You know the value of pre-retirement planning to long-term financial wellbeing and post-retirement fulfillment. But how can you help potential clients understand the value of acting now, rather than later? Many people are skeptical of sales pitches, especially when it comes to financial services. This is true even if they stand to benefit in a substantial way.
Financial education courses are a proven lead generation engine
Pre-retirement planning workshops are the ideal low-pressure environment to encourage individuals to consider their financial futures. By offering a financial education seminar or wealth management course, virtually or in-person, you give your pre-retirement audience an opportunity to self-select and empower themselves to make smarter decisions.
A quality pre-retirement course builds trust with attendees and establishes your credibility as a resource. When they need further guidance — and they will — your attendees are now more likely to come to you.
How do I launch a pre-retirement planning course?
Don’t feel like you need to build everything from scratch and launch it yourself. Financial planners are natural teachers — educating clients about their finances and options is your business. All you need is a platform and resources to deliver your knowledge in an accessible and compelling way.
It’s easy to get started with a turnkey financial education system that’s proven to convert. FMT Solutions provides a comprehensive platform to help financial advisors connect with course attendees (and potential clients) through both virtual and local, in-person course offerings.
Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of our process at FMT:
1. Define a strategy & reserve your exclusive market area
We work alongside you to define a clear marketing strategy targeting pre-retirees. We also help you identify a fully exclusive, reserved marketing area that only you can use for the course. The truth is that exclusivity is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity. That’s why FMT builds out specific market areas for the advisors utilizing our program, each designed to target affluent individuals or families in need of your services. A regional focus helps you provide custom-tailored courses that resonate with local attendees. It also positions you as a local authority on the subject.
2. We promote your course & handle registrations
FMT will handle all marketing activities related to your educational offerings, so that you can keep your focus where it matters: your prospects and clients. You’ll be able to reach new audiences and connect with more potential attendees with the help of our turnkey marketing platform, including a custom event page for your courses and easy online registration process. Conveniences like a brochure-to-mobile-link feature and streamlined mobile registration ensure that you’re collecting leads whenever and wherever they encounter your offering.
We can also provide you with shareable links for social media (or other digital channels) and dedicated account managers to guide your marketing strategy. Our team knows how to align your business goals with your marketing calendar — and we’ll coach you from start to finish.
Finally, pre-qualified prospects can find you on their own through the online course locator, which allows them to search by geography.
3. You teach the course in person and/or virtually
Don’t worry if you haven’t taught a course before. FMT offers concierge instructor onboarding and training, including the resources and helpful videos you need to deepen engagement and convert new clients.
When it comes time to teach the course, you’ll have a full complement of pre-made resources for virtual and in-person course presentations. Our courses provide detailed speaker notes, attendee workbooks, and more to set both you and your attendees up for financial success.
Ready-made course materials and a digital platform (or a provided physical location at a local school or college) make it easy to hit the ground running. Financial planners and advisors have relied upon our pre-retirement courses for more than two decades — and they continue to see incredible results.
4. Attendees follow up, you book 1:1 sessions & you win new clients!
After a high-quality pre-retirement course concludes, the follow-up meetings nearly book themselves. A typical result for an FMT course would look like:
- 17 highly qualified attendees
- 10 follow-up appointments
- 4 new clients
- $2-5M in new AUM
Over one year with 4-6 total courses taught, an advisor in our system can expect to book in the range of 30-45 potential one-on-one sessions with course attendees. Every year for more than 20 years, advisors have leveraged the FMT platform to educate more than 500,000 affluent professionals, pre-retirees, and retirees. Even a single course can be the spark that launches a handful of valuable new relationships.
Looking for more details? Check out our selection of financial planning and pre-retirement courses and connect with FMT today.
This article was originally published in February 2022. Updated February 2023.
