A wealth management advisor meeting with a couple.

8 Proven Ways to Find Wealth Management Clients

The question: How to get clients as a financial advisor? The answer: Go beyond traditional methods for finding leads and learn new ways to develop your base of wealth management clients.

 

Every wealth management advisor knows that the growth of their business relies on successful lead generation. But in this ever-changing industry, how does a financial advisor find clients? Here are our top tips for building your wealth management business.

1. Connect With Your Community

One way wealth managers get clients is through community involvement. It boosts your visibility, allows you to make personal connections, builds trust and establishes you as a business owner who invests their time locally — all of which is important for finding wealth management clients. There are dozens of ways to get involved, so pick something that aligns with your values as a wealth management advisor. Examples include:

  • Sponsoring local sports teams or charities
  • Sponsoring road races or other events
  • Teaching free workshops

2. Ask for Referrals

Word-of-mouth continues to be one of the most powerful forms of how to find clients as a financial advisor. Are your current clients happy with the services you’re providing them? Good for you! Time to convert existing client satisfaction into new business growth.

The key to successful referrals is to be selective in whom you ask. Before you start requesting referrals, make a list of your top wealth management clients. These are the ones who represent what you’re looking for in prospective clients. They’re also the people who would be good advocates for your business.

Then, take a client-centered approach to referrals by keeping in mind that a referral is a way for your existing client to help their friends or family by connecting them to you, not the other way around (although a sound referral is ultimately mutually beneficial).

3. Leverage Centers of Influence

Centers of influence are those well-connected professionals with whom you can — and should — partner for ongoing referrals. While a client referral might come your way once a year, center of influence referrals offer a more consistent method of wealth management business growth. Centers of influence include:

  • Real estate agents
  • Accountants
  • Attorneys
  • Insurance agents

It’s important for a center of influence to understand what you do, whom you serve and what your area of specialty is, so that when a center of influence encounters your ideal client, they’ll recognize it as a fit. At Farm Bureau, we offer our wealth management advisors a built-in system of centers of influence: 1,700 insurance agents in a 14-state territory who serve more than 550,000 clients.

4. Expand Your LinkedIn Network

Social media platforms vary in how they deliver messages to audiences. Although Facebook still dominates in popularity — a Pew Research Center survey found that 68% of Americans use Facebook — LinkedIn is the ideal social media tool for identifying prospective clients. That’s because it’s the world’s largest professional online network and boasts more than 660 million users.

Not only can you leverage LinkedIn to connect with old and new contacts, but the platform also serves as a way for you to stand out from the crowd as a credible industry advisor. How? With Farm Bureau’s content curated in-house for its wealth management advisors. Farm Bureau creates insightful, useful and personalized social posts that help you generate engagement with potential clients.  

5. Write an Elevator Pitch — and Memorize It

Draft your elevator pitch: a short, pithy description of who you are and what you do as a wealth management advisor. How does this help you as a financial advisor find clients? Not only does it force you to organize your thoughts into a direct and clear explanation of your profession — which brings into sharp relief your ideal client — but it arms you with a quick “pitch” at the ready for those non-networking moments that arise. Think a backyard barbecue at your neighbor’s house or a cocktail holiday party.    

6. Cultivate a Hobby

Hobbies bring personal satisfaction, but they also offer professional perks in the way of relationship-building tactics that you can leverage. For one, having a hobby gives you something besides finance to talk about with prospective wealth management clients. This makes you approachable while also establishing a relationship built on shared interests. When that eventual conversation about investments takes place, it’ll feel natural and organic, not “salesy.” Hobbies also connect you to social circles — and prospective clients — that you might not otherwise encounter.

7. Know Your Niche

As a financial advisor, what’s uniquely you? What do you bring to the table that nobody else does? Where do you shine? Growing your wealth management business isn’t about casting your net far and wide, it’s about culling your wealth management client list to those people whom you can truly serve. Example: You seek clients who are “doctors.” Step one: Drill down into the type of doctor you’d like to prospect. Let’s say your sister is an ER surgeon and you understand all too well the particular stresses of her job and the nuances of how that job affects her life. Instead of trying to find wealth management clients under the generic term “doctor,” prospect ER surgeons.    

8. Join Farm Bureau

We are looking for motivated individuals who share our commitment to growth, integrity, trust and service. Sound like you? There’s never been a better time to become a wealth management advisor at Farm Bureau. Find your opportunity today.