Where are you going to find new prospects? As a financial professional you want to grow your practice. You are active on social media. You joined the chamber of commerce. You belong to networking groups. You are planting plenty of seeds. Are you missing any opportunities? The answer is yes.
Some advisors work late hours, leaving the office when it’s dark, taking a taxi home. Others work conventional business hours. Some even align their work schedules to the hours when the NYSE is open.
What happens next? Some go directly home. Others work off stress at the gym. There is another segment who destress differently, visiting a local bar for happy hour.. If you fit into this last category, is this article talking to you? Yes.
Here is a great business prosecting opportunity that is easy to implement and will be enjoyable. Start by determining the profile of the type of people you want as future prospects. This might include senior executives, engineers, lawyers or accountants. What do these professions have in common? Their firm are located in office towers in the center of the city. They are easy to find. If the name of the firm is on the roofline or on a large sign at ground level, this company has multiple floors in the building. There might not be a newsstand in the lobby anymore, but there is a bar/restaurant. It’s likely a fancy one.
It is reasonable to assume some of the lawyers who work at the law firm with multiple floors stop at that bar for a drink or two before heading home. It’s their watering hole. If there isn’t a bar fitting that description, there is one nearby. The bar has wide screen TVs set to various sports and financial news channels.
Sit at the bar and watch the game. Become a regular. What does that mean? Visit a couple of times a week, always at the same time. (Don’t develop a drinking problem.) Talk with the people sitting around you. You are not talking about business, you are talking about the game or another casual topic.
You will gradually become part of the regular crowd. They will draw you out and you will do the same. You will get comfortable with each other.
You are not necessarily looking for their business. If you mov in that direction, internal alarm bells might sound. If the bar is filled with lawyers, they might have clients who need a referral to a financial advisor. It’s a case of being in the right place at the right time.
As a side story, years ago, we had a friend who worked on government projects for an aerospace firm. He enjoyed going out for drinks too. If someone started a conversation with him while seated at the bar and started asking certain questions about his work, he needed to report this internally at his firm. It was an approach by a possible enemy agent!
Does this strategy work? People do business with people they like. It has several variations. Midtown Manhattan is home to many company HQs. One advisor became a regular at a local steakhouse. He had an arrangement with the bartender. If someone sat down at the bar (often while waiting for a dining room table to open up) and started talking with the bartender about the stock market, he would be directed to the advisor sitting at the end of the bar. “If you want to talk stocks, you should really talk with that guy…”
You are enjoying an activity you would be doing anyway. You are meeting new people. You are increasing your visibility. You are being low key, while gradually learning about people. Doesn’t this sound like time well spent?
Related: Where Do You Eat Lunch?