Jun 2, 2020
We’ve been talking a lot about target marketing in recent weeks so we wanted to continue down that path and speak with someone that’s been highly successful using this strategy.
Natalie Schmook, MBA, CFP®, CVA®, is the founder and owner of Hayes Wealth Advisors, and one visit to her website will make it clear that she works primarily with optometrists. It’s a very niche area of focus, especially when you consider that fewer than a third of all optometrists own their own practice, but she’s built a very successful business with this specialization.
We asked Natalie to join us for this episode of the podcast to have a thorough conversation about this strategy for advisors. Even with knowledge of this industry, she had to learn a lot about the profession, their needs, and their terminology. But that shows you that taking that leap can pay big dividends if you’re willing to put in the time and follow the guidance we try to lay out through our program.
The very first thing we wanted to find out is which factors are you considering when you are deciding your target market, and she provided some great insight. First, how many people are out there to target? Second, who is your competition for this target audience? Third is figuring out if you have the ability to access that market.
We’ll cover a wide range of topics during this show but some of the key areas to listen for are:
-How she approaches professional conferences.
-What strategy works for her newsletters.
-How to work primarily in a virtual setting.
-What value clients see in working with specialist.
Along with the business and the operation, we will bounce some different marketing ideas and strategies around to get a better sense of how much they’ll work for different clients.
We want to thank Natalie for being so gracious with her time. Check out her website to learn more about her business.
For more on this topic and other strategies to growing your business, join us over at RenegadeAdvisor.net.
Today's show schedule:
0:39 – Setting up our conversation for today.
1:39 – Our guest today is Natalie Schmook, founder and owner of Hayes Wealth Advisors
3:03 – Natalie’s practice is focused on optometrists.
4:23 – What are you evaluating when determining what’s a good target market?
7:25 – What is the value clients see in working with a specialist?
13:32 – What is the long-term health of the industry and should that play into the decision for who to target?
16:28 – The business is national in scope and virtual meetings are normal.
19:13 – How to approach conferences for a target market.
22:22 – Have your own event before the main event.
23:09 – She’s had success with newsletters.
25:32 – Consider what your own knowledge and experience is.
28:55 - Webinar success
32:44 - Using the webinar to build a list
36:16 - Specialization lowers overhead
39:17 - Some thoughts on Natalie’s website
43:12 - Charging fees up front.
46:57 - Speak the same language as they speak.
47:58 - If you pivot to a specialist, do you have to get rid of old clients?