4 Ways Experienced Financial Advisors Market To Their Existing Clients

In this business, you are either moving forward, or you’re moving backward. You can’t stand still as a financial advisor. A thriving financial planning practice can only exist with a steady flow of new clients and business opportunities. 

As an experienced financial advisor, your existing client base is an excellent place to find new business opportunities. But, you must put the right strategy in place to maximize your marketing efforts.

Consolidated Planning helps financial advisors grow bigger, better, and faster using our proven practice building playbook. We guide you through relaunching your business as a comprehensive planning practice. We outline the activities and steps needed to triple your practice value in five years. In addition to providing the strategy to achieve your goals, we provide the infrastructure and support to execute.

In this article, we’ll share four ways experienced financial advisors effectively market to their existing client base to improve client retention and find new business opportunities. You’ll walk away with actionable ideas, and you’ll have the chance to receive your own custom practice building playbook.

 

#1 Experienced Financial Advisors Grow Through Target Markets

Sometimes, target markets are referred to as niche markets. No matter what you call them, there is no denying that target markets are one of the top ways financial advisors can grow their practice.

 

What Is A Target Market?

A target or niche market is a group closely aligned by occupation, recreation, or interests. The members of a target market share some connections. 

The more defined the target market is, the more connected its members are. For example, dentists could be considered a target market. However, this market is very large and includes many specialties and subspecialties. 

All dentists have commonalities but likely not as much as a specialized dentist as an orthodontist has with another orthodontist. Orthodontists are a more clearly defined target market than simply dentists. 

 

Target Markets & Your Book Of Business

Most financial advisors have generalist practices that serve a wide range of client types. Most top performing financial advisors have highly specialized practices that serve 1-2 target markets. Practices focusing on serving 1-2 target markets tend to outperform generalist practices because of their narrow and deep approach.

You likely already have the makings of a target market within your client base. Take a moment and think about your clients and the connections between them. What themes do you see? 

Consolidated Planning advisors use the Weylman System to identify and expand their target markets and become the trusted expert for their niche. Honing your target market creates opportunities for rapid practice growth by:

• Empowering you to understand and serve your clients deeper due to a specialized understanding of their situation.
• Allowing your marketing to speak directly to the pains of your prospects rather than offering something for everyone.
• Creating a brand and client experience that tailor to the exact needs of your ideal clients.

Clients want their advisor to understand them and their needs. They want an experience that feels personal to them. By working in 1-2 target markets, you can efficiently and effectively deliver that enhanced client experience.

 

#2 Experienced Financial Advisors Grow Through Enhanced Client Service

When you first became a financial advisor, you met with anyone that could fog a mirror. Now, as an established financial advisor, you need to be choosier with your clients if you want to perform at your peak potential.

Segmenting your book and implementing a client service model is a great way to enhance your client experience and optimize your practice. Let’s take a look at the role both of these play in growing your practice.

 

Segmenting Your Book Of Business

One financial advisor can serve around 125 engaged planning clients well. Advisors that take on more clients without the support of a team and junior advisors will not be able to proactively serve their clients and the client’s experience will suffer.

In order to provide high quality service to your clients, you must prioritize which clients get access to your time and when. Segmenting your book of business is the best ways to systematically prioritize your clients into different service levels. This is commonly done based on assets, revenue, or based on a financial planning engagement.

 

Implementing A Client Service Model

Once you have segmented your book of business, implementing a client service model is the next step toward delivering an enhanced client service experience. Service models vary practice to practice, but good service models have a few commonalities.

Your service model should create a process for you to onboard new clients and proactively engage existing clients.

Your service model established frequency of communication and meetings to set clear expectations for your clients.

Many financial advisors operate in reactive mode the majority of the time and find themselves putting out fires all day. By establishing a proactive service model, you will address issues before they arise and feel less like a firefighter.

Most importantly, client service models establish and reinforce your client’s trust in you by consistently setting and meeting expectations.

Satisfied, trusting clients are tend to refer new clients and give you more business.

#3 Experienced Financial Advisors Grow With Junior Advisors

It typically takes two junior advisors to replace you when you leave your practice. Bringing on a junior advisor (or two) is not only a great way to create a succession and exit plan for your practice but can also help you grow in the present. 

Junior advisors can fill several roles on your team. They may hunt for new clients or they may serve your existing clients. 

These advisors can help you segment your book of business and implement your client service model. A junior advisor can help to free up your time by servicing your C and D level clients. Its up to you what you do with this additional time, but most advisors we see use it to work with more A and B level clients to create more practice revenue.

Junior advisors are also great at working with your next generation of clients. Did you know that nearly 80% of accounts transfer to a new advisor when the primary client relationship passes away?

This is an excellent way to preserve accounts and provide additional value to your clients by caring for their loved ones. Your client’s beneficiaries may not fit your target market, but they might be perfect clients for your junior advisor.

#4 Experienced Financial Advisors Market With Testimonials

Until recently, the financial services industry shunned testimonials, and they created nightmares for compliance departments. Recent marketing rule changes mean the Securities Exchange Commission now allows financial advisors to market using testimonials as long as there is proper disclosure, oversight, and a disqualification clause.

The ability to use testimonials from satisfied clients gives advisors a new set of arrows in their marketing quivers. Especially at firms like Consolidated Planning that have a streamlined compliance approval process for using client testimonials. Obviously, this change is huge news in a relatively stodgy industry.

Testimonials are exponentially more effective when advisors have a defined target market and a consistent client service experience. Once you are nailing the first points of this article, testimonials are icing on the cake and reinforce your position as trusted expert.

 

How Will Consolidated Planning Help You Grow Your Practice?

By now, your mind is likely racing to make connect the dots and put some of these marketing ideas into place. That’s wonderful. But how will you put these plans into place? Do you have the infrastructure and know how to execute?

Consolidated Planning has over forty years of experience helping financial advisors build process based planning processes. Our advisor support resources are a plug and play solution to help you execute your practice vision.

Reach out to our team today to receive your practice building playbook and learn how to grow bigger, better, and faster.

 

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