Here are notes I took at FinCon 2019 on a seminar by Cartlon Cofield, about how to build a 6-figure advisory firm working with millennials in 15 months. If you’re a financial planner, these are some quick, useful notes on understanding the marketing, fee structures, and best practices behind a financial advisory firm. Disclaimer: While all attempts are made to present correct information, there is a chance I’ve written notes incorrectly!
How to Build a 6-Figure Advisory Firm Working with Millennials in 15 Months
Best Marketing Practices
- Focus – Develop a focused marketing message and be consistent
- Meet– Meet your clients where they are and bring them value
- Give – Give as much away for free as possible
- Build – Build a relationship with financial coaches
- Branding – Focus on branding vs. advertising. There’s a huge difference.
- “A service is a promise and building your brand builds your promise”
- When you’re building up your brand, you’re getting people to come to you because they’re enticed by what you do and how they can benefit. This is more powerful than continuously asking people to buy as it is a lot harder to convert these leads.
Cartlon’s business is focused on millennials and talks about different approaches for young clients.
Your Fee Structure
- AUM (assets under management) or % of assets – This fee structure is best for high net worth individuals
- % of net worth – This fee structure is the best for alternative investment holders
- Annual / quarterly / monthly retainer – This fee structure is best for high income employees or business owners
- Hourly – This fee structure is best for middle to lower income households
- Mixed approach
For millennials, he used a fee structure of a monthly retainer of around $500-$1200/month.
Best Practices for Serving Young Clients
- No office – younger clients enjoy the remote work style.
- Position your services around their problems – ask them first what they’re looking for
- Build a consistent workflow process
- Serve clients holistically but put their concerns first
- Leverage technology (automate)
Conclusion
These were short but helpful notes on how to build a 6-figure advisory firm working with millennials. I especially thought the fee structure was interesting. Having different pricing structures for different clients make sense as high net worth individuals probably have more of a portfolio to manage, which should require more of a cost for services. At the same time this audience has more to work with to pay you. This makes me think pricing can’t be transparently written out on financial firm websites as it varies case-by-case.
If you found these notes helpful, let me know in the comments below!
