Recently an acquaintance told me about an adviser friend who hasn’t taken on any new clients since last March but has been just about managing to keep the wolf from the door with his existing client bank, built up over the last 20 years.
Like many people, he wasn’t expecting the pandemic to be as prolonged as it’s turning out to be, so he had hunkered down to ride out the storm. After nearly a year, he’s now getting twitchy because he realises that standing still is effectively moving backwards and relying on existing clients alone carries risks for the medium to long-term health of his business.
I’m hoping he saw the feature Money Marketing ran last week, which included 25 tips for unlocking new business during lockdown. These are tips that PortfolioMetrix has collected from a wide range of advisers who are managing to buck the trend and sign- up new clients.
From smart ways to use social media through to thinking outside the box when it comes to using networks of family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, the list is a great way to kick start a strategy for attracting new clients.
We met with these advisers at various webinars and roundtables where I had been asked to present the white paper we launched last November: ‘The Insiders’ Guide on How to Grow Your Business During Lockdown’.
The guide is full of advice, tips and case studies from advisers who continued to grow their businesses during 2020. It also brings together a wealth of collected wisdom from experts across the advice ecosystem. It’s already been downloaded by around 500 advisers and the feedback we’ve had has been very encouraging.
Before producing the guide, we researched a multitude of published information relating to structuring and adapting businesses to attract and sign new clients in a world where meeting in person is not possible.
Other highlights from the guide include:
- Why signing new clients is more important than ever
- 10 ways to find new clients
- Practical tips on how to run a virtual business
- How to stay engaged with your team
The 25 tips published in Money Marketing build nicely on the initial suggestions from advisers in the guide, so it’s worth looking at both of them together.
Although there is optimism that the vaccines will help life return to normal at some point, there’s no guarantee of when that might be. With time ticking on, it’s time to act now to build a fresh strategy for attracting new clients for 2021.
