Three initiatives to develop a financial adviser’s business
By Mark Battersby, 1 Jun 16
In the first of a series of insights from financial advisers across the world, David Pugh, director of The Fry Group, Singapore, sets out three initiatives he is taking to build the business along best practice lines.
Marketing
We have chosen to take a very different marketing tack than the ‘route one’ approach traditionally employed by expat financial advisers, more in keeping with our focus on quality advice and transparency.
We don’t cold call – simple as that. We don’t think it sets the right tone for a long-term, serious advisory relationship with a client. We don’t even do the ‘new’ cold calling of stalking people on LinkedIn and we don’t gather business cards from third party events for mailings or similar activity.
We are growing our business through referrals. We want people to want to speak to us whether that is through sharing content that is relevant to them or through knowledge based workshops on particular aspects of planning or finances.
Because many of our clients are higher earning expats we add value by holding information based events and dinners that plug them into a network of like-minded individuals. That can mean anything from wine-tastings to presentations with expert speakers in the finance world.
One of the areas we are passionate about is professionalism in financial advice. Expats often fall between the stools of domestic regulation in local markets and high standards of regulation in the UK which they are not covered by. So we engage with and highlight issues in relation to professional standards.
Ultimately our long term marketing strategy, involving a mixture of appropriate visibility, introductions and referrals, combined with doing a good job, helps us to grow our business without being invasive.
Tags: Singapore | The Fry Group
