I met Eido Walny many years ago at a networking event for financial advisors and attorneys.
Since then, it’s been a pleasure watching his firm’s growth as a prominent estate planning practice, recognized by lawyers in different arenas across the nation.
In this interview, Eido kindly sheds light on best practices that have worked for him to grow his practice. I think the stories and marketing strategies he shares here can be utilized by attorneys, financial advisors and CPA’s…anyone who is looking to service and help more investors or those with legal and/or financial needs.
The main highlights I’d love to share from this interview?
1) Building your credibility can be your most powerful marketing strategy
2) No marketing strategy makes sense if you give up too easily or quickly
3) Treat any referral source or a center of influence like a friend, not a task on your CRM
Please listen to this amazing interview and set up a call with us if you’d like to discuss it for your practice!
Key areas to listen to from the interview
7:55: What has been your website strategy? What are some best practices for website design and structure for lawyers, CPA’s and Financial Advisors?
Being an estate planning attorney a lot of referrals come from financial advisors, not someone googling “estate planning attorney”. If you have a good website, it builds great credibility. At our practice, we’re not as concerned with search engine optimization as we are with “Second Touch Optimization.” That’s when someone has been referred to us and is now checking out our website to validate the referral source.
A website needs to be personable and establish that credibility, not be something that was build in the 1920’s!
Then, and only then, can your website be a powerful marketing tool
10:30: Best practices working with referral sources
There are way too many people referring one professional to another.
How can you differentiate yourself with your referral source so you stand out from your competition?
If you are working for a large institution, you should know the following two facts:
Your employer can take a lot away from you; it can take away your bonus, your benefits and more. But the two things it can never take away from you are:
1. Your knowledge and
2. Your business relationships/connections
So..
Cultivate both your knowledge and your network:
Get out there, be personable, do a lot of lunches and coffee meetings to expand that network of business relationships. If you don’t know how, sales coaching can be a great option for you.
The world is a small place and getting smaller every day.
People know people!
Referrals always come around…
Become a Referral and networking master
13:10: How are you managing your time, especially when you’re in a billing hour business model?
It doesn’t take that much time if you don’t over-analyze it!
30 minutes extra adds up tremendously. I do feel that a little of extra effort adds up
Sending a few emails in the morning
Post a few things on Linkedin
All of these can be done when you’re drinking your first cup of coffee when you first wake up!
15:50: Don’t give up too easily!
A lot of times, we hear from other professionals who are new to marketing: “Linkedin is useless,” “networking events are useless,”….etc.
Even if you were running an ad, you can’t expect to run a commercial and expect the doors to be busting open!
A great marketing strategy should be to constantly add value, and be systematic/repeatable.
For example, for those who say Linkedin is useless: The goal of Linkedin is not to be an avenue for you to be generating leads on a daily basis. It is to create a platform for you to be on top of mind to your target client.
Look at it as a marathon not a sprint!
Whatever your expectation is for how much you have to do: go ahead and double or triple it.
18:05: How do you structure a meeting with a new referral source
What should be the structure of a meeting with a new referral source? What is the agenda, what is the drip strategy?
One answer: The more you give by far the more you get!
22:58: How to develop your elevator pitch so you can present it to a new referral source or prospective client? What should it include? How to make it powerful?
Here are the key components of a great “elevator pitch”:
How long has your business been in existence?
How has it grown?
Your background.
What’s unique about you that you can’t find in most places?
We hope you enjoyed this interview and gained some insight for your own practice.
Learn more about Eido by visiting him on his website or on his Linkedin profile!