Every business wants to increase referrals but what methods are the most effective?

On this episode of the Profitable Advisor, we want to tell you about advisory boards and why you should consider adding one to your practice. Full disclosure, this isn’t something we currently have in place but we are hoping to change that.

We’ve asked Steve Wershing to come on the show to explain the methods and processes behind his Client Driven Practice. Wershing is a Certified Financial Planner that’s spent years helping advisors develop effective referral systems like this client advisory board.

As you work to improve your customer experience and strengthen the relationship with clients, there might not be a better way to do that than with an advisory board. Think about it for a second. What the advisor thinks is important is not always what the client thinks is important. So what if you could tailor your message to truly connect with what your client thinks is most valuable? How much more effective could your marketing be?

That’s the goal with an advisory board and why clients are a part of the process. Think of it as a long-term project that has multiple meetings over a number of years so that you have the ability to truly deconstruct the client experience.

That loyalty you build with clients when you give them the opportunity to share their opinion and be heard leads to a better chance of referrals. Over time, you build up a strong referral system that can withstand times like we’ve experienced in 2020 when traditional marketing tactics are unavailable.

A concern for a lot of advisors is what happens when they ask for something that you aren’t able to do? Remember, your commitment to the client is to listen and consider not to do everything they ask. The key is to be straightforward with them about how you’ve considered the feedback and they reasons why you can’t accommodate the idea. Also, you can offer up other ideas or options to show you’re serious about their feedback.

So we’ll spend this show explaining everything about the advisory board and learning quite a bit from Wershing along the way.

So as you go through the episode today, keep an ear out for some of these topics that we cover:

• The importance of an advisory board.
• How to find clients to be a part of that board.
• How often should you meet?
• Why the advisor should be a part of the meetings.
• How it increases your value to clients.
• Determining which clients you should work with.
• Referral marketing is a long game.

 

We also want to point you towards these websites to learn more about Wershing and how he helps advisors: http://advisorchecklist.com/

https://cabkit.clientdrivenpractice.com/

 

For more on this topic and other strategies to growing your business, join us over at RenegadeAdvisor.net.

 

On today's show:

0:44 – Setting up today’s conversation.

2:40 – Beginning of our interview with Steve.

4:28 – Why advisory boards are important and what you get out of them.

8:59 – The value of an independent moderator.

11:07 – Planning fees

13:13 – Why you should have the advisory board?

15:44 – Your value becomes much more than year-to-date returns.

18:32 – Referral systems

22:14 – You have to actually mean it and be willing to truly help people.

25:35 – Determining which clients you should work with.

29:25 – Long-term marketing

32:15 – How to recruit people onto the advisory board.

34:58 – How often do you meet?

35:27 – Tips on executing the meeting virtually.

39:04 – How to connect with Steve.