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The Simplest Tip to Grow Your Business: Just Ask
Over the last few months, I've seen more growth in my business than I have...well...ever. Like all business owners, I've experienced ebbs and flows, but never a "flow" this consistent.
I attribute this to a few things:
We're coming up on the fourth year of niching this marketing business to solely working with financial advisors. Many experts say that it takes 3-4 years to see big changes in your business and while I've always been consistently busy, this is a new level.
We were mentioned in some industry articles, which was certainly helpful.
I started asking.
I began to see big changes when I started implementing #3 on this list. During the summer of 2022, I contact Wendy J. Cook with Wendy J. Cook Communications about partnering with her on a new package. I had reached a limit to how much I could help people with custom marketing until I could bring on someone else (which, thankfully, I have now) and knew that Wendy had a remarkable library of content that advisors could subscribe to. But they still had to get that content on their websites, in their newsletters, and onto social media.
Thinking to myself, "It doesn't hurt to ask," I contacted Wendy about partnering up: advisors would subscribe to her library and if they needed ongoing marketing help she would send them to me. For people who were looking for marketing without really putting forth any effort, I would recommend they subscribe to her library and we would help them with the marketing.
Wendy and I could promote each other's services.
This has been a remarkable partnership and a win-win for both of us.
Since then, I've continued with my "just ask" policy as it applies to other partners in the industry. Here's why:
It's allowed me to give up things I don't want to do
I recently contacted a company that designs websites for financial advisors, a service we've always offered in the past. However, as our process has gotten more defined, web design is something that takes me away from the monthly services we offer - which is really the bread and butter of my business. And while I'll always help clients with content for websites, a complete redesign or a new website can take at least three months and can be an intense process.
I contacted the company because they do a great job and I'm comfortable referring people to them. But they don't do ongoing marketing for advisors. While we're still talking things through as I write this, they seem happy with designing the websites and then sending the advisor back to us for the ongoing marketing - because that's not something they want to get into. Again, a win-win.
It expands my audience
Partnering with the right people allows both sides to expand their audience for free. I'm now happy to talk up their services and they'll put my information out there as well. We can discuss how we want to do that - information on our websites, email outreach, and social media - and bask in the new traffic.
It lets me find new friends in my industry!
This is a blessing and a curse: I don't know a lot of people who do what I do for financial advisors. While that can be great for business, it makes for a lonely professional existence.
It's exciting for me to get on Zoom meetings with other professionals and discuss the ups and downs of marketing in the financial industry. We learn from each other and are able to come up with new ways to serve our clients.
Just ASK
As I keep moving forward with my business, I'm going to wholeheartedly embrace those two words. I know there will be times when the synergy isn't there, but so far it's allowed for an amazing transformation. It's also made me question what we offer and how we can continue to serve clients by connecting them with trusted partners - who will do the same for us in return.
I highly recommend it.
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