Growing a client list is a goal most financial advisers have, whether you’re employed or self-employed. Marketing for financial advisers is not a simple process, though; often, a multi-faceted approach is needed to access as many prospects as possible – from using social media, to being involved with the community, pitching yourself to others, to developing business expertise, there are many skills financial advisers need in order to further advance their career to get to the top of their game. Are you marketing yourself as well as you could be?
This blog post reveals how to grow your IFA client base using the following methods…
Utilise social media
The cornerstone of marketing for IFAs is to utilise social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Do you use them effectively? Many IFAs don’t use this medium to their best advantage.
Social media is an excellent marketing tool, putting you in direct conversation with other potential clients and people within the industry. So, not using these platforms effectively could be holding you back. As well as this, the younger competition is already tech-savvy, meaning they are quickly getting ahead. As a starting point, join relevant Facebook groups, make great connections on LinkedIn, and follow and engage with people and potential clients on Twitter.
According to Sysomos, 40% of investors say that they use social media platforms as a key investment information source. So, it’s a great opportunity to access the clientele you need to progress your career. Engaging on social media also means sharing knowledge; investment customers are always looking for valuable advice and tips that will guide them in their financial planning.
If you have your own business, it might be worth considering LinkedIn and Facebook advertising so that you’re able to directly target the type of clients you need. Plus, generating helpful content such as blog posts, videos, even case studies, will further ensure your authority as a financial adviser is recognised by your potential prospects.
Community involvement
People often look for financial advisers with proven credibility when they’re looking to hire. This can be established by forming good relationships within the local community. For example, you may have found word-of-mouth to be a successful way to get new clients, so networking through the community can help take this to the next level. Whether you join a local group or society, you never know who you will meet at these events and what connections they have. Do they run a company and have staff that need pension advice? Are they an estate agent looking to add value to their clients with financial advice? This old-school form of marketing for IFAs is still key to building trust and establishing relationships essential to growing your business and gaining recognition in the industry.
Develop your business skills
Whether you’re a self-employed financial adviser or in employment, developing your business skills could be effective in helping you understand how to grow your client base. For example, problem-solving, communication, time management, customer service, negotiation, and business administration.
If you’re an employed financial adviser, developing your business skills will provide the opportunity to open your own practice further down the line, should you wish to do so. This could be beneficial to you if you want to further expand and monetise your client list as you then have greater control.
Of course, understanding and using business skills will also help your interaction with your clients as they may well have businesses of their own. Talking to business owners, researching the latest news will also help you to improve your business acumen.
Keep Detailed Records
You need meticulous attention to detail, especially within this profession. If you’re self-employed, you need detailed records to understand where your business currently stands, and what potential challenges you could encounter. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system keeps your clients’ details in one place. It uses data analysis to improve business relationships with customers, to retain them and ultimately drive growth. CRM systems monitor your clients’ engagement with your business, including any contact between you and them. This allows you to keep detailed records and plan ahead when thinking about growing your client list. A CRM system can also hold personal information such as name and date of birth and details of conversations you’ve had. Part of the skill of a successful Financial Advisor is understanding the lifestyle of each of your clients – where they work, where they like to go on holiday, the financial commitments they have etc. You can record all this in a CRM system and personalise your messages and future advice to them to help prove to your clients that you are really tailoring your advice to them.
Analyse your Competition
Being a successful financial adviser always involves a certain amount of competition – it’s unlikely that two advisers have the same clients! That’s why it’s important to have analytical skills when it comes to reviewing your competition – what are they doing that you can also implement?
Marketing for IFAs involves analysing your competition, here are some initial pointers:
- Are they active on social media, and what do they post about?
- How accessible is their website?
Who are they connected with on LinkedIn?
Understand the Risks and Rewards
As a self-employed financial adviser, you need to be skilled in assessing the risks and rewards of your business decisions. For example, will investing more time on social media and community involvement be financially beneficial to your business in the long-run? Calculating risks will ensure that your current client bank remains happy!
Promote Yourself
Self-promotion can be a difficult skill to master, especially if you’ve not had a lot of experience in this. However, you need to be able to show your prospects that you are an expert in your field! Being unafraid to show off your success is a great way to instil confidence in your clients. This can also benefit word-of-mouth as people reiterate your knowledge and expertise to others.
According to ClientWise, the best financial advisers acquire more than 70% of new assets through referrals from existing clients! To help, here’s how to grow a client base using self-promotional methods:
- Advertise in local newspapers and radio stations
- Host charitable events to get involved within the local community
- Implement inbound marketing techniques, or, if you’re an employed financial adviser, encourage your company to adopt them. These techniques include search engine optimisation, email marketing, creating engaging blog posts, running social media adverts and setting up Google Adwords.
- Use social media as an aid to promote yourself – engaging with people within the industry on Linkedin, write articles you have expertise on and share them with your connections to build upon your authority.
- To generate new leads, you can also advertise in directories such as ‘Vouched For’ that specialise in listing Financial Advisors where potential clients will be able to find your contact details.
- Try to get featured in a money marketing magazine or other publication that your clients are likely to read.
- Get involved with local business awards to raise your profile and to get in front of potential clients.
Conclusion
Of course, growing your client list isn’t an overnight fix and how you grow your client base will depend on what works for you. It takes time and also requires trust between yourself and potential clients. However, by implementing the above skills, you will find yourself in good stead to begin expanding your clientele.
At Recruit UK, we are specialists in financial services recruitment and therefore have a reach of more than 100,000 financial services connections. So, if you want to learn more about marketing for IFAs to build your client list, we have an expert team who can give you honest and meaningful advice. We work with organisations across the country and so can introduce you to different businesses. To help you and your career, we offer a free career MOT to help you develop in this industry.
