Marketing strategies of Elite Financial Advisors

Marketing strategies of elite financial advisors
Financial advisors always ask me what are elite financial advisors doing for marketing and growing their businesses. How are they finding and meeting and acquiring more ideal clients? What strategies are working in the current environment and what strategies are not working? Being the co-author of "Guerrilla Marketing for Financial Advisors" 1st and second edition of Morgan James Publishing NY, people expect me to have the answers. I will start by telling you what they are not doing.

The referral myth
Elite financial advisors don't rely on referrals to grow their businesses. They know that someone with $1,000,000 doesn't refer someone with five or $10 million dollars. They know they need to build and implement marketing strategies to move upmarket. They know it is a process they need to build. They are always working on delivering more value with fewer clients. Referrals are great and confirm that you're doing a great job for existing clients but that doesn't always move you upmarket. Most financial advisors hate marketing, yet they know they need to do it if they want to move upmarket and grow their business. Hint, the financial advisors that are not growing their business are not marketing. You see who they are. So what are they doing to grow their business?

Clarity around Marketing Activities
What do elite financial advisors do effectively to acquire ideal clients? Let's look at the list below.

Strategic networking - This is actually meeting high-net-worth people in your community through your events or their events or community events. It give you and them a chance to meet each other. Elite financial advisors know how to network and have a process or script to do it successfully. I remember my first strategic networking course, and how I realized I was winging it badly, hoping to just met people. Strategic networking is strategic, there is a process.

COI network - This is developing relationships with at least ten other professionals to help coordinate your comprehensive planning and advice. Elite financial advisors have a network of 10 to 20 COI relationships such as accountants, lawyers, Realtors, mortgage, commercial experts, and more.

Introductions - This is going to an event with a high net worth client or COI where you get introduced to other high net worth people and other COI’s. Introducing events is not referrals. I truly believe your clients will introduce you to high-net-worth people given the opportunity.

Inbound marketing- this is a process to find potential ideal clients. the problem is now you have to meet them. It is part of your prospect journey. LinkedIn Is a good example of this.

Social client events- These are usually one-on-one or small client events gathered on a social basis, not business-focused. A good example would be a client lunch or a golf event where your client brings a friend. It could be a small gathering at a brewery where clients can invite their friends. A small private event.

Seminars and webinars- Public events to give people an opportunity to meet and connect with you and get to know you, what you offer and what you do. Video can also help accomplish this. I used to give Pension plan seminars as a community service. I spoke at the local university and was offered a course.

Referral process-This is where an elite financial advisor collects four key pieces of data from their best clients to ultimately solicit a referral. The four key pieces are 1. Their family 2.Their COI network 3. Their events or activities or how they are involved in the community 4. Their charities they are involved with or volunteering.

Feedback- mastermind groups of ideal clients to give you feedback and introductions add your COI mastermind group to give you feedback and introductions. too simple and effective ways to clone your best clients. Another example of this is fusion marketing.
Other activities- this is where creativity comes in. Other examples are cold calling, direct mail, target marketing groups or corporations, or a combination of the activities above.

What works best?
Years ago I was told that all of the wealthy high net worth people want to be able to meet their financial advisor in person. I directed all my activities to be involved in getting personally connected with people and meeting them in person. The pandemic changed all that and changed my view on marketing for elite financial advisors. In the past, it had to be all social prospecting. get involved in your community and go to lots of events to meet people. This has all changed and the digital revolution Is allowing elite financial advisors to grow their business faster than ever before. I work with successful financial advisors who are developing online processes to give me the answer of how elite financial advisors are finding and meeting and acquiring more ideal clients, it comes down to three parts.

Part 1 Finding ideal clients - by clearly defining who your ideal clients and prospects are is it easy to find them in a digital world.

Part 2 Connecting and meeting with ideal clients. you may meet with them in person or connect with them online. Technology Is rapidly changing this. plan to connect first and meet second. how can I connect with you?

Part 3 Acquiring ideal clients - in order to get into this market you need two things. First, a proven scripted process to work in this market with ideal high-networth clients. Second, you have to out-deliver more than the top adviser in this marketplace. Do you know who the top competitor is in your marketplace? Do you know what they deliver? What list of things do you need to out-deliver your toughest competitor in the high-networth marketplace? Do you have a list of 12 deliverables or more in writing to out-deliver your competition?

How many ideal clients did you acquire in 2022?
This year has been a difficult year to acquire ideal clients. For most financial advisors they acquired less than five ideal clients this year. Elite financial advisors acquired 8 or more new ideal clients this year. What are you going to do in 2023 to acquire more ideal clients? Is it more marketing or delivering more value or a better process? Elite financial advisors have built the marketing process, the value-added process, and a proven scripted acquisition process. Which process do you need to work on?