Derrick Kinney, President of Success for Advisors, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, to discuss how an RIA firm can grow its practice by giving to causes their clients and prospects care about.
Kinney’s book, Good Money Revolution, comes out of his practice as a financial advisor. Kinney seeks to overcome a cultural vibe that those earning high incomes must be bad people who are doing something wrong or exploiting their workers. To overcome this perception, Kinney believes that high earners should seek to maximize their income while doing good through charitable donations. CEOs, especially, should connect a cause to their cash, meaning to their money, or a purpose to their profits. The goal should not be solely to increase personal wealth, but also to have an impact and improve lives.
As a financial advisor, Kinney provided $25 and $50 Amazon gift cards to the teacher and student of the month at his high school alma mater. This practice earned him respect and publicity in his community, which led to an increasing number of clients for his financial advisory practice. Building a successful advisory practice may simply come from caring about the causes your clients care about.
Kinney notes that introducing himself as a financial advisor isn’t the most successful way to begin a conversation. Instead, Kinney talks about his three-step strategy that helps investors relieve their worries about running out of money in retirement. By saying he specializes in retirement income planning, he engages people in a conversation about a relatable problem.
Financial advisors interact with members of their community on a daily basis, but don’t know the specific words to say to start a conversation that connects with people’s pain points. Today, Kinney works with top 1% advisors on small tweaks and simple steps that can lead to their next big revenue breakthrough. Rather than spending time telling prospects about your credentials and qualifications, Kinney recommends that new advisors immediately pick a specialty to focus on. Regardless of the profession, clients want to work with a specialist, not a generalist. Kinney offers a coaching program and ongoing workshops for advisors who desire to accelerate their practice.
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