Ever hear this one? “It’s not what you know but who you know that counts.”
Sorry, but that’s dead wrong.
If you want to build a successful financial planning and investment management firm, it doesn’t matter who you know. What matters is who knows you. After all, if people have never heard of you, they can’t hire you.
I know lots of smart, talented, experienced advisors who are struggling to succeed. The reason: They suffer from what I call Kevin Costner Syndrome—the myth that “If you build it, they will come.”
Like all myths, this one is nonsense, too. Don’t set a goal of merely being a great advisor. Instead, set a goal of being known as a great advisor. That’s how you’ll get people coming to you.
One way to become known is to work with the media. We’ve always emphasized this in our 30-year career. With our emphasis on financial education, I’ve found that the best way to disseminate the information we create is through various media channels: print, broadcast and digital. My past experience as a journalist helps, too, since I can speak the language of reporters, editors, anchors and producers.
Here are what I consider to be the most effective ways of dealing with
the media.
When a reporter or anchor contacts me, usually to get my reaction to something that’s happened in the financial world, the first thing I do is ask this question: “What’s your deadline?” They appreciate that, because they often have to complete their story quickly. Tell your staff to find you immediately if a reporter or anchor calls or emails; if you don’t respond immediately, they’ll find someone else.
Next, make sure you know exactly who you’re talking to. Is the reporter a full-time employee of the publication he or she claims to write for or a freelance writer? Search the internet to see if the reporter has any experience in our industry. Or biases. Some “reporters” are actually columnists (meaning they will express their opinions, not merely report the facts). And some might introduce themselves by saying, “Hi, I’m So-and-So with Such-and-Such publication,” but they are actually advisors. In other words, they are competitors. That’s why you must be sure of their identity.
And when you talk, be prepared to have everything you say appear in the story. Assume that everything is on the record, unless you and the reporter or anchor agree in the beginning of the conversation that your comments are off the record (which means they can’t be used) or are not for attribution (which means they can be used as long as you are not identified). You can’t make a statement and then say, “Oh, that was off the record.” No, it wasn’t.