5 Prospecting Tips for Financial Advisors to Build A Prospect Pipeline

Reaching prospective clients requires consistent effort

Generating interest in your business and engaging prospective clients is incredibly important to building a successful business model. There are many methods, tips, and ideas to help you grow your business in an organic way. Whichever way you choose to attract your target audience — one thing will remain the same — it will require consistent effort. Successful lead generation can be difficult to do on a consistent basis. But that consistency is often what pays off in the long run.

Wondering how to generate leads? For financial advisors, it’s all about connections.

Your lack of new clients can typically be cured with more networking and relationship building. By pairing new approaches with new technology, you can double your efforts and make easier connections with your target audience. Try these five ways to better communicate and connect with the prospective clients who are best suited to your business offerings.

1. Identify your financial advisor prospecting strategy 

First things first, you need a strategy to follow from beginning to end. Marketing professionals call this your “lead pipeline.” At each stage of the prospective client’s journey, make sure you have a way to measure and define your outreach goals.

Key indicators of successful lead generation can be measured by:

• The number of new clients
• New leads
• Qualified leads
• Outreach attempts
• New contacts from referrals

Your goals could also be in the form of the amount of time or money you want to dedicate to executing your prospecting strategy.

Make sure you have a repeatable process that includes a plan, a timeline, and record-keeping for following up with the prospects in your lead pipeline. Be available when they reach out to you and try to respond to messages quickly. Often, a CRM — or customer relationship management — platform can manage your client pipeline and even automate parts of your follow up. To help your target audience understand how you can help them, develop some open-ended questions so that you can drive productive conversations right away.

2. Clearly define and communicate how you provide value to your target audience

Your outreach efforts should answer the question of why you became a financial advisor. What’s your financial advice philosophy and what do you stand for? What types of people do you best connect with — and why? Define who the ideal client is for you and outline your unique value proposition for that audience.

Consider what you may have in common with your target audience, and seek opportunities to connect with them where they’re involved, such as: charities, professional organizations, and community events. Always make sure that your actions to generate new leads are sincere, since establishing trust is key to turning prospects into clients. 

Articulate what you will do on a regular basis for clients so they see the value in having you engaged in and overseeing their goals. This is also a great opportunity to share what others think about you. Consider sharing any positive client testimonials and success stories that show your commitment, work ethic, and trustworthiness as a financial advisor. Prospecting ideas work best when you take the time to develop an action plan to thoughtfully communicate your value to your specific target audience of potential clients. 

3. Ask for referrals from your existing clients

Make sure your current clients understand your value proposition, too. This is important so that they understand which friends and colleagues might be a good fit for your practice. Your existing clients (who already know and trust you) can be an excellent source for new contacts and prospective clients. Discuss your intentions to grow your practice and develop a referral system that makes it easy for them to connect you with their friends and family members.

Talk to them about the problems you solve, the guidance you give, the solutions you use, and the benefits you provide to help them pursue their goals. Since client testimonials are a great proof point for new potential clients, be sure to ask your existing clients for testimonials or reviews on social media or for use on your website. NOTE: You will need to ensure that you abide by the new SEC Marketing Rule that went into effect on November 4, 2022.

Let your current clients know specifically who you are looking for and ask them for referrals. Share with them what type of new clients you can best serve in terms of age, interests, retirement plans, and goals. You can also search on social media for people they are connected to that you think will be ideal prospective clients, and ask for specific introductions.

4. Promote your unique expertise with digital marketing 

To best reach your target audience, you should be actively promoting yourself as a financial advisor with modern marketing solutions. You want to clearly articulate your brand, your value, your approach, and your thoughts around financial planning. Investors today have access to investment information at their fingertips, but are likely to need guidance on how to apply that information to their unique circumstances. Publishing regular tips and ideas, market commentary, and other regular communications on your website and across your social media presence can help establish you as an expert and trusted guide.

Ideally, you should be promoting your expertise online wherever your prospects go. Google your name and/or company name. Do you show up in the search results? If not, you may need to brush up on basic SEO (search engine optimization) or look for a marketing solutions provider that can help you establish visibility in search.

Once you’ve generated traffic to your site or social presence, make it easy for someone to contact you. Establish calls to action on your website and socials with the use of lead forms, social handles, and click to call buttons.

These are a few digital marketing channels that can help you generate new client leads:

• Email
• Your website
• Google Business Profiles (Google Maps listings)
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Webinars/Seminars

You can also co-create topical blogs, podcast audio, and video interviews with local partners like CPAs, law firms, and bankers. Crafting professional digital marketing content — and increasing the scope of that content — can greatly increase the chance of getting leads that turn into clients.

5. Capitalize on your community

Lastly, use your community to spread the word of your value and services. You can start by building up your brand awareness in the community so prospective clients can more easily connect with you. 

Consider sponsoring local events, like festivals, fundraisers, youth sports teams, or civic groups. You might even want to host your own events for better visibility. Consider holding client appreciation events so that existing clients can invite their close friends or family. Good locations for these events include: local restaurants, happy hours in town, or a box rental at a major sports arena.

For more on how to build better relationships and connections with clients and prospects, read LPL’s 8 Strategies for Client Referrals.