The Client-centred Blog

Where do you find new clients?

What prompted this article was recently reading that 70% of advisers are actively seeking new clients.

I know from working for myself for over twenty five years and working with dozens of my own clients that consistently bringing on new clients can seem a big challenge.

Typical questions that people ask themselves when wanting to grow their client base are:

How can I get more leads?
How can I attract more of the right clients?
What can I do to get people to hire me?

But these are very inwardly facing questions. They tend to create a ‘push-away’ rather than a ‘pull-towards’.

The problem is never that there are not enough potential clients out there for you. There are many people who badly need what you can do for them.

More than you could ever cope with. But where do you find them?

Where does opportunity exist?

Most people think opportunity exists outside and independent of them but this is never the case.

The life we lead is a purely psychological one – our life IS our thinking and, therefore, all problems and all ideas originate in our thinking.

I wrote a chapter in my book ‘The Client-Centred Financial Adviser’ called ‘The Source of all opportunity’…

‘Opportunity is always going to arrive as a thought. Something occurs to you out of the blue. It may be someone to call, an idea about how you can help someone or perhaps something you would like to do. This is your innate wisdom showing up and the more you act upon this kind of thinking, the more generative your thinking becomes.’

Because our state of mind is invisible we hugely under-estimate its impact.

In my coaching work with advisers I found that giving people ideas about where they could find clients was not a consistently effective approach for one very important reason.

What works for me won’t work for you.

Someone could give you all their secrets, knowledge and activities that work brilliantly for them, but what makes anything work is the energy behind what you are doing.

This does not mean to say that you shouldn’t up-skill in a particular activity but it is being fully behind it that creates the pull.

Knowing how to awaken this energy in yourself is they key. You are backed by the creative life force. You have an unlimited capacity to come up with ideas.

So, rather than trying to figuring out how to get more leads, which can be soul destroying, it is taking the pressure off by understanding the role of thought.

It always comes back to the same thing in the end.

When we come from a place of service (which is a state of mind) there is tremendous freedom in this.

When we are not after anything, just interested in whether we can genuinely help another human being, we see so much more.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Comment

Related articles

Stress free goal setting for financial planners
What is your experience of goal setting? For me, I would set goals because it seemed like a good idea to know where I wanted to get to. Yet I found that, at times, the process could often become quite stressful. I have also heard many people share that this is experience too. So, if stress free goal setting is something that would be valuable to you, please read on.
Why movie montages can ruin your business
Closing the gap between where we are now and where we want to be in our business doesn't happen overnight. It takes sustained, disciplined and focus work.
Do you want more high quality referrals? This MUST happen first
Good financial planning referrals from happy existing clients are one of the best ways to grow your practice. Yet to create a regular and increasing flow of quality referrals there is something that MUST happen first. Let me share a story.
The law of action - why action beats attraction
Do you want to build a better, more profitable practice but finding progress is painfully slow? You have probably heard of ‘The law of attraction’. The idea gained huge popularity when the film and then the book, ‘The secret’ was released.
Clients are not willing to pay fees for financial planning - really?
“Clients are not willing to pay fees for financial planning!” This was the bold claim of an adviser in a post I recently read on LinkedIn. You might refer to this as a 'gross generalisation' because, quite clearly, there are many people who do already pay fees for financial planning.
Why your financial planning practice culture is the key to delivering exceptional service
Are you committed to delivering exceptional client service? If so, employees who genuinely care, communicate well, and take responsibility are essential. This article takes a look at how to bring out the best in your team.
Publishing a book is a huge opportunity for financial planners: Here's why
Have you ever considered publishing a book? I recently spent six months as part of a group of 36 coaches in the AJC Coaching Career School. Of those 36 coaches there were at least six people who were published authors of a book (some people more than one).
Financial planning relationships - how do you keep adding massive long-term value?
No matter how long you have known your client what is the secret to continuing to add massive value? Imagine when you first meet a new client and the early period of your relationship. In the beginning...
Are your feelings running your business?
Have you ever found that self-doubt, a low mood, or feeling fearful has held you back?  I'm sure this has been the case for all of us and it can have a big impact upon the quality of our results. In this article I am sharing how you get past those feelings and into taking action - the only thing that produces results.
The value of knowing your value
Last week I was in London for three days attending the AJC Coaching Career School. This is a six-month long school, run by Ankush Jain, for coaches who want to build a more impactful coaching practice. For me, one of the most important things about being in business is that it feels fresh, inspiring, and as exciting as it did in the beginning.
A simple formula for making more money
Would you like your career as a financial planner or adviser to be more financially rewarding? I sometimes have conversations with advisers who are not enjoying what they do. Some even say they are thinking of leaving the business altogether. Often, at the root of this is that they are not making enough money.
Why elevator pitches don't work
What prompted me to write this article about elevator pitches was reading an article published by Asana. It said: "A good elevator pitch can be the difference between landing your next big opportunity or falling short of the competition." Really? Does this stack up?
Be the casino, not the gambler
Are you happy in your job as a financial planner or adviser? I often speak with financial planners or advisers who feel stuck in a rut and want to reinvigorate their work.  Maybe they have been doing the same thing for a long while and simply want to change. Sometimes they want to do things differently but experience some doubt. Sometimes it is they find a certain aspect of their job unrewarding.   So, how do you begin to turn this around?
My favourite Einstein quote and why it matters
One of the biggest challenges for a financial adviser is getting stuck on a plateau they cannot seem to move past. Can you think of a recurring problem or limitation in your business?
Two approaches to goal setting and why only one is healthy
I have found that goal setting can be a double-edged sword.  On one hand we want to achieve things that are important to us, so aiming at something makes sense. Yet for many people pushing hard towards their goals also causes them a lot of stress and compromises their quality of life.
How to have clients sell financial planning to themselves
A realisation that has been extremely helpful to me is that you can never want something for your client more than they want it for themselves. In this way, financial planning is almost certainly going to be most beneficial when a client sells it to themselves. This article explores why this is and one of the most effective ways to have it happen.
A new way of thinking about financial planning fees  
Although there seems to be plenty of information on the process of increasing your financial planning fee, there is far less on the thinking behind it. So, in this article I am taking an alternative look at fee charging. Read on to discover:  1. How most firms set fees 2. A different way of thinking about fees 3. What clients pay for
Is money holding you back from building a prosperous financial planning practice?
I read a survey conducted with financial advisers asking what their biggest challenge was. Number one was getting clients. It would be easy to believe that all is required to solve this problem is finding a reliable source of potential clients. Yet this is not always true. As I discovered, we sometimes have an 'upper-limit' issue that slows us down.
Wisdom from one of the UK's most successful female financial planners
My client Fulva Giust is one of the UK's most successful female financial planners, operating for over thirty years.  Fulva has built a thriving practice serving wealthy families and individuals built upon rock solid foundations of trust, caring, and kindness. She takes a deep interest in the lives of her clients, what they want to accomplish and their relationship with money.
10 powerful ways a financial planner can deeply serve clients from the first moment
How can you begin to deeply serve a client from the very first moment? When meeting with a potential client there are likely to be at least three important questions on their mind: 1. Do I like them? 2. Can I trust them? 3. Can they help me?
Do you hate selling financial planning? Discover the two shifts that change everything
Do you love working with your existing clients but hate selling? If so, you would not be alone. Yet rather than enduring this essential aspect of being a financial planner what if you could learn to love what is often perceived as the hard part? If this is you then read on to discover two shifts that can change everything.
The 12 Client-centred mind shifts - part 3
Have you ever considered what creates the very highest value for your financial planning clients? I am going to suggest it is not, important as they are, the financial arrangements you recommend and put in place for them. No. It is their own mind shifts.
What makes a client want to engage a financial planner?
A successful financial planner I work with remarked to me that no one ever approaches him for a financial planning engagement. Instead, there is usually a trigger event that leads a client to thinking they want a financial product, financial issue solved, or investment advice. So, how do you shift the conversation?
How to sell more financial planning: stop giving advice
Do you want to sell more financial planning and boost your income? If so, then stopping giving financial advice might seem totally counter-intuitive, right? In this article I explore why holding back from giving advice can consistently help you sell more financial planning and serve your clients better.
The hidden secret of where you find financial planning clients
Do you want to know the hidden secret of where you find financial planning clients? Most of the advice on how to find financial planning clients is prescriptive. It tells you what to do or where to look. Yet how helpful is this?
What are the three roles of a lifestyle financial planner?
Do you ever find your role as a lifestyle financial planner being overly complex? Would you like it to be simpler, more productive, and more rewarding? If so, this article considers that there are only three core roles of a lifestyle financial planner.
How to successfully sell financial planning
Genuine financial planning is very different from providing purely transactional financial advice. So, how you sell financial planning is a different kind of conversation too. Would you like it to be easier to sell financial planning engagements?
10 career boosting books for financial planners
Why do people's careers stall, stagnate, become mundane, fall short of expectations, and, ultimately, lack the rewards they want? In my experience it is rarely lack of...
Getting financial planning clients - the only obstacle
Getting financial planning clients is the number one challenge for many advisers. But why is it such a challenge? It is not for the reasons that most people think...
Your financial planning fees - why they must NEVER be an issue
This article explores why your financial planning fees must never be an issue with clients. Just recently a financial planner client of mine came to our coaching session wanting to talk about a fee situation with a client of his.
The three types of financial planning client
There are three types of financial planning client you can build your practice around. And because the three types are defined by what the client values, it can make a massive difference to the quality of your business.
Financial Planning clients for life - the one thing you MUST do
Creating happy, enthusiastic, loyal financial planning clients for life requires you to do one thing well, and consistently. What is that one thing?
How to get financial planning clients - the only way I know
Financial planning is not a commodity. It is experiential and conversations are right at the core of this.
The best prospecting advice for financial planners
Why do some financial planners seem to effortlessly find clients whilst others experience growing their practice as a constant struggle?
What does it really take to 10x grow a financial planning business?
There is a critical factor in growing your financial planning business that is often misunderstood.
Can coaching for financial planners really help your career?
Why are an increasing number of financial planners choosing to work with a coach? Is it something that could help you accomplish your most important goals and realise more of your potential as a financial planner? Read on to discover why coaching works...