No matter how big or small your business is advisors are always on a lookout for more clients. While many advisors depend on referrals for business expansion, a few have found new avenues to promote themselves as financial advisors.
The strength of an advisor lies in his discoverability. While most advisors use one or the other client expansion techniques, a combination of these five methods will give better results.
Awareness programmes
One of the surest ways to increase your visibility is by conducting investor awareness programs. Nikhil Naik of Naik Wealth Planners conducts a lot of such workshops and seminars. Sharing his experience with Cafemutual, Naik says, “By conducting awareness programs, an advisor can build his brand image. Both your existing and prospective clients will feel more comfortable discussing their financial matters with you because of the trust they develop in your brand,” he says.
He adds that while IAPs are effective in creating a good brand image, for converting prospects into clients, it is ideal to have testimonials from your existing clients at the event.
Flyers
Ritesh Sheth of Tejas Consultancy increases his visibility by inserting flyers, which advertise his business, in newspapers and magazines. “I talk to the local newspaper distributors to find out the demand for each newspaper and insert flyers in the most popular one. I also have tie ups with all the local pharmacies where my flyers are distributed,” he says.
According to Ritesh, investors easily recognise him in his locality due to this activity. “Often people recognise me when I go out. They seek my advice on investments decision. This overwhelming response has encouraged me to spend at least 1% of my earnings on marketing activities,” he says.
Writing Column
Another popular method of increasing your visibility among prospective investors is by writing columns for popular newspapers and by appearing on television shows. Writing for magazines or newspapers that have the maximum reach among your client base helps. For example, if your client base is concentrated in a certain locality then writing for a local newspaper might get you a good client visibility.
Talking about how he increases his visibility, Gajendra Kothari, Etica Wealth Management says, “We write for various media houses and appear periodically on news channels too. Clients tell us often that they have read read our column or that they saw us on TV. There have been instances where prospective clients have recognised me from a TV appearance,” he says.
Social media
Social media is a platform that is gaining great prominence among advisors. Advisors can put up interesting and useful information about financial planning at a fraction of the cost.
According Ankur Kapur of Plutus Capital, “Advisors must use social media to give interesting insights on financial planning, which will encourage clients to reach out to them for financial advice. However, you should not promote specific schemes.”
Reaching out to associations
Another method of increasing your client base is by reaching out to associations, says Ritesh Sheth. Ritesh has tied up with auto unions and other worker unions. He conducts financial planning workshops for these unions, earning their trust and increasing his client base.
“I find that the working class and lower middle class are mostly ignored by financial advisors, while in reality this is the segment which needs financial advice the most. By promoting financial planning and conducting seminars for these groups, I have gained a very loyal client base. Their individual investments might be small but the client base is huge,” he says.
