Financial Planning Sales Strategies for Advisors and Planners

If you want to grow your practice, building a high-converting sales funnel is a skill that’s worth developing. Developing sales systems can help you attract more clients who fit your ideal buyer persona and increase conversion rates. The challenge lies in determining which financial planning sales strategies are most effective for your business and the type of clients you serve.

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5 Effective Financial Planning Sales Strategies to Fuel Growth

Increasing sales is a goal many advisors share, and you may need to test different strategies to find the ones that work best for you. With that in mind, here are some of the tactics you might employ to increase conversions and boost sales.

1. Lead With Solutions

When a prospective client goes in search of a financial advisor, it’s because they have a problem and are looking for answers. An advisor who’s prepared to start a conversation by sharing solutions may have an advantage over one who’s still focused on what the prospect needs help with.

This requires some knowledge of who your ideal clients are and the challenges they’re most likely to face. Developing one or more buyer personas allows you to glean insight into what those challenges might be. That information offers a starting point for formulating an actionable plan that you can present to prospective clients.

The golden rule is to show, rather than tell. If you can provide visuals to go along with your solutions, such as charts or other graphics, those can help drive home your value even further. A portfolio visualizer tool may be a helpful addition to your tech stack if you’d like to be able to present prospects with a tangible solution during your initial meeting.

2. Give Prospects a Sample

Prospective clients may be more encouraged to use your services when they have a good idea of what they can expect from you. Seminars and webinars are an effective way to communicate who you are and what you offer, so that prospects are enticed to follow up with you to learn more.

Successful advisors understand the impact of in-person events as a marketing tool. According to Broadridge Financial’s 2024 Financial Advisor Marketing Trends Report, 7 out of 10 advisors use seminar marketing to demonstrate value and cultivate a broader audience of high-intent prospects ¹ .

If you’re unsure what kind of seminar to run, try brainstorming some client event ideas. The simplest rule of thumb is to start with the problems you’re equipped to solve for your ideal clients. Don’t try to go too broad; instead, focus on one specific issue that you can thoroughly cover within a 60- to 90-minute period.

3. Utilize Content Strategically

Sharing content, whether it’s through your website, email marketing campaigns or social media, is an opportunity to connect with prospective clients on a topic that matters to them. Surprisingly, only 44% of advisors share content that’s personalized to the unique needs and goals of their ideal clients, according to the Broadridge report.

If content is part of your marketing strategy, ask yourself these questions:

• Does this content add value for prospective clients (or current clients), based on what you understand about them? In other words, why should they care about it?
• Is it engaging?
• Where is the best channel to share this content?
• Does the content include a strong call to action, such as visiting your website to sign up for your lead magnet?

Should you use AI for content creation? Many advisors might say yes, as it saves time. In fact, 62% of the advisors included in the Broadridge report say they use AI for this purpose.

If you use ChatGPT or a similar tool to generate content, just make sure you review it thoroughly before hitting publish. Check the tone to make sure it sounds human and relatable. What you’ve generated should still sound like ‘you,’ meaning your brand voice. You’ll also want to review the content to ensure that it’s factually accurate. And, of course, check for typos and spelling errors.

4. Automate Lead Generation

Searching for leads can be a time-intensive exercise, and it might make sense to automate as much of the process as possible. For example, you may decide to partner with an advisor marketing platform to connect with high-intent leads. SmartAsset AMP, for instance, uses a holistic approach to match growth-focused RIAs with leads, providing the tools to help nurture those relationships.

Setting up workflows within your marketing plan is another way to automate. For instance, if you use lead magnets to entice prospects to join your email list, you can use a drip sequence to lead them further along your sales funnel. You write these emails in advance, then schedule them to be delivered at regular intervals through your CRM or email service provider.

If you’re using multiple methods to automate lead generation, track their effectiveness. With email marketing, for example, the metrics you track may include open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates. Monitoring results can help you decide which methods are worth a continued investment of time, money and effort.

5. Tap Your Existing Client Base

If you want to increase financial planning sales, you may need to look no further than your current book of business. There are several strategies you may apply to grow sales and revenue through your existing clients, for example:

• Develop new service offerings. Clients may leave an advisor if they feel they’ve outgrown their services. Expanding your offerings can improve client loyalty and retention rates, and increase wallet share, all of which can benefit your bottom line.
• Bring assets held away into the fold. If your clients have assets held away, you may have an opportunity to bring them under your management. Offering a free consultation can open up a conversation about those assets and potentially persuade clients to move them to your firm.
• Ask for referrals, or offer a referral program. Asking clients for referrals could help you broaden your prospect pool. If you don’t feel comfortable making a direct request, you might develop a referral program instead. If you plan to pay for client referrals, take the time to familiarize yourself with compliance rules regarding payment.

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Pure Financial Advisors

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Bottom Line

Getting more financial planning sales can help your firm grow. Experimenting with different marketing and sales strategies can help you find your groove so that you always have a steady pipeline of prospects to choose from.

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Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business

• Your marketing strategy’s success hinges in part on knowing what your ideal clients need most, and how they prefer to connect with an advisor. If you’re looking for a way to expand your online marketing efforts, consider SmartAsset AMP. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
• Mastering the art of the follow-up is another critical sales strategy that many advisors overlook. Consider how many leads may slip away simply because you neglected to send a follow-up email thanking them for their time or inviting them to connect and share their questions. Developing email follow-up templates can help you stay in touch with leads without having to scramble for an idea of what to say.

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