Last Updated on July 20, 2020 by John Prendergast
It seems like every coffee meeting I have with financial advisors finds its way to the topic of “standing out”.
How can I stand out
How can I set myself apart
How will people know I’m different
How are other advisors doing it
The answer I give is always the same.
And it’s only two words.
It’s not a strategy I came up with (though I wish I could take credit for it). It’s something I share because it works.
I originally heard the advice from marketing guru Seth Godin. Among many things, he’s known for observing that when it comes to getting people’s attention, “bizarre” ideas are more successful than boring ones. This must be leveraged by financial advisors, in our continuously crowded space.
Here’s a crucial excerpt from one of Seth’s TEDTalks:
Consumers don’t care about YOU at all. They just don’t.
Part of the reason is they got way more choices than they used to, and way less time. And in a world where we have too many choices and too little time, the obvious thing to do is just ignore stuff.
And my parable here is: You’re driving down the road and you see a cow and you keep driving. ‘Cuz you’ve seen cows before. Cows are invisible. Cows are boring.
Who’s gonna stop, pull over, and say “Oo look! A cow!”
But if the cow was purple you’d notice it.
The thing that’s gonna decide what gets talked about, what gets purchased, what gets built is: Is it remarkable? And remarkable is a really cool word because we think it just means ‘neat’ but it also means ‘worth making a remark about’…
Take this. Run with it. Be a purple cow in a field of black and white ones.
If you think you’re already a purple cow, but look around and see other purple cows just like you, find a thing that turns you into a green donkey. Or a pink bear. (You get the picture.)
Be remarkable.
As you may have guessed, we’ve written about this before – in helpful detail.
To identify exactly how YOU are remarkable, get the step-by-step process in: How To Attract New Clients and Stand Out From The Crowd.
Already know how you’re remarkable? Want to attract more referrals with it? Grab the Financial Advisor’s Referral Marketing Kit. It includes a section on “How To Get Clients Talking About You” by being remarkable. Pretty powerful way to drive referrals.
Photo credit: Flickr, alexbartok
