Attracting Clients

If you want to become a financial advisor, you need to get very good at attracting clients. But in a sea of financial advisors who essentially all look the same, how can you do that? I recently attended a market update meeting sponsored by a large investment company. I was there in a room full of local financial advisors who all were dressed in suits and looking very professional. I am sure they all had some great experience in the business and were very well educated in finance. And one thing that I am sure we all had on our minds was attracting clients.

So with everyone trying to do the same thing, how do you differentiate yourself from the crowd of financial planners out there? What makes you so special that clients would choose to work with you vs. the other 1000 advisors in your city? How do you attract new clients in the most effective and cost efficient way? These are questions that every advisor asks themselves, or should be asking themselves at some point. Finding the answers to these questions will make the difference between success and failure in this business.

Let’s talk about some things that you can do that will assist you in attracting clients and differentiating yourself from the crowd.

First of all, even if you are new to this business, you probably already know that success is going to be built upon the trust that you develop with people. The financial services industry already has a negative stigma associated with it. Many people, when they hear the title “Financial Advisor” think of shady stock brokers in a boiler room selling penny stocks to poor old retirees. With the recent likes of Bernard Madoff and others, the reputation for people in our business has taken even more hits. When you’re dealing with people’s money, there are naturally a lot of barriers that people put up that you have to somehow get over. The way to get over these walls is by building trust. If you are not a trustworthy person, you just need to go find another business to be a part of right now. If you are trustworthy, then you’ve got a big head start.

Attracting clients isn’t easy, but it isn’t that hard either. Here are a few easy things you can start with.

Referrals. If you are brand new to this business, you probably don’t have many clients that you can ask for referrals from. But you do have people like friends and family members who know you and trust you. This trust is the basis for a long stream of quality referrals to you. Maybe you don’t want to hit up your friends and family for their own business right away. But you need to not be afraid to ask them to refer people to you who you might be able to help with their finances. You can even train or coach these people so that they know when to mention your name to someone who might be a good referral.

Here are a few scenarios when it might be appropriate for a friend or family member to mention your services in a conversation:

1. If someone is retiring from their job.
2. If someone mentions they are not happy with their financial advisor.
3. If someone is complaining about interest rates at the bank.
4. If someone’s spouse has passed away and they aren’t sure what to do.
5. If someone is complaining about the market and losing money.

These are very easy, non-threatening situations where they could mention your name and services and see if there is any interest. By doing this, (and you will want to train your clients in the future to also do this for you) you are creating a virtual sales force that is always on the lookout for new clients for you.

You need to make sure you tell your friends and family that if they ever refer someone to you, you will provide that person with exceptional service…and then make sure you do it!

Next you need to establish a formal referral follow-up process so that you don’t ever let a referral slip through the cracks. Nothing will kill a referral source quicker than if you fail to contact someone that was referred to you.

You can also put those referrals on a list and be sure to invite them to any events that you have in the future (which I will talk about more right now).

Educational Events. Free educational events are designed to accomplish two things. 1. Earn repeat business from your existing client base. 2. Attracting clients by introducing them to your organization.

Educational events make clients feel like they are always getting something new from you. It keeps them abreast of financial matters that might affect them. And it establishes you in their mind as the expert on that topic. Building that credibility is very important in differentiating yourself from the crowd.

A few rules to follow for your educational events:

1. Hold a minimum of one per quarter.
2. Topics must be relevant to your clients.
3. Ask clients to bring someone with them.
4. Offer some type of free report to those who attend.

These events do not have to be long, or expensive. 25 – 30 minutes of a presentation is plenty long. This will be long enough to give them some good information, but not so long that you lose them. A dinner is not necessary at all for these, a small lunch or refreshments is fine. The atmosphere should be professional, but casual.

The goal of these events is to set up appointments with people who attend. You will want to interact with people as much as possible so that they can get comfortable with you and who you are. Offering a free report around the presentation will allow you to put something in their hands and give you a chance for follow-up. You can call the attendees a few days later and ask them what they thought of the presentation and the report.