financial investment

Find Your Unique Value As a Financial Advisor

Stand out from the crowd with a unique value proposition.

A unique value proposition is an elevator pitch that encapsulates the benefit you bring to your clients and what sets you apart from the competition. It tells clients how your approach to financial planning enables you to uniquely meet their needs. Every financial advisor should have a UVP, but creating one can be easier said than done. Here are seven tips for creating your unique value proposition so you can capture your unique value and share it with clients.

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Reflect on what brought you to the industry.

Your unique value proposition begins with you. “Every financial advisor has a story, and you should rely on that story to create your unique value proposition,” says Julie Genjac, managing director of Strategic Markets at Harford Funds. “Reflect back on what first called you to the profession, what formative experiences have shaped your path and what successes you’ve had with clients.” Your stories and experiences can help you relate to your clients and prospects on a more human level.

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Stand out from the crowd with a unique value proposition.

A unique value proposition is an elevator pitch that encapsulates the benefit you bring to your clients and what sets you apart from the competition. It tells clients how your approach to financial planning enables you to uniquely meet their needs. Every financial advisor should have a UVP, but creating one can be easier said than done. Here are seven tips for creating your unique value proposition so you can capture your unique value and share it with clients.

Reflect on what brought you to the industry.

Your unique value proposition begins with you. “Every financial advisor has a story, and you should rely on that story to create your unique value proposition,” says Julie Genjac, managing director of Strategic Markets at Harford Funds. “Reflect back on what first called you to the profession, what formative experiences have shaped your path and what successes you’ve had with clients.” Your stories and experiences can help you relate to your clients and prospects on a more human level.

Define your niche.

To write an effective value proposition, you need to know who you’re writing it for. Who is your target audience? If you haven’t already defined your niche, John O’Connell, chief revenue officer at RobustWealth, suggests looking to your existing client base for guidance. Try to define a pattern in their demographics, he says. Then ask yourself why you feel like your message resonates with that demographic.

Determine how you uniquely serve your target audience.

Once you know who you’re trying to serve, define what’s unique about the services you provide to that target niche. “How do you craft your model portfolios to be able to service that marketplace?” O’Connell says. He gives the example of a firm targeting women in transition. Knowing that a key struggle women in transition face is managing stress, the firm focuses on building initial portfolios around principal protection. “They want to be able to build an enormous amount of trust because they want their client base to be with them for the rest of their life,” O’Connell says. How can you uniquely address the needs of your target audience?

Create talking points.

As powerful as your personal stories and value proposition may be, “without careful thought into articulating them, the message can easily be lost or misinterpreted,” Genjac says. “Take the time to write down your responses and organize your thoughts, and then craft them into talking points.” These talking points can become a repertoire that you carry around with you and can pull out whenever the opportune moment arises, she says.

Practice by recording yourself.

To perfect your unique value proposition, practice speaking it aloud. Genjac suggests recording yourself to hear how you come across. You want to “speak with passion and conviction, but be succinct,” she says. Rehearse, but not to the point where you sound robotic or scripted. “Remember, the process is about engaging others in conversation and getting to know them, so that you can demonstrate why you’re the right choice to serve as their financial advisor,” she says.

Get feedback.

Feedback is the best way to improve your unique value proposition. You can test your UVP out on the people closest to you, but pay special attention to how your target audience is responding to you. “Listen to what that segment is telling you and make changes to your message accordingly,” O’Connell says. “They’re giving you valuable feedback, and if you take it in and adjust your message accordingly, you’re going to win more and more of that marketplace.”

Stay relentless and disciplined.

Once you’ve defined your unique value proposition, the challenge becomes staying true to it. Remaining relentless in servicing an individual niche can be difficult for financial advisors, O’Connell says. You may need to say no to certain clients who approach you but don’t fit your target market. “A lot of financial advisors have said they've walked away from business to stay true to their niche (because) they don't want their staff to lose focus,” O’Connell says. As hard as this discipline may be, it will help you continue to differentiate yourself from the jacks-of-all-trades clogging the industry and keep the “unique” in your unique value proposition.

How to write your unique value proposition.

Reflect on what brought you to the industry.Define your niche.Determine how you uniquely serve your target audience.Create talking points.Practice by recording yourself.Get feedback.Stay relentless and disciplined.1 of 10

Coryanne Hicks, Staff Writer

Coryanne Hicks is an investing reporter for U.S. News & World Report. She is an expert at ...  Read more

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