Like most things, investment advisor marketing starts with Google. Building your web presence is the first step toward a robust marketing plan for financial advisors.

Check out these investment advisor marketing survey results from the 2020 eMoney Consumer Marketing Survey.

• 98% say the website is important to them when choosing a wealth professional
• 84% prefer personalized content tailored to them
• 63% report educational content makes marketing strategies for financial advisors stand out
• 42% begin their pursuit for an advisor on search engines

So, once you’ve built your website and set up your social media channels as a financial advisor, what digital marketing tips should you focus on next?

How does Google find your site and know to whom to recommend it?

Schedule a Marketing Consultation

How Top Investment Advisors Use Marketing to Grow their Business

The answer is content marketing.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is an inbound marketing practice in which you advertise your business through creating and sharing relevant, informative, and entertaining content. With engaging content and effective lead generation methodologies, prospects will find their way to you over traditional outbound advisor marketing methods.

Types of Content That Drive Engagement

Content can mean anything from a tweet to an annual report, but some of the most common types include:

• Blogs
• Email
• Infographics
• Podcasts
• Quizzes
• Videos
• Whitepapers

Choose How to Market Yourself

The goal of marketing strategies for financial advisors should be to guide each prospect through the sales funnel.

The Sales Funnel Process

1. Prospects give you their contact information to access a piece of gated content you have produced. This takes them from the prospect stage of the buyer’s journey to the lead stage.
2. Next, leads move further through the sales funnel as both the marketing and sales departments qualify them. You continue to provide them with valuable content and allow them to get to know you and your business better until they feel comfortable enough to schedule a call or meeting.
3. Finally, you hand them off to sales and let the closers convert them into paying customers.
4. Measure your results! You can analyze your efforts to see lead generation and conversion results.

Metrics are key to learning what worked and what didn’t, so you don’t waste your valuable advertising budget on things that don’t bring in any new business.

One very important digital marketing tip is this: NEVER recommend a particular product or investment to a broad audience.

No matter how targeted you get with your digital marketing, you can never fully control who sees your content, and you don’t want to make blanket statements that won’t apply to everyone.

Each client should receive one-on-one holistic financial planning advice tailored to their specific needs.

You should only suggest strategic investments or specific products after developing a relationship and understanding their individual financial objectives.

Are You Ready To Grow As a Financial Advisor? Schedule a Call

Tap Into Different Communication Channels

Our industry changes quickly, so it is vital that you stay as up-to-date on investment advisor marketing trends as you do market forecasts.

Luckily, there are countless convenient ways to communicate directly with your peers to spread a wealth of knowledge about investment advisor marketing, industry news, digital marketing tips, and more.

• Attend Virtual Workshops
• Leverage SMEs and Influencers
• Advertise Locally in Your Community
• Publish Whitepapers and eBooks
• Network with Other Financial Professionals
• Participate in Online Forums
• Speak at Live Events
• Build Networking Relationships
• Engage with Experts on Social Media
• Join Professional Associations or Clubs
• Publish in Periodicals
• Sign Up for Newsletters and Alerts
• Utilize Innovative Technology & Software
• Follow Relevant Blogs and Reports
• Monitor Regulatory Agency Websites
• Solicit feedback from Clients
• Appear as a Guest on Podcasts

The Importance of Blending Traditional Marketing with Digital Strategies

Digital marketing is crucial to being competitive in today’s market. But don’t forget to market your business the old-fashioned way, with direct mail and physical advertisements in your local community.

To neglect traditional investment advisor marketing methods is to disengage from your community. Use traditional advisor marketing methods for both lead generation and client retention.

The best laid marketing strategies for financial advisors have a deliberate mix of educational content, diverse media, and personalized client communications.

• Lean into acts of goodwill
• Invest in your community
• Sponsor a little league team
• Purchase ad space in small-town newspapers and billboards.
• Send small gifts or greeting cards in the mail.

It doesn’t have to be extravagant! Even a simple handwritten thank you note goes a long way in adding a personal touch that other wealth professionals lack.

Become a pillar of your community so that everyone nearing retirement age knows your name.

Schedule a FREE 20-minute call with one of our expert business development representatives to learn more about investment advisor marketing.

March is Women’s History Month! There are more women nearing retirement age now than ever before, so it’s time to ditch the boys club and learn how to increase your lead generation by targeting women. With more women than ever nearing retirement, now is the time to break away from outdated norms and adopt strategies tailored to financial planning for women.

At its foundation, financial planning for women may follow the same principles as it does for men—but the key to success lies in understanding women’s unique financial journeys and creating custom plans that support their goals.

Unfortunately, many wealth professionals don’t even bother to alter their client communication style when financial planning for women. In fact, 67% of women feel misunderstood by their advisor, and 53% don’t even have one.

Check out C2P’s latest podcast: A Woman’s Clarity! Get inspired by real stories and expert financial tips for women.

What Are Women Looking from a Financial Advisor?

If you’re serious about reaching this market, start by studying women and financial planning from a digital marketing lens.

1. Educate yourself on digital marketing tips you need to target, convert, and close more women.
2. Utilize proven digital marketing tips to find more female prospects.
3. Create engaging content dedicated to educating and informing women about taking control of their financial future.

Before the first meeting, brush up on your client communication skills. Make sure you actively listen to their concerns. You want to create a safe space for them to ask questions; the last thing you want is to sound condescending.

Part of financial planning for women is teaching them how to take charge of the future, empowering them to make strategic decisions they can feel good about. It all starts online.

If you don’t have any ladies in your office, now might be the right time to consider adding a new hire to your team using our new Advisor Career Path model.

Alex Hopkin started her company, Simply Paraplanner, to help military wives and stay-at-home moms have more flexibility to work remotely in the finance sector. Alex has been a guest on the Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand Podcast twice already this year!

• Coffee Break with C2P: Celebrating International Women’s Day (March 2022)
• Advisor Career Path: The Power of Paraplanners (February 2022)

You can also partner with female attorneys or accountants for client referrals.

What Questions Should You be Asking These Prospective Clients?

Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions—having an open dialogue is crucial to effective client communications.

• What are your goals for retirement?
• Have you experienced any major life events lately?
• Do you have any expected major life events planned for the near future?
• Do you have aging or ill parents you may need to care for in the future?
• Are there any home repairs needed or other large expenditures planned?
• Are there any children in your family for whom you’d like to start a trust or college fund?
• Do you have any experience investing or saving for retirement?
• How much money do you want guaranteed in your financial plan when you retire?
• What are your top 3 greatest fears or concerns about the future of your financial situation?
• What do you hope to achieve from working with a financial advisor?

Having a deep understanding of your clients and prospects allows you to engage with your prospects, which leads to better lead generation numbers.

Best Ways to Discuss Life Insurance Strategies for Women

Unique Financial Challenges Women Face

When conducting financial planning for women, you must address their specific financial insecurities, whether they’re single aunts, divorced mothers, married sisters, or widowed grandmothers.

Wage Gap

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, women earn only 82.3% of what men make, and the gap increases for women of color.

Time off for parenting and caregiving often reduces long-term earnings, which is critical to address in financial planning for women.

Financial Literacy

Did you know men major in economics at twice the rate of women?

This is where you need to consider adjusting your client communications strategy. We live in a patriarchal society that often fails its women in the way of financial education.

In fact, only 20% of women claim they felt their parents sufficiently prepared them for managing their finances as an adult, according to Fidelity. A major part of your role is offering actionable financial tips for women to bridge this gap.

Family Responsibilities

Much of society functions because of women’s unpaid labor.

Women perform the majority of childcare, homeschooling, and household tasks, and often they are the ones responsible for and taking care of any aging parents as well.

Life Expectancy

Let’s say the husband handles the family finances. He will likely pass first. What happens then?

The Family Estate Organizer (FEO) is an immeasurable tool that allows a widow to seamlessly take ownership of all the necessary accounts, passwords, contacts, etc. Everything is organized into a binder and kept in a fireproof safe, ready for emergencies.

Addressing long-term care and life insurance options is very important when financial planning for women. Statistically, women live about five years longer than men, so they are often worried about the longevity of their funds. Your client doesn’t want to run out of money and burden her loved ones.

How Financial Advisors Help Women Achieve Their Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

Although studies show women control most of the family’s day-to-day spending, they are often left out of the financial decisions that impact their long-term care.

Utilize proven lead generation strategies to target more female clients and prospects. In 2015, BlackRock reported only 30% of women ages 55-64 felt well-prepared for retirement—there is ample opportunity for you to increase your lead generation numbers among women.

Help your female clients:

• Prioritize themselves over their children or grandchildren.

• Balance support for children without compromising retirement

• Use wealth intentionally—whether to travel, give, or simply enjoy life

In women and financial planning, the advisor’s job is to find a balance between the goals your client wants to achieve now, soon, and later. Some expect to have plenty left over after they’re gone.

Others want to tiptoe the line between spending it all in their last good years and not running out of funds before they die.

Empower More Women Through Personalized Financial Advice

Financial planning for women is about more than numbers. It’s about creating clarity, building confidence, and offering a roadmap that aligns with your client’s life, values, and vision.

Ready to support more women in achieving financial freedom?

Schedule a Meeting

Learning how to talk to clients and find the communication tools that work for you is crucial to your financial advisor’s success and, ultimately, the relationships you build with your customers and their families. Simplifying client communication can enhance financial advisor client communications, making it easier to develop trust and camaraderie with the people you serve.

In a 2019 survey, 85% of respondents said that communication tools and style would be considered when deciding whether to retain an investment advisor. 

Greg Hammer is a Yale graduate with a degree in applied mathematics who has spent the last decade with C2P Enterprises, learning how to simplify the financial planning process and talk to clients more effectively.

In a recent episode of the Bucket Plan On-Demand Podcast, he and Dave Alison discussed proven metaphors and relatable examples you can start using right away to help your customers better understand the role of an investment advisor and the benefits of working with one. 

Greg’s holistic financial practice services 800 clients per year. Greg attributes much of his growth to the financial advisor education he has received and the communication tools and methods he has refined throughout his career.

“I tell my clients to think of me as the mechanic. I need to lift the hood and show you what’s going on. That’s my job as a fiduciary. But after our relationship grows—if you never want to look under the hood again, I’m good with that. When you want me to shut up, tell me to shut the hood!” 

-Greg Hammer 

Investment Advisors Need to Simplify Complex Ideas 

The first meeting can be overwhelming for a new client. 

Greg recommends:

• Explaining upfront that you’re going to be throwing a large amount of information at them in a brief period.
• Encourage them to ask questions but let them know that it’s okay if they don’t understand everything. That’s why they hired you! 

Use the mechanic analogy to simplify financial planning:

• When you take your car to the shop, do you understand everything the mechanic does? No, you trust the expert.
• Financial planning is no different.
• You could spend all day explaining every detail of the portfolio, running through possible scenarios and market forecasts. But most clients don’t want that—they want to come in annually for a tune-up. Unless the check engine light comes on, they don’t want to worry about it. 

A good investment advisor:

• Prevents breakdowns when they can.
• When they can’t—they pop the hood back open and fix the problem at its source. 

The mechanic analogy is easy to understand. 

When using jargon and acronyms,

• Your client will feel less bombarded if they know upfront that they don’t need to comprehend every little thing you say. 
• Reassure them that they hired an expert to handle the complexities.

However, the client is still responsible for the upkeep of their portfolio. There will always be gaps in the plan and changes to the market. You can’t take a set it and forget it approach to retirement. 

A brand-new car still requires maintenance, after all. You have to change the oil, rotate the tires, and check for any damage or vulnerabilities. 

There is a reason that financial advisor education is a continuous process—things tend to change quickly.  

Life happens. When you get a flat tire, you assess, adjust, and continue your journey. 

Top Investment Advisors Take the Time to Ask Questions 

Ongoing holistic financial planning will account for adjustments and life changes. Retirement planning is like a road trip, sometimes your priorities change, and you need to alter your destination entirely. 

“Just because you didn’t see the pothole doesn’t mean it’s not going to hurt.” 

-Greg Hammer

An investment advisor should ask simple, decisive, open, and direct questions. 

The more data you gather, the better your decision-making will be throughout the planning process.  

For instance—instead of flying blind and reworking the Income Gap Assessment over and over, ask the customer an honest question.  

How much money do you want to be guaranteed in your financial plan when you retire? 

Now you know how much you need to put in annuities, as a bond alternative—it’s as simple as that. 

On a recent episode of the Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand Podcast, Bryan Bibbo and DC Chamberlin recommend scheduling quarterly financial advisor-client communications with your VIP customers to keep them updated on how their accounts perform and ask questions about what is going on in their life. 

Additionally, don’t be afraid to ask them questions about themselves and their families. You want to connect with them on a human level, even if that’s through such commonalities as sports teams or musical tastes. Building emotional connections in financial advising not only strengthens trust but also helps when nurturing your leads.

Common Questions Financial Advisors Should Ask Their Clients 

• Has your family experienced any major life events recently?  
  • Graduation 
  • Promotion 
  • Retirement 
  • Engagement 
  • Marriage 
  • Divorce 
  • Birth 
  • Medical Diagnosis 
  • Death 
• Do you have any expected milestones coming up? 
• Are you planning a vacation or other significant expenditure? 
• Are you considering any surgeries or medical procedures? 
• Since we last spoke, do you have any new financial needs, concerns, or goals? 

How can you utilize various financial advisor client communications to develop your relationships further and provide constant value throughout all stages of the customer lifecycle? 

Consider:

• Sending a card or flowers depending on the occasion.
• Using promotional products or corporate gifts around the holiday season to say thank you and stay top of mind going into the new year. 
• Personalizing gifts based on client conversations – like when Bryan’s team sent a travel book on Tahiti to a client whose wife was turning 60 and planning a trip there.

Dave Alison suggests going so far as to ask where they’re staying and have a nice bottle of wine sent to their room.  

Want to learn more simple, practical financial advisor-client communications? Learn how we can help you build strong relationships with your customers!

Schedule a Free 20 Minute Consultation

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:

• Do you aspire to become a truly holistic advisor?
• Are you entrepreneurial and looking to grow?
• Do you need more prospects coming into your office?
• Are you interested in providing better advice to your clients?
• Do you want to add additional rainmakers to your business?

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.

Starting a Tax Practice Yourself

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:

• Brings revenue directly to the firm
• Tax practice revenue is net profit
• The cost of getting a potential client in front of you is low
• Profitable lead generation solution
• You control the business and how the returns are delivered
• Become a better holistic planner when you incorporate the taxes

Disadvantages:

• It’s a lot of work
• It takes a lot of time that you could be using to focus on financial planning
• You will need to hire more team members to handle the business
• You’re responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations until growth warrants hiring a tax manager

Borrowing Clients from an Existing Tax Firm

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:

• The audience is already made up of tax clients
• You don’t have the staffing expenses of hiring CPAs
• Tax firm’s location can serve as your second office for meetings
• You’re the next logical buyer when the owner sells or retires.

Disadvantages:

• Marketing is out of your control
• You have little say in the staffing choices

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.

For more information on adding tax services to your firm’s offerings, schedule a FREE call with a business development representative.

How Do Top Advisors Bring High-Net-Worth Clients?

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?

Beyond attracting better clients, building long-term relationships and securing valuable client referrals are essential for sustained growth.

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.

Raise Your Minimums to Attract Elite Clients

Several years ago, DC Chamberlin 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

Transitioning Existing Clients

When making this shift, 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.

Schedule a Complimentary Call

Ask for Referrals

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.

Nurture Relationships with Existing Clients

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.
• 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.

• Do they have a milestone birthday coming up?
• Are they having surgery?
• Did a child go off to college?
• Are they planning a vacation?
• Was there a birth or death in the family?

Think about how you can create more intimate moments to further develop those relationships.

• Consider sending a card or flowers depending on the occasion.
• Send promotional products or corporate gifts around the holiday season
• 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.

Set Expectations With the Second Chair Advisor

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

Scale Your Business with C2P Enterprises

Do you want to raise your minimums, attract high-net-worth clients, and grow your AUM by $25 million next year?

You can also explore inspiring success stories from top advisors.

Schedule a Meeting

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 start your own tax practice.

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.

Attend The Tax Management Journey® financial advisor training program

Why Adding a Tax Practice Could Benefit Your Business

You should consider incorporating a tax practice if you:

• Are an entrepreneur looking to grow your business
• Want to provide better advice to your clients by integrating tax management
• Aspire to become a holistic wealth professional
• Need to find new prospects and potential customers
• Want to add additional rainmakers to your business

We’ve identified three ways to begin integrating a tax practice into your business model.

1. Buy it
2. Build it
3. Borrow it

Buying a Tax Practice

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.

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.

1. Ensure it’s a profitable entity
2. Assess the owner’s intentions
3. Make sure there is a solid team in place

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.

Building a Tax Practice

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.

[Related Read: Renting vs. Building a Tax Practice]

Borrowing a Tax Practice

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.

Tax Planning

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

 

Turn Tax Complexity into Financial Opportunity

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.

Financial Professional Use Only

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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTAdvisorPR^®

(702) 685-7450

 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.
Read more about our business solutions for financial advisors.

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.

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.

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.

 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 C2P Enterprises’s website.

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). 

###

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. During the episode they discuss how financial advisors can optimize their lead nurturing process. 

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 marketing 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. Additionally, 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 and practices for financial advisors.

Below are six actionable steps you can take, as discussed in this week’s podcast.

Stop Thinking Tactically

Many advisors tend to think tactically, without a strategic framework to guide their efforts.

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.”

A well-rounded lead nurturing strategy ensures that every marketing touchpoint aligns with the client’s journey and builds trust over time.

 Adjust Your Expectations

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.

Setting realistic expectations and focusing on long-term relationship building can improve client acquisition.

Use Online Marketing to Build Longer-Term Trust

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.”

Automate Your Marketing

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. This is why implementing marketing automation to your current strategy is essential.

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:

• Segment audiences based on their financial journey.
• Automate content delivery to ensure timely engagement
• Optimize marketing cadence to nurture leads efficiently.

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.

Don’t miss! Mastering Email Marketing: Lead Nurturing for Financial Advisors 

Implement a CRM for Lead Tracking

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.

Have a Proven Process

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
• Helps your prospects understand their path and the progress they’re going to make as you take them through your financial planning process

Take the Next Step

Want to enhance your lead nurturing strategy? Learn how The Bucket Plan® can help financial advisors convert more leads into clients.

Schedule a Call
Financial Professional Use Only

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.