Why do some financial service professionals consistently place in the top 5-10{afe232c3ea7dcee0a9b500e712c36ed73e0bf8021eb768210a7cfcc3f030476e} of sales production while others struggle to make a living? Are they brighter or more tenacious? Do they have a better education or more professional designations?
After interviewing dozens of advisers I can sum up the success of the top 10{afe232c3ea7dcee0a9b500e712c36ed73e0bf8021eb768210a7cfcc3f030476e} with one phrase-niche marketing specialization. The secret top producers have learned is to focus exclusively on million dollar clients by becoming an expert in delivering a specialized service that meets their unique needs.
Why specialize? First, all labor tends toward specialization and your prospects know that. Just look down any aisle at your local grocery store and you’ll see what I mean. There are cereals with added fiber, cereals for kids, cereals with fruit and nuts, cereals for weight-loss and so on.
Next, look at the medical profession. Very few doctors these days are general practitioners. Most are specialists of some kind. Guess who makes more money and who gets more referrals? As a professional becomes more specialized, their income trends upward. And not only that, surveys tell us that they get more referrals because people are more comfortable sending friends to see a specialist.
As you specialize your knowledge and skills to more closely match the needs of a specific segment or niche, the perception of your value increases in their mind. Let’s say you are a dentist. You go to a business after hours at the country club and you meet two people and you ask each what they do for a living. One says, “I’m a financial adviser.” The other says, “I’m a financial adviser specializing in the unique needs of dentists.” Who would you perceive as having the higher value?
Maybe you used the “land grab” approach to build your practice. In other words you took any adult with a pulse and a bank account as a client. Let’s assume you have a book of business scattered across many industries, ages and income segments and you now realize you need to specialize in order to make more money.
Take your client list and dump it into a spread sheet. Then add four columns-Value, Segment/Niche, Referrals and Passion.
Go through your list and fill in the columns. Under value put down how much money you make from them each year. List the industry or niche they fit into in the next column. Write down how many referrals you got from them. Use a scale from 1-5 to measure how much passion you have for their industry, segment or niche.
By doing this exercise, you’ll notice a pattern beginning to emerge. Maybe your ideal client segments are corporate executives or self-employed medical professionals.
Choose a niche with a million dollar potential that you are passionate about. Then learn everything you can about their needs. Armed with that information you can now get a web URL that matches perfectly. Customize your marketing materials for an exact fit. I guarantee your income will improve.
