To attract a steady flow of new clients vital to growing your advisory business, you need creative ways to stand out.
That means stepping outside of your comfort zone to test new strategies, or improving upon your existing ones, to ensure the time and resources you put into prospecting efforts drive results.
Here are seven strategies that could help you reach more prospects:
1. Expand your network. It’s no secret that new prospects are unlikely to just walk through the door. You need to find them, engage them, and persuade them to give you an opportunity to serve as their financial professional. That generally means taking time away from your home or office to meet more people.
Try attending community events, fund-raisers or volunteer events or joining organizations, such as your local alumni club, business groups, social groups, or religious organizations. According to a recent Independent Producer Study conducted by the National Underwriters’ Association, 34% of respondents listed community involvement as the second most effective prospecting technique.1 The more networking you do in your community, the more opportunities you’ll have to meet the prospects you need to grow your business.
2. Polish your social media profile. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 70% of U.S. adults used at least one social media site in 2021, up from 60% in 2013 and 50% in 2010. By maintaining a current profile on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, you can expand your sphere of influence. But don’t just build it and forget it. You should actively update your social media to increase its effectiveness. When you do meet a good prospect, there’s a good chance they will check you out online. When purchasing goods or services, 82% of buyers say they look up providers on LinkedIn before responding to their prospecting efforts.2
3. Get to know your clients’ family members. There is $84 trillion set to change hands by 20451. That’s why building relationships with your clients that span generations must be a core business and marketing strategy. To keep your business growing—and to avoid the attrition that often comes as generations turn over—you should make it a priority to involve the children (and grandchildren) of your clients in their investment management process.
There are a variety of ways to involve the family, including hosting events, such as socials, picnics, volunteer opportunities, or seminars on relevant financial topics. In addition, you should invite family members to periodic meetings to discuss your clients’ financial situation and investment strategies.
Involving all generations in your clients’ financial planning process can help smooth out the ultimate transfer of wealth while giving you an opportunity to maintain a working relationship with your clients’ next generation.
4. Decide on an expertise. With more than 327,000 investment advisors in the United States4, it’s important to distinguish yourself from the competition. Is there an area of financial services that suits your skills and interests? An area of specialization could distinguish your business from your competition. For instance, do you have strong expertise in income investing, tax savings, IRAs, retirement planning, options, futures, mutual funds, life insurance, estate planning, long-term care insurance, college savings, or a certain style of money management? Begin positioning yourself as an expert in one of those areas.
The specialty you choose will become the focus of your marketing and brand positioning. It’s how you introduce yourself and how you position your business in marketing materials. It’s what you write about, speak about, teach, and refer to if you have a chance to pitch your expertise to the media.
One way to decide on a specialty is to look at your current client base. If most of your clients are retired or near retirement, you may choose to present yourself as a retirement specialist. If you work mostly with a younger demographic, you might focus on Millennials and their needs, such as college savings for their children or tax saving strategies.
That doesn’t mean that you should limit your services to a single expertise. Offering a broad range of products and services can certainly expand your business. But developing an area of specialization will give you a distinct identity that sets you and your business apart.