus 2.0 (Where you can create custom cards) and the ability to send Campaigns.

With sendoutcards.com you add Points to purchase cards and Expense to cover postage. One Point gets you a post card, 2 Points gets you a 2-panel card. Add more Points at a time to get them cheaper.

Share our custom campaigns

Once in your account, move your cursor over Account, and write down your Used ID.

Log out of your account

Login using “dmwfriends” and password “dmwfriends”

Put your cursor over Cards, and click on Campaigns

You can see each campaign by clicking Edit on the right of each one

If you like it Share and enter your user ID into any of the ones you want

Log out of my public account and log into yours again, go to Campaigns, Edit each with your business card and change as you desire.

Once again, if you need any help, shoot nick@moseleywilliams.com an email.

Watch for Part 2 coming soon!

Posted in Blog, Campaigns, Good Ideas, Good Marketing |

Why We Use www.salesforce.com

July 13th, 2011

We get asked about CRM software (client relationship management) all the time because Dennis is always harping on the benefits of integrating a CRM to support your client service matrix.

The truth is we were using www.salesforce.com for most of our business, but also some features of Outlook and even some features of Google. And while it wasn’t ideal – it worked well enough.

We have clients who use Outlook, Redtail, Goldmine, and frankly we felt that most CRMs were given the usual review – they were good enough.

The Process we used.

With so many CRMs on the market we set out to pick the very best one, and we had two concerns:

  1. Our day to day operations at DMW Strategic Consulting.
  2. Suitability as a platform for our practice management application for financial advisors.

We invested close to 40 hrs total in this process which included several sales calls with the leaders of the contest. We evaluated 12 different CRMs, and we had 15 criteria to compare from a fully functioning group calendar to social media integration, to email marketing, to website integration to overall cost/price per user/license.

Group Calendar

Using salesforce.com group calendar, you can schedule events that are linked to contacts (attendees) and other users. You can login at a later date and see who was at the meeting and you can also add information about what happened at the meeting. All this information will be stored in the Contact Activity History.

This feature is also available through Outlook, but you are restricted to the computer you use Outlook on.

Salesforce.com is in the Cloud (and out of it too when you need)

Our company is very small and somewhat portable. We have 3 full time employees, and various sub contractors. Two of the three of us are always in the same time zone, Dennis is always flying, and our contractors live in different countries and time zones.

We work where it suits us best. Sometimes it’s Dennis’ home office, sometimes mine, sometimes at Starbucks or Bridgehead, and sometimes we are at the lake.

Dennis constantly flies, and is disconnected from the Internet for many hours of the day. So it was important to keep Dennis connected – we had to factor in fatigue too – it had to be easy to update Dennis via his smart phone and we had to be able to get him information in real time.

When Dennis wants to catch up on what went on in the office today, he can be fully updated, through incredible detail via his smart phone while taking a cab to his hotel. When its this easy there are no delays – nobody is waiting for clarification, and nobody (me) has to answer emails about simple questions (what did Bob Smith say?) for example. Dennis, or anyone else for that matter, can find out anything they want to know instantly, from anywhere.

With Outlook and Maximizer, you are limited to your PC – there is no cloud. With Google you are limited to the cloud. Salesforce.com gives us the best of both worlds, and even integrates with our Outlook that we prefer for email communication.

Every question I had, salesforce.com had a feature to answer me

Dennis is constantly adding new blogs to our website, offering ideas on practice management. We want to make sure that everyone that sees Dennis, and follows his blog is informed about a new blog as soon as it is live. This is no easy task, as Dennis has so many followers.

In fact, we were restricted at one time to sending emails to a maximum of 1000 people per day, our database (recently pruned) is close to 4,000. So it took 4 days to let all of our clients know that we had posted a new blog, or updated information. Through a partnering application called Vertical Response I can email all of you as many times as I need to instantly.

Tracking information to tailor content delivery

VerticalResponse will use the contacts and leads in our existing salesforce.com address book, and distribute emails to each of them based on templates I created (they have many sample templates). In addition to just sending out emails, VerticalResponse has really detailed “reporting”. We know who opened the email, what links they clicked, and who unsubscribed.

This allows us to track what our audience likes best, and give them more of it. We can try out different templates, subjects, messages on different groups of clients to see what response we get from each message, and this allows us to refine the message that we send to you.

In short – we can be very specific and precise with our content and delivery.

The DMWSC Application for www.salesforce.com

As you probably know we, partnered with www.cinovate.com, have been building all of our processes and better business ideas into an application for financial advisors.

You know when you see Dennis speak and you think “Wow, that idea is so great and so simple” but you also know you won’t be able to implement it? Its okay – we know it too.

We thought it would be amazing if you could download everything we know directly into your computer, with video tutorials, letters, scripts, campaigns, and a step by step map to follow.

We have that almost completed – after our evaluation we remain sold on www.salesforce.com for our needs internally, but also when we consider what the best platform is for hosting our business development content.

Posted in Blog, Experience, Good Ideas, Good Marketing, Services & Solutions |

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