You know you can do the work, it’s getting the work that’s the challenge.
Believe us, we know that feeling.
We’re going to show you 8 exact ways you can get clients as a financial advisor.
These ideas are super grab-and-go — you can take these and start using them right now.
Here’s what we’re going to cover:
- Niche down
- Get really good at cold outreach (template included)
- Ask your existing clients for referrals
- Partner with people serving the same space
- Hang out in the right communities online
- Grow your organic traffic with good SEO
- Get really good at what you do (and overdeliver)
- Keep updating your site and portfolio
Before Getting Started...
Make sure you know your long-term goals as a financial advisor.
This includes career design: i.e. working primarily one-on-one or wanting to expand into a broader brand.
For example, if you have no interest in building any digital products, it may make more sense to prioritize cold pitches and classic networking over investing in content marketing.
You should also know the type of people you want to work with — your ideal client (also known as target persona).
Would you rather work your way up to people with a lot of assets, or do you prefer to work with a higher number of more average families and individuals?
Like any goal-setting and planning exercises, write out your thoughts. It’s always worth it.
Alright! Now for the clients part.
How to Gain Clients as a Financial Advisor
1. Niche Down
Choosing a niche can be difficult because it feels like you’re pigeon-holing yourself, but go ahead and make a choice. It doesn’t have to define you or your business forever, and I recommend picking one that you have some experience with.
For example, if you played Division 1 Football and are now working as a financial advisor, you could niche down to athletes and coaches.
What sounds more interesting to you:
Financial Advisor for Today’s Working Professionals
Or
The Financial Advisor that Miami’s Smartest Professional Athletes Work With
Pretty obvious, right?
Specificity sells.
Then, take that niche and make sure it’s portrayed everywhere. Your site, LinkedIn, socials, Twitter, everywhere.
It will be easier to close these clients too, since you can genuinely relate to their situation because of your background.
Of course, not many people play D1 Ball, but we all have interests and you need to leverage them to connect with “your people.”
2. Get Really Good at Cold Outreach
Sales is a numbers game, sure, but the quality of your outreach matters, too.
Spending a bit of time to personalize an email or LinkedIn Message goes a long way.
The best cold emails are:
- Short and punchy
- Personalized
- Flattering
- Offer a clear reason to reach out
- Are win-win
- Seeks to build a relationship first.
Take this hypothetical email from a financial advisor looking to get VC clients:
[FIRST NAME],
I saw you invested in [STARTUP] and are involved on the board of [NAME] (which is a really cool project, by the way — the [SPECIFIC PRODUCT] is fascinating], so I thought this story from another venture capitalist would be interesting to you:
John Doe is a 7-figure VC out of Austin.
He invested early in Facebook and LinkedIn and made a good chunk of change, but he realized he was spending so much time analyzing his firm’s investments that he was neglecting his own finances.
Jack and I met for coffee in 2019.
Three years later?
He has grown his net worth by 18% and has specific accounts for all of his major life goals like paying for his kid’s college fund and his dream home in Scotland — all in tax-advantaged accounts.
Obviously, there’s no guarantee that you will get the exact same results, but I’m willing to bet a quick conversation with me will bring a lot of clarity.
Have time for a short 15-minute chat?
On the house.
Best,
[YOUR NAME]
See how short and relevant that is? You could even include a link to a case study if you have the material public as well.
Even better if you’ve reached or interacted with each other on socials in some capacity before this email, in which case you can reference that moment.
There are so many ways to write good cold emails, but they all have those qualities.
Here’s another great example you can draw from.
And after you nail down a flow, start sending them out to as many relevant people as possible.
Try sending out 10 a day.
In ten days that’s 100 pitches.
Even 2 responses would make that time worth it.
3. Ask Your Existing Clients for Referrals
We often overlook the most obvious chance for expanding our client roster: our own clients.
If they are happy with your work and have a good connection with you, they will almost certainly be open to an email from you asking if they have anyone they think would be a good fit.
Hey, Sam!
I just wrapped up some work with a client and have some free space for the first time in a minute.
I was wondering if you had any friends or colleagues that you think would be a good fit for what I do?
Would really mean a lot.
Best,
[YOUR NAME]
It’s that easy.
Pro Tip: Find ways to interact with your client’s friends and family
Another great source for referrals are immediate family members of existing or past clients. There are few people you trust more than your siblings or other family members, so when a need arises for a service you know someone else has used, you tend to ask them for advice (and trust it).
That social fact is what makes software like LawSafe® so powerful for financial advisor referrals. LawSafe® is an online system that makes organizing sensitive estate documents and preparing for end-of-life simple. Adding something like that into your services makes perfect sense because they are already analyzing their financial life when working with you — why not also think about what happens to their finances after they die?
Then, once you make that pitch and onboard them into your white-labeled LawSafe portal, you get the consistent chance to get in front of your client’s chosen “Circle of Trust®,” which are the people they trust with their after-life finances.
This gives you the opportunity to be the clear financial expert not just for your direct client, but also for a group of other qualified prospects who could use your services.
It’s a pretty cool system.
Get a year of white-labeled LawSafe® to use in your business — completely free.
4. Partner With People Serving the Same Space
Financial advisors go hand in hand with accountants. Same with estate planning lawyers.
The key is to be the person they think of when a client asks if they know someone that offers the same services you do.
So, you need to:
- Go to networking events
- Become actual friends with these people
- Remind these people what you do on a periodic basis
- Sweeten the deal with a referral offer if need be
Find out where they hang out and go meet them. You’ll have the best luck connecting with people who are at similar points in their careers.
“Likeness” is a powerful psychological motivator and can open up more doors than you may realize.
5. Hang Out in the Right Communities Online
Speaking of hanging out in relevant spaces, find out where your target audience spends their time and go be useful there.
This could be:
- Facebook Groups
- Local Forums
The trick to succeeding in these spaces is to genuinely contribute and build relationships over blatantly aiming for the sale. Give without expectation, respond to everyone, and tap into interesting conversations.
As you do that, your reputation will grow, and you’ll naturally find opportunities to talk about finance. Once you demonstrate your expertise, people will notice.
Speaking at conferences and industry meet-ups is also a fantastic route to take — nothing quite says, “I know my stuff” like getting up in a room full of people and proving it.
6. Grow Your Organic Traffic With Good SEO
Identifying keywords around pain points and services you offer and then writing good content around them can bring in organic traffic. The trick is to write better content than other people are and not hide what you do without being overly salesly.
This blog is an example of exactly that. We wanted to rank for “how to get clients as a financial advisor” so we could build connections with financial advisors like you.
We’re happy to give you as much as we know on this topic, and we’re not shy about the fact that we made an incredible tool that makes estate planning simple — which is perfect for financial advisor clients and gives advisors like you a way to bill more time and earn more monthly revenue.
Plus, we give a free year to any financial advisor. Yes, a whole year.
Besides writing good content, you need to make sure you’re writing about topics people care about.
Use tools like Semrush or Ahrefs for easy keyword analysis. Type in search terms in your niche and see if you can find opportunities. Go-to keywords include:
- [financial help in CITY]
- [financial advisor CITY]
- [need help with finances]
Another trick is to use a competitive analysis in these tools to find out who people you look up to are ranking for. This will give you insight into what’s working for them and show you ways you can outbid them.
Alternatively, you could work with a good SEO or marketing expert to guide this process, but this costs more money upfront.
7. Get Really Good at What You Do (And Overdeliver)
This one is a bit less actionable, but you should always be looking for ways to overdeliver. This means:
- Managing your projects efficiently. Assistants are great for this.
- Promising something manageable and then getting the “wow” factor by overdelivering just a bit.
- Keeping up-to-date about changes and new opportunities in the industry.
- Analyzing each engagement to see what you could have done differently.
- Reading, going to conferences, and finding ways to better your service.
The more you do this, the better job you will do for your clients, and the higher chance they will refer you out to others.
8. Differentiate Your Service With Good Tech
Besides having a niche, another way to differentiate yourself is to have a better process by using better technology.
For younger demographics, financial advisors can feel a bit old school. Push back against that by using new software and methods to improve the transparency and effectiveness of your service.
That could include:
- Making payments and invoices simple with something like Gusto.
- Delivering digital reports.
- Recommending and using services like LawSafe® to manage sensitive financial and estate documents.
- Setting them up with bank accounts that have good mobile apps and rewards programs.
- Adding crypto to your list of services.
And anything else that shows that you are clearly up-to-date with the most effective and modern ways to manage wealth.
9. Keep Updating Your Site and Portfolio
Look at your online presence, website, and portfolio as an ongoing project. Here are a few things you should always be reevaluating:
- Adding more case studies and making the existing ones more thorough
- Improving the copy on your website to speak directly to your persona
- Posting blogs and other helpful content
- Updating the design
- Making sure your site is set up on all local directories (e.g. Google My Business)
The better you can make your site speak to your ideal client and prove you can do the work, the higher percentage of people who hit your site will reach out — this makes all of your other efforts more fruitful because you know you can close once you get their attention.
Bonus: How to Keep Clients Once You Get Them
Getting clients is one thing. Keeping them is another.
It’s all too common to have a great experience with a client, set them up for success, and then never talk to them again.
The trick to making more money and having less stress in your business is finding opportunities for repeat and ongoing work.
This happens by staying top of mind and providing relevant reasons for staying in touch with your past clients.
One of the best ways to do this is to onboard them onto software you trust that is relevant to their problems.
That’s another example of how LawSafe® is fantastic for financial advisors — by being the face of the white-labeled platform, you can reach out about adding any other financial account information or documents to the portal, which is a perfect excuse to talk about their current financial situation, which can lead to more work.
See how that works?
See why LawSafe® is an amazing resource for keeping clients.
Conclusion
Working as a financial advisor, outside of a larger company, involves marketing yourself. It’s the nature of running a business.
If you believe in the services you offer, then there is no reason to hide it or be ashamed of publishing what you know.
And remember: what feels obvious to you won’t be obvious to someone who hasn’t studied these fields.
Know your audience, speak to them as a friend, and solve a problem for them.
If you do that, the clients will come.
