10 New $500,000 Clients Per Week!

April 26, 2009 by admin
Filed under Innovation

	Question 1: Marketing Innovation Summary a.) Describe the nature of your business: McAllaster & Associates is an independent investment brokerage firm who provides services in securities, investment portfolio management, financial planning, and financial consulting. They also produce outrageous in-house informational seminars/workshops on a variety of sophisticated financial topics. Securities are offered through D.E. Frey & Co., Inc.
	b.) What are the unique features of your marketing strategy?: McAllaster & Associates has created a new, aggressive style of marketing…a strategy that incorporates many unique features not found anywhere in the securities industry that truly focuses on new acquisition and retention activities using very unconventional strategies. These features include: 1). A customer focused stock brokerage firm: That statement could be considered an oxymoron in the securities industry. Establishing a unique customer focused identity was a top marketing priority to McAllaster & Associates. They wanted to communicate friendliness and a personal, one to one relationship style of service while maintaining a perception of stability, and expertise within the stock brokerage and financial management industry. Thus, a highly unconventional marketing program was developed which represented those customer elements and was immediately applied to everything they released from their office. They saturated a highly targeted market niche with their new corporate image.
	2). A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) focused directly at the market niche. This proposition is bold and aggressively reverses the stereotypical “risk” of investing through a broker. It is a clearly defined statement addressed to the client which contains a specific guarantee and powerfully reverses the perceived risk the client may take on.
	The McAllaster & Associates’ Unique Selling Proposition: “If the stock we have recommended for you does not increase in value in the first year, we’ll sell it for you, with absolutely no commission received on our end.”This is highly unique because all brokers get paid their commission whether your stock which they recommended goes up or down. This outrageous promise has literally set the stage on fire for clients to inquire about services with intense intrigue. Increase has been over 62% the last 5 months.
	3). A Referral Based Marketing System. Yes, a SYSTEM. This system is a money machine! It incorporates ingenuity at its best coupled with the personal touch, while generating clients at a rate never seen before. It uses a common sense approach, while intriguing, and rewarding the client base for their loyalty. This program has been one of the keystones of the entire marketing program.For every referral they receive from a client, they send them 1 beautiful crystal wine glass from Tiffany’s (out of a complete collection of 6 glasses) and a hand written thank you card. The receipt of this elegant glass creates the impulsive desire for the complete set! Consequently motivating the client to provide more referrals! And that’s not all…McAllaster & Associates also gives the referred client their first 10 stock trades free (no commission!). Up to date they are receiving 10-$500,000 referred clients per week…impressive to say the least! This program is practically unheard of in the industry, and entirely customer-driven! It is also measurable. Which, in turn, has spawned new generations of marketing ideas, leading to dramatic, multi-level profitable results!
	4). The McAllaster Financial Center. While all of the above marketing programs (features) were implemented, THE KEY MARKETING FEATURE OF ALL TIME, was being constructed behind the scenes. This feature is the one that will prove to be the most influential and powerful of all the strategic marketing elements in their entire system. The McAllaster Financial Center broke ground in February, 1997, and completed the construction in its entirety by June 25th. The 8,500 square foot facility strategically resides in one of the most elite neighborhoods in Savannah Georgia, “The Landings”: A state-of-the-art financial center designed entirely for the clients.
	His clients will now enjoy access to: 1. 1,200 square foot multi-media seminar room for his clients to use for their special events. He also uses it for his financial seminars. 2. An impressive, comprehensive financial library for research open only to his clients. Prospects will be able to utilize the facilities for the first 5 months, but on 1/1/98 it will be a ‘client only’ facility. This allows the prospects to experience the value of the amenities that McAllaster & Associates’ clients enjoy, thereby creating a sense of urgency for the prospects to become clients.3. The largest electronic financial ticker in the South. 4. Computers to provide hands-on access to the internet for his clients to research anything they desire. 5. Private offices are provided so his clients may stop by to make phone calls to Wall Street or any other use they may have. 6. Golf cart re-chargers located in the parking lot of the Center. You see, most of the transportation on The Landings is done via the golf cart! There are not 4, not 5, but 6 PGA golf courses on this island, which are patronized by a majority of the Landings residents. This Financial Center, its staff, and personal services is truly an extraordinary experience! 7. A social gathering area for his clients to mingle, read, and simply relax away from the Savannah sun.
	An incredibly festive “Black Tie Gala” is being planned for the Grand Opening celebration of the McAllaster Financial Center in Savannah, Georgia. It’s intrigue and creativity comes out of designing the theme around the Great Gatsby himself. This “By Invitation Only” Gala is extraordinary and strategic in the marketing sense because of the market profile niche, and the design of the invitations. Dick McAllaster is sending by Fed-Ex, a radiant 1-carat cubic zirconia diamond, specially packaged in a black, gold foil stamped box, to each of the 700 invited guests. Only one lucky guest, however, will receive the single, true sparkling, 1-carat diamond, worth over $7,000, which will be revealed by submitting their diamond invitation to the certified, on-site GIA gemologist at the party! The Grand Opening Gala was scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 1997.What were the results?Over 500 people came. The Gala was a great success! He generated over $ 140,000,000 from that campaign. We added a follow-up box with gold goodies and other secrets that additionally doubled his production from there.
	5). Targeted community involvement & support. Richard (Dick) E. McAllaster has always been conscious of his community environment and constantly seeks out ways to give back to the community which has provided ample opportunity for his business to succeed. In January, 1997, he proposed to the local Women’s Guild that McAllaster & Associates take on the title sponsorship of the Savannah Duck Race on the Savannah River. This annual event is a local favorite and coincides with the annual Seafood Festival. The Duck Race was created 5 years ago as a fundraising mechanism to support the Savannah Symphony.The 4-year old annual ‘Savannah Duck Race’ became the ‘McAllaster Duck Classic’ this past Spring and will continue to be sponsored by McAllaster & Associates for years to come. A Duck Classic logo was created to reflect a combination of the McAllaster & Associates company logo and the duck race itself. T-shirts with the emblem were made and sold, tickets were created, and articles written about the event to help promote it. McAllaster & Associates directed their $5,000 contribution toward this entity to help keep the arts alive and well in Savannah. It also became an extraordinary marketing move because of his targeted niche market who patronizes the symphony events all year long. Most symphony season ticket holders fit McAllasters “A” market clientele profile. With his sponsorship backed marketing and assistance in promoting, he was able to pull in a record amount of funding dollars for the symphony.

	c). How original are these features, and how do they compare to the way in which your competitors market themselves?: The originality of each of the aforementioned features along with their focus are extraordinary and extremely rare in this industry. This industry is traditionally a huge behemoth of non-personal, product driven, non-relationship building and the proverbial “glass house” mentality that is driven by sheer size alone! His competition’s idea of customer service is sending you thousands of the same letters that are not even signed in real ink. It’s printed! Now does that make anyone feel special? When was the last time you received a “Thank You” written on personalized stationery from your broker? The McAllaster & Associates strategies not only hit hard on the customer service side, but also on the vast knowledge and awareness of the variety of financial products they offer which truly separates them from their competition.The extraordinary, yet fundamental characteristics of these strategies is simple: Execution and follow-through! You can promise the world but without proper follow through, IT’S WORTHLESS! McAllaster has been adamant with their follow through. They truly take those extra steps, develop a client friendship, provide consistent superior customer service, and make up for the difference if and when any of the above, for one reason or another, doesn’t happen to the clients’ complete satisfaction. It truly becomes a PLEASURE to hire McAllaster & Associates as your financial manager! d). How difficult was it to implement your marketing strategy?: They designed it to be executed in stages. Each stage had its purpose, objectives, and goals. Upon the completion of each stage they rapidly became a multi-layered and multi-faceted marketing system. The only inherent difficulty was listening to all the “naysayers” in the securities business that said it would never work. “It’s too outside the box,” or “it’s too unconventional,” etc. f.) Describe the role, if any, that technology has played. Technology has played a great role in many facets of this program. Not only were most of the design and development produced 1,800 miles away, everything was digitally designed and produced. McAllaster & Associates also uses the latest technology in the multi-media seminar room which is just a small example of the state-of-the-art innovation that has lent itself to a uniquely, client-friendly facility. From electronic shades and presentation screens, to a satellite link for instant downloads of stock quotes, to the capability for high-tech, multi-media seminar presentations, professional lighting, and digital production. Question 2: Concept Originality a). What were the precise objectives of your marketing program? The precise, planned objective was to increase business 100% within 18 months of the rollout of the marketing program. b). How did the idea develop and what were the outside influences. The idea developed because the Landings area in Savannah, Georgia is the 8th highest income per capita zip code in the country. In talking with the residents of the Landings, it was determined that they did not want to leave the island to acquire services from grocery shopping, the beauty salon, to automotive services. So, consequently, a strategic advantage would be captured and an enormous opportunity would exist by building the McAllaster Financial Center just outside the residential gate, and adjacent to the island shopping center, on the only road in and out of the island. The advantage becomes apparent when you consider other brokerage firms are “centrally located” in their glass towers within the city of Savannah, whereas McAllaster & Associates is centrally located within the Landings, his highly targeted niche. So he went from a centralized, general market scope, to a highly focused, specifically targeted community who could completely satisfy his established client profile agenda. c). Is this the first and only application of its kind? Detail any unique features of the concept. YES! McAllaster & Associates is the first known independent brokerage firm to have developed such unconventional and unique marketing approaches and incorporate their building structure as a main part of the marketing strategy. The Financial Center represents a huge, powerful billboard in and of itself, sitting directly in the midway of the entrance and exit of the Landings at Skidaway Island. d). How does this marketing program compare to that of your competition? The competition are the major wire house brokerage firms. They use conventional, institutional advertising, mass mailing, and cold calling as their primary marketing strategy coupled with a “large net” catch all mentality which would never work with “A” clients. McAllaster & Associates’ personal one to one marketing approach is to focus on the client. The Landings, which generates the greatest percentage of growth in the Savannah area because of its high net worth per capita, represents a large group of clients whose investment relationships are in transition. They’re moving from their home-towns in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, where they grew up and developed business relationships. These relationships are now experiencing change and as a natural consequence, must change to suit their new location, environment, etc. McAllaster & Associates has positioned themselves to be central in easing their relationship transition through convenience, educational workshops, seminars, research tools, access to digital communications, expert financial consulting, and professional brokerage services.
	e). What needed to happen within your organization to adapt to the marketing program? What collateral materials - such as logos, advertising campaigns, or others -were needed? McAllaster & Associates stepped up the marketing assistant position within the firm, hired marketing interns, and developed a solid corporate identity with a new logo utilizing the independent firm name rather than the clearing house name. The focus on using the firm name resulted in a much higher name recognition based on a small field study comparing the awareness the market had of the clearinghouse name and the business. When it was compared, 30% remembered the clearing house name vs. 95% who remembered McAllaster & Associates. Along with the new logo, a full array of materials such as stationery, business cards, pocket folders, binders, advertisements and gift items to include golf towels, golf balls, engraved glasses…all sporting the new corporate logo and name. Consistency and saturation was the major key.
	f). Describe any obstacles, including technical, sociological, legal, or other issues that had to be overcome and how these barriers were eliminated. McAllaster & Associates experienced no real obstacles. The only perceived barrier was the element of time. Managing the precise sequential implementation of the marketing program while building the McAllaster Financial Center, and at the same time running a profitable business became the only monster challenge for them to manage. Most of what other businesses may perceive as obstacles were looked at as an opportunity. MCALLASTER & ASSOCIATES HAS ONLY 6 EMPLOYEES! Question 4: Benefits and success of the program. a). What methods do you use to measure the success of the marketing program internally and within the marketplace? The way McAllaster & Associates determine the success of their marketing program rollout is two-fold. The first is the increase in the customer base and the increase in the commissions that are generated from that base. A significant increase in business has already been realized. Within the last 6-months of business, the firm has experienced an increase in growth of 62%! They are currently generating 10 $ 500,000 clients per week using the referral-based system. The interesting element regarding this result is the fact that the “grand finale” of the marketing program has not even occurred yet (the Grand Opening of the McAllaster Financial Center.) It will surely be the marketing coup of all time for a small business! b). What was the most important customer or client benefit? The entire marketing program is customer focused and customer driven. The most important client benefits evolve around on the new Financial Center. These benefits include extreme convenience (can ride bikes or drive golf carts to location), a fully comprehensive research library, as well as the educational benefits of informative financial seminars, workshops, and investment courses. c). What is the most important overall benefit to your company? One of the most important benefits to McAllaster & Associates is that this positioning solidifies his base of business. It allows the focus towards one specific, large group of qualified clients. This environment creates an ideal habitat for creative, efficiently effective, highly focused marketing efforts that work! In other words, the market is very easily identifiable and truly accessible which results in the elimination of wasted marketing expenses, testing, and searching for the most profitable markets. It allows them to compete fiercely with the “Big Guns.” d). Has the program achieved its objectives? Currently the program in still in its infancy. The simple fact that the Financial Center has yet to open its doors to the Landings community (due to open for full business services in mid July, 1997), and already the marketing efforts toward this objective have increased growth 62% in the past 5 months. The initial goal was to increase growth 100% within 18 months of the rollout of the program. McAllaster & Associates anticipates doubling the growth after the doors of the McAllaster Financial Center open. This is an outstanding achievement when you consider that Dick McAllaster started his independent firm only 4 years ago from nothing! Contact Dick McAllaster for personal phone interview and more information at 1-800-249-3739.