Are You Captivating?

This is not a rhetorical question. Be honest. Would your clients describe you as such? 

In a digital age where attention spans have shrunk significantly, it is every professionals’ best interest to be captivating. When your prospects encounter you, if they aren’t immediately captivated, they’ll most likely move on.

In my work I’ve seen a lot of advisors in action. My firm has helped thousands of financial professionals meet hundreds of thousands of prospects through in-person seminars. When in-person events were halted in March 2020, we quickly adapted to hosting consumer webinars, and virtual thought leadership summits. To date we’ve hosted over 1500 virtual events. Our unique front-row access to advisors’ presentations, and the data that shows their booking results, provided us with interesting insights.

We can definitively say the advisors who we fondly refer to as ‘captivating advisors’, and who utilize what we have termed, ‘captive marketing’, clearly stand out from their peers. They book significantly more appointments, and garner much higher reviews. We sought to understand what they were doing differently than their peers: Was it definable, and more importantly, could their strategies be replicated?

Good news! It is definable, and you can replicate it. What exactly is captive marketing, and what is its relationship to being personally captivating?

In its most basic sense, it is utilizing all relevant channels to establish credibility strong enough to inspire action. It’s a blend of marketing tactics to showcase professionals as trusted, credible thought leaders in his or her hyper-local market and social sphere of influence. Unlike stand-alone content marketing, thought leadership, influencer marketing and others, captive marketing ties these strategies together to generate undeniable awareness for an advisor. The stronger awareness an advisor has, the higher their conversion rates. This translates into new client acquisition at a lower cost, not to mention a more expansive and holistic offering for the prospect or current client. It is highly dependent on digital credibility and the embracing of an online presence. 

Embracing this strategy is the initial step of becoming a captivating advisor, however two critical components must be included. A willingness to be authentic and vulnerable.

Previously I believed that a person is either authentic or not. Genuine or not. Trustworthy or not. It wasn’t something I thought could be developed. However, there is more to the story. Authenticity can be developed. 

In Brigrade Branding’s blog post entitled, Authenticity: the buzzword of 2020, author Elena Valenzuela-Stookey writes, “What consumers of all ages are looking for and responding to, are brands they trust. And that trust is built over time, through a consistent message, showing up in the same way, everywhere they encounter your brand…So, if being rebellious is part of your brand’s core identity, then embrace it. If encouraging consumers to treat themselves is your brand’s promise, then stick to it. If outrageous confidence is one of your brand’s personality attributes, let it shine! Now more than ever, consumers see through thin personalities and attempts to adopt messaging that doesn’t match a brand’s core.”

In a hyper connected digital world, where personal and professional boundaries have eroded, every top professional must understand that you are now a brand, and you must be willing to operate as such. There will be unrelenting pressure to be accessible via a variety of platforms and social sites. You need to be everywhere your prospect is so they can find you, know you and trust you.

The brand you’re building must be based on the authentic version of you for these reasons:

1. Presenting a version of yourself that is not natural nor accurate is not sustainable, especially if you’re expected to show up everywhere. 
2. Trust is built on consistent messaging. Consistency is only sustainable when it naturally springs from your unique identity and personality.
3. If you are like everyone else, there is no reason to select you over your peers.
4. The key to captivating is being distinct.

Authenticity is being willing to show up fully and let your prospects see who you really are and infusing your personality in all you do. 

Its foundation is allowing yourself to be vulnerable. Eschewing digital spaces where we can’t control how our message is being interpreted or repurposed and where interactions are sometimes combative and unproductive can seem like the smart choice, but it’s not.

Hiding key aspects of your life, interests and passions to appear professional also avoids vulnerability. It is human nature to resist and shore up any areas of vulnerability. But vulnerability is the foundation on which authenticity lies. And authenticity is the pedestal that your peers are using to become captivating advisors.

There is no authenticity without vulnerability. And there is no captivation without authenticity. Actively honing authenticity and vulnerability is a proven practice that leads to higher conversion rates, more referrals, and a shortened sales cycle. It is also an excellent catalyst for growth both professionally and personally.

About White Glove

White Glove is a tech-enabled marketing services company that, through its proprietary done-for-you platform, makes it easy for professional advisors such as financial, insurance, estate planning and more to succeed with client-getting strategies, such as educational seminars, webinars, 1:1 Workshops, social impression management, podcasts and other digital media. Backed by Quadruple Guaranteed seminars and webinars, advisors pay only for performance. Not only are White Glove marketing services done-for-advisors, but we get better results! Advisors can grow their business without spending extra time booking venues, setting up webinars, generating leads and appointments, following up with workshop registrants or keeping social media channels updated with great content. White Glove’s tech-enabled done-for-you programs are meant to be an extension or replacement for advisor marketing departments – doing the hard work and aligning on performance and results. Clients benefit from countless freed-up hours that they can spend on other important things – like their own clients, their family and activities they enjoy – all without sacrificing results.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.