CLIENTWISE LEARNING TOOLS

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1 CLIENTWISE LEARNING TOOLS TM (800) clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog

2 How Successful Financial Advisors Find New Clients: 10 Observations The Professional Advisory Model TM Seven key categories focused on leadership, growth and innovation: Organizing Priorities Client Engagement Model TM The Client Acquisition Strategy TM Marketing Approach Team Development Professional Advocate Network TM Business & Operations Management ClientWise Tips for Financial Advisors Focused on Sustainable Results ClientWise is a full-service executive coaching and consulting firm focused exclusively on financial professionals. Since the company was founded in 2006, we have done ongoing research that has been instrumental in creating and updating our proprietary model for financial advisory practices, The Professional Advisory Model (PAM ). We ve interviewed thousands of financial advisors and Registered Investment Advisors with a minimum of 10 years of service, $250 million in assets under management and $3 million or more in production per year to collect the data used to construct this model. The PAM breaks down a financial advisory practice into seven key categories focused on leadership, growth and innovation. We ve also drawn on phone and face-to-face interviews with high performing financial advisory teams which overall constitute a statistically valid sample to build the Benchmark Assessment Report (BAR ), our proprietary practice evaluation tool. Every year, we continue to survey thousands of advisors to refine the BAR to render it even more useful to high performing financial advisors who wish to build an efficient, effective wealth management team. Our coaching and consulting services include one-on-one coaching engagements, coaching for wealth management teams, the BAR, customized 360 evaluations and hundreds of tools, reports, white papers and booklets on all aspects of financial advisory practice management and leadership. We ve coached, led workshops and created programs for major broker dealers, independent registered investment advisors, leading insurance companies and other financial services companies. Use our learning tools and the expertise of a ClientWise coach to figure out how best to become the CEO of your practice, rather than just another financial advisor Become a ClientWise client and have access to all our marketing tools in our free ClientWise elibrary. The elibrary features numerous proprietary reports, white papers, articles and tools for you to use with your ClientWise coach in creating a complete wealth management practice. Use social media marketing for new client acquisition. clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) info@clientwise.com 2013 ClientWise FRE-ARC0413 2

3 How Successful Financial Advisors Find New Clients: 10 Observations Creativity is the rule of the day when it comes to client acquisition, business development and prospecting. There is no Holy Grail, no single, universal approach that works equally well for all financial advisors looking to acquire new clients; quite the opposite, in fact. Our research into top-performing financial advisory practices reveals that each advisor arrives at an individualized client acquisition process through a combination of: trial-and-error, passion, competencies, diligence and chutzpah. Whatever the pathway, they ve created singular methods that work very well for them and their individual practices. Client acquisition strategy doesn t stop at initial outreach. As the average high net worth investor works with 3.21 financial advisors, the best advisors are constantly and relentlessly working to acquire their clients. One advisor we know works with CEOs with complex financial situations, and does everything from making site visits at executives homes to organizing all their financially-related matters. Another financial advisor approaches her practice through her role as an activist for families dealing with dementia, and builds her client niche around this specialty, which is similar to another advisor who works with single parents of special-needs children. Yet another advisor networks with C-level executives and directors by attending annual shareholder meetings and trade conferences within a specific industry. And then there are those who will acquire clients only within a specific framework of requirements, such as a 100 percent referral-based model of executives and managers of a single company, or only with the roughnecks in the burgeoning oil fields of western North Dakota. The list of approaches is endless. These approaches appear drastically different on paper, but in practice they are not. As business coaches who work with top-performing financial advisors, we frequently encounter financial advisors and advisory teams who consistently raise $25 million, $50 million, or $100 million in new client assets annually. No matter how different their strategy, they all share some common characteristics: 1 Client acquisition is top-of-mind. This might seem obvious, but here s the thing: Many financial advisors will SAY that client acquisition is a front-burner item, yet our surveys indicate that only 24 percent of advisors have set definitively clear and distinct client acquisition goals for themselves. Critical client acquisition behavior includes having written goals (preferably within a sales and marketing plan) and posting those goals in a visible location in the office. One successful financial advisor who is on track to raise $50 million+ this year post his goals right next to his Atlanta Falcons calendar, and checks both every day he s in the office. clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) info@clientwise.com 2013 ClientWise FRE-ARC0413 3

4 2 The Client acquisition process is replicable and scalable. The keywords in this statement are process, replicable, and scalable. There are approximately 70,000 financial advisors, within the overall population of advisors in the USA, who are top 20 percent when it comes to client acquisition. Every one of these advisors has built a process that is unique to their core values, interests and energies. And while their processes are distinct from one and other, ideally each advisor has perfected his process and strategy enough that it is replicable and scalable depending on the client or business he is approaching. This saves time and energy in the long run, and keeps an advisor honest in terms of the type of client and businesses he is approaching. 3 Passion that s evident in their value-proposition. Top financial advisors know the value they bring to clients, and are passionate with respect to that value. As a result, they tend to enjoy connecting with prospective clients. This is a key behavior. Top quintile performers don t believe in client acquisition behaviors that they find fatiguing and onerous, they don t engage in cookie-cutter methods that might be a best practice for someone else, they use their independence and creativity to build a client acquisition process that fits who they are and, as a result, they make great first impressions. Nothing is more impressive than genuine confidence and enjoyment in what you do especially when it comes to convincing a client to let you manage their money. 4 An Ideal client type who reflects this passion and enjoyment. With about 350,000 or so client-facing financial advisors in the marketplace, differentiation is critical. One of the best ways to develop unique skills and have them recognized by prospective clients is to have laser-like focus on specific ideal client types. Know their concerns and know specifically how you can provide solutions tailored to those concerns. ClientWise research reveals that advisors with extremely well-defined client types tend to grow assets under management and acquire high net worth households more quickly than advisors who aren t focused in this critical area of client acquisition. It pays to differentiate your practice by adopting an ideal client type and continuing to refine that ideal as your practice grows. 5 Active pipeline. Advisors who are successful at acquiring wellqualified clients have an active and robust pipeline that tracks leads and opportunities. Within this pipeline, there are discrete stages that are understandable to everyone on that advisor s team. For example, one stage might be an open lead, i.e. a person who has been identified as meeting the parameters that you have outlined for all clients. Another stage might be a qualified lead, i.e. an open lead that you have invited to learn more about your wealth management process, and is interested in doing so. Another important component includes frequently updating documentation around your pipeline in order to keep it top of mind for you and everyone on your team. Weekly pipeline meetings are a great way to accomplish this. clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) info@clientwise.com 2012 ClientWise FRE-TFL0312 4

5 6 A selective client referral/advocate process. Our research reports that top advisors garner more than 70 percent of their new assets from existing client referrals, or other advocate sources such as professional advocates or centers-of-influence. Advisors most accomplished at the referral dynamic are very selective with whom they choose to partner. Think of it as the 80/20 Rule applied to referrals. The most successful advisors identify and focus on referral sources who have a clear understanding of their business, can articulate this understanding to others, and are currently and actively involved in providing them with potential new business. Not everyone possesses or practices these skill sets and the best advisors make time for those referral sources that do. The key is quality over quantity don t spend time managing referral relationships that aren t actively providing you a return on your investment. 7 Squelch limiting beliefs. The most accomplished advisors know how to squelch limiting believes and do NOT let them inhibit their overall vision for the success of their business, or their client s overall vision for the future of their assets. As the leading financial advisors at client acquisition can attest, success is a result of expanding upon what is believed to be possible, and limiting the roadblocks to achieve that vision. 8 Unlimited creativity. Many advisors who are successful at finding new clients use their right brain, i.e. creativity, to create their own client acquisition process. This includes finding distinct and memorable ways of connecting with their perspective target markets, having an extremely clear understanding of the needs, concerns and aspirations of those markets, and maintaining a high EQ, or emotional intelligence quotient, which builds great listening and questioning skills and will go a long way to garnering trust amongst your clients. 9 No intention-action gap. The very best financial advisors have little to no gap of differentiation between their intention and their actions. They are rational and responsible in terms of their commitments to others, and equally importantly, to themselves. As business coaches, we see this gap in obvious areas. A good example might be the advisor whose value proposition centers on the planning process, yet who does not have an operational plan for himself. The most successful advisors work to minimize this gap and are unswervingly consistent with respect to their self-regulation. 10 Positive leadership. Advisors who are really good at finding new clients consistently demonstrate an optimistic persistence in the face of trying times, difficult markets and the inevitable roadblocks. Every advisor has ups and downs, but a consistently positive attitude directly impacts the face of the business and inspires their teams and their clients both current and prospective. clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) info@clientwise.com 2013 ClientWise FRE-ARC0413 5

6 One final point worth re-emphasizing. There is not a single best practice that magically creates a successful client acquisition process that uniformly works for all. When creating your own approach, be creative and bold. Trust your instincts. Test your assumptions. Learn from experience. Keep what works, and discard what doesn t. Finally, connect with others who value what you do, and whom you want to work with. That s the truest test of your client acquisition success. Chris Holman is an executive coach with 30+ years experience in the financial services sector, and with 10+ years coaching financial advisors. He can be reached at cholman@clientwise.com. ClientWise is the premier business and executive coaching firm that focuses on successful financial advisors and financial advisor teams. For additional coaching related topics, visit the blog at clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) info@clientwise.com 2013 ClientWise FRE-ARC0413 6

7 ClientWise Coaching and Consulting Services Executive Coaching Research Services Program Development Presentation Delivery Workshop Facilitation Professional Development ClientWise Financial Services Clients Industry Executives Wealth Advisors Financial Advisors Broker Dealers Registered Investment Advisors Asset-Management Companies Insurance Companies Contact ClientWise Sophia Harbas Director of Coaching Services ext. 201 sophia-demetriades-harbas Trey Schalk ext. 301 trey-schalk ClientWise LLC Check out our website: clientwise.com Read our blog: clientwise.com/blog Join us on LinkedIn: clientwise Follow us on TM (800) clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog