Want to send your financial advising firm’s revenues into the stratosphere? The best way to do this is to serve wealthy investors exclusively.
Adam Rosenfeld Merrill Lynch has experienced great success representing high net-worth clients over the past few years, and you can join him in the winner’s circle by following the advice found in the paragraphs that follow below.
1) Get your pricing right
The price of your services is one of the most important marketing signals that will get your financial advising business noticed by rich clients.
As shallow as this may seem, they will pass judgment based on the fees that you charge them. Bill them too little, and you risk looking like a know-nothing amateur.
Charge too much, and you’ll have a hard time attracting paying customers (and the ones do contact you will have lofty expectations that you might not be able to meet).
Price your services moderately so that those that do make use of your services will getting great value for the hard work that you do for them.
2) Specialize in specific asset classes
High net-worth individuals have no interest in investing their hard-earned money into the same milquetoast mutual funds in which your average Joe Lunchbucket parks his wages.
Instead, they want to grow their wealth in high-risk, high-reward asset classes, and they are willing to pay experts to do it for them.
They don’t know enough about these segments of the economy, but they know that professionals such as yourself have in-depth knowledge in areas such as high-tech or international money markets that enables you to make moves profitably that they wouldn’t be able to do on their own.
If you have specialized knowledge in a specific segment of the economy, find stocks that you know will do well over the long run, establish consistent results, and showcase this track record of success to wealthy investors. Over time, you will attract your fair share of clients in the space that you end up carving out for yourself.
3) Focus on their needs
While wealthy customers can make your practice sacks of money over time, they are also far more demanding than the average investor.
They have built wealth by being disciplined, so they aren’t going to hand over their capital with blind faith that you’ll get them a fat rate of return.
While they should give you the breathing room that you’ll need to work your magic, know that they will want detailed progress reports on a regular basis, advice on developing macroeconomic trends, and they will request other financial services from you if things go well during the initial months of doing business with them.
4) Respond to their inquiries quickly
High net-worth individuals view their time in the same way as they do their money. It is a valuable resource that needs to be respected.
As such, it is vital that you get back to them as quickly as possible when they send you an e-mail or telephone call.
If they feel like they aren’t being treated like a valued client, many won’t hesitate to move their business elsewhere, so be hasty in replying even if it is to say that you need extra time to research a specific topic.