Generate 5X more new clients with financial education

It’s no secret that referrals are among the best sources of lead generation for financial advisors (and in most other industries, for that matter). However, referrals are a slow and steady strategy. They can be somewhat limiting for a growing business with ambitions to expand well beyond its current client base.

You’ll certainly want to include a referral program in any financial advisor marketing strategy, but what else can you do to drive leads and generate new clients at scale?

Educate first, and clients will follow.

Fiduciary investment advisors provide a complex service that is centered on processes, strategies and solutions that your clients seek to understand. This makes it an ideal business model for education-centric marketing. After all, your service itself is essentially a form of education. 

You’ll be able to rapidly 5X your business by registering curious prospects for workshops, webinars, courses, and seminars — virtual or in-person — and engaging them with helpful tips while introducing them to your mastery of the subject.

Put to rest any concerns about giving away expert advice for free (or for a low one-time cost). The results will quickly show that a sample of your expertise only whets the appetite for deeper insights and customized guidance.

Why does financial education work?

There are a few forces at play, here:

• It’s relationship marketing: Only 8% of millennials trust financial institutions for guidance. Financial education gives you the opportunity to build a relationship with your audience in a non-sales-oriented setting and develop that critical element of trust.  The best opportunity for financial advisors to get the ear of potential clients is with an educational program that’s independently valuable. It empowers them to make the right decisions on their own.

• You’ll establish credibility: It’s important to build your authority with affluent prospects who will gain confidence in your expertise through your educational offering.

• Great content converts: The majority of marketers (72%) report that content marketing improves prospect engagement in real, quantifiable ways. As the saying goes, “Content is king.” One of the best ways for you to get your message to your audience is through quality educational content that directly addresses their current questions and concerns.

• Low-stakes awareness: While a hard sell of your services asks for a large up-front commitment, financial education services can pull in leads with a much lower opportunity cost. At the same time, you can use your programs to promote your services and convert engaged attendees into appointment-ready prospects.

How do I generate 5X more clients?

Investment advisors who have success with financial education generally have a few tactics in common:

• Embrace virtual formats: Absolutely offer in-person services for local prospects, but your potential audience becomes so much larger when you put your business’s growth online through a virtual education course. Virtual classes boost attendance and open you up to reach many leads that would not otherwise engage with your business.

• Use tools for 1:1 coaching: Chances to establish a personal relationship with an attendee are important to conversion, and the right tools for giving individual attention can help.

• Practice your delivery: Mark, the principal of a boutique financial advisory practice in a growing suburb, has seen great results from his online courses. His best advice is to “learn by getting one or two of these sessions under your belt. You need to raise your enthusiasm and have more interesting stories to keep these audiences engaged.”

• Hit the ground running with a proven program: There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. High-performing advisors are natural teachers, and FMT Solutions provides the established platform you need to shine. Our turnkey program has delivered incredible results for more than 20 years.

Outstanding growth is typical with just one course through our virtual education platform. An average course brings in roughly 17 attendees, 10 appointments, $2.5M from 4 new clients, and $4M in projected AUM. 

Learn more and get started with our proven FINRA-reviewed, compliance-ready course materials and proactive support. We’re ready to help you meet your growth goals and fill your funnel with a turnkey financial education program that sets you (and your prospects) up for success.

This article was originally published in October, 2021. Updated January, 2023.