Thanks to some positive developments in the markets and economy over the last year, advisors have been able to do exactly what they need to do-move away from defensive activities aimed at retaining nervous clients and focus on offensive maneuvers designed to win new business and build their practices. One highly effective method for attracting prospects to your door is to develop and offer group presentations.

Unfortunately, group presentations are one of the most misunderstood and underused business development strategies. Research by CEG Worldwide found that fewer than 10% percent of advisors see seminars and presentations as an important source of new business.

But don't let those numbers fool you. Group presentations can work wonders when you know how to design and conduct them the right way. The biggest problem with group presentations is that advisors don't know how to deliver them effectively and don't know how to tailor them to qualified potential clients.

In our coaching program, advisors often say they've tried presentations in the past but have had no luck, so they gave up. We also hear that investors are "seminar-ed out." Without question, investors have been offered many seminars over the years. But most have had little to offer the highly affluent individuals and families that you are seeking.

A NEW APPROACH

With that in mind, we examined the group presentation methods used by advisors who have been successful with this strategy. These advisors take several key steps that enable them to create smart, easily replicable presentations and deliver them to investors who are eager to hear them. For example:

Tactic 1: Work backward. Plan your group presentation series 12 months in advance. Start with the result you want to achieve, and then move backward from there. Plan your follow-up first. Decide on the number of presentations you will offer and estimate the approximate number of prospects who will attend each. This will give you an idea of how much follow-up you will need to do. It's usually best to offer small presentations on a monthly basis. This should be the same basic presentation each month, allowing for constant improvement as you move ahead. Then you can design the actual presentation itself and plan how you will put prospects in the seats (more on those later). Once your plans for each stage are complete, set about executing them in a timely manner.

Tactic 2: Get an endorsement from a key member of your niche. As part of your efforts to drive attendance, a major goal should be making sure that the right people are coming to each presentation. Many advisors offer seminars that are open to the general public, hoping to generate interest that may lead to new business. That's an admirable goal. The trouble is, these public seminars are a scattershot approach to marketing that usually results in few or no new affluent clients. You'll probably get just enough to tempt you to keep on trying. Scattershot marketing for seminars results in good gross revenue but a very low profit margin due to the expenses associated with direct marketing.

In particular, high-net-worth individuals in your niche will not attend a seminar simply because they see a newspaper ad about it. They will, however, attend a presentation endorsed by an affluent friend or an individual or organization they trust. For example, if you have alliances with attorneys, CPAs and other professionals, this could mean getting an endorsed invitation to present to their clients. Or you might make your presentations in corporate settings, possibly with the endorsement of the director of human resources. Or maybe you could make a presentation with an outplacement group, working with the manager of that office.

One advisor we coached has had tremendous success presenting to executives at publicly traded companies and pre-transaction companies gearing up for IPOs, mergers and acquisitions. For example, one recent presentation to 15 top executives resulted in four of them signing on to his firm. His presentations were pre-endorsed by the companies' directors of human resources, chief financial officers and VPs of finance. His firm's relationships with a large team of outside professional experts-such as CPAs, property/casualty insurers, and trusts and estates attorneys- has also led to important introductions and endorsements that immediately gave his firm credibility with audiences.

Tactic 3: Bring your most satisfied clients into the plan. An often overlooked method of leveraging your client base is to hold group presentations for both your clients and their referrals on a regular basis. Consider making your presentation monthly or bimonthly. The tactic both reinforces your existing client relationships and generates a steady stream of referrals from your clients-in other words, you simultaneously get to play offense and defense.