21+ Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas in 2023 (Best to Worst)

What’s the key to growing your financial advisor business? Leads, appointments and clients!

So, logically, you might be wondering… How do you get MORE financial advisor leads, appointments and clients?

One way is with financial advisor prospecting strategies!

In this article, you’ll learn:

• Why top financial professionals, wealth managers and advisors all use prospecting strategies
• The best financial advisor prospecting ideas
• How to automate your prospecting

Let’s get started!

Tip: To grow your financial firm, you can’t expect clients to miraculously find you. You need to be proactive in your marketing to make sure clients find you. This article will share some of the best prospecting ideas to do this.

List of financial advisor prospecting ideas (overview)

If you’re short on time, here is an overview of the best financial advisor prospecting ideas you can implement in your firm:

What is financial advisor prospecting?

Prospecting is the process of proactively finding and qualifying potential clients for your financial advisor business.

While prospecting may seem like a daunting task, it’s actually not that difficult… Once you have the right financial advisor prospecting strategy in place.

Fortunately, there are many tried-and-true financial advisor prospecting strategies that you can use to get more leads, appointments and clients.

Best online financial advisor prospecting ideas

With that in mind, Let’s take a look at seven of the best online prospecting ideas for financial advisors, financial planners and wealth managers.

Some of these ideas are from our article on the best lead generation ideas for business owners.

1. Use an automated appointment funnel

An automated appointment funnel is the best way to get high quality sales appointments and leads with clients who actually WANT to work with you.

Having an automated appointment funnel involves 5 main pages:

• An opt-in page (to generate leads)
• A video page (to build trust with leads)
• An application page (to automatically pre-qualify leads)
• A schedule page (to get quality leads book a call in your calendar)
• A call confirmation page (to give leads more reason to show up for the call)

If you’d like to learn how to create this type of funnel in your financial advisor firm, click here to watch my free training.

In this free training, you’ll learn how to create this type of funnel and (most importantly) how to promote it so that you can get high quality leads and appointments each month in your business on autopilot.

This is the same strategy that has worked for many of my financial advisor clients. So be sure to watch the free training to see how you can do the same.

2. Using automated lead generation software

Lead generation software can be a great way to generate leads and save time.

There are many different types of lead generation tools, including:

• Contact management software
• AI-powered lead generation tools
• Cold emailing software
• Funnel building tools (e.g. Kartra)

The key is to find the right lead generation software for your needs.

Tip: The tool is only as good as the strategy you’re using. To learn the best strategy to get 10, 15, 30 or more high quality financial advisor appointments each month watch this free training.

3. LinkedIn Outreach

Is your firm very strict with which prospecting strategies you’re allowed to use? If so, then chances are LinkedIn is probably one of the few social media channels you CAN use for prospecting (if you use it the right way)!

LinkedIn is a powerful platform with over 620 million members, making it a goldmine for financial advisors looking for new clients in professional services.

The best part? You can use automation tools to make the process of prospecting on LinkedIn much easier.

There are a number of different LinkedIn automation tools that you can use, but we recommend using Meet Alfred because of how easy it is for beginners to start using.

See also: How to get a LinkedIn premium discount

Tip: To get LinkedIn leads, you need to proactively connect and reach out to new potential clients each day with the right MESSAGING. See ‘Step 4’ of my free training video for more tips on how to do this effectively (without being spammy or annoying).

4. Set up a Google Business Profile

Another great way to get more leads is to set up a Google Business Profile.

Google will send a postcard to your address to verify your business location. Once Google has verified your Google Business Profile address, you can appear in local Google search results.

Creating a Google My Business page is a great way to get more exposure for your business and attract new leads.

Here’s how to set up a Google My Business page:

• Go to google.com/business and click “Manage now”
• Enter your business name, address and phone number
• Select the category that best describes your business
• Choose whether you want customers to be able to book appointments through your listing
• Click “Finish”

Once you’ve created your GMB listing, be sure to add photos, write a detailed description of your business and encourage customers to leave reviews.

The more information you can provide, the better chance you have of attracting new leads.

5. Use search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website and content for Google’s search engine.

Unlike Google my business, when you do SEO, you can appear at the top of Google for thousands of different keywords outside of your local area.

Since COVID-19, more people are open to doing business online and working with clients virtually is becoming more popular with both financial advisors and retirees.

When you rank higher in Google’s search results, you’ll get more traffic to your website… which can lead to more leads and sales.

There are many different aspects of SEO for financial advisors, but some of the most important things you can do are:

• Keyword research: Keyword research is the process of finding the right keywords to target on your website. When you choose the right keywords, you can increase your chances of ranking higher in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
• On-page optimization: Once you’ve selected the right keywords, you need to optimize your website and content for those keywords. This includes things like adding the keywords to your website’s title tags, meta descriptions and headings.
• Link building: Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to your website. Google uses links as a way to measure the quality and relevancy of your website. So, the more high-quality links you have pointing to your site, the better chance you have of ranking higher in Google’s search results.

SEO is a complex topic, but if you take the time to learn the basics, you can use it to get more traffic and leads for your financial advisor business.

If you need help with SEO, be sure to watch ‘Step 4’ of my free Masterclass training here.

6. Start a blog

One of the best ways to attract new leads with SEO is to start a blog.

When you blog about topics that are relevant to your target market, you can attract new visitors to your website and generate leads.

Think about it. How did you find this article?

Most likely it was through a Google search that directed you to one of my blog posts.

The best part is, it doesn’t have to be expensive to start a blog, and you can use a blog to start getting leads for free each month with people who are actively searching for your services.

7. Use a lead magnet

Another way to generate leads is by using a lead magnet on a sales funnel. A lead magnet is a piece of content (like an ebook, free video presentation or report) that you give away for free in exchange for someone’s contact information.

You can use lead magnets to capture leads from your website or social media channels. You can even use lead magnets with leads you get from both digital financial advisor marketing strategies and traditional prospecting strategies.

For example, if you met someone at a networking event and exchanged business cards, you could follow up with them by sending them a link to an educational video about financial planning.

See also: The best financial planning software for financial advisors

Most people are hesitant to work with a new financial advisor, so by sending them an educational video, you can start building trust and rapport before you even meet them in person.

To learn how to do this in more detail, watch ‘Step 2’ of my Free Masterclass training.

8. Paid advertising

Paid advertising is a great way to get in front of your target market quickly and generate leads on demand.

With paid advertising, you can create an ad campaign, set your budget and start generating leads within days.

Here are the best paid advertising channels for financial advisors (best to worse):

• Facebook Ads
• Google ads
• TikTok ads (NEW and growing fast!)
• YouTube ads

The reason most financial advisors fail to get any results with paid advertising is that they usually have the wrong strategy, audience or messaging. It can take a lot of time and money to figure out the right combination to get results.

Fortunately, because we run ads for lots of financial advisors, we already know what works and what doesn’t. That’s why when we help our financial advisor clients run ads, our success rate (for leads and appointments) within the first few months is over 90%.

If you don’t want to guess what works, you can learn more about working with us by watching this free training video. This training goes through how our strategy works in more detail. If you like what you hear in the video, at the end, we’ll explain how we can help you get it all done.

9. Email Marketing

Email marketing is another great way to reach a large number of potential clients with your marketing message.

You can use email marketing to follow up with leads until they convert into appointments and clients.

Most sales cycles for financial advisors are very long, so email marketing is essential if you want to get the best results.

10. Buy financial advisor leads online

If you want to get in front of prospective clients quickly, you can also buy online leads.

There are companies that specialize in generating leads for financial advisors and selling them at a discount.

You can usually buy financial advisor leads for around $150-$500 each (depending on the quality).

The downside of buying online leads is that they’re not always high quality, the conversion rates can be low and they are expensive.

But if you’re just starting out and need to build up your clientele quickly, buying online leads can be a good option. Just be sure to do your research and only work with reputable companies.

Or, work with a company that helps you get your OWN exclusive leads for free without needing to pay a lead generation company. This is what we do for our clients. You can learn more by watching this video.

11. Use social media marketing 

Social media marketing is a great way to reach out to prospective clients and build relationships.

When used correctly, social media can be a powerful tool to generate leads, build trust and rapport, and close more sales.

Most advisors only use social media to post about their services or share articles they’ve written. But if you want to generate leads from social media, you need to take a different approach.

You need to use social media to build relationships with prospective clients. This means engaging with them on a regular basis, providing value, and being genuine.

You can’t just post about your services all the time or talk about how great you are. That doesn’t work. You need to show prospective clients that you’re an expert they can trust.

This is how we use social media to generate leads for our financial advisor clients. We post helpful content, engage with prospective clients, and build relationships.

If you want to learn more about how to use social media marketing to generate leads for your business, watch this video. It will give you a good overview of what you need to do.

12. Host webinars or virtual events

Hosting webinars or events is another great way to reach out to prospective clients and build relationships.

Webinars are great because they allow you to share your knowledge with a large number of people at once. And, if people like what they see, they’ll be more likely to work with you.

Virtual events are also a great option because they’re more personal than webinars. You can host a virtual event on Zoom or another platform and invite prospective clients to attend.

At the event, you can share your knowledge, answer questions, and build relationships. These events are great because they allow you to build deeper relationships with prospective clients.

And, if you do a good job, you’ll be top of mind when they’re ready to work with a financial services firm.

13. Retarget existing website visitors

If you have a website, you can use retargeting to reach out to prospective clients who have visited your site.

Retargeting is a form of online advertising where you can show ads to people who have already visited your website.

For example, if someone visits your website but doesn’t contact you, you can show them ads for your services as they browse the web.

Retargeting is a great way to stay top of mind with prospective clients and increase the chances of them contacting you.

14. Send personalized cold reach emails

Cold emailing can be a great way to reach out to prospective clients and generate leads.

However, most financial advisors make the mistake of sending generic emails to everyone on their list. This is a big mistake.

Your cold emails need to be personalized if you want to get results.

For example, don’t just say “I’m a financial advisor and I can help you.” Say something like, “I noticed that you’re self-employed and I wanted to offer my help.”

Or, “I saw that you recently retired and thought you might need some help with your finances.”

Personalized cold emails are more likely to get a response than generic ones.

And if you can get a response, you’re one step closer to generating a lead.

Bonus tip: If you’re sending cold emails, be sure to use cold email software to automate most of the hard work.

Best Traditional Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas

Here are more traditional financial advisor prospecting strategies. They are not as effective as online lead generation strategies, but they can still work in some cases.

15. Local business networking events (e.g. BNI)

One of the most effective prospecting strategies for financial advisors is networking.

And there are many different ways you can network, such as:

• Attending industry events
• Joining trade associations and professional groups
• Going to Chamber of Commerce meetings
• Participating in business Referral Groups (e.g. BNI)

When it comes to networking, the key is to focus on quality over quantity.

It’s better to have 10 good connections that you can rely on than 100 superficial ones.

16. Educational seminars and workshops

Financial advisor seminars and workshops can be a great way to generate leads and build relationships with prospective clients.

Not only that but seminars and workshops are also a great way to build your brand and position yourself as an expert in your field.

If you decide to use seminars and workshops as part of your financial advisor marketing plan, make sure you promote them properly.

The last thing you want is to spend all that time and money organizing a seminar or workshop, only to have no one show up!

17. Referrals

Another great strategy for financial advisor prospecting is referrals.

After all, referrals are one of the best sources of new business.

So, how can you get more referrals?

There are a few ways, such as:

• Asking your current clients for referrals
• Asking other professionals for referrals (e.g., CPAs, attorneys, etc.)
• Offering referral fees

When it comes to referrals, always remember the golden rule: Treat others how you want to be treated.

If you’re generous with your referral fees and give Referral Partners quality leads, they’ll be more likely to give you quality leads in return. It’s a win-win!

18. Give free financial advice consultations

One of the best ways to generate leads is by offering free financial advice consultations.

When you offer a free consultation, you’re effectively giving prospective clients a taste of what it would be like to work with you.

And if they like what they see, there’s a good chance they’ll become paying clients.

To make the most of this strategy, be sure to promote your free consultations in the right way.

For example, you could:

• Advertise them on your website or blog
• Post about them on social media
• Include them in your email signature

By promoting your free consultations in the right way, you’ll be able to generate a steady stream of leads.

19. Use direct mail

Prospecting letters (also called direct mail) can be a great way to reach a large number of prospective clients with your marketing message.

There are many different types of prospecting letters you can send, such as:

• Postcards
• Newsletters
• Brochures

If you decide to use prospecting letters as part of your financial advisor marketing plan, make sure you test different versions to see what gets the best results.

One thing that can also work well is combining direct mail financial advisor strategies with other lead generation ideas such as retargeting ads or sending people an educational video.

20. Cold calling

Cold calling may not be the most popular prospecting strategy with insurance agents looking for leads and advisors prospecting for clients, but it can work for some people.

The key to successful cold calling is to focus on quality over quantity.

Don’t try to make 100 calls per day and hope that one or two people will bite. Instead, make 20-30 calls and take the time to build relationships with a potential client.

21. Contact existing clients for referrals

If you have existing clients, they can be a great source of referrals.

Your existing clients know you and they trust you. So, if they refer someone to you, that person is more likely to work with you.

There are a few different ways to get referrals from your existing clients.

You can ask them directly for referrals. You can also offer them a referral fee if they refer someone to you.

Another option is to host client appreciation events or invite existing clients to networking events.

22. Partner with other financial advisors in an area you don’t service

Believe it or not, you can actually get leads by partnering with other advisors who don’t work or service clients in your local area or state.

Some financial advisors are not licensed in every state. So one way to get more clients is to partner with other advisors in another state who can refer you new clients that they can’t help themselves.

In conclusion: Be proactive in finding prospective clients

These are just a few of the many different financial advisor prospecting strategies you can use to find new clients.

The key is to experiment and see what works best for you and your business. Don’t be afraid to try new things. And, most importantly, don’t give up!

However, don’t do EVERY strategy you see on this page. You only need one (or a few). If you’d like to learn more about the strategies we use for our financial planning clients, then click here to watch this free training.