Lead Generation Companies For a Financial Adviser Or IFA
One of the key components for a successful business as a financial adviser or IFA working in the UK financial services industry, is the generation of new business. The most important thing to be successful in the role of a financial adviser is to be in front of people who are willing to put money into an investment or purchase a protection plan or pension. It doesn’t matter how well qualified the financial adviser is, it doesn’t matter what organisation he works for, if he is not in front of the right clients, he won’t do business!
So what techniques can be used to generate new business. Of course, some financial advisers or IFA’s will be working for organisations that will provide them with leads or clients referrals – good for them! But what about the guys and gals who aren’t? There is the telephone and the telephone book or door knocking, good old fashioned methods of generating potential client names. The thing about these methods is that more and more, consumers are annoyed by what they see as an invasion of their privacy and unsolicited calls. There is the client referral from existing clients – this is a good way to generate new business as they will have already been told by friends what a great financial adviser they have working for them and what a great idea it would be for them to see that financial adviser. There is also the networking route – attending BNI(Business Networking International) meetings and marketing the advice on offer and the brand name worked for.
The final route and one shrouded in uncertainty for most working within financial services, is outsourcing the generation of new business to a lead generation company. For a financial adviser or IFA in the UK this often means, a company based in India or Pakistan, where the financial adviser has very little control of what is being said to the potential client and who they will be contacted by. Another thing is that the cost can be prohibitive for what can sometimes essentially be very poorly qualified new business. There are obviously companies based in the UK that can offer the financial adviser or the IFA a modicum of control over the factors above but again, companies offering an outsourcing or lead generation service to the financial services industry in the UK can be hugely expensive in comparison to companies offshore. So what is the solution? an offshore organisation – little control over the process and mostly poorly qualified or a UK company – costly and again – no guarantee of quality.
The best advice would be to research the various organisations offering outsourced lead generation to the financial adviser or IFA as much as possible. It is quite feasible that there are organisations out there that offer a very high quality service and at a very cost effective price, its the same with everything, you get what you pay for, unfortunately. For the IFA or financial sales professional its a needs must situation – its vital to generate new business in order to be a successful going concern but then the time is needed to be able to get in front of those people to write the business. Thats not going to happen if time is being spent trying constantly to generate new business. Research the companies thoroughly, set a budget and ask for some sort of control over whats said to potential clients – its the only way to make outsourced lead generation work.
