There are many services advisors offer to help their clients improve their lives, whether it is helping plan for college, retirement, or even helping a client understand the financial impact of buying that second home. Those topics are not what I will be discussing; instead, here are four unique strategies you and your firm can implement to ensure you are helping your client and yourself in the process.
Suggest a job change
According to a study by Forbes, employees that change employers every two years can see significant increases in pay. Assuming a client gets a three percent raise every year, after six years they go from making $130,000 every year to roughly $150,000.
Let us assume that changing a job will deliver a 10 percent increase in pay; over that same six-year span, if they follow the pattern set forth by Forbes, they will be earning around $170,000; that is a $20,000 difference each year. Ultimately, this really lends itself to a strong positive investment strategies for clients, and also help an advisor increase their AUM.
Identify your ideal client profile
Many advisors work with whoever comes across their path, just like they did when they started in the business. However, by developing an ideal client profile, researching them, developing strategies to uniquely serve them, and marketing specifically to them, an advisor can truly be seen as the expert for those individuals and households that they wish to serve.
There are examples like this in many other industries – Dell is often seen as creating the “workplace computer” whereas Apple has been acknowledged for more graphical purposes. These are by design, and a wealth management or insurance firm would do well to define who they want to work with, what services are most appropriate, and the ways they will attract those specific clients. The client benefits from knowing that their advisor fully understands their unique needs and situation, firms and advisors benefit from show casing that knowledge and receiving referrals from those clients.
Adopt a strong digital strategy
I have said it before, and I am going to continue to say it: every client and firm will benefit from a strong digital strategy. By delivering a method for a client to fill in their own data, accounts, etc., a firm delivers a central location that becomes the heart of that client’s financial world. This is an easy method for both onboarding new clients and doing periodic updates for current clients.
Advisors also benefit from additional time freed up for extra tasks separate from data entry. The more digitally enabled a firm is, the more efficient it becomes. The more efficient the firm becomes, the more they are able to allocate their advisors to focusing on finding the right prospects to become clients.
Host and attend more events
These events – I have heard them called parties, mixers, get-togethers, seminars, and other names – are often places for an advisor to network, find more prospects, get their business cards into the hands of clients, and get in front of the right people. If a firm is hosting an event, then there is a great opportunity to invite clients, their friends, and other prospects to attend. These events really go overlooked by a lot of advisors and firms as a money sink but it’s a strong opportunity to network, build brand equity and get a return in the form of new clients.
These several different strategies can be executed by your firm and advisory team to develop a better value proposition, attract more prospects, attain more AUM, and sell more products all while making the business more efficient and profitable.
To learn more about how Advicent is helping wealth management and advisor firms improve their processes, click here.