How do you expand your service offerings as a financial advisor?
And not only how do you create new service offerings, but more importantly, how do you do it at scale to smoothly grow your business without adding unnecessary stress to your business model?
Before you commit time and resources to grow your financial advisory firm, you’ll want to ensure you’re in the right position first. A big part of that is being confident that your clients and prospects would be interested in your new services.
If you’re interested in attracting more clients and increasing your profitability, there are plenty of factors to know to expand the right way.
Check out these seven service expansion questions to answer before you make a decision.
Answer These Questions Before Expanding Your Service Offerings
1. What are the needs of your existing clients?
First things first: what are you attempting to accomplish with your new service offerings and how will they affect your current clients? It’s easy to find out, too. Talk with them or create surveys to gauge their needs to discover new opportunities.
Once you have those client insights, then you can consider if you’re capable of meeting those needs. If you can meet those needs, you can take the next step to expand your services.
Related: 12 Habits That Build a Killer Client Appreciation Program
2. Does the new offering complement your business alignment?
Adding value to what you already do—while being attractive to clients and prospects—is the best way to expand your service offerings. For example, if you haven’t yet offered long-term care options for your clients, now could be a great time to add that new service offering with the increased need for care planning.
Offering valuable services to your target market will make it easy for your clients to embrace your new option. Of course, this is better for your business growth since your clients won’t have to go elsewhere to fill their needs. It’s pretty simple to offer complementary services, especially if you have a strategic partner to help you.
3. Will you need new skills, training, or licenses?
Do your homework to understand what industry-specific training or certifications will be required or preferred by your target market.
Going back to the long-term care example, a Certification for Long-Term Care (CLTC®) isn’t mandatory to sell the product category, but it may be worth the effort to earn it. This prestigious designation would empower you to stand out from your competition and provide an immediate identity as a knowledgeable, ethical financial professional.
4. Is there a strong market for the offering you’re considering?
A new service can be a boost to your business, but take time to think about the overall market need first. There’s always a cost-benefit analysis involved when contemplating a new offering to your clients.
Ask yourself this: Is it worth your time to get trained up, expand your back office, and market your service if only a handful of clients or prospects would be interested in it?
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5. Should you find a strategic partner to implement your new service?
There are several strategic alliance opportunities to consider that meet the growing demands of clients. The following partnerships can provide new services to your clients without bringing them in-house:
- Attorneys: As a financial professional, you’re uniquely positioned to ensure clients’ estate plans are correctly executed. By working together with a lawyer, they can prepare estate planning documents while you add value to your firm.
- CPAs: Some clients may already have a trusted CPA they work with. But for those who don’t, a CPA can be an incredible resource that can prepare taxes and answer questions without bias. Plus, a CPA can be a great referral source for your business.
- Trust officers: Older clients may want to create a trust fund to pass their wealth onto their heirs. Since this is a complicated process, partnering with a trust officer can help manage trusts in your clients’ best interests.
6. Will the offerings make your business a destination one-stop-shop?
Putting your clients’ needs first is always a top priority to effectively grow your business. Are you doing everything you can to meet as many of those needs as possible?
Remember, the goal is to simplify things for your client base. If you can expand your services, it reduces the need for clients to go anywhere else. And if you create an effective “one-stop-shop,” clients will likely discover that you offer services they didn’t even know they’d need.
Related: Do You Need a Business Coach or Business Consultant?
7. Are you expanding your service offerings for the rest reasons?
There are plenty of good reasons to expand your offerings, but those new services can also increase your risks.
One common mistake is making service expansions just because the competition is doing it. Rushing to expand can lead to errors and lost monetary and human resources. Making sure you have a solidified plan in place before expansion is vital.
Consider Expert Financial Business Consulting
Growing your service offerings is exciting and challenging at the same time. And if you don’t have a trusted business consultant that can offer advice and guidance through your complicated decisions, it can lead to missed opportunities and lost causes.
Surge Business Consulting engages financial advisors to create tailored business growth solutions with a specialized 20.20 Process to deliver optimal results.
If you’re looking to bring out the best in your firm, consider partnering with a business consultant like Surge. The 20.20 Process can empower you to start at the foundation, build tactical growth and risk opportunities, and provide accountability to execute your business plans.
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