Building a Value Proposition That Grows with Your Financial Advisory Practice
Francois du Toit CFP®
Helping financial planners grow | Making AI simple to understand & use | Friendly tech guide | Founder @ PROpulsion | CFP®
It doesn't matter if you are new to the financial planning profession or have decades of experience, one thing remains the same: your value proposition must change and evolve as you and your clients grow.
A strong value proposition isn’t just a statement on your website; it’s the foundation of your business. It defines whom you serve, how you help them, and why they should choose you. More importantly, it needs to adapt to your clients’ changing needs, industry trends, and your own business journey.
Starting Out: Building Trust and Relationships
If you’re early in your career or practice, your biggest challenge is that people don’t know you yet. You may have all the technical knowledge and enthusiasm in the world, but without trust, potential clients will hesitate to work with you.
At this stage, your value proposition should focus on:
Personalised Attention: Show clients that you’re committed to understanding their unique goals, fears, and needs.
Accessibility: Be available, responsive, and proactive in guiding clients.
Modern Tools: Use technology to streamline your services and create a seamless client experience.
Your value proposition might sound something like this:
“Helping young professionals build financial confidence through personalised guidance and modern solutions.”
By emphasising trust and service, you’ll lay the foundation for long-term client relationships.
Mid-Career: Scaling and Specialising
After five to ten years in the industry, you have an established client base and a clearer understanding of your strengths. Now is the time to refine your value proposition by specialising and showcasing your success.
Key strategies include:
Specialisation: Develop expertise in a niche area or serve a specific type of client.
Proven Success: Share real client stories and measurable outcomes.
Holistic Approach: Expand your services to support clients across different aspects of their financial lives.
Your value proposition might evolve into:
“Delivering tailored financial strategies backed by years of proven success, helping business owners and professionals secure their financial future.”
By demonstrating expertise and results, you’ll continue to attract ideal clients who value your services.
Established Advisers: Maintaining Relevance and Planning for the Future
As you approach the later stages of your career, your focus may shift to maintaining relevance, ensuring business continuity, and leaving a legacy.
At this stage, consider:
Innovation: Adopt new technology to enhance client experience and streamline operations.
Thought Leadership: Share your insights through content, mentorship, or speaking engagements.
Succession Planning: Prepare your practice for the future, ensuring continuity for clients.
Your value proposition might now be:
“Leading the way in innovative financial solutions to secure wealth and create lasting legacies for future generations.”
By demonstrating ongoing value, you reassure clients that they are in capable hands, no matter what the future holds.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
No matter where you are in your career, there are a few mistakes to watch out for:
Being Too Generic: Avoid broad statements like “I provide financial planning.” Instead, be specific about the problems you solve and who you help.
Neglecting Client Needs: Regularly gather feedback to ensure your value proposition aligns with what clients want.
Resisting Change: Client expectations, technology, and regulations evolve—your value proposition should too.
Watch the Full Episode
Want to dive deeper into this topic? Watch the full episode of PROpulsion LIVE, where we unpack how financial advisers can refine their value proposition at every stage of their journey.
Let’s keep the conversation going—how has your value proposition evolved over time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Stay curious, stay engaged, and let’s raise the bar together.
#CreatingSomethingThatMatters
5moEnjoyed the read. Still very relevant. "Lets raise the bar together"
Helping FSPs achieve better delivery of value, business continuity, safer knowledge management and realistically retain relationships with clients, staff and suppliers using technology.
5mo1. Ask your clients what they want 2. Formulate a process to deliver 3. Make sure you have a delivery system Of course there is more detail to it than that and you may perhaps decide what you want to offer before asking clients in which case you have then already determined your target market and theoretically don’t need to ‘ask’ what they want. But those are the high level steps to creating and delivering your value proposition. All too often “we” assume what our clients want. I even see it in my tech business. Of course there will be a general or default offering and process design but each advisory practice is different so we never assume everyone operates the same way.