Have you seen those “Top 100 Advisor” lists and wondered how you can become a member of that elite club? Or are you frustrated because your advisor practice struggles to maintain a strong and steady growth rate, no matter what you do? How DO those top advisors do it? Read on … We’ve got five of the proven strategies and habits top advisors ascribe to that translate to exceptional organic growth.

Key takeways include:

  • Top advisors plan in 90-day increments instead of annually.
  • Gen X will leave you behind unless you prioritize digital marketing.
  • A whopping 75% of consumers are more likely to do business with you if communications are personalized.
  • ROI and conversion rates rise exponentially if you segment lists and personalize communications.
  • If you want to boost loyalty and trust, embrace emotional intelligence.
  • Clients don’t want to be told what to do, they want to co-create solutions with you.

InsurMark Virtual CMO and Founder of the Elite Advisor Group Jack Martin discussed the following top advisor habits (among others) on a recent episode of the Breakthrough Advisor Podcast. You can listen to the episode here and subscribe to InsurMark’s YouTube page to catch past and upcoming episodes.

Five Winning Habits of Top Advisors that Lead to Exceptional Organic Growth

No. 1: Plan in 90-day increments instead of annually.

In order to be successful in any field, you need to be able to embrace and adapt to change. You can’t do that if you stick to a plan that isn’t working. Committing to planning in 90-day increments allows you to frequently evaluate what’s working and what’s not, then pivot when needed. What do you want to accomplish? What channels do you want to utilize? What initiatives are you going to kick off? Lay those out, then revisit in 90 days. 

According to Martin, “A Forbes study of the top 100 advisors revealed that one of the things the top 100 advisors do is reset their goals every 90 days. They’re challenging themselves. They’re growing. They’re focused on that. They have accountability people around them who are saying, ‘Hey, how are you doing on these goals? Where are the obstacles? Where are the challenges? Where are the victories?’” 

No. 2: Make digital marketing a top priority.

Today’s top advisors have acquired a high level of intelligence when it comes to fintech and digital marketing. These are the advisors who were able to pivot, hop on Zoom and excel at virtual advising during the pandemic. Others couldn’t wait to go back live or struggle with e-applications and online business processing, which hampers growth. Top advisors are proactive about finding and mastering new technology, because it allows them to reach more prospects and serve clients better, while spending less hands-on time on marketing.

“As we look forward, if you’re an advisor thinking about growing your business, you’ve got to have that digital component in spades to serve the next generation. They’re going to get all the $78 trillion dollars that’s going to pass from the boomers to the next generation, and Gen X is accumulating $50 billion dollars in savings in their own right. Gen X, for crying out loud, was the first generation raised with PCs, so they want a digital experience. And if you’re one of those advisors not taking this ‘digital thing’ seriously, you’re going to struggle, no doubt about it.” Martin says.

Take a deep dive into digital marketing and differentiation in this past blog.

No. 3: Segment client and prospect lists, then personalize communications for ‘an audience of one.’

Even if you’re marketing to a specific niche audience, you can’t market to everyone in the same way. Top advisors may have an overarching image of their target audience but they create personas or avatars that represent subsets of their niche, too. Then they create communications and content that those different subsets can relate to, based on their goals, risk tolerance and pain points

For example, say your niche is single women over the age of 65. According to Martin, “Forty-five percent of single women over age 65 struggle with longevity. They wonder, ‘How am I going to keep my independence?’ But within that same segment you also have some women who are working and some who are not. There may be some who are in the sandwich generation and some who are not. You need to personalize your messaging for each subset.”

By the way, personalizing communications is key to increasing share of wallet, conversion rates and ROI. Says Martin, “We know that 75% of consumers are more likely to do business with you if you communicate with them on a personalized basis. You need to tailor the look, the feel, the messaging and the content to that particular segment. If you do that, they’re more likely to respond. In fact, research from Idomo actually shows a 9X better conversion rate when using digital content, like personalized video, while marketers and brands find personalization boosts ROI by 200%-300%or more.”

But how do you structure your communication plan so it doesn’t require an army of people to manage? Thanks to fintech, you can do just that.

“As you start to get a picture of what each persona looks like, by using the CRMs available today, you can start to deliver a more personalized experience. But really, where it starts is segmentation. Just start simple. Here’s a list of my prospects. Here’s a list of my clients. I’m going to talk to my clients a little bit differently. They need a different kind of touch point than my prospects do. So that’s where you start the journey. The ultimate goal is to be able to communicate with each person as an individual—an audience of one—and AI will help us do that,” adds Jack.

No. 4: Deepen client loyalty and trust by embracing emotional intelligence.

Clients choose to work with and retain relationships with advisors who they have established an emotional relationship with. What they value most in those relationships is trust. Top advisors tend to have emotional intelligence—the ability to manage their own emotions while understanding and being empathetic about their clients’ emotions—which is critical for building trust.

As Martin explains, “How do you build a trusting relationship? Certainly, through emotional intelligence (EQ). You need to be an active listener. Be self-aware. Have the confidence to show your vulnerabilities. If you’re trying to build what is called a ‘trust equation,’ you must also be credible, competent and reliable (do what you say you’re going to do). Practicing EQ is a skillset a lot of advisors don’t tap into anymore, so it’s a huge opportunity for advisors who embrace that. They’re seeing astronomical growth. People are more likely to do business with them, so the job gets easier. They get more by spending less time because they’re more efficient.”

No. 5: Don’t tell your clients what to do, co-create solutions with them instead 

In the good old days, the traditional advisor-client relationship went something like this: You collect information and insights from the client; enter data into the computer to create a financial plan; press print; bind the massive document; and hand it to the client, who never looks at it again. That’s not what consumers expect today. Don’t cling to the good old days.

“They expect to play a role in shaping their experiences. They expect to be able to be involved in the process to co-create. That’s why they’re also looking for people who they can trust. They’re not looking for a relationship where the advisor is telling them what to do, and top advisors understand that,” Martin says.

Need an accountability partner to help bring winning habits into your practice?

At InsurMark, we’ve curated the people, processes and technology ambitious advisors need to build a 21st century business, which allows them more time with clients by mitigating non-client-facing tasks. If you want to learn how we can help you get more out of your business and spend less time doing it, schedule an exploratory call today.

To find out how InsurMark helps advisors transform their businesses with our proven Value Engineering Process, contact us at (800) 752-0207 or connect with us online.

As an ADO – Advisor Development Organization™, InsurMark provides solutions to meet the ever-evolving needs of financial professionals with a mission to protect and enhance the financial security of every home in America.