Adopt technology
Financial advisors who have adopted technology are growing their practices at a faster rate. According to a Fidelity Advisor Insights Study done in U.S, advisors who embrace technology have 40% more assets under management and are increasing their geographic reach faster than those who do not use technology. The same holds true for Indian advisors. Smart use of technology will help you cut down on mundane tasks, thereby helping you focus on more important tasks like client acquisition. For instance, investing in a good CRM will help you perform all back office work efficiently. Allowing your clients to transact through your website and giving access their portfolios online will help you cut down on paperwork.
Network
To grow your business, you need to adopt different strategies to acquire new clients. And networking is one of the easiest ways to get new clients. Moreover, you can grow your client base by leaps and bounds if you network with the right people and be visible where your ideal clients hang around. Attending events is a good way to expand your network. After you meet your ‘ideal client’ at an event, following up with them is a good idea to take your relationship further. You can write a simple email saying “It was nice to meet you last evening at the Rotary Club. Will be happy to meet you sometime this week to discuss about your retirement plan.’ If you don’t have the person’s email id, try connecting with them on LinkedIn or Facebook.
Conduct IAPs
Investor awareness programs are an ideal platform for advisors to connect with people on a personal level. It is one of the faster ways to acquire clients than approaching prospects through cold calling or a product presentation. This is because addressing a gathering automatically establishes your expertise and help you gain their trust. You can conduct investor awareness programs at companies, social clubs (Rotary, Lion Etc.) and housing societies.
Fine-tune your referral seeking approach
Referrals are the life-blood of financial advisors. For most IFAs, word-of-mouth is by far the biggest source of new clients. Here are some valuable tips from AIG Advisor Group on how advisors can fine-tune their referral seeking approach:
- Don’t try to justify to clients why referrals are important to you. Referrals are important to almost all professionals and small businesses. To people who know you well, it is obvious that you welcome referrals.
- Don’t ask for referrals in the middle of client counselling or problem-solving sessions. The time belongs to the client.
- Don’t ask for referrals in predictable or repetitive ways, such as at the end of each quarterly client review.
- Do ask for referrals when clients are discussing their satisfaction with your services.
- Do ask for referrals during casual conversations, when discussing personal, family or lifestyle issues.
Focus on niches to grow your business
Niche prospecting strategy means focusing on a particular section or category of clients, i.e. doctors, lawyers, businessmen, working women, etc. Having a niche focus can be difficult at the onset as you will turn down a lot of ‘not your ideal clients’ but overtime as your clients are happy with your services, references will start pouring in. You will start becoming popular within the community you are catering to. In fact, a survey conducted by Horsesmouth shows that pursuing a niche prospecting strategy is the best way to grow your business. The survey which covered more than 2,100 advisors around the world found that those with a niche strategy enjoy more success compared to their ‘generalist’ peers.
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