"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." -- Michael Jordan
The complexities and challenges of operating a Financial Advisory practice for retail investors should not be understated. They include:
- Investors/clients and advisory teams themselves and their various unique human characteristics
- Many external economic factors including competition, the economy, technology, political, regulations, and social conditions.
- Processes of planning for the financial well-being of those clients including the management of their assets and the servicing of those clients.
- Retention and growth of their business
It’s simple to define but much more complex to manage all these variables. Therefore, if we can identify ways to simplify some of the individual tasks of operating a Financial Advisory practice, we must jump on it.
The successful advisory practice has three essential elements:
- Developing potential investors into prospects by getting them to know, like and trust you enough to meet with you. This is the marketing process.
- Converting those potential investors into clients by building a deep enough relationship through enhancing that trust so they say yes to your request to be a part of your advisory practice. This is the sales process.
- Fulfilling your clients wants and needs so exceedingly well that they want to help everybody they know to also become your clients. This is the servicing process.
Develop potential investors through LinkedIn.
According to Business of Apps, “LinkedIn is the world’s preeminent social network for professionals. Members create online résumés, listing their current and previous job roles, their skills, and their education.”
Of its 660 million+ in over 200 countries, the United States is the biggest market with 165 million users, 90 million who were senior-level influencers, and 63 million who were in decision-making positions (2019).
“If you’re looking to rub shoulders with the cream of the business world, LinkedIn is the place to do it – online at least. Executives from every Fortune 500 company use the social network, LinkedIn claims. There are even claims that four out of 10 millionaires use LinkedIn.”1
In addition, there are 3 million United States jobs posted every month, 9 billion content impressions take place on LinkedIn weekly, 280 billion feed updates viewed annually, and 130,000 articles are published on LinkedIn weekly.
If you want a list of quality prospects, LinkedIn can provide:
- All the information you need to pre-qualify them.
- Who is hiring?
- What your potential prospects are saying and reading
All you have to do is to boil information down to wisdom and possibilities using a structured process.
The power of LinkedIn for advisors lies in the connections of your connections (your second-degree connections). Use LinkedIn as a prospecting tool to get to know more people. The more first-degree connections you have, the more second-degree connections you will likely have in your network.
Six quick tips to prospecting on LinkedIn from experience:
- Don’t connect to other financial industry colleagues/competitors.
- Connect with all your clients, prospects, friends, family members, and appropriate COIs.
- People who are working are more likely to have broader networks.
- If you can find your health practitioners on LinkedIn, connect with them.
- Connect with any small business relationships you have.
- Prospecting through strangers has little value.
Here’s a simple process to follow for productive prospecting:
- Determine which of your connections you are comfortable using as an introduction source. (In general, don’t plan to go back to your connections more than twice.)
- Does your connection have a “good number” of connections?
- Decide how many names you will ask your connection to discuss (15 to 20 names is best).
- Go through your connection’s connections (your second-degree connections assuming they are “visible”) to decide which of those connections could be qualified introductions.
- Prepare an email from you to your first-degree connection saying, “In reviewing LinkedIn I noted there are some people you may know I’d like to discuss.”
The power of LinkedIn for advisors lies in the connections of your connections (your second-degree connections). Use LinkedIn as a prospecting tool to get to know more people. The more first-degree connections you have, the more second-degree connections you will likely have in your network.
Six quick tips to prospecting on LinkedIn from experience:
- Don’t connect to other financial industry colleagues/competitors.
- Connect with all your clients, prospects, friends, family members, and appropriate COIs.
- People who are working are more likely to have broader networks.
- If you can find your health practitioners on LinkedIn, connect with them.
- Connect with any small business relationships you have.
- Prospecting through strangers has little value.
Here’s a simple process to follow for productive prospecting:
- Determine which of your connections you are comfortable using as an introduction source. (In general, don’t plan to go back to your connections more than twice.)
- Does your connection have a “good number” of connections?
- Decide how many names you will ask your connection to discuss (15 to 20 names is best).
- Go through your connection’s connections (your second-degree connections assuming they are “visible”) to decide which of those connections could be qualified introductions.
- Prepare an email from you to your first-degree connection saying, “In reviewing LinkedIn I noted there are some people you may know I’d like to discuss.”
- Follow up with a call to your connections to get agreement to discuss the people.
- Let your connection know you will put together a note and set up a short chat.
- Follow up with the discussion to identify people your connection knows well enough to introduce you and is willing to do so.
- Discuss next steps.
LinkedIn is a powerful and productive platform to market and sell your services.
Related: Use This Method To Acquire New Clients Through Introductions!