How to Improve Your Financial Advisor Sales Process

Being a financial advisor today requires more than understanding your clients’ financial picture. It now demands a mastery of client relationships and sales processes to attract clients and support growth. As the financial landscape evolves, so too must the strategies employed by advisors to remain competitive and meet the ever-changing needs of their clients. Empathy and client feedback have never been more important in creating a client-centric approach that fosters trust and long-term relationships. Let’s take a look at some ways you can better understand and improve your sales process as an advisor.

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Establish a Repeatable Sales Process

A consistent and repeatable sales process can help to ensure a consistent flow of leads and significantly contribute to the development of a reputable brand. Clients are more likely to feel confident, entrusting their financial well-being to a brand that demonstrates consistency and professionalism. A systematic approach to acquiring and retaining clients is a powerful tool for advisors, one that may contribute to the pursuit of growth and stability in an industry where these qualities are highly prized.

When determining the most suitable sales process, financial advisors must consider several factors. These include the complexity of the financial products or services offered, the demographics of the target clientele, the length of the sales cycle and the personal selling style of the advisor. By carefully selecting and tailoring a sales process that aligns with these factors, financial advisors can enhance their ability to attract and retain clients, thereby securing their practice’s future.

Advisors who are looking to optimize their marketing and lead generation efforts may consider SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform (AMP). AMP is a marketing and lead generation service that provides tools for managing and organizing outreach activities, including access to client referrals and features for automated messaging. The platform includes options to set up email and text campaigns and to prioritize outreach using a dynamically updated call list.

Robert Gilliland, managing director and senior wealth advisor at Concenture Wealth Management in Houston, says the switch from manually tracking leads to an automated system has helped his firm streamline their outreach efforts.

“The way that we used to do it is a lead would come in, and we would put it into an (Excel) spreadsheet. Then we had a process for how often we would go through and contact them,” he told SmartAsset. “Now with AMP, it makes it so much easier, because a lot of that process ends up being automated. And being able to automate that takes a lot off of my plate.”

AMP also integrates with common CRM and scheduling tools to help keep prospect information and communications organized, and offers support resources to assist with onboarding and use of the platform.

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Improve Lead Quality

The key to growing your client base often lies in the quality of leads funneling into your business. High-quality leads are the lifeblood of a financial advisor’s practice, with a direct impact on conversion rates and, ultimately, revenue. 

High-quality leads are generally determined by a combination of factors, including a substantial amount of investable assets and well-defined investment goals that match the advisor’s expertise. These leads typically show engagement readiness, such as attending seminars or downloading educational content, and their financial goals should align with the advisor’s services, whether that’s retirement planning, wealth management for high-net-worth individuals or helping young professionals grow their wealth.

A 2024 Kitces report titled “How Financial Planners Actually Market Their Services” examined which marketing channels were most likely to produce the highest-quality leads. The best-rated lead generation strategies included:

• Client referrals
• Traditional solicitors
• Centers of influence
• Hosted radio shows

Overall, client referrals ranked as the most popular marketing tactic, with 88% of advisors relying on them for lead generation. Compared to other lead gen tactics, referrals also had the highest success rate for new client acquisition. ¹

Leaning into a referral strategy, either from clients or centers of influence, may be effective if you’re attracting high-quality leads. Developing a strong referral program, incentivizing clients for referrals with financial rewards, hosting client events to show appreciation, and consistently offering top-tier service are some of the strategies you might use to increase referrals directly and indirectly.

Networking, meanwhile, can bring you into contact with other professionals, such as estate planning attorneys, tax attorneys and CPAs, who may be willing to refer clients to you for services they don’t offer. Keep in mind that these types of referral relationships tend to be most beneficial when they’re reciprocal, with referrals flowing both ways.

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Find the Right Sales Pitch

Crafting an effective sales pitch for financial advisor services requires a strategized approach that can resonate with prospective clients. To begin, advisors should reflect on how their pitch can directly address client needs. What questions or concerns might the client have based on preconceptions about their finances? How can your advisor services help provide a specific solution?

You can achieve this by researching your target audience thoroughly and developing an ideal client avatar or buyer persona. The goal is to understand your ideal client’s:

• Demographic background
• Financial situation, including their income, investable assets, and net worth
• Investment interests
• Risk tolerance and investment concerns/worries
• Short-term and long-term objectives

Once you have an idea of who your ideal client is, the next step is to determine what sets your product or service apart from the competition. That gives you a foundation for highlighting the features, benefits and value propositions that are most relevant to your audience’s needs and preferences through your marketing.

Another way to connect with target clients is to grab their attention with a strong hook. You may be able to do this by posing a thought-provoking question, a compelling statistic, or a relevant anecdote in your email newsletters, blog content, or social media content.

You may also want to shift your focus to highlight benefits and not features. Instead of listing the features of your products or services, you could focus on the specific value you offer to clients.

On the other hand, Justin Fitchko of DayMark Wealth Partners in Ohio, has found that less is often more when it comes to that first interaction with a prospective client.

“Generally, my approach is to be conversational, not come off overly salesy. I don’t try to ‘hard close’ them,” Fitchko told SmartAsset. “In short, I just try to be myself. That’s really my approach, for better or for worse.”

Put Yourself in the Shoes of Potential Clients

Taking an empathetic approach with clients can help you build trust, understand their needs and provide personalized guidance. Start by being transparent and honest. You can do this with clear communication that explains the risks and potential outcomes of different financial strategies. Also, make sure that you disclose any conflicts of interest.

Another strategy can be to encourage clients to share their thoughts and feelings through open-ended questions. This could allow them to express themselves more freely and provide you with valuable insight into their motivations and priorities, so that you can help them develop a personalized financial strategy.

Before implementing a plan, take the time to understand client goals and values. What are they striving to achieve? What is most important to them? This will help you tailor recommendations and financial planning strategies that align specifically.

Additionally, don’t overlook major financial milestones. These can include saving for a wedding or a first home, becoming parents and planning for retirement. You may want to pay attention to other important life transitions like divorce or job loss as well, and offer your guidance to help clients strategize financially to get through those times of need.

Solicit Feedback and Take Action 

Client feedback can help you gauge the effectiveness of financial advising strategies and overall client experience. To better understand client satisfaction, financial advisors must consider the most effective ways to solicit detailed feedback. This may include electronic surveys, personal interviews, or focus groups to ensure a broad and representative sample of client opinions is obtained. Engaging clients through these varied methods can lead to more comprehensive insights.

As financial advisors reflect on their own experiences with client feedback, they might consider answering questions about whether they have ever been surprised by client feedback or which methods they found most effective for gathering honest client opinions. This can lead to a more client-centric approach, as the actions you take based on that feedback matter most.

Bottom Line

Improving your sales process can support growth and enhance client satisfaction. By focusing on personalized strategies, leveraging technology effectively and nurturing long-term relationships, financial advisors can navigate through market challenges and achieve long-term success in today’s dynamic landscape.

Tips for Growing Your Firm

• It’s important to find a sustainable sales pipeline but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it with some help. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. With a single subscription, you can receive high-intent investor leads and get the tools you need to convert them. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
• Online marketing can help you to expand your reach, but in a crowded marketplace, it’s vital that you leverage marketing strategies that will get you noticed. If you’re trying to grow your footprint online, consider these 10 digital marketing ideas for financial advisors.

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