If you ask financial advisors for tips of the trade, chances are you'll receive a multitude of opinions. But boiling down this diverse wisdom reveals more commonalities than differences. In fact, when it comes to secrets of success, seasoned advisors' recommendations can easily be divided into five core beliefs.

"There are no easy steps, and there is no one path to achievement," says Todd Rhine, an independent financial advisor and planner in Hilton Head Island, S.C. But, he concedes, "When looking back at my own professional experiences and lessons, I have to ask myself: What would it have meant to me to know early on in my career what I know now?"

Know Thyself
The first rule is to define exactly what your business is-in other words, what services you're providing. Do you want a practice that's advice-driven or sales-driven? Who is your ideal client? What is your standard of excellence? "Have a clear and original vision that is well-communicated and understood," suggests James Hansberger, an Atlanta-based financial advisor in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's global wealth management division, adding that certain core principles should be at the heart of the practice.

That's not just a philosophical matter. It is-or should be-a formalized, documented basis for a serious business plan. "Advisors often forget they are running a business-it's not just some higher calling," says John Brackett, a partner at BAR Financial in Pleasant Hill, Calif., and a regional director of the Financial Network Investment Corp.

In other words, you can't just hang a shingle and expect success will come. Rather, the trick is to figure out what you're good at-better at than anybody else. "It's important to have a niche, a characteristic that differentiates you from the rest," says Arthur Cooper, managing director of the Irvine, Calif.-headquartered Cooper McManus. "Why would someone work with you versus someone else down the street? You want to position yourself as having expertise in a specialty, something people can't just get anywhere or look up online."

Typically, that specialty has to do with your individual skill set. But it also has to do with your target market. Do you want to primarily serve clients above a certain earnings or net-worth threshold? Do you feel more attuned to the needs of widows, say? Or veterans, civil-service retirees or some other subpopulation? Their issues are not necessarily all the same. "I began my practice trying to be all things to all people, and found out rather quickly it was not a model that was easy to run or be successful at," says James Barnash, senior vice president at Merion Wealth Partners in Berwyn, Pa.

Think of this target market not so much as a limitation but a focus, an area of emphasis. "You might feel like you're narrowing down and excluding other types of clients," says A.J. Sohn, managing director of Antaeus Wealth Advisors in Boxborough, Mass. "But it doesn't mean you can't take on clients who don't fit that niche. It's just that you're trying to build the business on the type of clients that you like to work with best."

Or, as Michael Kay, president of Livingston, N.J.-based Financial Focus, puts it: "Know what makes you special or different. Define your uniqueness and share it liberally."

From this definition of your specialty and target market derive all things-from how you design your office to your marketing "brand." "If you're aiming for the high-net-worth market, for example, everything from your office design to your wardrobe must reflect that," says Brackett. "After all, you won't get much of that business if you're working in jeans out of a Volkswagen in your garage."

You could become part of a well-known national brand or create your own-developing your own company logo, Web site and so forth. But none of that is etched in stone. "It's a sort of evolutionary process," says Brackett. "You need to continually refine yourself, question the business and make sure you're going down the right path."

Service
Whatever your brand and target market, nothing is more critical than client service. "Be available," urges Brian Parker, managing director at EP Wealth Advisors in Torrance, Calif. Advisors, he adds, need to be likable and build relationships. "I get to know my clients on a deeper level." Most, he says, "stay engaged through market cycles because we have a friendship and they know I care about them as people."

Parker tries to treat every client as if he or she were the only one. On this point there seems to be little disagreement. "It isn't what you know; it's how you make your clients feel that makes the biggest impact on their lives, and ultimately on your business," says Rhine. "You don't need to be the smartest 'financial guy' to be the best advisor. But you do need to be able to establish, develop, deepen and strengthen a relationship that goes light years beyond what you're taught in business school."

To be sure, practical knowledge is essential-but caring often comes first. "People don't care what you know until they know that you care," says Gregory Lowder, a registered representative at Jacksonville, Fla.-based JHS Capital Advisors. "Clients don't leave advisors for poor investment advice; they leave for lack of contact and service. A good advisor needs to listen carefully to what a client has to say; you should talk less and listen more."

Listening to your clients isn't always as easy as that may sound. "Listen not just to the words," cautions Sohn. It's partly a matter of watching body language, partly being sensitive to context. For example, he says, if a client expresses a desire to be more conservative in his or her investments, you might come back with a proposal for a low-risk portfolio-and miss the reason why the risk tolerance has suddenly dropped, why he or she has become more concerned about generating income. "You have to think about whether you're getting the message right," Sohn says.

One way to avoid this pitfall is to ask clients meaningful, empathetic questions. "Are your questions designed to learn about their holdings so you can sell a financial product, or are they designed to help you understand your clients from their perspective?" Rhine says.

Sometimes, advisors say, this takes a subtle touch. "Find out what your clients' goals and concerns are-and make sure every decision you make puts the clients' interests before all others," says David Hubbard, president of Exemplar Financial Network in Crystal Lake, Ill.

Support Systems
To maintain this level of client service, you need to employ adequate staff and technology. "It's critical to start hiring as quickly as you're able to when starting out," says Cooper, because it allows you to spend more time with clients. "After all, the advisor's time in front of clients is worth maybe $100 to $300 an hour. You can pay somebody $15 or $20 an hour to handle the paperwork, scheduling and follow-up."

The staff you hire should be invested in your vision for the business. "Start with your sales assistant," says Lowder. "He/she has more direct contact with your clients on a day-to-day basis and reflects directly upon you. It's not only important that you believe in what you're doing, but your sales assistant has to believe in you and buy into what you do for your clients as well."

The idea, of course, is to make everything run smoothly-whether you delegate jobs to staff, outsource to a support provider or install the latest high tech gear. "I like to say that Frank Sinatra never moved a piano," says Brackett. "He came in and sang and then left. That's the way I like to operate. Others do the background work so I can do what I do best."

Technology can help ensure efficiency, timeliness and order. It can make it so every client's file is immediately available and updatable even when you're on the road. "Just like at a doctor's office, where the doctor records the information right away and the staff follows up right away with laboratory tests or whatever has to be done," says Hubbard. "Financial advisors should be like that. Things don't get forgotten. Follow-ups are prompt. That way, clients know they are in good hands, and it makes life easier for the advisor as well."

You can also send out client reminders or even regular newsletters with the right software. Besides relieving staff of such duties, your software will ensure a degree of consistency and quality control. "A McDonald's french fry tastes pretty much the same in California or New York or Europe or anywhere else," Cooper says. "We want our clients' experience to be similarly consistent. We have a system in place to provide the same quality of french fry day in and day out."

Promotion And Marketing
If you're consistently providing quality service, your reputation will spread. Word of mouth is said to be the best promoter. "Make your existing clients your marketing partner," says Hubbard. "Make them want to brag about you or at least speak highly of you. That's how most people find professionals-through their friends who have had positive experiences."

Many advisors send their clients birthday cards or small gifts throughout the year to further endear themselves. Some invite them to free movie screenings or social events. "Host a party for a top client at a local restaurant," says Cooper. "Don't make any financial presentations there. Just be a host. By going through this process, you develop a reputation as a caring advisor who is not a threat, isn't going to force something on unsuspecting potential clients."

If necessary, it's a good idea to divide your client base into categories. Court favor with the A list first, then ratchet down your generosity according to the value the client brings to your business. That doesn't mean your poorest clients get the worst service. Not at all! But they might not be the ones you send a case of wine at Christmas.

While word of mouth may be the best marketing method, it probably shouldn't be the only one. Most advisors-including the ones quoted here (full disclosure)-hire PR agencies to help spread their names. Getting your name in the media can lend a degree of credibility, but it's not for everyone.

A more common practice is to get to know other professionals in the community. "Attorneys, CPAs, real estate professionals-anybody who interacts with your ideal client is someone you want to develop a relationship with," says Cooper.

Offer yourself as a specialist to these other professionals. Try to make their lives easier, which will make it likely they refer clients to you. Of course, don't push too hard. "If the CPA tells a client, 'Go talk to Arthur,' and then I try to sell the client a bunch of stuff, it'll leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth," says Cooper. "So just be a resource that supports the CPA. That often creates a reciprocal relationship."

You can also connect with the local chamber of commerce and provide pro bono services to local charities to burnish your reputation as a knowledgeable, active participant in the community.

These days, the Internet is a cost-effective promotional tool, too. Using social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, you can promote your expertise and share information with potential clients. "You can give opinions about news events or tax strategies in short blasts on Twitter," says Brackett.

Don't forget to get your staff involved in promoting the business as well. Gary Goldberg, the CEO of Suffern, N.Y.-based Gary Goldberg Financial Services, said that in his early days, "I paid my assistant a $100 bonus for any speaking engagement she arranged [for me] at a synagogue, church, Rotary Club or other organization and $50 for any accountant or lawyer with whom she could get me a face-to-face appointment."

Continuing Education And Development
But it's not just in the early years when growth and outreach are important. Even established practices should be careful not to rest on their laurels. "We are all works in process," observes Kay, "and therefore, if we're not growing, we are moving backwards."

To avoid regression, or stagnation, many veteran advisors advocate growth through ongoing learning. "Advisors need to keep up with what issues are plaguing clients today," says Cooper.

For instance, such timely issues nowadays might be unemployment or properties that are under water. "You need to take the time to educate yourself so you can help clients and other professionals with what's on their minds right now," he stresses. "Look at what's going on with the economy and find out where the pain is. Become an expert at cleaning up today's messes. And you have to keep up, because chances are they won't be the same messes tomorrow."

It's crucial to follow the news flow-and to try to anticipate future problems. Equally important: stay abreast of tax laws and other technical changes.

And if changing times require you to adjust the direction of your business, so be it. "If advisors stay too narrowly focused and provide just one type of advice, that could be a liability," says Cooper. "They need to make sure they have a sufficiently broad scope of knowledge because what's specifically needed most now might not always be needed."

Not that it's easy for busy advisors to find the time to read the news, let alone educate themselves about the latest investment strategies or tax laws. Some use online clipping services to send relevant items to their e-mail inboxes.
Others create a formal program of continuing education for themselves and their entire office staff. "Advisors ought to spend 40 or 50 hours per year in actual classes, seminars, symposiums or other professional-development activities," says Hubbard.

Indeed, you never know where your continuing education may lead you. "Clients will call for every conceivable situation, and you need to keep up so you can give good guidance even if there's no commission," Hubbard says. "If you can do that, clients will stay with you and refer you to others. And in time you might even find you're advising their kids about how college graduates should manage their affairs."