How to Prospect for New Advisors
Incoming text vomit.
To preface this post, in my opinion there are two types of financial advisors. Those who constantly strive for growth and those who are happy with stability. Neither type of advisor is better than the other. This is more geared towards those of us who aspire for more in all aspects of our lives, particularly your career. You have a personality where happiness comes from the pursuit of growth and not from achievements.
There is no secret sauce here, there is no shortcut. There is hard work. Hard work creates luck.
I see posts on this subreddit almost daily with people talking about getting their practice off the ground. "How did you guys build your book?" "How do I find new clients?"
Frankly, I have seen some pretty ridiculous comments where new advisors disparage people for their networking/prospecting strategies. Recently, "My boss told me to knock on people's doors, that is ridiculous." Yes, it may be tough and it may feel ridiculous but there's a reason they suggested that to you and there is a reason they are your boss.
Getting into the industry as a financial advisor is easier now than it ever has been but the fact remains that it is still HARD. If you want to be "the guy/girl", you need to pave your own way, whether it is at a firm or creating your own. You need to add value.
This is tough love for a lot of us but to really become a rain maker, to bring in good business, you NEED to work your ass off.
You need to either:
- Follow a proven networking strategy
- If you do this, you need to dedicate yourself to it and do it more than anybody else
- Come up with your own networking strategy
You also need to remember that to increase your "yes's", you also need to increase your "no's".
I am certainly not the best advisor in this sub nor am I the most successful but I have built a healthy practice over the last 6 years. I wanted to type out a strategy that I used, fairly succesfully, when I fist started. I never see it mentioned elsewhere.
The truth is, I am not the smartest person in the world, I do not have the best connections, but one thing I did was I worked my ass off. I made 200 cold calls per week, minimum. I still have the old call sheets. I worked 7AM-7PM most weekdays and worked for 4+ hours on Saturdays & Sundays. I've tried all different types of networking, from door knocking, to mailers, to seminars, to cold calls, etc.
I also invested heavily in "table events." This isn't something I invented but it is something I heavily dedicated myself to. I think all new financial advisors can benefit from implementing this strategy. Especially those of us who started with a book of absolutely zero clients.
This stuff is NOT hard, it is EASY. You just have to do it!
I spent every weekend for my first year as a licensed advisor at some sort of table event. I frequented the internet each week scouring the area for any sort of public event I could possibly find, farmers markets, 5k's at 6AM, home shows, remodeling shows, tech expos, boat shows, car shows, I went to a fuckin "Flow Fest" one time and stood around next to my booth while a bunch of hippies dropped acid and hula hooped for 6 hours.
Call event coordinators, introduce yourselves. "Hey, I realize I am not in tech but I'd love to set up a booth and teach people about financial wellness. How much do you typically charge?" Event planners WANT to sell you space, they don't care if you're even remotely related to the actual purpose of the event. I'd pay some 5K $100 and go meet just about everybody who showed up.
Buy a 6 foot plastic folding table, buy a branded table cloth from your firm, (4imprint.com). Buy a couple easels and go to Kinko's to print signs with catchy slogans on them, "Investment Management", "Retirement Planning", "Insurance", "RSU Diversification Strategies", whatever.
You’re at a 5k in the morning? Stop at Starbucks and buy a big jug of coffee to go with paper cups.
Buy big boxes of cookies from your local grocery stores bakery.
Do a giveaway. I'd buy a Seahawks jersey or a nice bottle of wine, all people had to do was come over and give me their name/email/phone number and I'd put them in the drawing. Oh guess what? The sign up sheet also had boxes to check for things they may need help with, I'd suggest they review the boxes and check a few things they had questions about.
After every weekend, you'll head back into the office on Monday with 5 to 50 new leads. HIT THE PHONES, CALL ALL OF THEM.
They don't answer? Call them again on Wednesday. They don't answer? Call them again on Friday. CALL THEM UNTIL THEY AGREE TO MEET OR TELL YOU TO STOP CALLING THEM.
My office had a big fuckin white board that everybody would see at some point each day. All of the advisors how our names on the board. Every time one of us booked a meeting, we would stroll over there like a champion and put a big checkmark next to our name. Guess what? If you didn't have 10 check marks by your name by Friday afternoon, you stayed in the office until 8PM making calls or until you did.
Now you're wondering, "Well, Tittyclapper, aren't a bunch of these people not qualified?"
If you're new to the industry, remove the word "Qualified" from your vocabulary, (unless you're talking about qualified assets).
Every single person you convinced to give their info to you is GOLD. You need PRACTICE. Meet with as many people as humanly possible and treat each meeting like it's your last chance to succeed.
If you find you are getting along well with a prospect and they need some assistance, but they aren't going to generate revenue, HELP THEM ANYWAY. You are new, it's not like you have a busy schedule. Be up front with them, "I've really enjoyed getting to know you and I think me and my firm can help out. Full disclosure, I will not be compensated in any meaningful way but I want to help. A great way you can return the favor is, if you're happy with my services, refer your wealthiest friend or family member to me. I'll make sure I treat them as well as I treated you."
When you are new, nobody is "beneath" you.
TLDR; This shit is a GRIND and the only way to succeed is to GRIND. Keep your head straight, stay motivated, and focus on taking a small step forward every day.
The only way to increase your "yes's" is to increase your "no's".
disclaimer: I am no longer affiliated with Voya.