Journal of Financial Planning: September 2019
Kalli Lipke has nearly a decade of experience in the financial industry. With an understanding of how clients think and how the financial industry operates, she helps financial planners with marketing and branding.
Here’s a secret: your prospects need only two things to become clients. First, they need a personal relationship. They want to know you truly understand their situation and goals. Second, they need advice they can trust. They need to be assured that you really are an expert. The more confidence they have in your expertise, the more clients are willing to pay for your advice.
Generally, financial planners have great people skills, so building a relationship with your prospects is the easy part—at least if you can get in front of them in person. However, proving your advice is trustworthy can be the challenge. We’ve all been around the salesy salesman who makes too much of an effort to impress us. He touts his achievements and awards with grandiosity and tells us how our lives are not complete without his product or service. Yet, as he carries on, all we can think is that this fluff is covering for a poor product or service.
So, how do you show your financial aptitude in an authentic, tasteful way without coming across as phony or ostentatious?
Here are a few recommendations on how you can position yourself as the expert you are. But there is a caveat—to come across authentic, you must be authentic. This doesn’t mean don’t do it if it is uncomfortable. Anything new is going to be uncomfortable at first. It means only move forward with a strategy if it fits you and your business values and goals.
Promote Your Professional Memberships
Use your FPA membership—and other association memberships—in your marketing plan. Specifically with FPA, take advantage of their brand recognition by using your “FPA member” logo, along with your designations and certifications, on your website and other materials.
Present Seminars and Webinars
Present seminars and webinars on hot topics like Social Security. That’s present, not host. Hosting a great financial seminar may be an added value to clients, but it won’t do anything for impressing upon prospects that you’re a financial expert, because the person speaking gets the expert credits here. Some fund companies will sponsor your event only if they can speak at it. If you must use them, make sure to split the speaking time with them.
Be mindful of the topic. You might get prospects in the door with an incentive, but you’re not going to keep their attention if they’re not interested in the topic. Look for topics that affect everyone, but don’t go into too many complicated details. Although presenting on a subject does have the ability to make you look like an expert, you should of course practice your public speaking and be prepared.
Be a Guest Speaker
Being a guest speaker has two additional benefits beyond the points above. As a guest speaker, you are exposed to a whole slew of new prospects you may not have been introduced to on your own who are interested in what you do. You also get the added benefit of having the host vouch for your expertise by asking you to speak.
Always be looking for connections that may offer you the opportunity to present to their clients or audience. For instance, professionals who offer complimentary services such as an estate planning attorney or CPA, can make great seminar partners. Of course, it can be the industries that aren’t related to yours at all that provide the best opportunities. You could offer your expertise to your local chamber of commerce, or to companies who want to offer their employees information on saving and retirement.
Be a Media Source or Content Contributor
Being a media source or a content contributor also introduces you to new prospects and validates your qualifications. It can be difficult to get your name in print, but your FPA membership offers you the chance to be listed as a source with the FPA MediaSource program after you complete the media training.
Lend a helping hand to content creators by offering to contribute to or write your own blogs. Partnering with professionals with complimentary services can work here, too. Many times, contributing can lead to guest speaking as well. FPA offers members opportunities to contribute to various areas including Knowledge Circles, the Journal of Financial Planning, the FPA Practice Management Blog, and the FPA Next Generation Planner, an app publication for new planners.
Be in the Know
Stay updated on financial changes. Make sure you’re aware of all the updates and changes to financial legislation and taxation. It never looks good to have your client explaining a new financial change to you. Reading professional publications, attending industry conferences, and connecting with fellow planners for peer-to-peer learning are great ways to stay informed.
As you learn about changes in the financial planning profession, particularly regarding fast-moving areas of legislation and taxes, use that information in your content to position yourself as an expert. For instance, using the knowledge you learned from Philip Herzberg’s January Journal article, “Proactive IRA Planning Strategies after Tax Reform,” you can tell clients how you can help them: “You can convert your IRA to a Roth IRA to avoid paying income on your growth, but with the new tax bill, this may force you into a tax bracket you may otherwise not have been in. We can help you figure out how much you would really be saving by converting to a Roth IRA.”
Promote Awards and Recognition
It can be awkward to toot your own horn, but you can promote your recognition in some tasteful way. Add the award logo to your website under your designations. Tell the world why this award has meaning for you. Add the logo to the bottom of your email signature. Put a press release on your website. Have someone else in your office post or send an email about you winning. The key: don’t say this is an important award, say why it is important.
This article originally appeared on the FPA Practice Management blog powered by the Journal of Financial Planning. Visit onefpablog.org and click on “subscribe” to receive an email each time a new blog is posted.