Fastest-Growing Advisors Contact Clients More Frequently

New research from The Financial Awareness Foundation’s (TFAF’s) Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ confirms that it pays to reach out and touch people. According to TFAF, higher performing advisors are more likely than other advisors to contact clients more than once per month. For example, nearly three in five firms (58%) expecting double-digit growth in 2019 contacted clients 2 or more times per month. By contrast just under half of firms (49%) expecting single digit growth in 2019, contacted clients more than once per month.

Is that too often? Not if what you’re sending is relevant, valuable and professionally produced.
As shown below, firms that contact clients with higher frequency have the ability to produce thoughtful content that requires a little more thought than a simple tweet, post or like:


            Communication Channels Rated “Very” or “Highly” Effective

	Contact Clients 1x or less per month	Contact Clients 2x or more per month	Variance
Public speaking	65%	83%	+18%
Writing articles for publication	57%	64%	+7%
Writing books/eBooks	50%	56%	+6%
Get quoted in the press	48%	52%	+4%
Blogging	32%	48%	+16%
Publishing articles via LinkedIn	22%	40%	+18%

Sources: The Financial Awareness Foundation; HB Publishing & Marketing Company, LLC, 2018

As shown below, firms that contact clients with higher frequency are also more likely to find value in social media—but not at the same level as more conventional thought leadership tactics cited above.

Social Media Channels Rated “Very” or “Highly” Effective

	Contact Clients 1x or less per month	Contact Clients 2x or more per month	Variance
Facebook	7%	21%	+14%
Twitter	7%	16%	+9%
Instagram, Snapchat	5%	12%	+7%

Sources: The Financial Awareness Foundation; HB Publishing & Marketing Company, LLC, 2018

The findings are even more striking when looking at the projected financial performance of responding advisors. Firms that expected to finish 2018 with double-digit growth were 1.5 times more likely than less optimistic firms to consider Public Speaking, Publishing Articles and Media Coverage “very” or “extremely” useful (see chart).

TFAF’s annual survey of financial advisor concerns and challenges, conducted in association with HB Publishing & Marketing Company, LLC. asked respondents to rate nearly two-dozen thought leadership tactics. Those in the table above were the ones most frequently cited by advisors as being “very” or “extremely” valuable.

Conclusion

We may live in an instant gratification society, but when it comes to resonating with clients, prospects and influencers, research shows you’ll have to hit the neural gym and do some mental heavy lifting. There are no shortcuts, but it doesn’t have to be drudgery. We’re happy to talk to you any time if you’d like some suggested workouts for maximizing your thought leadership gains when you have limited time. You might even find those exercises fun.

There’s much more to this survey.  Check out some of the other highlights here.

#Content marketing, #thought leadership, #wealth advisors, #The Financial Awareness Foundation, #Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey