The 2 Stories That Give Affluent Clients a Reason to Choose You.

0:01Hello, this is Mark Satterfield, and welcome to the Velvet Rope Playbook. Tonight's chapter. The two stories that give affluent clients a reason to choose you. If you're trying to attract more affluent clients, there are two stories I think almost every business should have in its marketing. They're not your origin story or the story of why you started your business. They're actually more practical than that. The first is what I call the cost of a cheap fix story. The second is the peer validation story. One shows an affluent prospect what can happen if they make the wrong choice. The other reassures them that you've successfully worked with people very much like them in the past.

0:49These stories are particularly effective with affluent clients because wealthy people aren't necessarily looking for the cheapest solution. They're often looking for the solution that creates the fewest problems. story number one the cost of a cheap fix there's an old expression if you think hiring a professional is expensive wait until you hire an amateur and there's actually a lot of truth to it but don't simply tell an affluent prospect that cheaper can become more expensive tell them a story that demonstrates it let's suppose you're a custom home builder and someone comes to you after initially choosing another builder whose proposal was several hundred thousand dollars less.

1:34Sixteen months later, the project is behind schedule, there have been endless change orders, and the owners are spending several hours every week dealing with problems they assumed they were paying someone else to handle. Eventually, they come to you to straighten things out. You explain what you found, what had to be corrected, and how you got the project under control. Now notice what you're actually selling with that story. You're not selling more expensive construction. You're selling the avoidance of two years of aggravation. And that's an important distinction with affluent clients because someone who has built significant wealth may place an enormous value on their time and also avoiding unnecessary friction.

2:20Now the same idea works in almost any professional service. Suppose you're an estate planning attorney and a client comes to you after buying an inexpensive estate plan years earlier. Everything looked fine, but circumstances changed, documents weren't updated, assets weren't properly coordinated with the plan, and now the family has a problem that could have been avoided. Or maybe you're an advisor who meets someone who spent years chasing lower fees while their financial life became increasingly fragmented. They have accounts scattered among several institutions, different advisors giving conflicting advice, and nobody looking at the entire picture.

2:59But don't make the moral of the story, you should pay more. That's too obvious and, quite frankly, not very persuasive. The real message is the price you pay isn't always the biggest cost. The bigger cost may be the time you lose, the mistakes you have to correct, the opportunities you miss, or simply the aggravation of dealing with something that should have been handled properly in the first place. That's a much better conversation than trying to justify why you're more expensive. Story number two, the peer validation story. The second story accomplishes something completely different. The idea behind the peer validation story is simple.

3:42Show your affluent prospect that you've successfully worked with someone whose circumstances, concerns, and level of sophistication are similar to theirs. Suppose you're talking with a 62-year-old business owner who's preparing to sell the company he spent 30 years building. You could show him a testimonial saying Susan was wonderful to work with, five stars. That's nice, but it doesn't tell him very much. Imagine instead telling him about another business owner who came to you two years before selling his company. He had many of the same concerns. How much would he actually need after the sale?

4:20What would the tax implications be? How should he structure his estate? And what would his life look like once the business that had defined him was gone? Now your prospect is thinking something completely different. This person has dealt with someone like me before. That's enormously reassuring. Or suppose you're an architect talking with a couple planning a substantial second home. Don't simply show them photographs of beautiful homes. Tell them about another couple at a similar stage of life who wanted a home that worked one way when it was just the two of them and very differently when their children and grandchildren arrived for the summer.

5:01Now you're demonstrating something beyond designed humility. You're demonstrating that you understand how people like them actually live. This is why a detailed case study can be much more powerful than a generic testimonial of something like they did a fantastic job. Sure, that tells me you're good, but a story about someone whose situation resembles me tells me that you may be the right person for me. And you don't need to reveal anyone's private information. You can say a recently retired executive, the owners of a closely held business preparing for a sale, or a couple building a second home designed around three generations of their family.

5:43Give the prospect enough detail that they can recognize themselves in the story without compromising anyone's privacy. Now, think about what these two stories accomplish. The cost of a cheap fix story answers the question, what could happen if I make the wrong decision? It helps prospects understand that price is only one component of cost and that mistakes, wasted time, and aggravation can be far more expensive. The peer validation story answers a different question. Have you successfully dealt with someone like me before? Together, they address two very powerful concerns in affluent marketing, risk and relevance.

6:25And you don't have to say we're worth the premium or we understand affluent clients better than our competitors. The stories demonstrate those things for you. So here's an exercise I encourage you to do. Go through your client history and first look for someone who came to you after trying a cheaper, faster, or seemingly easier solution that ultimately created a bigger problem. Write down what they originally tried, what went wrong, what the real cost turned out to be, and what changed after you became involved. Then identify three or four clients who represent the types of affluent prospects you most like to attract.

7:05Write down who they were, what was happening in their lives, what they were concerned about, and why your solution was particularly appropriate for their circumstances. Those stories can be used in videos, emails, presentations, your website, as well as any type of sales conversation. And they're considerably more persuasive than another paragraph about your commitment to personalized service. Affluent prospects have choices, so your marketing needs to help them feel comfortable making the right one. Show them the hidden cost of choosing badly, and then show them that people like them have already chosen you successfully.

7:46If you're not sure which stories from your business you should be telling, either comment, coach, visit the link that's here or visit www.getwealthyclients.com and I'll send you information about working with me personally. We'll work together to uncover and develop the stories that make affluent prospects understand why you're worth choosing. So go ahead and visit getwealthyclients.com. This is Mark Satterfield. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of the Velvet Rope Playbook. I'll be back at you soon with something new. But until then, bye for now.