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As a financial advisor, next year will either be the “best of times” or the “worst of times,” as Charles Dickens once wrote.
Here’s what I mean by that…
By the “best of times,” your business has more inbound opportunities that you can handle.
Your biggest challenge in the new year is expanding your practice to handle all the new client growth you’re bringing in.
And the source of all these new opportunities are from your “warm” market, your client base, referrals from other professionals, etc…they just keep coming in, more than you ever expected.
On the flip side, if you’re running out of “warm” market opportunities (you can’t keep shaking the same trees hoping more apples will fall from them), then next year could be the “worst of times”.
Why?
Most advisors have only one way to engage new opportunities, by building relationships through networking (the “warm” market) and then working on expanding those relationships until an opportunity presents itself (that process creates a very long sales cycle with diminishing and unpredictable returns).
Or they keep going back to their current book of clients asking for referrals until, at some point, that becomes ineffective.
Many advisors have a tendency to do a lot of free consulting upfront, dispensing their expertise “pre-sale,” in the hope the potential client will recognise their value and start onboarding right way.
Stop being reactionary, waiting to get inbound opportunities, rather than systematically and proactively putting in place a system to target specific ideal clients (i.e., higher net worth) that you want to engage.
As an ambitious advisor, you have a choice to make:
- Do more of what you’ve been doing, hoping that will bring you enough work in the new year year…or
- Become a trusted authority, create inbound consistent demand from your market and raise your advisory fees to the levels that matches your ideal client profile.
When you become a trusted authority, you don’t need to wait for a “middleman” to send you a referral. You get full control to create inbound demand at will.
A trusted authority is what you need to become before the sale, a trusted advisor is what you become after the sale.
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after high-net worth/lead generation expert for financial advisors. His newest book, “Trusted Authority” has become an instant best-seller among financial advisors worldwide – you can get a Free copy of Ari’s book here and, when you click the “YES” button in the order form, you’ll also receive a complimentary “plug up the holes” lead generation consultation. Ari has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, INC Magazine and the Australian Financial Review. He is considered a contrarian in the financial services industry and in his book, everything you learned about selling will be turned upside down. No more chasing, no pressure, no closing.
Read more articles by Ari Galper
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
