7 costly mistakes advisors make with their client attraction

To build a sustainable and profitable advisory firm, you’ll need a repeatable process for turning strangers into clients. The challenge however, is finding a successful growth strategy without hemorrhaging all your time, energy, and cash.

To give you a better shot of success, this article will guide you through the seven most costly mistakes advisors make with client attraction, and provide actionable steps on what to do instead.
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What message do you communicate to your ideal prospects when they land on your website, see your ads, or receive a brochure from you?

A good message is one that instantly resonates with them on a personal level — it paints a vivid picture of the transformations they can achieve working with you.

One uncomfortable truth advisors have a hard time accepting is people only care about themselves, or more specifically, what you can do for them. Outside of that, they have little interest in you or your advisory firm.

So in order to nail down your messaging, you’ll need to identify what your market desires on a deep level. A powerful message holds the mirror up to your ideal client. It shows them who they really are and who they could be with your help.

This requires in-depth market research so you can truly understand what drives your ideal prospects — not just financially, but also on a personal and psychological level. If you’re struggling to craft a powerful message yourself, consider hiring a professional copywriter. Good copywriters are well trained to be able to carry out market research and translate their findings into compelling copy. It is advised to choose a copywriter with a track record in financial services, as the complex nature of compliance and product offerings can make it a challenging industry to write for.

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Even though referrals are often the cheapest and easiest way of getting new business, advisors do little to maximize such opportunities.

Most advisors are content to sit back and simply wait for introductions from their clients but have no process for proactively generating referrals. Studying the practices of other advisors as well as that of other service-based businesses can uncover many opportunities for referral generation. At our firm, we have identified and routinely use multiple systems each tested on 100s of clients and prospects.

Another common mistake is pressuring clients for referrals, which can make them feel uncomfortable and less favorable to helping you. The key is to ask for referrals without coming across as needy and desperate for new business.

One way to achieve this is to send out a single-question questionnaire. Ask your clients, on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely they are to recommend a friend or colleague. If they score you an 8 or higher, call them and gift them something special such as upgrading them to your VIP club. Emphasize that this is only reserved for your very best clients and highlight the benefits they’ll receive from being in this exclusive group.

Then, ask them if they know of at least 5 people in their network who you could be of service to. Emphasize that you’d be happy to offer these contacts a 100% risk-free, obligation-free consultation. At this point, your clients would be more than pleased to refer you. Offer to consult their referrals without expectation of purchase, so your client sees you as a valuable expert with whom they can put their friends or colleagues in touch.

Do you see how much more inviting this approach is than simply asking for a referral? Implement this in your practice and see what a difference it makes.

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When a prospect inquires about your services, they’ll almost always do a quick online search to see who you are. If they’re unable to find any information on you, it’s a red flag and a reason not to move forward.

Having a good online presence does not mean you need to be on every social media platform, nor do you need a website with multiple pages. But it is essential to have some online visibility so you build a foundation of trust and credibility.

If you’re looking for a cost-effective solution, create a well-crafted landing page and LinkedIn profile optimized with your messaging. Ensure your core message is clearly communicated, but also make it easy on both pages for prospects to find a way to contact you or book an appointment with you. This alone will put you ahead of 95% of financial advisors.

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The decision to work with a financial advisor requires a high degree of trust. After all, the most valuable asset an individual is likely to own other than their home is a retirement nest egg.

To help accelerate trust, you need a process for nurturing leads. Nurturing is a process of continually engaging and following up with prospects without pressuring them. One way to accomplish this is to send out actionable content that helps them solve problems and achieve desirable outcomes each week. This will also improve your positioning as ‘the expert’ because you’ll be demonstrating why you’re the right person to help.

Webinars are another great way to nurture leads. This gives your audience an opportunity to hear your voice and see you as a likable person — as opposed to just another faceless corporate entity after their money. If you’re afraid of getting in front of the camera, you should train yourself to do so, and become more comfortable over time. After all, your ideal clients want to be able to relate to their future financial advisor, so confidently presenting yourself is an invaluable skill you must cultivate.

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A lead magnet is a form of free value that is given away in exchange for one’s contact information. This could be an on-demand webinar, guide, or checklist accessible on your website. The objective is to capture all interested prospects who check you out on your website or social media pages. Most advisors have not taken the time to create a lead magnet for their website, but it is the easiest thing to create. It’s best to have something that’s short, actionable, goal orientated, and easy to consume (remember the acronym — S.A.G.E.). Some examples include:
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• A free book titled – “5 Steps to Securing a Comfortable Retirement”​
  
• An on-demand webinar titled – “How to Protect Your 401(k) & IRA from the ‘Portfolio Killers’”
• The Bulletproof Retirement Plan in 15 Minutes

The idea is to offer them something irresistible in exchange for their contact details and permission to get in touch with them. It’s also an opportunity to further build trust with your prospects and be seen as an authority in your area of expertise.

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Buying leads can be a fast and cost-effective way to acquire clients. This is where you pay a lead vendor, they deliver the leads, and you don’t have to risk a single dollar on advertising.

Despite the advantages, one mistake advisors make is purchasing them on a non-exclusive basis. In other words, the vendor sells the same lead to you and two other advisors at the same time. This then results in you having to compete with others to contact the lead first, and it can make you look desperate for business — thus turning off your prospect. So when buying leads, ensure they are exclusive, generated in real time, and expect to be contacted by an advisor.

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The late great Peter Drucker famously said, “What gets measured gets improved.” In order to achieve success from your client attraction efforts, you must know your numbers.

Do you track:
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• ​…how many leads you need to call to have per appointment booked?
• ​…how many appointments you need booked, before you can schedule a face-to-face meeting?
• …how many face-to-face meetings you need to close a client?

If not, now would be a good time to start. Knowing your micro-conversion rates will help you identify which parts of your process need strengthening. One mistake advisors often make is abandoning a client-attraction strategy prematurely, when it may require only a few small tweaks to radically boost its performance. These mistakes can be avoided by simply keeping an eye on your numbers and taking informed corrective action.

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Today, there are countless opportunities and strategies available to financial advisors to grow their businesses. However, many such opportunities are squandered by having a poor message or not proactive processes for generating and capturing leads. This is often due to advisors not being exposed to the practices of the most successfully marketed financial firms.

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