Financial advisors don’t become successful overnight. It takes a lot of hard work, passion for the job and sheer determination to make it big in the advisory business. It is essential young advisors understand these traits that are required to maximize their growth down the IFA career path.
Here are some tips for budding advisors on how to be very successful in their career.
Never stop learning
Most IFAs are college graduates with a CFP certification today. But does your learning stop after earning the CFP certification? It doesn’t. Earning the CFP marks should be considered only a starting point, and not an end point, of your education.
Advisors should constantly keep themselves updated with the latest research and industry trends by subscribing to industry publications, attending conferences and engaging in other activities designed to improve the value proposition to clients. Alternatively, you should have keen interest in specialising in a certain area, like, for example, retirement or child planning. Many focused programmes can be taken up to expand your knowledge on the subject.
The master plan
Where do you see yourself in five years? How will you get there? It is critical for Gen Y advisors to have a concrete master plan with the right set of goals to accomplish in the near future. Be realistic about what can be accomplished and stick to your plan to achieve these goals.
Your game plan should also include the strategies you would use to market yourself. Young advisors, in fact, can leverage social media to grow their business. You can share articles relevant to investing, financial planning or any topic you feel would be of interest to your target audience on various social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and so on, to increase your visibility.
Keep networking
Interacting and connecting with people on a personal level is an important aspect of the advisor job. Networking not only helps you in building up your client base, but also in cementing your reputation in the market. While networking is an informal way to connect with your prospects, one should always be well-equipped with an interesting short speech or script about oneself and one’s business that he or she could use in any situation while meeting new people.
In addition, young IFAs should consider getting involved in joining various financial planning and associations that gives them the opportunity to network and get to know many other experienced players from their profession.
