There are countless ways, markets, niches and methods for financial advisors to going after prospects. One common trait is that they all have a framework in going about prospecting to individuals.
This is a scalable, repeatable and takes little to no alternations to shift from one market to another. The most successful advisors are the ones that are able to build it from the ground up themselves. They are able to establish client loyalty, choose who they want to work with and the level of success they achieve.
The advisors that succeed the fastest and have the brightest future are the ones that make the best use of their time when it comes to prospecting. You want to work with prospects that value both of your time and understand the power of a phone conversation.
Leveraging the phone and a proper process will get you in front of more meetings you will be able to handle.
A proper process will shift in the amount of time you spend on it by yourself the more you gain traction, clients and assets. For example, in the early years of your career, you will spend 90-100% of your time on marketing for new clients.
As time progresses, you’ll gain clients and perhaps will have to shift your time towards client servicing (unless you bring on partners to delegate to).
When you have a solid prospecting process in place, you will be able to scale much quicker by teaching junior associates the way you prospect.
When we say block time, we mean you are unreachable unless a major emergency comes your way. Your management, colleagues, support staff and even your clients should understand that your success and future depends on how you prospect today.
- Put away your personal device
- Tell your staff you will be prospecting for the time you have allocated
- Put up a sign or notice on your door or cubicle to let people know you are unreachable or unable for small talk
- Do not even think about opening your inbox or do anything associated with e-mails
If your co-workers, staff or others do not understand this, then you need to stay away from them. You need to surround yourself with like-minded individuals that support your vision, drive and work ethic.
Keep your time blocked to bring your team into your marketing process. Use the blocked time to get yourself and team into the right prospecting mindset before executing the game plan.
Fast, simple, and when paired with the right tools, will yield the best results. When you need to stretch your marketing dollars and get in front of better opportunities, this is the way to do it.
The reason is advisors are shying away from the phone and moving towards social media which is causing an overload or saturation of content and advertisements.
Hearing a voice creates a connection that a LinkedIn message, Facebook Ad or article just cannot replicate.
New prospects and clients will just not sign because the advisor just won’t ask for it. Having a clear call-to-action helps guide the client in the right direction. Very rarely will they offer it up to you.
Be honest, be straight and ask them for the business (or whatever it is you need to get them to accomplish).
It should go without saying that you need to stay in front of your prospects and clients. Ensure you have at least 1 e-mail going out per week with some sort of value add marketing piece or something that directly relates to them.
Having something concrete and tailored to them helps you get closer to a “yes” to doing business together.