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Instead of my preferred music reference, let’s consider the phrase “Mind the gap,” familiar to anyone who’s ridden the U.K. rail system.
Alerting passengers coming off the train to be mindful of the space between the train doorway and the platform edge, “Mind the gap” is a reminder to be alert. To be ready. To be attentive and sharp as we move off the train to continue our journey.
While it might seem a simple instruction, it holds a profound lesson for business leaders too often focused solely on the destination. Before we can contemplate where we want to be, effective strategy demands a clear understanding of reality – where we are now.
This Harvard Business Review article was my inspiration, outlining three questions we need to ask ourselves:
- Where are you now?
- Where do you want to be?
- What will it take to get there?
Most of the time, financial professionals running a business understand where they are and where they want to go – it’s that third point that is the struggle. That’s the gap financial professionals are looking to fill.
And the answer they’re searching for? It lies in effective marketing.
Most financial professionals are not confident marketers. They know how to work with their clients. They know how to create risk-adjusted portfolios and financial plans and prepare clients for retirement. But marketing is one of the main gaps in their business-growth strategy.
Before COVID-19 rocked our world, financial professionals had a solid client-acquisition engine. But those tried-and-true strategies were flipped upside down when the way we work and connect with each other was transformed.
Today, effective marketing requires intention and a gut check. You need to honestly assess where your business is today before investing your time and efforts to get where you want to go.
When Kelly and her team spoke at our annual Unplugged conference, she prompted our audience to dig deep and ask themselves tough questions before jumping in to spend money on marketing and client acquisition. This approach made me think about the gaps my company has as an organization.
So, without further ado, I pass the baton to Kelly for her thoughts on mindfully filling the marketing gap in advisory businesses today.
A note on building an intentional marketing engine from Kelly Waltrich
Billy is absolutely right. There has to be intention behind the strategy and tactics you deploy in your marketing efforts to drive sustainable growth.
There is a reason I named my marketing and growth consultancy “intention.ly” after all. 😉
When I get on the phone with a client or a prospect, I’m asking them questions that get to the heart of where they are and where they want to go. If they sign on with us, it’s our job to figure out what it will take to get there.
But while taking a critical eye to your business’ current state is a vital step, it’s not the best place to start. Advisors should analyze their desired end state – where they want to go – and reframe their path forward from there.
When my team and I spoke at Silver Oak’s Unplugged conference in October, I encouraged financial professionals to think about growth by first considering what they want to do.
If you want to move into a new office space to create a better client experience, how many new clients would you need to onboard to support the revenue growth needed to move? If you want to invest in new technology that will let you automate tasks and connect with clients in cool ways, how much revenue do you need to make that investment?
When you think about what growth lets you do, you create a clearer path to get there.
Let’s look more closely at the example of opening a new office space. You ran the numbers and determined you need to acquire three new clients at your average asset level to afford a new space. From experience, you know that you turn 25% of leads into new clients. That means that you need 12 opportunities to achieve the growth you need.
How will you get those 12 leads? How much will it cost? What marketing tactics will you deploy to find, attract and nurture those 12 leads and get them to convert?
That’s the strategy gap we need to fill through marketing.
Sounds easy enough, right? But every firm’s path will be different because every firm is different. You have different clients with different asset levels who do different types of work in different locations. Your budget may not be the same as that of Joe Smith Advisory down the street. You have different specialties. You use different technology platforms. You have a partner who is opposed to executing certain tactics.
And that’s okay. There’s no shortage of tactics that will help you achieve your goals once you have a solid understanding of where you are today and where you want to go. What it takes to get there requires the right mix of customization, experimentation, and dedication to the process. Oh, and a dash of creativity doesn’t hurt.
I’ll leave you with a bonus question to ask yourself when you’re ready to mind the gap in your business strategy: How willing are you to hand the reins over to marketing to steer your growth strategy and fuel your long-term success?
Billy Hopkins is the CEO and founder of Silver Oak Securities and Kelly Waltrich is the CEO and co-founder of intention.ly.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
