The Secrets to Scaling an Advisory Practice
Financial advisors are often told by leadership or business consultants to “grow your financial practice,” expand your assets under management, or increase activity. The challenge with growth-based goals is they often overlook the obstacles and historical sticking points that can plague an advisor’s business.
Marketing Strategies That Work With Any Budget
Marketing strategies and tips for any budget can be successful provided you use the right strategies. Having unlimited marketing dollars does not guarantee clients will engage. Successful marketing requires you to know your ideal client and what they truly want. You need to know the problems they want to solve, how they define value and how they want to receive information. This is the key to marketing, no matter what size budget you have.
The Missing Component in Your Strategic Plan
It’s that glorious event. A time when your team comes together to discuss your firm’s strategies for the coming year – the annual strategic plan. Opportunities and challenges are discussed. The virtual whiteboard and yellow pads are a bounty of ideas. It’s a celebration of motivation. And then you look up…and it’s June. For some firms, that beautiful strategic plan you created has not been looked at for months. We go to the common drive to print it off and say, “How are we doing?” The problem is there may be a missing component in your strategic plan.
Planning for Sustainable Growth
Planning for sustainable growth is a balancing act, whether you are in your early years or expanding the business. Your growth may not always follow a certain pattern, which means you may have periodic years of growth. It also means you may have years of stagnancy if you do not systematically prepare for the twists and turns that affect sustainable growth.
3 Metrics BGAs Should Consider
Here we discuss 3 sets of Brokerage General Agency (BGA) metrics firms should consider in their annual business planning. In working with BGAs on their business development, there is a set of questions that continually come up during conversations. The first question is usually “How do we go after new markets…particularly supporting wealth advisors?” The second question is often “How do we set ourselves apart in the industry?” The third question, which might be the most important, is “We had a good year, but growth has stagnated, and we are not sure why?” In this last statement, this is where BGA metrics come into play. It is your metrics that can either drive or hinder your growth, depending on which angle you look at them.