WebPrez Weblog

Why Online Video is good for your Business:

1) Time Efficient
For many professionals, committing to and writing a blog or updating a website is not going to happen. Online video, created by someone else or yourself, is an easy way to get and keep updated and relevant content on your products and services.

2) Talk directly to the ‘people’
Frankly, I’m sick of press releases or corporate bios talking about a specific company or executive, and what THEY bring to the table. With online video the information I WANT is presented, and a real conversation can then follow. It’s real, with real emotion, nuances, and sometimes even body language that can’t be expressed over text.

3) Take advantage of the Network Effects
The term Network can be interchanged with “Viral”. By having your videos online, it can be put into viral players that encourage bloggers, and other website managers to embed the video and share it with others.

4) Reuse Opportunities
These videos can be displayed on your corporate website, the extranet, intranet, embedded or linked to from a press release, email newsletter, sent to clients, leads, referrals, investors; and encouraged to spread on other websites. For those in Integrated Marketing, you’ll love this.

5) Speaking in person to the whole world across time
Since the web is global (and the top medium in the workplace in North America) it can be easily found and shared across distances and is saved in the Internet for access over time. Some theories suggest that the content over the long term is more effective than big media buys. How many people do you reach by giving a speech? 10? 100? 1000? On the web it can reach mass audiences.

6) What an Online Video Conversation should be:

A) Straight to the point, identify the “problem”.

B) Give the audience real answer to their questions, BEFORE they ask them.

C) Make it easy for someone to contact you after watching.

7) What a Online Video Conversation should NOT be:
The type of conversational online videos I’m talking about are NOT:

A) You or a paid actor speaking to a bunch of people and simply recording it; unless they are a truly gifted orator it is not personal enough nor engaging.

B) A bunch of fluff and/or hype which talks “around” the actual offering.

C) Canned questions without improv or authenticity.

Whether you add your WebPrez link to your website, type your link into email messages, or print your link in some form of advertising, there are two critical “keys” to consistent and reliable lead generation . . .

“Repetitive Exposure” & “Informational Propositions”

“Repetitive and Consistent Exposure” to the same message psychologically implies reliability and credibility.

People need to see a proposition over and over again, before they will accept it and get comfortable with the message . . . even before they become engaged or compelled to watch the presentation itself.

It’s simply human nature. It may be exactly the same message, but the repetitive exposure subliminally gives it credibility . . .

which means that you need patience and persistence in order to achieve measurable and profitable results.

And “Informational Propositions” present your WebPrez as a source of educational “how to” information, instead of a “buy this” sales message.

WebPrez has tried and tested numerous variations on this theme, and has consequently developed standard proposition statements for each presentation . . . . every one beginning with the words “Learn How . . .”

which is critically important, because it implies that the presentation is a “teaching” tool, and not a “sales” pitch.

Here is an example:

Learn How to Use Your Home Equity
to Fund Your Retirement Savings . . .

just type this link
into your web address bar
and watch this 5 minute video

www.WealthBuilderWebPrez.Com/0000

Notice that there is absolutely no mention of any company, person, product, service or any contact information.

That’s because you don’t want to create any preconceived notions in the prospect’s mind. You don’t want them to “presume” anything - other than the proposition itself. You want to create curiosity and expectation only.

To learn more about client acquisition and lead generation using financial concept web presentations, visit www.webprez.com

Are you looking for new website content . . . new attractions and new ways to engage, inform and compel visitors to your website?

Narrated and Animated web presentations, featuring financial concepts, product and service explanations, have already proven to be valuable content additions to any financial professional’s website.

These aren’t flashy, hyped up “sales” presentations, or conventional “click thru” slide presentations, touting the same old trite propositions . . .

but five minute simplified introductions to relatively complex financial concepts . . . professionally composed and produced to psychologically compel interest and response from qualified prospects.

By offering people these very succinct “Learn How” infomercials on your website, you can automatically generate more qualified leads, acquire more new clients, and develop more sales revenue.

There are currently eight different presentations available, with sixteen new ones being developed and scheduled for release over the next four months.

According to the LIMRA International Consumer Survey for 2007:

56% of parents with children under 18 believe that their current life insurance coverage is inadequate, and that they need additional coverage.

43% say they are likely to buy life insurance within the next year. However, 50% also say they don’t know how much to buy, and 39% worry about making the wrong decision.

76% of parents say they have no trusted advisor to turn to if they need life insurance, and no one they can rely on for financial advice or information.

45% of parents would like to speak with a professional advisor, because they find buying life insurance complex and confusing, and are also unlikely to initiate the purchase.

22% of families with dependent children admit that they will have immediate trouble meeting everyday living expenses if a parent dies,and another 26% can cover expenses for only a few months.

75% parents with children under 18 buy life insurance to replace lost income, and 43% buy life insurance to pay off the mortgage.

25% of parents say they haven’t bought life insurance because no one has contacted them, and 40% admit that they just haven’t gotten around to it . . .

which means that “they need proactive contact and help to motivate them to buy life insurance.” That’s a direct quote from the LIMRA study.

And that’s why the “Family Protector” WebPrez is so important. It can “open doors” FOR you, and compel parents to contact you to discuss much needed and wanted life insurance coverage.

If you’re looking for a way to develop new clients who can grow with you over the years, you need to first “get in the door” with a simple concept, like our “Family Protector” WebPrez . . . an excellent “door opener”.

This presentation begins by using statistics to tell a parent how many people die in automobile accidents and from cancer every year.

Yes, it’s a morbid introduction, but it makes the problem real . . . and it does it FOR you - so that you don’t need to actually say these things.

Then the presentation puts the cost of life insurance in perspective . . . comparing the value of protecting their child’s financial security against the cost of dinner for the two of them at their favorite restaurant.

It also lays a bit of guilt on them, because it implies that loving, responsible parents could never deny the necessity and affordability of protecting their children from the potential threat of losing a parent.

It also mentions the option to add a Return of Premium rider to the policy, which increases the sale for you, improves the value for the prospect, and compares the added benefit to their auto or homeowners coverage.

Anyway, it’s a great “door opener” if you’re looking to find new clients or provide more coverage to existing clients. And you can preview the demo for yourself by clicking on “FamilyProtector” at www.webprez.com.

Our “TaxFreeIncome” WebPrez is a terrific “door opener” . . . because everyone should be interested, or at least curious, in knowing what it is.

And it’s a great way to get into a serious discussion of retirement planning with prospective clients . . . regardless of the client’s needs.

Because this presentation suggests that tax free income can be more valuable than tax deductible contributions . . .

and that IRC section 7702 essentially sanctions the tax advantages of using life insurance to enable such a strategy.

Of course you and/or your client/prospect might conclude that it’s not appropriate or desirable, but it does get you “in the door” and talking.

And that’s what WebPrez is all about . . . opening doors and initiating productive dialog with qualified potential clients.

Are you letting a WebPrez “open doors” to new clients for you . . . by initiating productive discussion with qualified target market prospects?

I was recently reminded of how effective these presentations can be, and what an excellent investment they are, by one of our newer subscribers.

This subscriber is a CFP who called in to tell us how our PrivatePension WebPrez opened the “door” to discussion with a referral she got from a CPA, which resulted in her taking over a $500,000 investment portfolio.

She said that she just had to let us know that her $199 subscription has enabled her to secure an engagement worth at least $24,000 a year.

She also said that the CPA really didn’t do much to encourage or endorse her, but that the presentation so resonated with the client that she was able to easily set an appointment, which led to the engagement.

Without the presentation, she believes that she probably wouldn’t have gotten the clients attention and interest, because he was initially very reluctant to talk with her, despite the CPA’s referral.

Of course, the presentation didn’t “sell” the engagement . . . she did. But her WebPrez opened the “door” for her, and got her talking with the client.

And after all, what more could you want from $199 annual subscription?

Are you talking with people about Equity Harvesting . . . about refinancing their home equity to save more money for retirement?

If you’re not, 1) someone else probably will; and 2) you’re missing out on an opportunity to “open the door” to productive dialog with clients.

And of course, that’s why the “WealthBuilder” WebPrez was created . . . to help you initiate dialog with current and potential clients . . .

to explain the benefits and advantages of refinancing with an interest only mortgage, and using their home equity to fund their retirement account.

At least from the client’s perspective, you get paid for helping them solve problems . . . either through advice, service or products; or all three.

And the WebPrez is an easy way to introduce, describe and explain the concept of Equity Harvesting in only five minutes, over the Internet.

There are literally thousands of potential clients in your own community that would at least be interested in discussing this with you.

So why wouldn’t you want to give them the opportunity . . . by simply letting the view the presentation BEFORE you call or follow up with them?

Other professional advisors have clients who trust them, need your products or services, AND who expect them to recommend appropriate solutions.

CPAs have clients who need Mortgage Financing; Life & Health Insurance; Asset Protection & Risk Management; Investment Advice & Asset Allocation.

Mortgage Brokers have clients who need Tax & Financial Planning; Property, Life & Health Insurance; Real Estate Services & Money Management.

Financial Planners and Investment Advisors have clients who need Mortgage Financing; Life & Health Insurance; Asset Protection & Tax Planning.

And Insurance Agents have clients who need All of these financial products or services, as well as their own.

But the “key” to getting highly qualified referrals to another professionals client base is this . . .

market your products and services TO the other professional - not THROUGH the other professional. This is a critical distinction.

If another professional perceives that your intention is simply to “borrow” his/her relationships to develop your own client base - then forget it.

But if you offer your products or services to the client’s advisor, in his/her service to the client, then you will be perceived as a valuable resource.

Offer and promote (market) yourself as a valuable resource to the client’s advisor . . . without usurping the advisor’s role or relationship.

And the best/easiest way to “get” to other professionals is through their clients. How? By asking people you know “who does your tax planning, your insurance, you mortgage, or provide you with investment advice?”

In this way you are essentially reversing the referral process by asking for a recommendation from the advisor’s client TO the advisor.

Then you can simply call the other professional, and tell him/her that you were referred to them by one of their clients.

And if the advisor is receptive, you can send them your WebPrez link to and ask if he/she could use the concept in service to his/her clients.

Try it for yourself . . . it really works!

Have you noticed that all our presentations begin with “Here’s the Problem . . .”? It’s a critically important distinction between how every WebPrez is composed, and how most professionals present a concept, product or service. And it’s one of the reasons why we get better results too.

You see, beginning with an introduction to the problem accomplishes three things: 1) it gets right to the point, without any preliminary “warm up”, which essentially “grabs” the viewer’s attention;

2) the problem either resonates or it doesn’t, which either engages or disqualifies the viewer; and

3) if the viewer can identify with the problem, they consequently WANT to know or discover the solution, which compels them to keep watching and listening.

Two of the best examples of using the problem to get the viewer’s attention, and either qualify or disqualify them immediately, would be our Family Protector and Income Security presentations.

The former explains the fundamental need for life insurance, and the latter for disability income insurance, using statistical references that put death and disability into financial perspective.

After watching and listening to either of these two opening scenes, anyone who chooses to ignore the explicit implications, is absolutely NOT a qualified prospect.

However, any rational, responsible person (meaning “qualified”) will be sufficiently disturbed and concerned with a solution to the problem, and without the usual propensity to procrastinate.

What’s more, these “third party” presentations can (and often do) say things that you as a sensitive, empathetic adviser, might not be comfortable saying.

Just another psychological benefit of using professionally composed web presentations to initiate productive dialog FOR you . . . making the “sales development” process both easier and faster.