Marketing to Affluent Women
Welcome to The Life Transition Institute.com
Annette M. Bau, CFP®
Our mission is to educate, training, and assist Advisors committed to serving and advising Affluent Women facing a life transition such as a death, divorce or other major life change.
Friday, March 12th, 2010
From: Annette M. Bau, CFP™
Re: Life Transition Training
This course is designed for advisors who:
- Are committed to working with and serving Affluent Women
- Feel compelled to helping Affluent Women through a Life Transition
- Are willing to educate Affluent Women create a life and financial plan
If you are that advisor, please read this letter as it may be the most important email you will read…
Dear advisor,
When I began working with this niche market 20+ years ago, it was definitely under the radar. But today, women control 51% of all private wealth in the U.S. and make up 43% of the North American affluent market above $500,000 in assets.
Affluent women are also decision makers. Studies show that within three years of the death of their husbands up to 70% of widows change their advisors. This is important because the average age of women at widowhood is just 56 and their life expectancy 78 — leaving women in charge of the family finances for decades!
The Opportunity
Understanding the needs and habits of affluent women can give you great insights into tapping into the potential of this valuable niche market.
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America recently released a study on Women, Money, and Power. The study revealed that women are interested in learning about:
- Planning for retirement/maintaining lifestyle (54%)
- Saving and investing with limited income (53%)
- The basics of buying smart (46%)
- Buying/Selecting the right insurance products (41%)
- Defining basic financial terms (40%)
The study participants also shared that they have trouble understanding all of the financial information they receive, and feel overwhelmed by it. Women with incomes above 100,000 shared that they had a fear of becoming a bag lady. This can open the door for a sympathetic advisor who’ll take the time to explain and help them implement the different elements of a sound financial plan to ensure their future is bright.
We created our LifeT Series Training courses because we know how strongly affluent women value education. We found that women prefer learning in a non-threatening environment with their peers, and they want to feel knowledgeable prior to hiring a financial advisor.
A Russ Allen Prince study of affluent women found that just over 41% are afraid when they make financial decisions. Most of the study participants had more than one advisor, and 43.5% had four advisors. This confirmed my own findings that affluent women will employ numerous advisors until they have a plan they understand and an advisor they feel comfortable with.
According to the Russ Allen Prince study, the following factors were critical in an affluent woman’s advisor selection process:
- An advisor’s approach to financial planning (75.0%)
- An advisor’s ability to listen (70.4%)
- An advisor’s focus on personal financial goals (70.0%)
- An advisor’s ability to explain financial information (65.5%)
The same study also revealed that the biggest fear of 47.4% of all respondents was losing their money. My own research supports this finding, and goes even further to identify the underlying issue: 9 out of 10 women don’t want to be a burden on their kids, and want an advisor who can give them the peace of mind that comes from financial security and independence.
The LifeT Series Training is our core course. This insightful audio program provides the strategies, secrets and tips on how to work with Affluent Women. This Training Program draws from my more than 20 years of experience working successfully in this niche market. You will learn how to tap into the Affluent Women’s Market and how to dramatically increase your ability to attract and succeed with some of the most sought-after clients in the financial services industry.
In the LifeT Series Core Course you will learn all this and much more:
- How to create a team approach to best serve affluent women facing a life transition.
- Methods to cope with the wide range of emotions common during a life transition.
- Why it is critical to identify life values and the relationship this has to depression.
- How to create raving fans who refer others to you
- The best approach to create ‘Reciprocal Relationship Partnerships’ with other professionals
- The Power of Leveraging your time
- Why systematizing the process is critical to success
- Finding out what Affluent Women want and need
- How to Avoid the most common scams used on Affluent Women
- Tips and Strategies that will assist you in working with Affluent Women
- The details of each of the 3 Affluent Women Categories including
- Their occupations
- Where they congregate - civic groups, charities and more
- Their likes and dislikes
- The Investing Habits and Buying Decisions of Affluent Women
- How each of the Affluent Women groups make decisions
- Where to sit when meeting with Affluent Women
- How to determine with which type of affluent woman you’ll be most successful
- How to market to affluent women based on the unique ways that they make decisions
- How to use the Ask-Learn-Riches questionnaire process to become the advisor of choice for your clients — and their referrals (This is a solution to being fire within three years of their spouse’s death)
- What products work best with the different affluent women types
- How to automate your relationship follow-up and better leverage your time
- Successful Workshop Strategies
- LifeT Series Training (Required Course)
The LifeT Series Training Program is accompanied with a Life and Financial Binder that can be used one on one or in a workshop setting. It includes:
Introduction:
Making Millionaire Choices
- Leveraging your time
- Creating an Advisory Counsel
- Doubling Referrals
- Understanding Feeder, Intros and Series Workshops
- The best dates and times for workshops
- Creating a Successful Agenda
- Systematizing the Process
- Creating an Environment that Works
- Engaging the Non-financial Spouse
- Details of Conducting a Workshop
- Understanding the Process
- Statistics you need to Know
- The Trust Index
Lesson #1:
Where Do I Begin
- Documents Required to Complete a Financial Plan
- How Healthy is your Financial Plan Questionnaire
- Common Financial Mistakes
- Organizing your financial affairs
- Creating Your Ideal Life
- Creating Personal and Business Objectives
Lesson #2:
How to Prepare Emotionally
- Preparing Emotionally for a Loss
- Creating a Road map to Success
- Understanding and dealing with Emotional Triggers
- Coping with Depression and
- The multi-tasking myth
Lesson #3:
Creating Your Future through Emotional Preparation
- How to Make Each Day Great
- Focused Breathing
- Creating your Life Values
- The Stages of a Transition
- How to Effectively use Affirmations
- HFVDAs
- The 7 Stages of Trust
- The A-Z Guide to Bereavement Groups
Lesson #4:
How to Create a Winning Team and Avoid Devastating Mistakes
- How Qualified is your Financial Advisor
- Creating an Inventory of Control
- The Advisor Authorization for ABC Advisor
- Coordinating the Big Picture Plan
- Advisor Roles of the Team
- Coordination of the Big Picture
Lesson #5:
How to Get Your Affairs in Order
- Creating Goals & Objectives
- Funding the Emergency Reserve
- Formulating Investment Objectives
- Creating a Plan from a Tax Perspective
- Locating Assets
- Planning for a Successful Retirement
- Whom do I need to Notify?
- The Glossary
- Compiling Documents needed for a Financial Plan
- The Order of Concerns
- Creating the Priorities Profile
- The Long Range Career Goals
- Commonly Overlooked Tax Deductions
- The Location of Important Documents
Lesson #6:
How to Create a Bright Financial Future
- The Miracle Budget
- The Magic Savings Formula
- The Cash Flow Key
- The Three- Day Rule
- The Wealth Myth
Lesson #7:
What You Need to Know about Insurance
- P&C- Homeowners, Auto, and Liability Insurance
- Medical Insurance
- Disability Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Long Term Care Insurance
Lesson #8:
What are the 8 Laws of a Successful Investment Plans?
- How Healthy is Your Investment Plan?
- Value versus Price
- Understanding and Explaining the Beta of Investment
- Law #1 Set Your Goals
- Key Investment Questions
- Law #2 The Law of Purchasing Power
- Time & Growth of Money
- The Rule of 72 and 115
- Law #3 The Law of Monitoring
- Asset Categories
- The Annual Review
- Law #4 The Law of Liquidity
- Cash is King
- Understanding the Use of Credit
- Law #5 The Law of Risk versus Reward
- The Relationship of Yield and Risk
- Buyer Beware
- Types of Investment Risk
- Pyramid of Investments
- Law #6 The Law of Purchasing Power
- Understanding Inflation
- Law #7 The Law of Diversification
- Diversify, Diversify, Diversify
- Law #8 The Law of Emotional Investing
- Emotions & Investing?
- Which emotions to watch out for
- Law #9 The Rule of Cash Flow
- Law #10 Avoiding the Bag Person Syndrome
- Could that happen to me?
Lesson #9:
What You Need to Know About Estate Planning
- Step 1 Understanding Your Estate Plan and How It Affects You
- Step 2 Identify your goals, objectives and wishes.
- Step 3 Organize Your Documents
- Step 4 Prepare Your Estate Planning Documents
- Step 5 Complete a General Durable Power of Attorney, a Health Care Power of Attorney and your Living Will Documents
- Step 6 Working with a Financial Advisor
- Step 7 How you Select or Selecting your Team Advisors
- Step 8 Allocation to Bypass or Credit Shelter Trust.
- Step 9 Coordinate and Review your Overall Estate Plan
- Step 10 Consider Implementing an Asset Protection Plan
Still not convinced? Here’s what some of the advisors and experts have to say about Annette’s training and expertise:
A Million Thanks!
I spend nearly every day researching marketing insights in order to develop strategy to garner the affluent women's market for our financial services firm. Today, I ran across your series of articles on how to "Find Success with Affluent Women." I am incredibly impressed with the specific knowledge you have of this market from 20 years of professional experience. Your insights as a financial services professional combined with diligent marketing research and tips is invaluable. You have managed to synthesize years of relevant research and present it in a way that is useful, compelling and clear. I wish I had found this sooner, but better late than never.
Exceptional work!
A Million Thanks!
After completing the Introduction and Lesson 1 Class, I immediately took action to begin promoting the “If Only I had Known…” workshops, which I plan to become a designated instructor.
The following Tuesday, I had a scheduled Client/their guest “Lunch and Learn”; I called on a Mortgage professional to talk about changes in the mortgage arena since the subprime blowup and credit scores as a change from the regular market update program. My clients and guests loved it!
I advised the attendees about the 9 hour workshops that will be starting in the fall and were asked by all to let them know when the dates were firm.
In addition, the next day one of the (non client) guests called me to ask me to conduct both a morning and afternoon breakout session at a yearly, day long chamber of commerce event that is attended by affluent and successful business women and culminates in awards for the year’s highest achievers. The feeder workshops will be perfect for this!
I am so glad that I did not wait until I was further in the program to start promoting the program!
Thanks again for a wonderful, informative training. You have given more practical information that can immediately be put to use than I have found anywhere else. I look forward to implementing these ideas and can’t wait to share the success stories!
Thanks again,
"Annette Bau has the key to key to cracking the code to Marketing to Affluent Women."
“Excellent! Your passion came through loud and clear…This was probably one of the best and most well-organized programs I've ever attended. Kudos to you!”
"The value of Annette's marketing expertise is second to none. She has the ability to look at marketing both strategically and tactically. The systems that she teaches and implements give you the tools to retain clients and maximize your referrals…automatically!"
“Annette, what a terrific class! You presented us with some excellent ideas for marketing to affluent women. I love the idea of writing a question with my right hand and answering with my left! I can’t wait to see what creative stuff comes forth. Thanks so much.”
“Excellent and inspiring.”
“Annette is a dynamic speaker, leader, and powerful woman of wisdom and insight…When in her presence, listen carefully — you will be inspired.”
“Great webinar!”
Clear flow and process and Great actionable suggestions. One of the best points is to really know your audience and meet them where they are and I love your anniversary idea. You come across congruently and in integrity
“Thanks! This was great practical information on how to reach this affluent market. I have had an interest for some time in developing this niche but needed a more practical “how to” approach. You certainly provided that and I appreciate it!”
