What do your clients really know about you?

“Oh, I didn’t know you offered succession planning.”
“Have you been doing tax loss harvesting this whole time?”
“I was going to mention your name to a friend, but I wasn’t sure if you worked with younger clients.”

These conversations happen all the time, and it’s largely due to the misconception that the drive to share information stops once a prospect comes on board. But a well-informed client is necessary to perpetuate the cycle of retention, referrals and prospecting.

Here’s what you can do:

Most successful advisors, RIAs and firms offer a range of services. Even if you’re specialized in a certain niche, it’s likely that you provide a depth or breadth of expertise that is valuable for that particular group. Maybe it’s family-office-style financial coordination or a hands-on investment process with due diligence and independent research—but if it represents uncommon value, it needs to be shared.

Build up some resources and link them in your email signature, add them to your website, and include them in any periodic communications you send out to your client base. If you have a newsletter or commentary, include a service spotlight or an article on your investment process.

During an annual review, include a bit of informative material along with the client’s performance reports, and ask them about their evolving needs in reference to your full service offering. 

Clients who have been working with you for some time may not be aware of how your service has developed, what makes it different from others’, and the various features that, even if they’re not pertinent to that client’s current needs, could be relevant to those in their inner circle.

Having tangible resources and processes that educate your clients is a crucial part of your internal branding. And though it may seem lower priority than, say, active lead generation, you’ll find it bleeds into your external brand as well, as much of this content can be multi-purpose. 

And the more you build it up, you’ll find a strong internal brand is just a long-game prospecting strategy.