6 Growth Strategies for Financial Advisors
As a financial advisor, you’d probably prefer to spend your work time actually helping your clients manage their money. While this should take up most of your schedule, you do need to allocate some of your time and energy toward the business side of your practice.
Unfortunately, most businesses don’t just grow all on their own. It’s important to take some proactive steps to build up your business so you can continue to serve your clients long-term.
There are countless business growth strategies out there, and some are more successful than others. Here are some of our top tips: proven methods that work well for advisors and other financial professionals.
1. Set a Goal
You know that you want to “grow your business,” but you need more than just that rather vague idea. Before you can create an effective growth strategy, you need to have a clear goal to work toward.
Take the time to figure out what you want for your business:
- Do you want to build a steady client base but limit it to the number of people you can handle on your own?
- Do you want to hire a few employees?
- Do you want to build your business into a large financial advisory firm?
The plan to reach your goal will depend on the goal itself. For example, a plan to build up a large firm would be different than the plan to build a client base without bringing on new employees. Once you have your goal and a basic plan, you can break it down into steps and milestones.
2. Find Your Niche
While you might start out providing a wide range of financial services, it’s a good idea to narrow your focus eventually. Choosing a financial advisory niche allows you to separate yourself and your services from other professionals. Plus, you can spend your time helping the clients that you enjoy working with and focusing on areas that are important to you.
Your financial services niche can be as broad or narrow as you wish. You’re not limited to just retirement planning or investment management. There are many different models [link to models of financial planning blog] to consider, and you can also develop your own.
3. Develop Your Branding and Marketing
It’s crucial to spend time working on your branding and marketing yourself to your target audience. Identifying your ideal client is an important first step. Once you do that, consider how to best present yourself and your services to them, and build your marketing strategy accordingly.
4. Get Comfortable Being Social
It’s pretty much impossible to build a successful business (in any industry) these days without spending a lot of time online. That’s where you’ll find and engage with new clients. Once you’ve solidified your branding and built a marketing plan, you can use social media platforms to get your message out there to your target audience.
Remember, it’s essential to be authentic. Your social media presence should accurately portray who you are as an individual and as a financial advisor.
5. Don’t Undervalue Yourself
Figuring out how to price your services is another vital part of your growth plan. It’s tempting to think that the best way to attract clients is to charge low rates (especially when you’re starting out). However, this is almost never the right strategy.
When you undervalue yourself and your services, you tend to attract clients who prioritize paying as little as possible. Those clients aren’t likely to stick with you long-term, especially when you eventually have to raise your prices so you can afford to, you know, eat.
Don’t sell yourself short. Charge a fair price for what you are offering your clients. You’ll attract people who value your services and who won’t jump ship as soon as they find someone else whose prices are cheaper.
6. Set Yourself Apart With Excellent Service
As we’ve said, growing your business requires time and effort on your part. But make sure you aren’t focusing so much on building your firm that you neglect the clients you already have. Providing exceptional customer service to your clients is one of the most effective ways to position your business for long-term success.
Develop a proactive strategy to grow your business
If you want to succeed as a financial advisor, you need to spend time and energy growing the business side of your practice. The exact details of the plan to expand your firm will depend on your end goal. But in general, you’ll need to think about finding a niche, branding, marketing, and pricing. And of course, don’t forget to encourage your current clients to stay with you by offering them exceptional customer service.
What are your best tips for growing your business as a financial advisor? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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