Just yesterday at a wonderful coffee meeting with a Wealth Manager new friend at UBS, we were discussing the numbers of financial advisors in NYC and how they sell themselves. He stated a fact that I was , surprisingly not surprised to hear - there are over 10,000 Financial Advisors, Wealth Managers and Asset Managers in NYC alone. In the 2nd largest U.S. business city, Los Angeles, there are another 8,000+ and in my work supporting the Personal Brands of financial professional clients in cities like St.Louis, Chicago and more , I can tell you with absolute certainty , if you manage and grow other people’s money you are in a very competitive field. This prompted me to write this how-to article on the use of personal branding as
a marketing tool for financial advisors.The time for anyone in this field to get on now and not later is personal brand development. Why? The world of the stock broker is changing, big time. With technology automating many fields, the financial consultative role is primed to be next. So, for my financial managers and advisory friends out there, the road you need to get on , if you haven’t already, or one that perhaps you can tweak and optimize is the one where you
build a powerful personal brand of influence, of thought-leadership, of client attractiveness , of real relationship building with long-term strategic partners.In that you are numbers people, at least in the sense of making money (this I know as the sister of a brother who is a partner at a wealth management firm in midtown), I would like to support my case for Personal Branding for those in the financial management industry with my own client case studies:
I supported a client who is a senior partner at a small Financial Advisory firm in St.Louis, who by the time I completed enhancing and optimizing his LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn Marketing Plan , turned a prospect into a 6-figure client. In work I did in Social Media and Event Planning for a team at Northwest Mutual here in NYC , there we are able to double and then triple their target customer attendance at financial educational dinner events they host around the city within a year. In creating an entire social media strategy and working content for a current financial consultant client of mine , he has been able to secure multiple qualified speaking engagements to showcase his new business in less than 60 days of my program delivery. So what steps do you need to take in building your own powerful Financial Advisor Personal Brand?
Let’s start with 3 things you can begin to do now to improve your own sales through personal branding:
Create a Compelling Difference About YOU
This could be about you or your firm. What can you do to create a unique position? Your first action step on a personal level is to define what is unique, compelling and different about the way you treat your customers, the way you develop relationships. You can try to define it on your own or ask your current and past clients why they hired you. Is it how you support your clients’ goals, the way you work with partners?. There may be many. In my
DIY Personal Branding Comprehensive Course for individuals I coach you through this.If you run a wealth management firm or investment advisory practice, how are you and the people behind the coming standing out as leaders in your community, how are you creating and supporting an online community of referral partners and where are you as a social influencer? In my
Social Media Strategy work for Online Brands I uncover a company’s leaders' opportunities to create a total social influence to gain new clients through a defined social selling machine.As mentioned , yesterday I was meeting with a friend from UBS, he was kind enough to introduce me to a Mutual Funds Wholesaler friend who may have an interest in bringing me into his brokerage client companies to deliver my
LinkedIn Sales Group Training. The Wholesaler will have a unique differentiator to bring in a veteran like me in Social Selling Coaching over another one just selling mutual funds.
Define Your Personal Brand Style
This is where
financial advisors, wealth managers, investment advisors and the like have the best opportunity to stand out and win new business - by creating, cementing, committing and delivering on a real authentic memorable personal brand style.In this, I am not just talking about how you dress (of course clean, business professional is mandatory) but moreover about your style in the areas of communication, in how you carry yourself, you how deliver on what you promise, how you listen more than you talk, and how you remain authentic. As someone who hires financial advisors, consults for wealth managers and has investment advisors in their family, I cannot stress this point enough to you if you want to be different and get someone’s attention. People want you to be authentic. Take the best parts of you to create your own style and always listen first.I cover how to create this style and many examples of great brand style in my book,
How to Brand Yourself Online Like a CEO and in my course as well as in my
Personal Brand Consulting programs for individual professionals.Related:
How to Generate Social Advocacy Inside Your Organization Take Your Personal Brand to Where Your Next Clients Live
This could mean online , in social media on sites like LinkedIn or offline at related conferences and financial education events or, more than likely both. To do this you need personally branded content for the online marketing of your brand.This means everything from a targeted, professional, enhanced and optimized LinkedIn Profile (I have done hundreds for clients) to a YouTube series where you visibly build your thought-leadership (video converts 300% more that text alone and my agency loves to create personal brand video content) to building yourself as a speaker.You need to have an arsenal of personal brands, content assets and a targeted outreach plan (where , when and to whom) before you get going here. A couple of freebies you can grab on my end pre-personal branding are my
Personal Brand Checklist and my
Personal Branding Daily Action Plan Download. So What's Next?
Of course, I am here to guide you, coach you, help you
create your personal brandas needed. I have been in the game of supporting and promoting the people and professional services businesses of companies for over 15 years.My services are built to support you through the continuum that is personal brand building. Whether you just have a few social selling questions on using LinkedIn for Sales or you are ready to press the gas and got to 100 as an author or a paid speaker, I am ready to make your financial advisory career take off! A free consult on all services outside of phone coaching is offered on my 10 Personal Branding and Social Media Marketing programs:
LinkedIn Sales Phone Coaching LinkedIn Profile Writing Advanced LinkedIn Selling DIY Online Course LinkedIn Content Planning and Profile Optimization LinkedIn Group Sales Training DIY Personal Brand and Social Media Online Course Personal Branding Consultation Social Media Strategy Social Media Management for Personal and Company Brands Social Branding Group Training for Large Sales Teams
