"Think of it: Wouldn't the opportunity to make a two-hour presentation in front of 15 to 20 qualified prospects be extremely valuable?"

A Track Worth Taking

By John Bowen

For good reason, many financial advisors view chief executive officers (CEOs) and business owners as prime prospects. After all, these individuals represent the largest concentration of both current and expanding wealth in the United States.

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Signing these individuals on as clients presents a substantial challenge, however. Business owners and executives, particularly those working in the same competitive spaces, generally tend to function in relative isolation from one another. So they are a difficult bunch to break into; if they don't know their peers well, then they can't offer you referrals or introduce you to another one.

Fortunately, there is one exception. Many top executives today are members of CEO groups—small, tightly organized associations of business owners and executives who meet on a regular basis to share best practices, brainstorm challenges, obtain feedback, and offer support. These meetings, which are facilitated by trained leaders, are designed to bring out the best in business thinking. Many business leaders credit their CEO group with putting them—and keeping them—at the top of their game.

How does a financial advisor fit into this picture? In addition to the facilitated group interaction, CEO group meetings may include an educational component, typically a presentation by an expert in a particular field. By cultivating relationships with the leaders of CEO groups, this expert can be you.

Think of it: Wouldn't the opportunity to make a two-hour presentation in front of 15 to 20 qualified prospects be extremely valuable?

There's little doubt that leaders of CEO groups hold enormous potential for helping you build lasting and trusted relationships with high-net-worth business leaders. They already have trusted relationships in place with members of this market and are willing to offer you access to these individuals—provided you can offer them something worthwhile in return. Your challenge is to understand what these leaders need and position yourself as an ally in helping them meet those needs.

To build successful strategic alliances with leaders of CEO groups, take a look at two of the things they themselves want most to succeed. First, they want to get more clients. Leaders of CEO groups tend to be hungry for new referrals, but they often have few referral sources themselves. Assuming that you already work with at least several CEOs or business owners, you will have a powerful selling point when you tell such a leader that you meet with several CEOs several times a year as part of your investment consulting process and that you would be willing to make referrals when appropriate.

In return, CEO group leaders can be a valuable referral source to you. In many CEO groups, leaders also meet with individuals for one-on-one coaching sessions. This offers the leaders an obvious opportunity to refer a financial advisor when one is needed. Second, leaders of CEO groups want to deliver high-quality services. You'll be able to add great value to a CEO group leader by delivering great content. As I mentioned, many groups have regularly scheduled educational events with outside speakers invited in for one- to three-hour presentations. By designing programs designed specifically for business owners and executives, you'll become a valued resource for CEO group leaders. In fact, some extremely successful advisors have built great businesses just from these kinds of workshops.

It's important to understand that there is a unique role for a speaker in front of a small group of CEOs. To be a powerful, effective speaker in front of a group of CEOs, you need to:

Be high-energy. As successful leaders, the participants of a CEO group are high-energy individuals who need high-energy presentations. So your presentation must excite, motivate, and also challenge your audience.

Be highly interactive. Simple lectures won't work with these audiences. Break up your presentation with interaction. Provide exercises to reinforce important points.

Be educational. Every person hearing your presentation should feel like they have received a real benefit in the form of useful knowledge. This means your presentations should not be heavily oriented toward marketing.

Know your time limits. In some groups, speakers may present for up to three hours. In others, presentations typically last just one hour. Other groups may not have speakers on a regular basis, so you would need to negotiate the length of the presentation with the group leader.

Provide a path into the future. Don't just provide powerful information without also providing an obvious way to follow up on it. Your call to action is clear: Tell attendees the next step is to call you to receive a complete investment plan that will address their unique goals and provide sound recommendations.

The effort put into designing a presentation for a CEO group can be well worth it. Groups tend to be small (10 to 20 members) and ongoing, often over many years. This means that members of each group know another well, have helped one another out many times, and also trust each other—something rare in business. If you sign on one member as a client, you will have one of the best possible referral sources available. And if you design your presentation correctly, you will get calls from group members who want to talk to you.

Your first step in forming a successful alliance with a CEO group leader is to identify the most suitable partners for you. The list in "A Resource Guide for CEO Groups" (below) contains information on some of the largest CEO groups now operating in the United States, but it's not exhaustive. Many organizations operate regionally or locally, and a little digging on your part will uncover other suitable groups.

A Resource Guide for CEO Groups

TEC
A 10,000-strong organization of company presidents, chief executives and business owners. Members meet once a month in small groups to work on businesses development issues, receive feedback on the business challenges they face and gain support from one another. Member meetings also include guest speakers. Operates in 15 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
Contact:
800-274-2367
www.teconline.com

Young Presidents' Organization (YPO)
A global peer network that connects more than 9,500 young business leaders in 75 countries to exchange ideas, pursue learning and share strategies for personal and professional growth. Members all became chief executives before the age of 40. The organization includes numerous local chapters throughout the United States.
Contact:
800-773-7976
www.ypo.org

World Presidents' Organization (WPO)
As the graduate organization of YPO, every member of the World Presidents' Organization has been a member of the Young Presidents' Organization. Since the maximum age for membership in YPO is 49, WPO members are 50 and older. Offers benefits similar to YPO.
Contact:
703-684-4900
info@wpo.org
www.wpo.org

Young Entrepreneurs' Organization (YEO)
A global educational organization that offers an array of learning, networking and mentoring opportunities for business owners under age 40. Has more than 5,500 members in 120 chapters and 40 countries around the world, including more than 60 chapters throughout the U.S.
Contact:
703-519-6700
www.yeo.org

World Entrepreneurs' Organization (WEO)
The World Entrepreneurs Organization is the official graduate organization for YEO members who have turned 40. It is open to all YEO graduated members and new members (individuals not affiliated with YEO) who are between the ages of 40 and 46 and who are a founder, owner or controlling shareholder of a business with gross annual sales over $1 million. It offers benefits similar to YEO.
Contact:
703-519-6700
www.yeo.org

CEO Club
An invitation-only association of CEOs of businesses that have at least $2 million in annual sales, with the average member having $20 million in annual sales.
Contact:
(212) 925-7911
main@ceoclubs.org
www.ceoclubs.org

Renaissance Executive Forums
Forums of CEOs, presidents and business owners that meet monthly to work on enhancing business results and quality of life. Also includes annual retreats and one-on-one coaching sessions with forum leaders.
Contact:
(858) 551-6600
www.executiveforums.com

Contact each potential partner to arrange a meeting to explore the possibility of working together. Your objective at this initial meeting will be to gain a solid understanding of what the group is doing and what it needs. To cover all bases, prepare an interview guide containing the following questions:

• What are the biggest issues your membership is facing?
• What are the three key things your members are asking for today?
• What target markets are you interested in focusing on?
• Who is your ideal member?
• What services do you provide to your members?
• How is your group different from other groups?
• What are some of the biggest challenges you face in operating the organization today?
• What has been your experience in working with other financial advisers? Specifically, what has worked well for you? What has not worked well? (Get a concrete example of each.)
• Would you share with me some of your biggest marketing successes?
• What is your opinion of marketing plans? Do you currently have one for your organization?
• What's important about success to your firm?
• Is there anything else you would have asked if you were me?

With the information you gain from this interview, you'll be well-positioned to create, propose, and then implement programs that will meet specific needs of the CEO group's leader and membership. This, in turn, will ultimately allow you to sign on new CEO and business-owner clients.