Advisors: Save money and time by clearly defining your niche

Design your entire practice around your niche, specifically around how you define your ideal clients — before you spend time and money on marketing materials, websites, or attending a networking event.

Once you’ve chosen a niche and then zeroed in on the specifics of an ideal client, everything else about your practice will support “who” your ideal clients are. That could include which business model to choose, which services to offer, what people to hire, what are the best ways to market your firm off and online, which technology to purchase — and even what your office will look like.

Let’s look at one advisor and how “who” they worked with really matters… down to the office furniture.

A few years ago, I met with an advisor (a prospect for me) in their office. When they told me they worked with military officers, I was pretty surprised, and they noticed the look on my face.  You see, there wasn’t even a flag in the office.  No red, white, or blue nothing.  No magazines of interest to their clientele.

Their office didn’t look like the clients they were trying to attract.  Not that everything had to be red, white, and blue, but something needed to be!

Fast forward a few years, and their office is maroon, white, and navy blue.

Decisions, in all aspects of your firm, will be much easier when you always consider your ideal clients.  Everything about your firm and it’s business and marketing plan are geared towards your niche.

COACHING ACTIONS

1. If you don’t have a niche and ideal client profile, watch this video and start the process today.

2. If you have a niche and ideal client profile, create clear strategies and goals to implement a consistent onboarding process geared towards them. Are you making it easy for them to tell others about who you work with, what you do, and how you operate?

3. You want your marketing to be consistent with who your ideal client is. Are you a member of organizations where your ideal clients are? Are you partnering or affiliating with other business owners who share the same ideal client with you? Are your workshop topics, blog posts, newsletters, and other marketing collateral directly related to the pains and solutions your ideal clients are looking for? If you think so, it’s time to ask your staff for their honest answers to those questions and for suggestions about how you can best grow your firm. It’s easy to get back on track if you’ve jumped over the “who” of “who are your own ideal clients”.