Derrick Kinney

Book Review ­ Financial Services Journal Online Master the Media to Attract Your Ideal Clients: A Personal Marketing System for Financial Professionals by Carolyn Hersman, Editor

Now more than ever, investors are seeking trusted financial experts in their local areas to provide sound guidance on financial and insurance issues. In his book, Master the Media to Attract Your Ideal Clients: A Personal Marketing System for Financial Professionals, financial advisor Derrick Kinney offers insights to how he became the most recognized financial advisor in his metropolitan area and how others can duplicate his success. Kinney lays out a proven, step-by-step personal marketing system that shows how qualified and knowledgeable financial professionals can identify their unique communication strengths and leverage their expertise to begin attracting their ideal clients. Here are a few of those insights:

Know Thyself. Financial professionals must identify their strengths and weaknesses and evaluate the parts of running their business they truly enjoy and would rather do without. Imagine doing only the daily tasks that you enjoy and you're the best at and delegating everything else to other people to help maximize your personal productivity.

Become a Specialist, Not a General Practitioner. Most financial professionals try to be all things to all clients, working with everyone who comes in their door. Kinney suggests advisors do just the opposite, only working with clients who fit their ideal client profile. Becoming a specialist in insurance for retirement income or estate planning, for example, will help advice-receptive clients be naturally attracted to you due to your specialized knowledge base.

Leverage Your Internal Clock. Identify the times of the day when you are most productive and highly focused. Then build your entire business and personal calendar around those times. If you're a morning person, perform your most critical tasks at that time. Kinney also advises setting spending limits on your time by assigning a strict deadline for every client meeting and task to boost your effectiveness.

The Trust Factor. Research shows that the affluent use the media as a primary source for making investment decisions. As you appear in your local media, it allows people to get to know you before they become clients. As you're interviewed by your local newspaper or on TV, it gives prospective clients the opportunity to form a favorable impression that you are knowledgeable and likeable. And that can build tremendous credibility for you and your business.

Breaking into the Media. In order to be invited to appear in the media, you must first do the legwork. How did Kinney first get into the media? He contacted the news producers and newspaper editors in his local area and told them to call him when they needed a financial expert who could speak in an easy-to-understand way on complex financial topics. Then he gave them a few topic ideas that he could speak on, such as saving for retirement, reducing taxes, and other financial planning strategies. After consistently following up with the producers and editors, a TV station called him for an interview. He prepared well and made the most of my first appearance, and that opportunity led to regular appearances and tremendous visibility in his local area. "If I can do it, anybody can do it," says Kinney. You can follow these same steps to become the financial expert in your area."

Show Me the Money. Using the very principles Kinney has written about, he has doubled his business over the past 12 months while working less hours and spending more time with his family. How is that possible? "Because the media gets my name out to thousands of people at one time," said Kinney. Like clockwork, qualified prospects call his office every week to set up appointments to meet with him. Kinney says that while you may be an insurance professional in title, your real job is to be an aggressive marketer so you always have a steady stream of new clients to help.

30 Days to Creating a Marketing Mentality. To begin transforming yourself into creating a marketing mindset, Kinney compels his readers to read this statement aloud every day for 30 days so it becomes a habit and a new way of positive business thinking for them:

"Today I choose to take control of how I market myself. It is my daily responsibility to seek out new and exciting opportunities to create massive exposure for me and my business. I am confident, knowledgeable and there is no better insurance professional for ideal clients to work with than me. I realize the only limitations I face are the ones I imagine in my own mind. Today, I will be brave and courageous and step outside of the comfort zone that has held me captive for too long. Today, I choose to be successful and accomplish great things."

Kinney's book not only gives financial professionals a proven format to market themselves more effectively, but also gives sound ideas on how to better communicate with affluent clients and run a more purposeful and rewarding business.