Building a Wealth Management Business Around Your Ideal Clients
New clients are the lifeblood of your wealth management business. In this article, I'll provide a clear roadmap to attract and convert your ideal clients and set you up for long-term success.
Define Your Ideal Client
The first step in attracting new clients is to decide what type of person is your ideal client. My strategy is to look at who writes me the biggest checks and then filter for people I most enjoy working with. Then, I build a client avatar around those people. It's all about understanding their risks, opportunities, and strengths in order to craft a service model that hits all the right points. When you have this dialed in, you become irreplaceable, and that helps you avoid becoming a commodity.
Lead Generation and Attraction
Lead generation strategies will help you prospect for a steady stream of new clients. It’s a process of consistently putting out valuable information that makes people raise their hands and say, “I'm interested.” You can do this through any media that your ideal clients consume. You want to match the media with your market and the message that resonates with your ideal client. Direct marketing guru Dan Kennedy calls this the “message-market-media” match. It's an axiom in marketing not to be ignored.
Good old-fashioned personal connections are your best source of prospects. After that, you want to build a digital marketing presence. This allows you to leverage your message to many people and provide a resource for them to know, like, and trust you. To do this, you must create content so relevant to your target market that when they see it, they know they're likely to be a good fit for your services.
Over time, that list of leads becomes an asset—one that brings in new clients no matter if the market is up or down. Bad markets are actually great for finding new clients because other advisors are hiding under their desks, and that’s when people need someone who’s proactive.
Differentiation and Results
Differentiation is a great way to bring in new clients. You can’t just follow industry "best practices" - they tend to make you look like everyone else. So much of the advice in industry magazines is driven by vendors trying to push their products. Instead of listening to them, focus on what your clients need.
When you truly understand your target client and deliver real, tangible results, they’ll start referring their family, associates, and friends. I once had a client, not my largest by far, who referred millions of dollars in business to me simply because I delivered results that worked for him. He told people, “Just Google him,” and they did. That’s the kind of reputation you want to build.
Client Acquisition Process
The process of bringing in new clients follows these basic steps:
- Introduction
- Discovery
- Diagnostics
- Implementation
First, you get to know them and figure out if there’s a good fit. Then, during the discovery phase, you dig into their situation. When they start sharing their assets, liabilities, and other details, that’s when you know trust is being built. After that, you show them your proposal for them, and then it’s time to implement the plan. The goal is to make the process so smooth and easy that they think, "Wow, this used to be so much work, and now things just happen."
Building Personal Connections
Personal contact is king in the wealth management business. Social media and online strategies are fine, but they can’t replace real, personal relationships. The stronger the connection you make with someone, the faster they’ll become a client. When you make that personal connection, it’s much easier for them to feel comfortable doing business with you.
Expertise and Reputation
To really stand out, you need to be seen as an expert in your field. But that doesn’t come from using third-party content or following some cookie-cutter formula. You need to create original content that’s based on your real-world experience. You want to be so well-regarded in your niche that people can find you easily, and everything they see is positive. Keep a log of your experiences, refine your process, and stay ahead of industry changes.
Nurturing Leads
Lead generation is just the beginning. You’ve got to nurture those leads with content that keeps them engaged. Whether it’s a flagship email or a newsletter, make sure that what you send out provides real value. You want people to think, “I always want to open his emails because there’s something in there I need.” The goal is to get people off the web and into the real world—whether it’s through webinars, seminars, or one-on-one meetings. That’s where you build trust and turn leads into clients.
Mastering Your Niche
You’ve got to master the 20% of activities that generate 80% of the results. Once you understand your client avatar, focus on what really matters to them. Become an absolute master at the services they need the most. When you can clearly articulate how you’ll get them results, that’s when they become clients. You’re not selling them on some fancy sales technique—you’re showing them how you’ll get them exactly what they want.
Legal, Tax, and Market Changes
The market, the economy, tax laws—they’re always changing. That’s why clients need you. Most of the people I work with are busy. They don’t have time to stay on top of every market shift or tax change, and honestly, they don’t want to. They’re focused on their families, volunteer work, careers or business. They’re looking for someone who can handle all of that for them. Your job is to be their go-to person when things change, to make their financial lives easier.
Consistency, Personal Connection, and Delivering Results
Getting new clients is about consistency, personal connection, and delivering real results. By focusing on what your clients need, differentiating yourself from the pack, and mastering your niche, you’ll build trust and get more referrals. Lead generation is important, but nurturing those relationships and staying ahead of industry changes is what will set you apart. In the end, it’s about making your clients’ lives easier and showing them real, measurable results. That’s how you keep them coming back and get them telling others to do the same.