Serving Veteran Clients: How One Financial Advisor Found a Niche Market Right in Her Own Practice

Niche marketing offers opportunities for growth

You likely have clients with common characteristics. They could be of similar ages, careers, or even hobbies. And by focusing on those common characteristics and appealing to them, you can find new opportunities for growth — both in your existing practice and through prospecting.

Called niche marketing, this approach is often a lot more successful than broad-based marketing where you attempt to appeal to all types of clients. By focusing on something that makes them unique, you’re showing investors that you appreciate and understand the issues, challenges, and motivations specific to them. In turn, they feel known and understood. The more specific you can get, often, the more successful you may be.

WCG Wealth Advisor Kimberly Safoyan, owner of Anchor Wealth Management Group in Palm Desert, California, discovered this to be the case. Through in-depth discussions with her clients, she found a unique thread that ran through many of them. “As I thought about my book and talked with my clients, I found a lot of connections to military veterans, law enforcement, and firefighting,” she said.

Having uncovered a common characteristic, she has become passionate about this group and is working to offer opportunities that specifically appeal to them.

Finding new opportunities by asking the right questions

Once Safoyan, an LPL Financial advisor, was aware of the common thread among many of her clients and started asking them specifically about their connections, she uncovered significantly more connections to veterans than she had first thought. “I was amazed by the number of clients who had some type of connection to the military and first responders,” she said. “Even if they didn’t serve themselves, the majority have a parent, kid, or spouse who is serving or used to serve.” She also has clients who are fire chiefs and several who are current or retired police officers. While some of this she knew at the outset, many she didn’t. Now, asking about connections to veterans or first responders is part of her discovery process and documented in her CRM.

Safoyan adds, “It doesn’t matter where you live either — it’s woven into our society. I don’t live near any military bases, so many of my clients have connections to the community. All you have to do is ask them!”

Serving veteran families with the right opportunities

Once Safoyan knew that this niche existed in her book, she wanted to do something to appeal specifically to them but found there wasn’t much out there in terms of investment opportunities. “I wanted to find investments that my clients could get excited about,” she says. “So, for example, investing in companies that consistently hire and train veterans or have programs for them, like support groups, fun corporate events, discounts, complimentary hotel stays, airfare, or other special offerings — any company that is clearly making an effort to help veterans and first responders.”

While those companies certainly exist, Safoyan couldn’t find any investment opportunity that grouped them together in a meaningful way. “I started thinking about creating something myself. But the more I went down that road, I didn’t think it was feasible — just the amount of work involved in putting the screens in place and keeping the list updated.”

But despite the roadblocks, Safoyan really believed in creating something that allowed clients to invest in something that got them excited — to enable them to “do well by doing good.” Not to mention, the socially responsible movement has made an impact on the behaviors of companies who want to attract investors, and Safoyan felt the same could happen in this case.

Safoyan realized she would need help creating something new, so she started talking to anyone and everyone she thought could help, especially wholesalers at product sponsors. “Finally, someone mentioned they thought First Trust could be a good source for me, and when I reached out, they got really excited about the possibilities,” Safoyan explained. From the collaboration, a new investment opportunity was created that met her requirements.

Making an impact on veteran clients and their families now and in the future

Working with veterans and their families has become a passion project for Safoyan, and she intends to do a lot more of it in the future. “My father was a Marine and served in Vietnam, and my grandfather was in the Army during WWII, so it definitely runs in my veins. But now I’m meeting people in this community who have made an impact on me in additional ways, and who I want to help in a way that feels good to them.”

Ultimately, Safoyan wants to have investment opportunities for clients in this niche that they can get excited about, while potentially growing their account for the future.

And while Safoyan didn’t necessarily set out to find a new, marketable niche in her book — she just wanted to help those in a way that felt good to them — her firm’s growth may just be an accidental benefit. “There are some rather significant investors, including foundations, out there who are passionate about supporting veterans,” she said. “There’s a lot of opportunity — and it’s diverse.”

"I love hearing their stories, and we really bond over their experiences and pride in their service."

Kimberly J. Safoyan, Anchor Wealth Management Group

“What’s so exciting about finding common characteristics among clients and appealing to it is that it’s so much more than just a way to search for and serve new clients — it’s helping investors feel great about what they’re doing,” she says. “I really believe it’s strengthening my relationships with my clients for the future and giving us all something to be excited about together. I love hearing their stories, and we really bond over their experiences and pride in their service.”

Investing in people to create a bond

The response from veterans and military service members is what Safoyan considers to be the feather in her cap. “Helping clients and bonding with them in this manner can’t be underestimated. The appreciation, the conversations, simply asking where they served and what was their experience. They just open up. I make a point to ask, ‘Have you, your parents, or children served?’ The percentage is high that the answer is yes, and they light up at the opportunity to brag about their family. By simply asking, you’ve acknowledged that their service matters, that they’re not forgotten or lumped into a group under diversity and inclusion. There are companies they can invest in that have the military top of mind.”

Safoyan’s focus on military families has provided her with more networking opportunities as well. “I was at a clay shoot to raise money to purchase service dogs for veterans,” she said. “These fun networking events have led to meeting fascinating and inspiring people like Lew Hoyt. He was an Olympian in his younger years and then went on to become a flight instructor at the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School. Yup, ‘Top Gun’ flight school! I also had the privilege of having dinner with Colonel Martha McSally, the first female in US history to fly a fighter jet in combat and command a fighter squadron in combat. The lessons she shared with me are invaluable and applicable in my business and personal life.”

Safoyan is working hard to make sure helping veterans with their financial goals is top of mind for advisors and the financial advice industry beyond November. “It shouldn't be seasonal,” she said. “My hope is to not only talk about it around Veterans Day, but always. I want to help bring awareness to this option of value investing for people to use when they're having a conversation with the client. I’m grateful to discover that people, companies, and communities really do care.”

Finding your own opportunities: what's your niche?

Safoyan believes most financial professionals have groups of clients with common characteristics in their book, and to find them, you just have to review it and ask the right questions. “I think clients with a shared interest like this is common with most advisors’ books — they just don’t know it,” she said. “My guess is many advisors even have a large subset of clients with connections to the military and first responders.”

By uncovering the niche markets in your book, you may just find a new way to help clients — and potentially grow, just like Safoyan.

Focusing on veterans has done more for Safoyan than create a niche for her business. LPL financial advisors reached out to her on LinkedIn, asking questions, offering ideas, and she was invited to conferences to network with other industry professionals. “Sparking that interest has been great,” Safoyan said. “Fostering that conversation from advisor to advisor has been exciting. We get together for roundtables and things like that so there’s been a real evolution in serving this community.”

Featured in this article

Kimberly J. Safoyan

• Anchor Wealth Management Group, LLC
• 6 years with LPL
• Business Model: Hybrid RIA with Wealth Consulting Group

Important Disclosures

The views and opinions expressed by the LPL financial advisor(s) are as of the date of the interview. These views may not be representative of the views of other financial advisors and are not indicative of future performance or success. Neither LPL Financial nor the LPL financial advisor can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.

The content is designed for licensed financial professionals and may not include the level of detail, explanation, and disclosure needed for a general audience to accurately evaluate the facts.

Anchor Wealth Management Group is a separate entity from LPL Financial.

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