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The 52: How to Differentiate Your Firm
Week 41: If you want to sound different, you have to be different.
Week 41
How to Differentiate Your Firm
I often hear financial advisors ask how they can differentiate from other advisors who say they do the same thing as their firm (even if they don’t). Instead of asking yourself, “How do I differentiate?” ask the question, “How do I become incomparable?” If you want to sound different, you have to be different in a way that is obvious to your prospects. Here are five ways to do that:
Focus on a niche that most advisors don’t exclusively serve (e.g., United Airlines pilots).
Be an expert in an area most other advisors don’t serve (e.g., the Federal Employees Retirement System).
Develop a unique proprietary process that can’t be compared with any other firm’s process. (Hint! Not the CFP Board’s seven-step financial planning process or CEG’s wealth management process.)
Have a unique distribution method (e.g., your office is in an Airstream you drive to the client).
Offer best-in-class customer service. (This is extremely difficult because the only way for this to work is through widespread word-of-mouth from your existing clients—think Ritz-Carlton and Nordstrom.)
Seven Ways to Differentiate Your Financial Advisory Business
Financial advisors often sound like their competition. They use the same differentiators and the same language. Here are seven ways you can position your firm so that it is incomparable to prospective clients.
One of the most common frustrations I hear from financial advisors is “How do I get prospects to understand that we are different from the other firms out there?” Usually, those “other firms” I hear about claim to offer comprehensive financial planning but don’t deliver on their promise. Yet time and time again, the prospect is choosing the company with the best marketing, not necessarily the one with the best financial advice.
When I ask an advisor how they think their firm is different, I hear terms like “fee-only,” “fiduciary,” and “independent,” or statements like “We actually do comprehensive financial planning.” These are all good qualities worth highlighting. But unless a prospect is highly informed, those “differentiators” don’t help them understand how you are different from other companies they interview—especially if they say the same thing as you.
Instead of asking the question “How do I differentiate my firm from the competition?” you should ask yourself, “How do I become incomparable?” If you want to sound different, you have to be different in a way that is obvious to your prospects.
So how can you position yourself to be incomparable from your competition? Let’s look at seven ways:
1. Focus on a Niche
When you focus on a narrow set of clients—for example, business owners who are selling their company—it is obvious that you specialize in the needs of one type of client. For people in your niche, this will be in sharp contrast to the firms they interview that are all things to all people.
2. Be an Expert Where Others Aren’t
You can position yourself as an expert in an area most other advisors don’t have knowledge. This focus may overlap with a niche, or it can be a stand-alone solution covering a wide variety of client types. For example, you may have expertise working with people highly invested in real estate who need an investment strategy that diversifies their concentrated position in real estate but doesn’t force them to sell property.
3. Develop a Proprietary Process
By developing a unique, proprietary process, you make comparing your firm to others akin to comparing apples to oranges. This approach means throwing out the standard seven-step financial planning process that most firms use. Your unique process should help prospective clients see a clear path from where they are today to where they can expect to be after working with you.
4. Have a Unique Distribution Method
Offering a way to deliver advice other than by meeting in the office or over Zoom can help you stand out from the crowd. For example, let’s say your office is an Airstream you bring to the client’s home. You offer the ultimate in convenience because all your client has to do is step out their front door, and there you are.
5. Offer Best-in-Class Customer Service
You can propel your business by having customer service so good that people can’t help but talk about you. Just consider the reputation of the Ritz-Carlton and Nordstrom. However, this approach is challenging for most advisory firms to pull off because the only way it works is through widespread word-of-mouth from your existing clients. That means you need enough clients who talk about you regularly to build your reputation in the community.
6. Outspend the Competition on Marketing
One way to stand out from the competition is to be louder than them. That means having a bold brand and being everywhere—workshops, radio shows, podcasts, billboards, sponsorships, advertisements, etc. If your brand is ubiquitous, your prospects will feel like they already know you, and it will be hard for them to compare you with other firms. The downside is that you have to be prepared to spend a lot of money. If you’re not fully committed, you’ll just waste your money.
7. Stand for Something
When you share the same values and beliefs as your prospects, they automatically recognize you as different from other advisors. But this means you need to be bold in your messaging, perhaps even controversial or divisive. For example, you state, “We are a faith-based firm that weaves in conservative, Christian values into everything we do.” Then you build your culture and client experience to match those values. As with No. 6 above, you have to commit to this approach. If you dabble in standing for something, you won’t have the impact you are looking for.
Go All In
Choosing just one of these methods can help you stand out from your competition. If you layer in multiple options, you’ll find even more ways to prove your uniqueness. Whether you adopt one approach or multiple ones, the key to success is to go all in. Putting your toe in the water won’t get you any results, and you’ll continue to look and sound like every other advisor. Remember, if you want prospects to think you are different, you actually have to be different.
About Kristen Luke
Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing agency specializing in helping RIAs promote their businesses to a niche through an expertise approach. Over the past 15 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.
The 52: You Aren’t Imagining It. Closing Web Leads Is Harder
Week 40: Your close rate for web leads will be lower than average.
Week 40
You Aren’t Imagining It. Closing Web Leads Is Harder
Many financial advisors covet website leads—those prospects who reach out because they found you on a Google search. It feels like they are the answer to easy marketing. But web leads aren’t always quality leads. Compared with leads from other marketing sources, such as referrals, web leads are generally less qualified, more likely to shop around for advisors, or less likely to commit to hiring an advisor. For these reasons, you can expect your sales close rate to be much lower than your average for other leads. While web leads may mean the marketing is easier, they also mean the sale is harder.
The 52: Update Your Headshots
Week 39: Headshots should be taken every 3 to 5 years.
Week 39
Update Your Headshots
The “Team” page is usually one of the three most visited pages on a website. That is why this page needs great bios and professionally taken headshots. If your website still features headshots with you in a suit, arms crossed, in front of a photography backdrop, it’s time for an update. Today’s headshots use native backgrounds—usually outside or in your office—and the body language is candid and relaxed. Wear the same attire in your headshots as you would in a meeting with clients. And make sure to get both portrait and landscape versions so that you have flexibility when deciding on options for your website.
The 52: New Discovery: Visual Capitalist
Week 38: Sharing a new tool I discovered.
Week 38
New Discovery: Visual Capitalist
While doing some research recently, I came across a site called Visual Capitalist. While I’m not usually a fan of canned content, these visuals are compelling and could complement your original content, such as a blog or newsletter. You can use the graphics for free if you provide proper attribution and link to the original source, or you can buy a license to modify them for your brand.
The 52: Choose a Marketing Agency Based on Your Approach
Week 37: Pick an agency that matches your approach.
Week 37
Choose a Marketing Agency Based on Your Approach
How do you know which marketing agency will be the right one for your firm? We recommend you pick an agency that matches your marketing approach, whether that is a transactional, relationship, or expertise approach.
If you use a transactional approach, a direct lead company like White Glove could make sense. If you use a relationship approach, a company that can help with referrals, like The Client Driven Practice, might be the right fit. Or if you use an expertise approach, a firm that can help position you as an expert through content marketing, like Kaleido Creative Studio, may be the way to go.
By first choosing the right marketing approach, you will find it easier to select the right marketing agency.
The 52: Start Planning for the Holidays Now
Week 36: It’s that time of year again.
Week 36
Start Planning for the Holidays Now
The calendar has just flipped to September, which means it’s time to start planning your holiday cards, gifts, and events (live or virtual). It’s even more important to get an early start this year because COVID-19 means production and shipping are taking longer than usual. Make it your goal to have your holiday affairs planned by the end of September if you want to avoid headaches.
The 52: Google Reviews Can Positively Impact Your Web Leads
Week 35: Can reviews help drive business?
Week 35
Google Reviews Can Positively Impact Your Web Leads
Back in May, the SEC allowed financial advisors to use popular review sites like Google My Business and Yelp. While most firms we work with have adopted a “wait and see” policy when it comes to using these new marketing channels, we have had a few firms embrace reviews with positive results. They have seen dramatic improvements in their local search engine rankings or have received feedback from prospects that the online reviews influenced their decision to contact the firm. While these developments are anecdotal and only a small sample size, early results suggest that getting reviews on Google My Business can positively impact web leads.
