For a financial advisor, prospecting is a crucial part of the job, however, many financial advisors are struggling to understand how to find prospective clients. From networking events to creating an enticing offer, this article will give you prospecting ideas for financial advisors to find new clients. But first, let’s look at the benefits of a strong prospecting strategy:
Increased revenue without dramatically increasing client acquisition costs
Positioning yourself as an authority indirectly increases brand awareness
Improved ROI on marketing expenditures by making our message more targeted and less expensive
How Do Financial Advisors Find Prospects?
Financial advisors need more than just a financial background to find prospects. They also rely on their connections and networks, as well as the knowledge of marketing principles in order to generate prospective clients and set up appointments for consultations with potential clients. Financial advisors use various techniques when seeking out new business opportunities including LinkedIn, social events, education workshops and lead groups.
1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an excellent social media platform for professionals to expand their networks and attract new business. One strategy you can try is by following members of your industry, conducting a social media search, or searching using industry-related terms to see who else shares your interests. You can also use Linkedin's advanced search function to find specific individuals based on criteria that are relevant to your prospecting goals. You can use the social media network tab to sort and filter contacts and send a simple message (perhaps with an investing or money management tip) to former colleagues and local business leaders. You can use the home tab to contact social media prospects about their career achievements or to like their social media content. You can use the advanced tab to use mutual social media connections to land introductions. LinkedIn attracts a lot of high-net-worth individuals, so make sure to fully utilise it.
2. Dinner Seminars
One of the best-prospecting methods for financial advisors is to create a relationship with someone is over a meal or drinks where there is more time for conversation and less pressure. That's why the idea of having an event that combines both can be so effective. It provides all the benefits of a networking opportunity, which often include increased contact information exchange, without the awkwardness of asking people for their email addresses at the end of it. Ensuring you are selective with your prospective client invitations will help to maximise your efforts, try to focus on your target audience. Avoid hard sales tactics and instead focus on providing genuine value to capture stronger prospective clients and genuine relationships.
3. Educational Workshops
While dinner seminars offer a high conversation rate, they can be a costly endeavour when compared to other financial advisor prospecting ideas. Education workshops are much more affordable and give prospective clients the opportunity to ask questions in a less intimate environment. A well-run workshop not only gets people in the door and interacting with your brand but also gives you an opportunity to collect information on them while they're there. This way if someone shows interest in what you have to offer, you have their contact information right at hand and can follow up with them later.
It is important that you have a structured lesson plan beforehand so you can create a cohesive message and make sure everything goes smoothly. Try to tailor each event to a specific need or pain point that relate to a group of prospects. With an effective marketing campaign in place, these financial advisor prospecting workshops will allow any company to grow exponentially through word-of-mouth advertising and increased public awareness of its services.
4. Lead Groups
Lead groups are networking groups with the intent to refer qualified leads to other members within the group. Because the leads are qualified, it stands apart from the other prospecting ideas for financial advisors. The members of the group are generally limited to one per sector to avoid conflict and competition. If you are going to join a lead group, it’s important to:
Arrive early and consistently attend events
Get to know everyone in the group
Clearly explain your offering and how you can provide value to clients
Be patient, it will take time to build rapport with members and get them to trust you
5. Host a Client Appreciation Event
Financial advisors are tasked with nurturing existing client relationships and meeting new prospects. In order to cultivate relationships with both groups, it can be a good idea for a financial advisor to host client appreciation events. These events give you an opportunity to thank existing clients - making them feel special, while also impressing prospects. Prospects will get an insight into the experience you provide your client, so be sure to invite your best clients, for maximum impact. Even if your prospects already have a financial advisor, you’ll be positioning yourself as a strong contender for their business in the future.
6. Free Introductory Offer
When considering the financial advisor prospecting ideas listed above, it’s worth considering how to make your service offering as assessable as possible, so you have an opportunity to demonstrate your value. A free introductory offer is important for any financial advisor because it helps build a solid rapport with potential clients. It also gives the client an opportunity to ask questions about your services and get a feel for what you have to offer before committing to becoming a client.
How do financial advisors meet new clients?
The best way to meet new clients as a financial advisor is to ask for referrals. Cold calling and the other prospecting methods listed in this article are good but can be time-consuming. Creating a strong financial advisor referral program will help you reach your target audience with a lot less effort.
In order to generate financial advisor referrals, you will need to first develop a great relationship with your customer base. Then pick your best clients, the clients you consider to be your target audience and ask them if they would mind referring you to their friends and colleagues. Lastly, make sure they know the best way for prospective clients to contact you. If implemented correctly this can be the best of the financial advisor prospecting ideas in this article.
Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas: The Importance of A Website
For many financial advisors, getting new clients is hard enough as it is. That's partly why we created this article, to help with prospecting ideas for financial advisors. In order to ensure you are being efficient with your prospecting efforts, you need a professional website that can be found online. Not having a website can be the difference between closing leads and losing them, as prospects will research your financial services company online. If you don't have a professional website, people will be less likely to trust you.
At Bectre we help financial advisors build websites that reinforce their credibility and communicate their value. If you would like to ensure you are capitalising on your prospecting efforts, then get in touch to book a free, no-commitment consultation or call us on 0432 412 024.
