Does Your Ideal Prospect Already Have an Advisor?
Good marketing is about knowing exactly who your ideal client is and what motivates them to choose you. This is true across the board, but the need is even higher for financial advisors.
It’s a lot of work to choose a financial advisor. It entails everything from tracking down all of your assets to getting vulnerable about financial insecurities. At the end of the day, the goal of marketing isn’t just to get someone to like you. it’s to motivate them enough to pick you.
Want to understand better your ideal prospect and what motivates them to choose you? Ask this question.
“Does my ideal prospect already work with a financial advisor?”
It’s one we ask every new client when creating their strategy. The answer will shed incredible light on the problems you can help them solve.
The Power of Client Context
If you want to understand your ideal client’s pain points, you need to understand their context.
What are they experiencing that generates enough motivation to make a change?
This is why their current advisor relationship (or lack of one) can tell us so much about their top pain points. Context informs pain points, which in turn informs our marketing.
Prospects Without an Advisor
If your ideal client doesn't currently work with an advisor, think about what problems they are likely to encounter that make them say, “That’s enough! We need help!”
None of these suggestions may be breaking news to you, but are they showing up in your marketing with conviction? Here are a few we have focused on:
Lack of focus on goals
Unpreparedness for emergencies
Poor planning for big expenses
Complex decisions (like retiring or layoffs)
Wasteful blindspots (like taxes or delayed investing)
Missed opportunities (like DAFs or executive compensation)
Each of these represents either a slow, growing fear or a specific moment in time. Each of these could easily be prevented by having the right advisor fill knowledge gaps and providing positive accountability.
Your ideal client needs to see a contrast – life without guidance versus life with guidance. Their enemy is their lack of focus, experience, and follow-through. How can you demonstrate your value against a backdrop like that?
Prospects Who Already Have an Advisor
On the other hand, many of our clients suggest that their ideal client likely already has a financial advisor they’ve worked with. Why is that?
As one of our clients put it:
“The clients we win from other advisors usually already have a higher value for financial advice. They’re also usually a step ahead in their wealth-building because they’ve already been investing. We just believe that we provide a better experience and know how to generate more financial value.”
As far as prospects go, they commonly have higher net worth with more complexity to handle. They also tend to have a higher regard for their advisor’s advice. Sign us up!
According to YCharts, this unhappy avatar client is generally frustrated with a lack of communication and proactive planning. In the case of big box store brands, they also develop a growing distrust of proprietary products. All common knowledge in our industry.
The pain points are no surprise, but if you want to get a prospect to switch to your firm, what do you need to do?
Before we jump into the next section: We’d be remiss if we didn’t first say that marketing doesn’t magically change the practice you have. We’ve encountered advisors who have wanted to hire us to market to premium markets but were underequipped to actually serve them. It’s not a game we’re eager to play. So just to acknowledge the table stakes – be worthy of the brand you want to have.
Becoming the Better Alternative
Ironically, the prospect looking to switch advisors is generally facing many of the same pain points as the prospect we described above…
But their pain point isn’t themselves. It’s the advisor who should be the solution they’re looking for and is falling short.
There are a variety of ways you can attract and win this kind of client. For the sake of practicality, we’ll share a few value propositions that we have seen work first hand.
1. Win the Communication Game
You may be the best advisor in the world as far as results go – how do your clients know? Ready for these crazy stats from YCharts?
47.1% of advisor clients considered switching who they work with since 2020
More than 1 in 5 clients actually switched advisors since 2020
90% of clients say communication frequency & style is a deciding factor in retention and referrals
Our industry has long taken retention (and even referrals) for granted, but the ground is moving under their feet.
We’ve listened to many advisors who won new households from another advisor only to realize there wasn’t much that needed to be changed. Why did the family make a change? They felt in the dark about how they were doing and if they were on the right track.
If you’re creating value, don’t make your clients guess. Show them the impact created by working with your firm.
2. Anticipate Blindspots & Tackle Complexity
When we first started digging into the industry, we were amazed at how many advisors were absolute slouches when it came to proactively serving their clients. From lazy investment strategies (cookie cutter would be an insult to cookies) to lack of engagement in areas like insurance, taxes, or benefits….
If you provide value beyond investments (as you should), make it a key part of your value proposition. Don’t just wait for annual client reviews to talk about gaps or opportunities in their plan. Build it into your marketing – blogs, webinars, eBooks. Be the conversation starter when it comes to blindspots and complexity.
Our clients have seen great success in specific areas like executive compensation, industry niches, and inter-generational planning (LTC, estates, etc)
And as a bonus – any time you provide something that’s valuable and shareable to your clients, you give them an easy referral asset!
3. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Vision
Though it’s #3 on our list, this may be the most powerful differentiator among our clients who serve high-net-worth families. Think of it like this: “What problem does someone wrestle with when making money isn’t their problem?”
That’s why some of our most successful clients target high-net-worth families with focuses on:
Turning net worth into impact and legacy
Multi-generational stewardship
Overcoming personal and family dysfunction caused by finances (abundance specifically)
How to use financial success to discover and fund a life of purpose
These may not be as tactical as risk tolerance of investment timelines, but they answer a critical question for the high value household: Is this the kind of person/people that I want to partner with?
Don’t underestimate the power of vision in your value proposition.
So Now, Put This Into Practice
If you managed to stick around this long, taking a step forward with your marketing is probably a big item on your mind right now. Kudos! To help you take that step forward, here are my two suggestions:
The first option is to sit down with your team. Ask them this question and see where the conversation goes. You might be surprised who your team describes as your ideal client.
The other option? I invite you to book a call with our team.
We spend the first month of our client relationships crafting a fully aligned marketing strategy – aligning your brand with your ideal client. We own the progress, and help push your brand to become the growth asset you want it to be.
When you’re ready to take that step forward, click below.
