How do I get my financial advisory practice off the ground? How do I get more clients to notice my financial planning services?
If you’ve done all the things you’re supposed to do from a marketing sense to entice new clients with no luck, it could be time to take it back to basics. There is one simple thing that will help your financial planning business flourish, and it doesn’t have anything to do with social media…
Where are all my clients?
I was recently speaking with a client who wants to build her financial planning practice.
She had spent good money on a website, hired a designer to create a brand, and was working with a digital marketing agency to get her message ‘out there’.
The only thing was that her practice was not growing.
This is not an uncommon story.
It used to be mine too. You work hard at putting what you think are the right things in place, you declare your doors open and then… nothing happens!
As my client and I were speaking a story popped into my mind that my coach had shared with me.
A woman (a professional coach) wrote a best-selling book and was invited onto ‘Oprah’ three times, so she was seen by millions of people.
She thought that this would bring her a flood of clients and yet not one showed up.
She could not understand it.
It is easy to believe that simply getting your name ‘out there’ and looking professional will somehow make people want to work with you.
Marketing ‘experts’ will tell you this story all day long.
Advising you that you need a social media strategy, you must get your ‘elevator pitch’ right and establish a presence.
By all means, do this if you want to but there is something missing from all of this.
In fact, the most important thing of all.
The one thing that takes you to prosperity is… conversations.
Your marketing messages do not make people want to work with you because they do not tell them what they need to know. Most financial advisory firms are saying the same things anyway.
If you doubt this then randomly pick 10 financial advisory firms from the internet and do your own comparison.
Why prosperity evades people
When a financial adviser is struggling to grow their practice or earn the money they want, they are almost always doing one thing.
Avoiding conversations.
If you want your financial advisory practice to grow, fill your week with conversations.
On hearing this, some financial advisers will say, “But it is difficult to find people to talk to.”
I point people towards two things:
1. You must forget about yourself and what you want. If you come from a place of neediness, then it will be difficult and soul-destroying to grow your financial planning practice. When you come from a place of service there is no pressure because your focus is on what you can do for other people rather than your own perceived needs.
2. You are an infinitely creative being and the world is an abundant place. At one time there was zero money in the world. Now there is more than ever, and it keeps on growing. How does this happen? Human creativity. There is unlimited opportunity all around you just waiting for you to see it.
Godfather of coaching, Steve Chandler, in his wonderful book ‘Creator’ wrote:
When an aware person (someone who knows and realises that they are creative energy itself) notices that the sales of their services have been neglected – resulting in lower income – they simply turn their light (creative energy) towards the sales process.
“Whatever you give your attention to grows” is not just some positive slogan – it’s how the world actually works.
So, one word to prosperity. Conversations. Fill your week with conversations.
P.S. Remember that a financial advisory practice grows one client at a time. Put all your energy and attention into deeply serving the very next person. Avoid allowing your thoughts to get ahead of themselves because this just leads to discouragement.
