Starting a tax practice is proven to grow your existing financial services business. Clients are uncertain about the future of the economic landscape and the best way to take advantage of it. This opens the door for you to take advantage of the opportunity that taxes provide to your growing business.
Are you interested in starting a tax practice? Ask yourself the following questions:
You don’t need a tax background to get started; you will become more competent and confident in tax planning over time. Taxes aren’t a one-time thing; you will deliver ongoing advice and provide solutions to tax concerns. This will differentiate you as a unique, multi-solution wealth professional and showcase your firm’s capabilities to a new group of potential clients.
Starting a tax practice from the ground up can be daunting for even the most seasoned professional. Do you jump in with both feet, or should you test the waters before fully committing? There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
There are three ways to incorporate taxes into an existing financial practice–you can build one yourself, borrow clients from a current tax firm, or you can buy a tax practice. In this article, we focus on building and borrowing.
The most successful wealth professionals are always thinking about growth. They want to find new prospects or increase their offerings to expand services available to existing clients. You can accomplish both simultaneously, without adding a lot of personal time and effort, by building a tax practice within your financial services business.
The goal of building a tax practice is to eventually convert those clients to financial services clients. Tax preparation allows you to get in front of them once a year. This will enable you to review their taxes with them and provide an overview of how to include their tax strategy as part of a holistic financial plan.
The tax client might not be ready for your other services at first, but you’ll be there when they are ready.
There are several steps you need to follow when starting a tax practice. First, you need to build the foundation before starting a tax practice, everything from office space and software to pens and business cards.
Next, you should hire a tax professional or CPA to prepare tax returns and market the practice to bring in new prospects and clients.
Finally, make sure you hire someone to assist with appointment setting and other office management tasks.
In Stage 1, things will be modest. For the first year or two, it will be you and two accountants handling all the business, between 100-400 returns.
During Stage 2, you should be processing 400-1000 returns, so you’ll need to hire an additional advisor and possibly a tax practice manager.
By the time you reach Stage 3, your office will have 1000-2000 tax clients, with the potential addition of another advisor and additional accountants.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
To determine if a tax practice will work for you without creating one from scratch, you can partner with an existing tax firm to borrow their clients.
You offer their clients tax management and holistic financial planning while they still use their in-house CPAs for tax preparation. You or one of your associates will then meet with the clients to go over their returns and explain tax planning strategies for the coming year. This gives you an excellent platform to attract new clients to your financial practice.
Set up a cost-sharing arrangement so that a percentage of any new business goes back to the host tax firm as part of the agreement.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Although the accountant will initially meet with the client and prepare the taxes, the financial advisor should present the completed tax documents. During this time, you should go over the services your financial practice can provide, outline any tax strategies, and develop a relationship with the client from year to year.
Now that you know how to build your own tax business, and borrow clients from an existing firm, don’t miss our blog on how to purchase a tax practice.
The information provided in this presentation is not intended as investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only. The information in this presentation was accurate as of the time of the material was created. Tax laws and rulings can frequently change. Please discuss the client’s current situation with an accountant or tax advisor.
There are a lot of financial advisor strategies you can use to increase your assets and attract high-net-worth clients. Do you want to raise your minimums to at least $1 million? What would your business look like if you brought in an additional $25 million next year? Are you offering the right services to help these clients achieve their financial goals?
Not only do you want to attract better clients, but you also want to nurture those relationships to the point that they refer you to their network.
Each year at our Mastermind Collegium, we honor the top-performing advisors and offices. Our top two advisors of 2021 were Bryan Bibbo and DC Chamberlin.
Both Bryan and DC sat down with us on the Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand Podcast to discuss some of their financial advisor strategies as well as anecdotal stories of how they each saw success after raising their minimums and focusing on high-net-worth clients.
Bryan Bibbo, AIF, NSSA, is a Partner, Accredited Investment Fiduciary, and National Security Advisor at JL Smith. He brought in around $45-$50 million in assets during 2021.
DC Chamberlin, CFP®, CFF® is a Certified Financial Planner at The Chamberlin Group. He brought in around $25-$30 million in assets during 2021.
Click here to listen to the latest episode of the Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand Podcast.
Several years ago, DC made the decision to accept clients only if they were willing to invest at least $1 million. Now, his requirement is $2 million or more.
Bryan recently raised his minimums to $1 million, and he’s increasing his investment requirements to $1.5 million by January 1, 2022.
“I realized that I should be working with people that are higher net worth and stop fishing in a pond, trying to scoop up as many as possible.”
-Bryan Bibbo
When you start to make these shifts, take a good look at your roster, and see which clients can be transitioned to another wealth professional as you focus on the upper echelon accounts.
DC often gets clients who come in investing at his minimum of $2 million. But he nurtures the relationships and builds trust, they continue to increase their investments year over year.
“I only added three new clients this year, and two of them were referrals. I’ve really been grinding out my existing clients.”
-DC Chamberlin
Alternatively, Bryan’s approach is more about getting his clients to go all-in and invest as much upfront as possible.
Although their financial advisor strategies differ, both DC and Bryan are meeting and exceeding expectations. If you’re ready to start attracting higher net worth clients, maybe it’s time to change up your approach.
Let your upper echelon customers know that you’re a valuable resource. Offer your services to their friends and family. Encourage them to be an advocate for their community.
DC still accepts clients below his $2 million minimum IF they are referred by one of his existing clients.
“It’s hard for me to turn down a million-dollar client that just fell into my lap, but I target higher net worth customers.”
-DC Chamberlin
Package your pitches into easily repeatable, exciting stories that your clients can tell their friends over cocktails at a charity event. That’s how those referrals trickle in from your best clients.
Bryan suggests a private share fund to some of his wealthiest clients, which allows them to invest in private companies expected to go public soon. People love to hear about the innovative ways you’re using their money instead of just dropping them into an investment model.
On the Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand Podcast, both Bryan and DC discussed how in the past, they worked every single Saturday and some Sundays. Now they reserve the occasional Saturday appointment for their highest earners and can devote more time outside of work.
Let the client choose how they want to interact with you. According to DC, 90% of his clients choose Zoom over in-person meetings. However, Bryan reports most of his clients still want to meet face-to-face.
So, ask your customers individually whether they’re more comfortable online, on the phone, or in your office. If they do want to meet in person, be sure to inquire about their COVID preferences.
Both Bryan and DC recommend communicating with your most valuable customers at least once per quarter to keep them updated on how their accounts are performing and inquire about what is going on in their life.
Think about how you can create more intimate moments to further develop those relationships. Consider sending a card or flowers depending on the occasion. You can also send promotional products or corporate gifts around the holiday season to say thank you and stay top of mind going into the new year.
On the Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand Podcast, Bryan recalled a client whose wife was turning 60, and he mentioned they were planning a trip to Tahiti for her birthday. Before the trip, Bryan’s team sent them a travel book on Tahiti.
It’s challenging to let go of the reigns, especially those customers who have been with you since the beginning of your career. Nobody wants to abandon someone they’ve built a rapport with, but when you’ve outgrown an account, or you’re ready to advance to the next rung of the Advisor Career Path Ladder, then it’s time to bring in your second chair.
The second chair supports more experienced wealth professionals. They often assist their superiors with administrative responsibilities and onboarding in addition to handling smaller clients by themselves.
What is your ideal client? Think about this—spend some time sketching out your perfect buyer persona. Now, compare that to your portfolio of clients. Which accounts don’t match your criteria? Can those be transferred to a second chair advisor?
“If you have the right people around—with a client-first mentality—it’s all going to work out.”
-Bryan Bibbo
Include your second chair advisor in your meetings so that when it is time for you to shift your responsibilities, your clients will already feel comfortable and confident working with your replacement.
You’re busy focusing on higher-wealth clients, as you should be. So, your second chair advisor will take better care of the smaller clients because they have time to give each account the attention it deserves.
“That’s just the natural progression of our careers.”
-Bryan Bibbo
Want to raise your minimums and attract high-net-worth clients so that you can gather $25 million in assets next year?
The information provided in this presentation is not intended as investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only. The information in this presentation was accurate as of the time of the material was created. Tax laws and rulings can frequently change. Please discuss the client’s current situation with an accountant or tax advisor.
There are tons of ways you can gain new clients and grow your business—online seminars, live events, social media, search engine optimization, television appearances, etc. And while this type of marketing certainly deserves your attention, it’s a slow process. What if you could acquire new customers almost instantly? One sure way to do this is to incorporate a tax practice into your existing financial services business by either buying a tax practice, borrowing clients from one, or building your own.
Adding a tax practice to your existing financial planning business will generate additional revenue and add new leads to your sales funnel.
Did you know that 92% of wealthy investors expect their wealth manager to provide tax planning advice, but only 25% are actually receiving that service? That means that many tax experts aren’t doing everything they can to help their customers plan for the future. This leaves the door wide open for you to make a strategic move in both your clients’ and your company’s best interests.
You should consider incorporating a tax practice if you:
We’ve identified three ways to begin integrating a tax practice into your business model.
Richard James is the founder and CEO of Financial Services of America. He sat down with us on the Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand podcast to discuss some of the best practices of buying a tax practice.
Click here to listen to the latest episode of the Rainmaker Multiplier OnDemand Podcast.
Richard has bought, built, and borrowed tax services throughout his years in the industry; his company handles over 11,000 tax returns. He has become an expert at acquisitions, purchasing seven tax firms in the last three years. Last year, they bought 7,000 new clients.
When buying a tax practice, you should always do three things.
According to Richard, he has never been the highest bidder, but he has often been the only potential buyer who took the time to create and submit a proper proposal to the owner. That is what set him apart and ultimately won him the business.
Richard prefers the owner stay on for 1-2 years after finalizing the acquisition to assist in the transition.
Instead of chasing after the clients you want, let someone else spend years cultivating relationships for you. All you have to do is buy the firm, and with it comes an A+ reputation and built-in loyalty.
You don’t need to have a tax background to be successful. When you build out your own tax practice, you can start by hiring an accountant or tax expert for your in-house team.
As a holistic advisor, you can work with the tax preparer to add value for your customers by looking further into the future. Instead of focusing only on annual tax prep, you can now plan by saving the client and their legacies money.
“In my opinion—if you’re putting yourself out there as a holistic financial planner…you better know tax planning.”
–Jason L Smith, CFF, CEP®, BPC
What are you doing to ensure your client’s family doesn’t end up with a bill to Uncle Sam upon their death?
You want to be proactive to changes in the market, not reactive. This will help you forecast accurate predictions that will save your customers money.
Developing a tax practice from the ground up can be daunting for the most seasoned professional. Another option is to borrow clients from an existing business until you get more tax experience within your company.
Develop a relationship with a CPA or tax firm in your community to borrow their clients. After you have nurtured and developed your bond with them and their customers, you can start to look for longer-term solutions, like buying a tax practice or building a tax practice.
One way to build rapport is by creating a business plan tailored to their company. Develop a presentation with accurate financials and a strategic marketing plan for you advisor firm so they know you’re serious about creating value for both the business and its customers.
When the owner decides to retire or sell the business, you will be first in line to purchase the tax practice yourself.
So, whether you’re looking into buying a tax practice, building a tax practice, or borrowing clients from an existing company—be sure you’re going above and beyond to provide the additional retirement and legacy planning service.
Now that you have your tax clients, you can use their returns to find areas where you can save them money.
By putting solutions and strategies in place to anticipate tax changes, you will differentiate yourself from other wealth and tax professionals, allowing you to charge more considerable financial planning fees.
Tax planning is one of the most significant opportunities advisors have. Clients often view taxes as their most daunting and confusing expense, especially when it comes to retirement. Our job is to make sense of the chaos and plan for a future with the best return possible.
“A competent financial planner can evaluate multiple years of prior 1040s and supporting documents to inform present tax-planning decision and identify planning opportunities and areas of concern for the current and future periods.”
– Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
Do you want to be more confident while engaging in tax planning with your prospects and clients? When you integrate your clients’ taxes, financials, investments, and insurance into one overall plan, you provide them with a more valuable service.
Schedule a time to speak with us today for more information about incorporating a tax practice or offering tax planning services. We also provide in-depth training through our Tax Management Journey.
The information provided in this presentation is not intended as investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only. The information in this presentation was accurate as of the time of the material was created. Tax laws and rulings can frequently change. Please discuss the client’s current situation with an accountant or tax advisor.
The information provided in this presentation is not intended as investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only. The information in this presentation was accurate as of the time of the material was created. Tax laws and rulings can frequently change. Please discuss the client’s current situation with an accountant or tax advisor.
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C2P Enterprises Earns Three Prestigious Awards for Industry Contributions, Rapid Growth and Success
Recent Accolades Include Inc. 5000 list, Financial Advisor Magazine’s RIA Ranking and ThinkAdvisor’s LUMINARIES
October 28, 2021 – Cleveland – C2P Enterprises, a holding company comprised of four distinct brands, each designed to simplify financial planning for advisors and the clients they serve, has recently received several notable financial advisor awards recognizing its industry contributions, rapid growth and success. C2P Enterprises has been named to Inc. Magazine’s annual Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies. C2P Enterprises subsidiary, Prosperity Capital Advisors, an SEC Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), has earned a spot on Financial Advisor Magazine’s Registered Investment Advisers ranking. And subsidiary Clarity 2 Prosperity, a financial training, coaching and IP development organization, has been named to ThinkAdvisor’s LUMINARIES Class of 2021 for its Bucket Plan Certified® designation.
“I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments of our team to not only succeed, but to thrive, especially in a year like 2020; these awards represent our continued commitment to helping advisors to always do right by their clients with holistic financial plans,” said Jason L Smith, Founder & CEO, C2P Enterprises. “Each of our subsidiaries strives to simplify financial planning for advisors and the clients they serve through education, training, resources and tools all designed to serve and accomplish clients’ goals. Ultimately, we are helping more families recognize and access the quality of financial advice they deserve.”
C2P Enterprises has experienced three-year revenue growth of 64 percent, and Prosperity Capital Advisors saw a nearly 22 percent annual growth in assets from 2019 to 2020.
Recent accomplishments for Clarity 2 Prosperity include The Bucket Plan®, a best interest planning process that has been recognized as a proven approach for turning assets into income, became academically recognized after the concept has been incorporated into The American College of Financial Services® RICP® curriculum. The Bucket Plan Certified® (BPC) designation for professionals who master this signature planning process also became recognized by FINRA, an achievement that will continue to expand the firm’s reach and delivery of its mission of simplifying holistic financial planning. Financial professionals that hold the BPC designation possess skillsets representing elevated knowledge as a holistic a holistic financial planning professional and deliver clients a Best Interest Planning Process and customized financial plan in the form of The Bucket Plan.
For more information about C2P Enterprises and its subsidiaries, click here.
Inc. 5000 Methodology
Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2017 to 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2020. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to three decimal places. There was one tie on this year’s Inc. 5000. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.’s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.
Financial Advisor Magazine Methodology
Financial Advisor Magazine’s RIA ranking is an independent listing produced by FA Magazine. Firms must be registered investment advisers and provide financial planning and/or related services to individual clients. Eligible firms must be either independently owned or a freestanding subsidiary of another business and have at least $100 million AUM as of Dec. 31, 2020. Neither the RIA firms nor their employees pay a fee to FA Magazine to be included in the listing. The full list can be found at www.fa-mag.com/research/ria-survey.
ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES
Members of the Class of 2021 LUMINARIES were selected by a distinguished and diverse panel of judges from across the advice industry, as well as by ThinkAdvisor’s editorial team. LUMINARIES winners will be featured at the program’s inaugural awards dinner which is set to take place Nov. 9 at the Mandarin Oriental in New York. The full list can be found at www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/08/16/meet-the-luminaries-class-of-2021/.
About C2P Enterprises: C2P Enterprises is a holding company comprised of four distinct brands, each designed to simplify financial planning for advisors and the clients they serve. United by the vision to provide planning and financial products in the best interest of the client, each company offers education, training, resources and tools to meet a client’s unique financial situation, along with access to an array of investment and insurance vehicles to help accomplish their goals. Each organization is committed to fiduciary best interest practices and training industry standards for a higher qualify of holistic financial planning services to families nationwide and worldwide. For more information, visit www.c2penterprises.com.
Investment advisory services are provided by C2P Capital Advisory Group, LLC d/b/a Prosperity Capital Advisors, LLC (“PCA”) an investment adviser federally registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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C2P Enterprises Announces Partnership with
Industry Veteran, Frank Maselli
Partnership provides affiliated advisors exclusive access to revolutionary training programs,
one-on-one mentorship calls and personalized insights curated from Maselli’s 40+ years of experience
Cleveland – October 5, 2021 – C2P Enterprises, a holding company comprised of four distinct brands, each designed to simplify financial planning for advisors and their clients, announces today that financial industry veteran, best-selling author, award-winning keynote speaker and founder of The Maselli Group, Frank Maselli, will serve as a mentor and ambassador for affiliated advisors of Clarity 2 Prosperity, the financial training, coaching and IP development arm of the organization. This unprecedented partnership marks the first time Maselli has teamed up with a financial planning organization in this capacity and grants access to his robust library of presentations, training and coaching programs as well as one-on-one mentor opportunities for affiliated advisors.
“Frank Maselli is one of the most recognized and well-respected figures in the financial services industry – we couldn’t be happier to have him working with our advisors,” said Jason L Smith, founder and CEO of C2P Enterprises. “We are confident this partnership will give our advisors yet another advantage as they look to hone their craft, better serve their clients, and ultimately grow their businesses. The experience, resources, and new ideas Frank brings to the table are invaluable.”
Throughout his illustrious career, Maselli has trained thousands of financial advisors, wholesalers, and managers at nearly every firm in the industry. His expertise covers a wide range of skills, most recently his approach to modern marketing for financial professionals which is rooted in a client-centric philosophy that aims to build an advisor’s value and credibility. With a passion for the psychology behind advising, he also specializes in the various skills needed to build a successful business including prospecting, target marketing, team building and leadership. Maselli has more than 30 years of public speaking experience and has a unique ability to educate others on effective and advanced presentation skills.
In his role as an ambassador, Frank Maselli will act as a business development strategist, working with advisors to establish their business-building goals and objectives and provide his unparalleled insight to help them modernize their marketing strategies, improve their public speaking skills and establish best practices for generating referrals, building better client relationships and growing assets. Advisors will be able to tap into Maselli’s expertise to grow their marketing and sales pipeline, and can access his extensive catalog of programs and resources including Passion Prospecting: Building Your Business the Modern Way, Webinar Presentation Skills: 6 Professional Tips to Maximize Your Virtual Impact and Thriving in Chaos: 5 Success Strategies for Scary Times.
“The choice to team up with C2P was an easy one to make,” said Maselli. “We share the same client-first philosophy that is so crucial to building a successful financial practice. I look forward to working with Clarity 2 Prosperity advisors and appreciate the opportunity to share the knowledge and insights I’ve gained throughout of my career with an organization that shares the same credo of always prioritizing what is in the client’s best interest.”
For more information on Clarity 2 Prosperity, visit www.Clarity2Prosperity.com.
About C2P Enterprises
C2P Enterprises consists of four individual companies that share one vision: improving the lives of American families through holistic financial planning. Prosperity Capital Advisors is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) that provides financial planning and holistic wealth management solutions to investment advisors and clients nationwide. Valor Capital Management is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser operating as a portfolio strategist and turnkey asset management program. Clarity Insurance Marketing is a best interest-focused insurance marketing organization that facilitates product screening, selection and support for all lines of fixed insurance products. Clarity 2 Prosperity is a financial training, coaching and IP development organization committed to simplifying the financial planning process for financial advisors while helping them to understand best practices for integrating investment and insurance solutions in a single, holistic plan. Collectively, these organizations provide advisors the training, resources, products and tools to successfully grow their independent advisory firm while serving in the best interest of each of their clients. For more information, visit www.C2PEnterprises.com.
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What really determines happiness for your clients in retirement? A client’s savings may be a great indicator of security. But is their portfolio diversified enough to account for the income they’ll need as well?
In the latest Bucket Plan OnDemand podcast episode, Dave Alison discusses the importance of lifetime income for your clients’ long-term retirement happiness.
Along with Vice President of Clarity Insurance Marketing, Kalem Mackey, and Walter Young of the 5th Option, the three discuss new and important ways to rethink annuities in retirement as a critical piece of a holistic plan.
It’s okay if you’re not excited about annuities. Annuities are not exciting.
Annuities aren’t the exciting part of the portfolio. It’s the foundational piece that we can then add the exciting components to.
Annuities in retirement help to take the sequence of returns risk, the cash flow risk, and the longevity risk off the table so that you can get more comfortable exploring the exciting stuff. It’s not the vehicle itself but what you do with the vehicle. With a lifetime income annuity, there is no worry if interest rates are good or if they’re bad. You’re essentially purchasing a pension for as long as that client’s alive.
When considering which products to use in a holistic plan, it’s important to think about the economic environment we’re in.
Walter points out, “The current economic environment is way different than it was 10 years ago, and in 10 years will be different again. And so, we have all these tools at our disposal, and we should not be afraid to use them in the right economic environments.”
Right now, we’re in a low-interest-rate environment, and no one knows if or when that will change.
“Maybe in 20 years, we’ll be having a completely different conversation about annuities, but I think we have to understand that every financial vehicle has a job it can do and that it can be valuable if it’s within a holistic plan.”
Especially with where bonds are at right now, lifetime income annuities can be a great replacement for clients looking for more liquidity.
A lifetime income annuity gives you a place to be able to take additional withdrawals without penalty-free or surrender charges, or anything like that. It also gives you value to a rebalancing process if markets get volatile.
“To be able to substitute out a portion of those bonds to put in a lifetime income annuity, I think it just it just works, it’s diversification. It’s not just sticking with this three-asset class portfolio of cash bonds and equities. It’s now looking at offloading some of that bond risk to the insurance company,” says Dave.
Often, the choice to use annuities in retirement comes down to the way advisors are licensed or how they practice. But Walter points out that it can also be a matter of how advisors get paid.
“A person who’s AUM focused may not want to give dollars up to an annuity because they don’t get paid the same way. And, of course, if you’re insurance-focused, then you think everyone should have annuities.”
This is an opportunity to really put your client first and ask yourself what’s in their best interest. Even if annuities are not to our own benefit, it’s our job to understand all the existing options. So, our clients know all of the relevant information before making a choice.
“I know there are some advisors out there that may have been burned by certain products or companies in the past. But there’s just so much innovation in the annuity space. The products that are available today are so much more client-centric than they were 10, 15, 20 years ago.”
-Kalem Mackey
To learn more about some of the specific innovations and products, as well as trends and carriers of lifetime income annuities, listen to the full podcast episode here and schedule a call with us today.
The information provided in this presentation is not intended as investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only. The information in this presentation was accurate as of the time of the material was created. Tax laws and rulings can frequently change. Please discuss the client’s current situation with an accountant or tax advisor.
Has the virtual sales environment challenged you to find new ways of prospecting and lead nurturing? Are you acquiring leads from any of your digital marketing efforts? And if you are, are you struggling to convert them into clients?
In our latest Rainmaker Multiplier OnDemand podcast episode, Jason L Smith sat down with Robert Sofia, CEO of Snappy Kraken, an automated marketing solution for advisors looking to get and make more meaningful client connections.
Marketing in the financial services space has long been a unique challenge to solve. With the world going mostly online after March 2020, a new set of obstacles was introduced. Advisors had to give up their more traditional, in-person approaches to start developing digital strategies.
A lot of advice started popping up all over the internet – write more blogs, start a podcast, use communication tools like through video. Even if these tactics worked, however, many advisors are still challenged with working them into a complete marketing and lead nurturing strategy. Robert points out that this is the biggest marketing mistake advisors continue to make.
“And when I say complete strategy, what I mean by that is literally an end-to-end process for acquiring new contacts, nurturing those contacts until they’re ready to actually have a meaningful dialogue with you like an appointment or a real conversation, and then a sales process for converting them into clients.”
Nurturing contacts seems to be a step that’s particularly challenging for advisors, but unless all your new clients are coming to you via referrals, this step could be the most important to reconceptualize and re-strategize for an effective marketing strategy. Below are six actionable steps you can take, as discussed in this week’s podcast.
Many advisors tend to think tactically. Pre-COVID, the main tactic for getting new clients was seminars and workshops. Not surprisingly, when the ability to fill seminars and workshops went away, the solution for many was to brainstorm replacement tactics.
Robert explains, “The tendency is to think tactically, like, ‘Oh, I heard I should be doing more video.’ So they start doing video. Or, ‘I heard I should do a podcast,’ so they do a podcast… but not thinking about where those things fit in that overall strategy, which audience they’re right for, at which phase of that journey, etc.”
Many advisors end up with a very disconnected marketing strategy with a lot of gaps. This can hurt your nurturing efforts with new contacts because it does not translate as a cohesive, end-to-end process. New contacts need clear direction and a focused stream of incoming information based on where they are in their specific journey.
If the biggest marketing mistake is failing to have a complete strategy, then the next is the expectations advisors set around the outcomes of that strategy. Especially for advisors who are used to living off referrals or packing large rooms for in-person seminars, the slower pace of digital nurturing can make you feel impatient and even, initially, hopeless.
Robert explains, “When you’re dealing with the modern buyer, the modern consumer, the modern investor, and the way they do business, and the level of effort and contact that has to happen to build trust over time and convert, the reality of that is much different than what a lot of advisors think.”
Consumers these days have access to more information and more options than ever. That means the process of standing out, gaining trust, and closing a client will often take more than one or two meetings.
With digital marketing, don’t just adjust your expectations around longer-term nurturing, use it to your advantage. Consumers go online looking for answers to specific questions. Advisors who are in touch with consumers’ pain points can leverage those pain points to anticipate the kinds of solutions potential new clients will be seeking.
When framed properly, advisors can drive more new contacts to their digital content. With the right “magnets” they can get them opted into a process where you now have a chance to build credibility and trust over time. As people start acclimating to your content as their go-to resource for solutions, that will only increase their desire and their need to work with you.
According to Robert, “people with significant wealth are also slower to trust. And that’s why referrals work so well, there’s trust there. But if it’s cold, you have to be able to build that trust successfully in an automated fashion online.”
Once you’ve started building your collection of digital resources, you’ll want to get those resources in front of potential new clients as consistently and as often as possible. Some prospects who are further along in their journey may convert after just one or two emails. However, effective nurturing of prospects who aren’t even sure of their needs could require more and longer-term exposure.
Working with a company like Snappy Kraken, advisors can strategize a nurturing approach that accounts for all the most critical questions you need to ask yourself, but may not know how to answer: How do I segment my audiences? Which content should go to which audience, and when? What is the right delivery method and cadence? Etc.
Once you determine your lead nurturing strategy, Snappy Kraken will help you automate the execution as well. One of the challenges of digital marketing for advisors is how complex and time-consuming it can become. Marketing automation eliminates that concern.
The success of an automated marketing plan relies on the amount and the quality of the contacts you are getting. You can’t nurture leads if you don’t have any leads to nurture.
For advisors who don’t have a robust database of leads already, Snappy Kraken can help you build out your contacts. However, even for advisors who do, Snappy Kraken can still help you handle those leads more meaningfully and efficiently.
An effective lead nurturing campaign requires an organized management system that tracks contacts at each step of their journey. A brand-new contact will have different needs than a contact you’ve already been nurturing for a few months. Likewise, a contact who comes to you via a blog post may be at a different point in their journey than one who has already paid for and attended a workshop or seminar.
A quality automated financial marketing strategy will rely on the kind of organization that only a sophisticated CRM can provide.
When strategizing lead nurturing content for your prospects, make sure your own value-add is always front and center. Blog posts, podcasts, and emails are great opportunities to share your knowledge around consumers’ specific pain points and questions. But think bigger too. Showcase how your expertise is different and how the experience of working with you will be different.
Perhaps the biggest reason clients don’t move forward with advisors is uncertainty. When you are nurturing prospects, you can build trust by showing them that your planning process works.
The Bucket Plan is a proven, turnkey financial planning process for holistically gathering data, documenting findings, and delivering asset-positioning strategies in your clients’ best interests. The Bucket Plan differentiates your business from other advisors’ businesses. But it also helps your prospects understand their path and the progress they’re going to make as you take them through your financial planning process.
To learn more, listen to the podcast here and schedule a call with us today.
The information provided in this presentation is not intended as investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only. The information in this presentation was accurate as of the time of the material was created. Tax laws and rulings can frequently change. Please discuss the client’s current situation with an accountant or tax advisor.