Audrey Lockwood, a financial planner based in Westlake Village, California, had grown listless and bored with her practice by the time she attended Peter Montoya seminar in Chicago in November of 2003. The money was fine, but the challenge and creativity just weren't there.
That all changed after her weekend with Peter Montoya and his coaching staff. "One of the most fun things about this business is taking ideas and making them real," she says. "You want to give clients something concrete. But I was getting de-motivated. Peter Montoya - and really the entire structure of Peter Montoya, Inc. - was a big help to me. I really enjoyed the creativity. I had never known anything about advertising or marketing. But I learned, and I enjoy it."
Targeting the Progressive Community
Following Peter Montoya, the biggest change Lockwood made in her business was her target market. She began turning away undesirable business (always the sign of a mature marketer) and focused on working with people who are plentiful in California: creative, artistic types, social progressives and small-business owners.
"I've become more exclusive," she says. "I'm very careful in terms of rejecting certain types of new business. That may be the biggest benefit of Peter Montoya: the clarity about what type of business I should be going after."
More Assets Under Management
The change in Lockwood's business model - to fewer but more affluent, high-quality clients - can be seen most clearly in her assets under management. After Peter Montoya, she made a deliberate effort to increase her fee-based business.
"My average client investment is now approximately $500,000…before it was MUCH less. Plus, I work more as a team with clients and their attorneys, CPAs and other service providers."
When it comes to marketing channels, Lockwood relies largely on getting referrals and networking. Both are effective, she believes, because her entire business is focused on values first, dollars second.
"I try not to think about results too much," she says. "It distracts from the people with whom I work. I just try to do a great job and pay a lot of attention to my investors. If I do that, the investment part is easy. The results just come."
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