4 Factors To Consider When Building Your Financial Advising Practice

A staggering 80-90% of financial advisors will fail or quit the industry within their first three years, according to Advisor Perspectives. Wow. 

If you’re beyond your third year, you’re not out of the woods yet. It’s easy to become stagnant once the train is chugging along – don’t let that be you.

Here at Consolidated Planning, we have put in place a great mix of autonomy and support for your financial advising practice that allows you to have the best of both worlds. Yes, you own your practice but you are also expected and encouraged to rely on the support from our senior leadership team who have been where you currently are.

Regardless of how your financial practice currently looks, we want you to feel confident in every step moving forward. We believe that your clear path to success starts with a supportive environment to continually evolve in what you’re offering your clients.

4 Factors for A Successful Financial Advising Career

#1 Market Building Mindset

A market-building mindset refers to the understanding that building your market requires you to be intentional. Being intentional when building your practice means finding clients that are a good fit for you, just as you are a good fit for them. Market building goes beyond just liking someone but what does a good fit look like then and how do we determine those factors?

Identifying the two types of markets is an essential part of building a practice, intentionally.

1. Natural Market: Your natural market is the people that are naturally in your life, your friends, family, and acquaintances. Having feelings of hesitation around talking about financial wellness to people you know is completely normal, however, it’s all about how you approach this market.

If you really believe in the planning process, experience, and value that you create in the lives of clients you’ll see approaching family and friends differently. You’d quickly come to the conclusion that helping your friends and family is more important than struggling to help strangers.

Don’t overlook your natural market for fear of what those closest to you will think. At Consolidated Planning, our planning philosophy puts clients and strategy before products which will give you the confidence in starting the conversation with people in your natural market.

2. Target Market: A target or niche market is a specific group of individuals closely aligned by their occupation, recreation, or interests. The members of a target market share some type of connection. The more defined the target market is, the more connected its members are. For example, women-owned retail companies could be considered a target market.

Developing your target market helps you effectively communicate your values and implement strategies to elevate the client experience. The Marketing Administration and Practice Management Solutions (MAPS) team at Consolidated Planning will help you uncover your target market(s) and how to best position your messaging to this group, turning contacts into clients.

#2 Improving The Client Experience

Just as financial planning is an ever-evolving process, the client experience is as well. Throughout your journey with your clients, their wants, needs, and expectations will change. 

While part of the overall client experience is based on a client’s personal perception, there are factors that you can control to continue evolving your practice and furthering the client-advisor relationship. Your commitment to evolve in these areas will help to better meet client expectations and improve the client experience.

• Technology: This one seems like a no-brainer in this day and age. Including ever-evolving technology in your practice is a must. Most advisors heavily rely on Zoom for client meetings and to their surprise, they are still building connections despite not being in person. The ability to utilize zoom within your practice allows you to stretch your business further, crossing state lines and beyond.

In addition to Zoom at Consolidated Planning, advisors have access to The Living Balance Sheet® to better depict and explain recommendations for clients. Your clients will also have access to their sheet to continually monitor their financial progress and feel involved in the process of their financial wellness.

• Clients-First Approach: This might seem like an obvious way to improve your client experience but you would be surprised at the number of advisors who follow a transactional way of doing business. A transactional approach prioritizes products rather than people.

Consolidated Planning follows a consultative approach to financial planning, offering real, customized solutions to clients based on their needs, goals, and expectations, no matter how many times those factors may shift.

• Opportunities For Education: Taking advantage of opportunities for continued learning not only develops your expertise but helps you educate your clients. Financial education and accessibility are important components in empowering clients and helping them to feel confident in your ability to guide them toward achieving their financial goals.

Advisors at Consolidated Planning can further develop their expertise in the industry through the mentorship program, yearly meetings, monthly trainings, Consolidated Planning University (CPU), and many other opportunities to connect with other advisors and industry leaders.

#3 Improving Advisor Capabilities

Remaining stagnant as a financial advisor will not behoove you. Between an ever-changing market and client expectations, it’s in your best interest and the best interest of your clients to continually improve your capabilities. 

Ask yourself, where do my clients want to go? Surely they don’t want to stand still when it comes to their financial wellness.

If you’re not willing to keep up with where your clients want to go, you may find yourself with no clients at all. Consider these capabilities to “keep up with the Jones’.”

• Add Business Planning Markets: Expand your potential with planning for your client’s business needs.
• Add Teaming To Your Practice: Bringing advisors with different, but complementary, skill sets together to provide clients more.
• Add Fee-Based Planning To Your Model: You’re able to offer more options to your clients.

#4 Intentionally Building A Practice

A clear path to success sprouts from being intentional in building your practice.

At Consolidated Planning, we talk a lot about having your why and having a purpose beyond just making money as a financial advisor. As a part of your personal and professional development, you should be able to answer the following questions:

• What is your purpose?
• What are you aiming for?
• Are you multi-year based?
• Are you multi-revenue based for career stability?
• What is a manageable client base number for you? Can you manage everything that comes along with that?
• What is your strategy?

Your answers matter here as they will guide you in building your successful financial advising practice.

Are You Ready To Build A Successful Financial Advising Practice?

Even the most experienced financial advisors can become stagnant in their practice building. We know that it’s in you to make your financial advising practice all that it can be. 

Now you need to ask yourself, can you put forth the intentional effort to get it there?

As an advisor at Consolidated Planning, you will have access to all the necessary resources and fellow advisors to help you develop a market-building mindset, improve your client experience, improve your capabilities, and intentionally build your practice.

If you’re ready to join a firm where you’re challenged to continually improve for the benefit of your practice and clients, it’s time to speak with one of our recruiters.

 

2023-150249 Exp. 2/2025