Financial Advisors: Build Your Client List Without Cold Calling
Many advisors believe that in order to prospect new clients, they must cold call a list of unknown leads, send thousands of direct mail pieces to receive only a few calls, and email everyone on their prospect list only to find that 10 percent of the recipients bothered to open it.
With the financial advisor space becoming more crowded, as well as the advent of robo-advisors, there has never been a better time to enhance your prospecting skills. Try these five steps to generate more prospects without relying solely on cold calls.
1. Learn Your Strengths
In 2016, there were 271,900 personal financial advisors according to the United States Department of Labor.1 Help yourself stand out from the pack by playing up your strengths and honing your marketing efforts to make the biggest impact.
Instead of casting a wide net, focus on the types of clients you work best with as a financial advisor. Do your best clients tend to fall into a single profession? Do they have similar goals or net worth?
Start to narrow your audience to focus on your most successful niche. Working with your most successful clientele will result in higher returns for you while creating a stronger referral pipeline for your advisory business.
2. Reward Your Clients
Give your clientele something to talk about. Providing unique services beyond financial basics can help boost your referral rates and increase client retention.
Try hosting events with other professionals during which you can provide a holistic view on how you prepare for your clients’ financial futures. Perhaps you can create a touch-base monthly email that gives timely financial information that goes beyond wealth services. These small extras will stick with your clients and place you top of mind when friends or family are looking for a new financial advisor.
3. Build Partnerships
Look beyond your client list for referrals. Going to networking events in your area can be a great way to build mutually beneficial relationships with like-minded professionals. Not only will this help you find speakers for client events, but it can also result in a business referral program.
Partnerships with professionals you respect can create new, warm leads. These prospects will come to you having been recommended by a professional they know and trust. Make the most of your network and start socializing your financial advisory services today.
4. Get Out in the Community
Sponsoring a local event or sports team is a great way to inform the community about your services. From yachting races to little league, take advantage of sponsorship opportunities to interact with prospective clients.
Community engagement allows you to focus on long-term relationship building. It may not provide quick results, but those relationships will continue to evolve and bring new clients into your business for years to come.
Selecting an event or organization that you are already involved with allows you to do something you enjoy while spreading the word about your financial advisory business.
5. Nurture Your Leads
Create a system to track your leads and referrals so that you remain knowledgeable about where they are in the process. If you reach out too soon or too late, you may miss an opportunity for a mature lead.
Whether you look to a spreadsheet or sophisticated software, making notes after each call with a lead can create lasting relationship and higher returns on your efforts.
Watch Your Prospect List Grow
There are plenty of ways to build your client list. Add these five tips to your traditional prospecting activities and watch your prospects and advisory portfolio grow.
As your prospect list grows, you will want to be sure you are offering only the finest financial products and services. For further information about the products and services available through Axos Advisor, please contact us at [email protected].
Footnotes
1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Personal Financial Advisors, on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/personal-financial-advisors.htm October 24, 2017
This blog post was published by Axos Bank on June 6, 2019 and last updated on June 6, 2019.
