Financial Advisor Marketing: Your Ideal Advisory Business

Financial Advisor Marketing: Creating Your Ideal Advisory Business

In talking with advisors, most share that they want more referrals, better retention and consistent repeat business. Unfortunately, too many advisors and advisory companies are not achieving their desired results as proven by the retention, referrals and repeat business they and their firms are achieving (actually not achieving). With all of the opportunities available for acquiring new clients, now is a perfect time to create your ideal practice. It all begins with your financial advisor marketing plan. Follow these steps to create your ideal advisory firm.

Financial Advisor Marketing: Ask a Few Questions.
The answers to these questions will help you identify the gaps in your business that you need to address.
Does your practice consist of your ideal clients who meet your net worth and investable minimums?
Does your retention exceed 90%?
What percentage of clients keep working with you at the death of the first spouse?
Does your practice flow proactively or do you tend to react to the latest crisis?
Are you on the prospecting treadmill (always looking for the next sale) or do you cultivate and retain clients for life?
Do you feel you never have enough prospects or clients or do you have a list of qualified clients waiting to work with you?
Are you, at times, desperate to close a sale?
Are you certain your clients will continue to work with you for the duration of their life?
At your client’s death, will their heirs work with you?

Financial Advisor Marketing: Create a plan.
In creating your plan, take a minute and answer the following questions in detail:
What does your ideal life look like?
What does your ideal career look like?
How much income did you make in the last 12 months?
How much income do you want to make in the next 12 months?
How many affluent clients do you work with?
What niche do you serve?

Financial Advisor Marketing: Take a Reality Checkup.
You need to determine if your desired income and desired number of affluent clients is realistic. For example, if you want to make $500,000 per year and work with 100 clients you need to generate $5,000 from each client. If you want to earn $250,000 and work with 100 clients you need to generate $2,500 per client. The next step is to confirm that these numbers are realistic within your niche market. If they are, great, if not then revise them.

Financial Advisor Marketing: Determine Your Ratios
The next and possibly most important step of your advisor marketing plan is to determine your ratios in each aspect of your business.
How many calls do you need to make to meet with a qualified prospect?
How many prospects do you need to meet before you convert one to a client?
How many mailings do you need to send to fill the seats at your workshop?
What types and how many mailers do you need to send to get prospects to take action?
How many touches do you need to make to retain your clients for life?

Financial Advisor Marketing: Identify, Test and Improve Each Step of the Process.

Financial Advisor Marketing: Add Relationship Marketing to your Financial Advisor Marketing Strategy.
Since the goal of every advisor marketing strategy needs either to be to maintain or improve retention, referrals and repeat business. You need to incorporate a relationship marketing strategy. This allows you to create and cultivate a practice that provides you the freedom to have a great business and life.

The first step to achieving this goal is to understand that relationship marketing is not a function or task but a way of doing business. It requires an integrated process based on your client’s burning desires and important needs.

By taking time to create a financial advisor marketing plan and business plan that encompasses the entire process (from identifying an ideal prospect to converting them to a client and retaining them for life), you have the perfect recipe for getting all of the affluent clients you desire.

Just Do It!
Now you need to follow Nike’s advice and “Just do it!”

Here is to a fantastic 2011!

To attend a financial advisor marketing call go to Marketing Strategy.