Never trust a man with bangs.

[quote=Dirk Diggler]Never trust a man with bangs. [/quote]

Moving beyond the bangs. Do any of you guys advertise in any media? I am just starting to explore this idea, I thought it may be complimentary to all the prospecting and calling we do.

If any of you guys have experience with this please expound.

Thanks, Giff

Just a P.S. there are plenty of gals here.

I have been advertising for the last three months with articles in local papers.  Very expensive.  I have not had one call back and no doubt I am dissappointed.

I am going to pursue other avenues and try to get my articles published for free.

Anyone who has luck with advertising - - I would like to hear from you too.

I wrote articles for the local paper for 1 1/2 years full page articles free to me not one call. I stopped what a waste of time. I am on the radio every day at noon it is wortless advertising also. For me no more adds in papers or radio!   

The best marketing I have done is - Bill Good system - expensive but results are awesome.  Radio show - did for a year.  I learned format was key here as I initially got calls from people wanting a hot stock tip, review, idea etc...I changed it to more of format that limited calls and talked more on advisory based topics, risk management, planning etc... and got more desirable calls/clients, meetings etc from that.  Problem is getting a good radio station w/ good time slots at an effective cost which eventually led me to having to stop it.  But it was money well spent when I did it.

I also used some seminar mass mailing firms a while back, had some good success there too but it was real expensive - $2500 + depending on how much you did w/ them (mailings, call backs, drips).

One the most effective things I did from just pure grunt work too was focusing on a particular group I had some commonality with.  For me it was my college alma matter, where I drafted a letter detailing my desire to work with fellow alumni as a focus of my business and sent to other fellow alumni.  Was a warm lead, call and led to some good conversations and fairly good accounts as I got started.  Granted it was not the door knocking style my b/d at the time wanted me to utilize, but it worked all the same and was much more comfortable for me to utilize.

One other area that I haven’t done but have had some friends in the business do and they have had good success is to subscribe to Dave Ramsey’s lead generation deal (obviously not the proper name).  iF rAMSEY’S radio show is in your area or nearby you might be able to get in on it.

[quote=csmelnix]The best marketing I have done is - Bill Good system - expensive but results are awesome.  [/quote]

Now that's interesting. I've never talked with anyone that's actually done that. Are you still using it?

Yes

I was on Bill Good and it was effective.  Public advertising, men’s clubs, etc are an absolute waste of time and money.

[quote=maybeeeeeeee]

Just a P.S. there are plenty of gals here.

I have been advertising for the last three months with articles in local papers.  Very expensive.  I have not had one call back and no doubt I am dissappointed.

I am going to pursue other avenues and try to get my articles published for free.

Anyone who has luck with advertising - - I would like to hear from you too.

[/quote]

You are correct about women being in the business, sorry. I sometimes fall into using "guys" as a generic for all present. Kind of like walking into a room and going hey guys to everyone present.

No call backs! That is really disappointing, I thought this may be an alternate to obtain some additional business to prospecting. What kind of articles where you running?

[quote=frumhere]I was on Bill Good and it was effective.  Public advertising, men's clubs, etc are an absolute waste of time and money.[/quote]

My OSJ is about to buy the Bill Good system, only thing is it cost about $10K. What makes it so great?

Do you actually have a computer operator on staff?  I spoke with them and they were very keen about a three person setup as I remember.  Has this changed that was about three years ago…

I am in a small town and I have done radio and newspaper.  For bringing business in, they are VERY POOR performers.  When I have gotten my money out of and would recommend to you is to buy the biggest yellow page ad you can afford.  I believe I have gotten my money out of that.

I believe advertising only works in relatively smaller markets, but even then it'd be unlikely to bring in new business sufficient to off-set the cost.  I think its principal (if not only) value is to promote name recognition (branding), so that when you directly contact prospects through other normal prospecting methods your name rings a bell with them. 

I periodically pass through a smaller town where a rep has a modest billboard (with his picture and his name & business name prominently displayed) on the main drag entering the town.  People can't help but know who he is, so I assume when he's prospecting he's at least a known entity.  So, he's making "warm" calls, not cold ones.  It's been there for years, so I assume it's working for him.

On the advertising, with radio, I think getting a show is so much more effective than advertising.  It just seems that whenever somebody says something on the radio it’s taken as gospel, which helps give you the instant credibility.   

Giff,

Bill Good is so good "if" you buy into it and follow it to the latter because it's a complete system of prospecting and management of your business that's been proven through trial and error.  It takes contact management and drips to a whole new level. 

I think the original question was about the "leads into gold" system?  Anyway, I bought it almost two years ago and it is primarily a teaching aid for drafting your own direct mail and follow up pieces to generate warm leads.

If you are not a good writer, it won't be of much help.  However, conceptually the material is good.  I've posted a couple of references to Advisor Marketing Systems, which basically takes the same concepts of the leads into gold program but actually gives you the material customized for advisors pre-written.

For those looking to implement the Bill Good System - I hope you have a HUGE marketing budget, it is HUGELY expensive.  Myself and 3 other advisors bought the CRM program and never could get our staff's to figure out how to make it really work, so eventually we gave up .

Oh well, I'm sure it works for the really dedicated, but there are a lot easier ways to make money and build a client base in this business.