Five Tested and True Steps to a Thriving Financial Advisory Practice—Part 5

Let the people in your niche know how you can benefit them. Deliver your marketing messages repeatedly, efficiently and effectively.

You can use your usual methods of communication methods. But now your messages will be much more powerful. They will be clearly focused on what your niche actually says they want. You now can communicate your messages so they reach the members of your niche. You can network where they hang out. You can give talks where they are the audience. You can write articles in the journals and magazines they read.

Let me give you three of the most effective ways to market.

Public Relations

You want your niche you know who you are and your positioning. An excellent way to do this is with public relations. PR is done through writing articles and being interviewed by the media.

Publish articles in trade journals that people in your niche read. Offer articles that meet a need or help solve a problem of your target market. Do not write articles about your products because editors will reject them. They view such articles as advertisements which you should pay for.

Write a press release that announces something newsworthy about your company such as a new development, adding a new partner, or a particular problem you help solve for your niche.

After publishing a few articles, ask to be interviewed by the media. Make a press kit with your accomplishments and credentials. Include your professional photograph and one of your articles. Give them information about your company, its services and products.

Speaking

It’s obviously more efficient to tell your message to groups instead of one by one.

Putting on your own public seminars requires enormous effort. It’s much better to speak at sponsored meetings. You get the biggest return on your investment. You can speak at trade associations, churches, educational institutions, charities, even your alliance partners’ clients.

Find venues that contain members of your niche. Go to their organizations, clubs and events. One advisor I know gives lectures on finance to physicians at a local hospital.

Referrals

Referrals are desirable because they make closing the deal much easier. You have borrowed the likability, trust and credibility from the person that referred you.

Specializing in a niche makes you easier to refer to. Your ideal client profile tells people exactly who benefits from your services and what benefits they will receive.

You need to ask in the right way. Create a script that lets you ask for referrals without asking. If that seems confusing, here’s what I mean.

You don’t want to say, “Do you have any referrals for me?” It’s much better to say something like, “Who do you know I can help like I help you.”

Some very successful advisors say something like this: “I don’t need any more clients, but as a service to you, I’m willing to help your family, friends and colleagues with their financial questions. Who comes to mind that might benefit from my help?”

This way you do not come across as needy. Instead of asking for a favor you’re offering a favor. This is called reframing.

While asking for referrals, show a profile of your ideal client. This will help plant a picture in their mind and make it easier for them to think of someone. It also will help you get a better quality referral.

Good times to ask for referrals:

• When you meet potential clients
• At the start of a business relationship
• At the end of a performance review

Mix Business with Pleasure

Lastly, you can also promote your message by mixing business with pleasure. I know of one financial advisor who loves participating in triathlons. Triathletes are mostly wealthy executives or businessmen who can arrange their schedules to have time to train for their sport. The advisor has made triathletes his niche.

Some other advisors play golf with their target market. They give the scheduler a tip to arrange for them to play with golfers who fit their niche.

Summary

There you have it. This is a brief summary of the Five Tested and True Steps to a Thriving Financial Advisory Practice. Essentially, instead of just trying to get any old client, you focus on a particular client, your ideal client.

You do this by specializing:

• Start with getting into the right frame of mind.
• Pick a niche.
• Find out what they truly want.
• Position yourself as the best person to satisfy that want.
• Craft all your communications to address their desires.
• Repeatedly tell your story to your niche. 

This method is a whole lot easier and gives you much better results. You’ll make more money and have more fun.