Financial planning and investment management are not products that can be bought at the supermarket. They don’t help alleviate hunger. They don’t quench thirst. The real benefits are challenging to explain.
Yet financial advisors often fail to sell the value of financial planning and the benefits of working with them, either in what they say to prospective clients or in their marketing language.
This is the last article in my marketing mistakes series. Read the entire list here.
Learn to Sell your Value
Dealing with the compliance department has a great deal to do with how firms market themselves, plus getting “creative” with your marketing can have negative connotations and could land you in some trouble. Unfortunately I think this has lead to a complete aversion to marketing including not leveraging the areas of website development and inbound marketing tactics.
To avoid marketing micromanagement, I’ve had many clients decide to give up their series 7 license so that they can leverage marketing and success planning for their firms.
In growing your practice, have you received sales training to help you sell your services? Are you aware of the ways to communicate the wonderful benefits of having a financial plan and the ways custom investment management helps your ideal clients?
Most likely you have not worked on your sales skills as is typical of many financial firm founders. If so, this post is for you!
What’s the Goal of Value-Based Selling?
With value-based selling, your goal is to put the needs of your client first. Ideally, you’d be walking them through the ins and outs of your service, leading them to make an informed decision – which, hopefully, ends with them buying your service. Value-based selling helps build anticipation in your clients’ minds about the positive result your financial planning service will bring.
Many financial advisors bombard prospects with messages pressuring them to buy. You can stand out from the competition and land long-term clients by providing more value than other financial advisors.
How do you sell the value of financial planning? Here are 5 ways:
Sell an outcome over a service.
How are your clients better off with you as their advisor? What problems do you help alleviate? Can you explain how clients have benefited from working with you in terms of the outcome they have received? The outcomes you’re selling are fond memories that include peace of mind, time with family, vacation trips of a lifetime, and achievement of lifetime goals.
To get started with outcome selling, you should take three steps:
1. Identify Your Clients
When identifying and better understanding your clients, you should focus on prospective clients and current clients.
Compile all your contacts in one place to better organize information and better understand the demographic you work with. You can sort your clients based on their industry, priorities, or other factors as you see fit.
2. Understand Your Clients’ Needs
This step is essential when it comes to outcome selling. You’ll want to start conversations with your clients about their current situation and their goals; know how your clients are and how they want to be.
3. Connect the Dots
At this point, you know who your clients are and what they need. Now, you can combine what you know about your clients with the services you offer as a financial advisor. Take note of how your service can meet the needs of your clients.
At this step, you’re going to connect the dots by coming up with a convincing narrative of how you can be your client’s link between their present situation and the outcome they want.
Here are the other mistakes in this series:
7 Financial Advisor Marketing Mistakes
Hi, I’m Suzanne. I coach financial advisors like you.
I can help YOU!
I have been working with Financial Advisors and Investment Managers on Business Coaching since 2004! I help you build a professional business where you are growing and becoming the person and firm you’ve always wanted.
Just imagine what you could accomplish!
If I’m offering this wonderful information, imagine what else I could help you achieve! Consider completing the Consultation Form to explore how we may work together.
