Do you make New Year resolutions? Forbes and YouGov report 37% of Americans do. It supports the idea of incremental improvement. If you can make an improvement a year over many years, you should be making real progress. The study indicates 87% of Americans are likely to keep them up. What are some good resolutions for the financial advisor?
The Advisor Who Isn’t Growing
You might also be known as the advisor who has hit a plateau. You make a good living yet lose clients to attrition. You have not added any clients in the past few years. You devote your time to giving your clients great service. You know them well and they are very loyal.
New Year Resolution: When you deliver their face-to-face annual review in January, explain how they did in 2023 and the different ways you helped them when they had situations needing attention. Let them know you are adding clients, and you would like more just like them. Who do they know that is not getting this level of attention? You would like to meet them. Explain how this can happen.
New Year Resolution: Another approach is to look outside your current book of business. Find a prospecting strategy you like. It might be social media driven. It might be seminars. Dedicate at least one hour each day to implementing your strategy. Find a fellow advisor you met at a conference who uses a similar strategy. Create a buddy system for mutual support. Talk every week and track your progress.
The Advisor Who Cannot Stand Prospecting
Some advisors consider prospecting a rite of passage, similar to initiation to get into a college fraternity or sorority. It is difficult to endure, then it is behind you once you are in. They feel prospecting is something to be avoided.
New Year Resolution: Borrow an idea from a great coach I once heard speak! Make a list of your top 20 clients. Next to their names, write down how you got that client. Review the list and look for commonalities. The person who presented this idea mentioned the advisor often sees many of their best clients came from one specific prospecting activity. When asked: “When did you last do (activity)?” the answer was often “Oh, I haven’t done that for years.” Put that strategy into action.
New Year Resolution: Prospecting can take many forms, but it is often associated with cold calling. Find another approach that doesn’t feel like cold calling. It might involve LinkedIn, for example. There are others. Dedicate an hour every day to your strategy, ideally first thing in the morning. Track your results. Find an advisor who had success with the strategy and learn from them.
The Advisor Who Only Does Business One Way
You have a great business process. It involves financial planning, asset allocation, professional money management and periodic reviews. It works for you. Unfortunately, the thrill is gone. You can’t get excited about coming into work.
New Year Resolution: Remember when people like you were called stockbrokers? Investing used to be all about doing research, finding good stocks and recommending them. Learn about this aspect of the business. Your firm can probably provide the research for you. Get excited about stocks! Call clients and get them excited too! Tell them you need fresh money for this idea. Stop talking.
New Year Resolution: How much do you know about bonds? Yes, the words “bonds” and “boring” both start with the same two letters. Bonds come in lots of flavors. Learn about ratings and call features. You can buy bond funds, mutual funds and managed money products, but individual bonds are a great vehicle too. They are ideal for someone income-oriented intending to hold them until maturity. Become an expert. Tell your clients.
The Advisor New To The Area
You relocated. This might be a situation where your spouse has a job requiring a move and you have been supportive. The firm where you worked in your previous city got you setup with their branch in your new city. You might have retained some clients, but you need new ones.
New Year Resolution: Get involved in the community. Pick four community groups or nonprofits. Join as a member. Attend one event per month with each group. Set a goal to meet six new people at each meeting. Four meetings a month over 12 months is not too big a time commitment, but you have made 288 connections. Even if a third don’t have much money and another third can’t stand you, that leaves about 100 people with prospect potential who like you.
New Year Resolution: Get to know your new neighbors. Who are the other parents at your child’s school? Make connections with local businesses by becoming their customer. Talk about what you do. Take an interest in what they do.
The Advisor Who Sticks To Investment Products Only
We all find our own comfort zones. We stick to those products. Clients associate us with those products. Back in the days when telephones had dials and wires connecting the to the wall, clients would talk about their “stock guy” and “bond guy.” Today, you can help people in many ways. They might not know that.
New Year Resolution: Learn about several of the other product areas offered by your firm. This includes insurance and lending. Get licensed if necessary. Become an expert and know where to get technical support if you need it. Talk with your current clients about their activity and interest in that area.
New Year Resolution: Make a list of all the product areas where you are licensed. What are the many ways the firm can help clients? Is there an easy-to-read brochure telling the story? Have this conversation with clients at their annual review OR introduce one product area at a time during quarterly reviews.
The Advisor Bringing Their Child Into The Business
Many advisors consider their book “the family business.” They make a great living, but do not want to work forever. They look for ways to bring the next generation up to speed so they can step away one day.
New Year Resolution: Consider your adult child as similar to a new, younger advisor you have added to the team. Assign them responsibilities across the range of activities. This includes prospecting and it must be taken seriously. You do not want the other team members to think your child is entitled. You had to build your practice on your own! Bring them up through the ranks.
New Year Resolution: Include your experienced, licensed offspring in annual review meetings with clients. Introduce them as the next generation. They will sit quietly, paying attention. Your client will “get it” especially if they have a “Name & Son” business themselves. Over time, they will speak more and more. Eventually, they become the primary contact.
The Advisor With Many, Many Clients
These advisors still exist. Agents in the insurance business might find this scenario more common. When investments are involved, things can get complicated. Bear in mind, if a client is listed under your production number, they do not get attention and something blows up, it is your problem.
New Year Resolution: Find a good training program teaching how to thin out your book. Evaluate each client relationship. What is the future potential? Are they getting attention? What does that mean? Find another advisor in the office and (with management permission) turn over those smaller accounts. Hopefully you can do this with a 50/50 split on fees. The logic is 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing. After two years, the account is completely theirs.
New Year Resolution: Bring on a new team member. Give them those smaller accounts. They are still “under your team number” but their job is to prospect them, similar to a warm lead. You are always available if the client needs to talk with you.
The Advisor Who Only Knows Clients Over The Phone
When I was in production, I had clients who I had only ever met once. They came into the office, possibly to confirm there really was an office! The relationship was now over the phone for years.
New Year Resolution: Build a list of your clients. You can sort several ways. During the first quarter, try to have as many of your annual reviews face to face, in person as you can. Video calls are a last resort. This can be in your office, their office or their home. Try to include their spouse if they are on joint accounts.
New Year Resolution: Plan a client appreciation brunch at a local restaurant. Book a bigger room than you need. Ask each client to bring a guest. This should be “someone you think I should know” or “someone you think I can help.” Thank your clients for their business. Tell your story of the many ways you help people. Try to meet everyone individually.
These are all resolutions for building business. Which one(s) is right for you?
Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book Captivating the Wealthy Investor is available on Amazon.