How Do Financial Advisors Find Clients?

Client acquisition is a crucial factor in a financial advisor’s success. You could know everything there is to know about financial planning, and you will fail to build a practice if you don’t have clients to share that knowledge with.

It’s as simple as that. If you don’t have clients, you don’t have a business.

Here at Consolidated Planning, we understand the importance of client acquisition to the success of our financial advisors and provide unparalleled support to help advisors focus on revenue-generating activities to find (and keep) those clients.

In this article, we’ll discuss how financial advisors find clients – exploring what works and what doesn’t when it comes to client acquisition. With this, you’ll be better equipped with the knowledge to decide if a firm where you can implement these practices in your financial advising career is right for you.

 

Do Financial Advisors Work With Family And Friends?

Attempting to work with your friends and/or family as an advisor can sound downright right daunting. And at first glance, it can be. 

But it doesn’t have to be, especially if you want to be more of a consultative financial advisor. The ones who don’t pitch products at the very first meeting.

When you really believe in the planning process, experience, and value that you create in the lives of your clients you’ll see approaching family and friends much differently. You’d quickly come to the conclusion that helping your friends and family is more important than struggling to help strangers. After all, if not you are adding this tremendous value, then who?

Once you’re clear about the value you’ll bring to future clients you need to make a list. Who are the family and friends you know in your life that have responsibilities for others? We’ve found that the more responsibilities for others a prospect has, the better they’ll be as a client. This isn’t often true, but it usually is the rule, if you will.

Financial advisors with a large natural network of friends, family, and acquaintances typically have greater early career success that builds a strong foundation for long term practice success. But, as we discussed above, the reason why they approach these people is more important than how they approach them. The how can be trained at any firm, but if your ‘why’ is not aligned with what you’re doing everyday, internal conflict will exist.

 

How Do Financial Advisors Find New Markets?

Eventually, you’ll market your practice beyond your natural market. Your growth into new markets is exciting and vital to your success as an advisor. But how will you find new markets?

To develop new markets, you’ll need to meet new people. You’ll do this in a few key ways:

• Target Markets – Tailoring your services to meet the needs of a specific client type allows you to become the “go to advisor” for that market.
• Centers Of Influence – Other professionals like CPAs and Attorneys are great sources of prospective clients because they offer complementary work for our clients. Developing these relationships takes time to build trust, but they can provide a stream of clients for years to come.
• Referrals – Referrals and introductions from satisfied clients allow you to expand your circle of reach beyond your existing client base and are an easy way to meet new prospects.

 

How Do Financial Advisors Build A Target Market?

A target market is a targeted market. This will be a very specific group in which you’ll provide specialized services to. This can be around a consumer’s profession, life circumstance, and/or interests. Working within your target market allows appropriate messaging, solutions and the ability to develop a deeper understanding of your clients and their needs.

Sometimes advisors uncover their target market as they explore their natural market. Maybe your spouse is a physician, so your natural network has many other physicians. Or perhaps you are changing careers, and your old industry contacts create a natural market for you.

Other times, advisors methodically create a market for themselves over time. Building this market one client at a time is like pushing a snowball down a hill. It starts small and slowly but quickly grows bigger with increasing speed as you move forward with persistence.

 

What Tools Do Financial Advisors Use To Find Clients?

Technology has changed how the world works, and financial advisors are no exception. Dozens of tools available today can amplify and streamline your prospecting efforts. Keep in mind that having that targeted market is key. The tools below come alive once an advisor’s true target market is realized.

Some popular tools used by advisors at Consolidated Planning include:

• Weylman Center for Target Market Building: This training center provides the tools you need to become a trusted advisor in your target market.
• FMG Marketing Suite: This is a robust content sharing tool with email and social media integrations that allows you to quickly and efficiently build and schedule prospecting campaigns.
• My Name Flow: This automated monthly newsletter tool helps you build distribution lists and deliver relevant content to subscribers with minimal effort required beyond setup.
• Smart Office: This is a robust client relationship management tool with marketing capabilities. It helps keep you on top of client and prospect engagement and tracks your revenue and pipeline.
• LinkedIn: The professional networking site is a powerful prospecting tool.

 

How Will You Find Clients As A Financial Advisor?

While this may all sound good to you, we know you’re wondering, how will I find my clients?

The truth is, it all starts with a belief. The belief in your why, the belief in the firm you align yourself with, and the belief in yourself.

The fear of building your client base is a very real and valid feeling, but we’re here to help:

• Learn how to navigate your natural market
• Develop a suitable target market
• Understand software and tools to support your pipeline

To start understanding what YOUR practice might look like, chat with a team member about the interview process and building a financial advising practice.

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Exp. 8/2027

 

Consolidated Planning, Inc. is an Agency of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), New York, NY. Securities products and advisory services offered through Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS), member FINRA, SIPC. OSJ: 6115 Park South Drive, Suite 200, Charlotte NC 28210, Phone # 704-5528507. PAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian. This firm is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS. This material is intended for general use. By providing this content Park Avenue Securities LLC and your financial representative are not undertaking to provide investment advice or make a recommendation for a specific individual or situation, or to otherwise act in a fiduciary capacity.