Growing a successful advisory business starts with one essential strategy: meeting new people and turning them into clients. It’s that simple.
In my role as Commonwealth’s chief advisor growth officer, I consult with advisors on a wide range of subjects. But any time an advisor wants to talk about the growth of the business, invariably client-facing activities come up. And client-facing activities are a key strategy for meeting new people and interacting with prospects.
But how do you find the time? An advisor may be involved from sunup to sundown on projects and tasks related to their business, such as working with tech, CRM, research, trading, advanced planning, and more.
Advisors can be very busy with vital, necessary projects – but that doesn’t necessarily lead to growth.
The only way advisors can make more money and grow their business is by ensuring they schedule time to be in front of clients and prospects on a regular, repeatable basis. And to do that, advisors need to have a clear focus on client-facing activities.
These can range from meeting with a client or prospect, to going to lunch with a center of influence, to leveraging LinkedIn or Facebook with a compelling post, to hosting a client event – anything that gets you engaging with and out in front of people.
To attract prospects and gain new clients, it’s important to spend significant time on these client-facing activities. Here are a few ideas to help you get started.
How much of your day is spent developing new business? Think external activities vs. internal. Many firms offer activity trackers, but you can also use a simple Excel spreadsheet to see how much time you spend with clients or in meetings, how much on PR or meeting with COIs, etc. The faster you want to grow, the more time you should spend with prospects.
You can learn a lot by listening to current clients. In the normal course of conversation, things might pop up that you could follow up on. Perhaps a client mentions they have a new grandchild, attained a promotion, have a friend or relative moving to town, or they’re thinking of buying a summer home. Your ability to listen closely and pay attention could mean additional assets or a new client for the firm!
One of the best sources of new clients is referrals from existing clients. Is your firm top of mind for clients when they hear someone has a financial planning need? That’s your goal, to be the one that clients think of first when a friend or colleague mentions they received a bonus or had a death in the family. Perhaps you can raise a topic for brainstorming at a staff meeting, such as how you can get your firm talked about.
Do your friends turn to you when it’s time to plan a party? You might have skills that could be put to good use for your firm’s next client event. Whether you have fun ideas for an event or the organizational skills to help execute it, to keep tasks and teammates on deadline, you could help ensure a great event for your firm that gets people talking.
Explore the firm’s collective talents at a staff meeting – who has a special skill that could be used at a client event? Perhaps someone loves photography and is an amateur expert; this could spark some ideas: how about pet portraits, family portraits, or just great photos to use on your website? If you’ve got an advisor or staff person with an interesting hobby (ballroom dancing, fly fishing) or skill (caricatures, wine tasting), you may have the makings of a memorable client event that could truly differentiate your firm.
Right now as summer is ending, families with children are all in back-to-school mode. Look for articles or events geared to helping children make the transition to the next grade or to college – and supporting parents through this time as well (keeping in mind some are about to be empty nesters), or look for apple picking and other fall events in your area.
You could have a lot of fun with timely events such as the first day of football or soccer in your town, or something as simple as celebrating the last day before a cherished local ice cream stand closes for the season.
Careful attention to client-facing activities is the key to obtaining new clients and additional revenue. As the song says, let’s give them something to talk about – and start reaching out to prospects today.
Kristine McManus is the Chief Advisor Growth Officer at Commonwealth Financial Network, where she helps financial advisors expand their businesses and achieve sustainable growth.
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