Win More Clients with Captivating Proposals
The proposal is the first true touch point an advisor might have with a prospect and is the time to shine and demonstrate the value they can bring. So, it’s critical that advisors have a toolkit and strategy to highlight their strengths.
Creating a portfolio proposal for a prospective client is arguably one of the most important processes for a financial advisor. The proposal is the first true touch point an advisor might have with a prospect and is the time to shine and demonstrate the value they can bring. So, it’s critical that advisors have a toolkit and strategy to highlight their strengths.
When done right, a proposal can win over new clients and help foster long-lasting relationships. It’s a win-win scenario – but is it easier said than done?
Communication is Key
First and potentially foremost, it’s imperative to listen to a prospect and ask the right question. Some questions to consider include – What do you want from this process/relationship? What keeps you up at night? What do you want your legacy to be?
An easy starting point to ensure you leave no stone unturned and come away with all the information you need is to use a comprehensive and customizable questionnaire to help determine your prospect’s risk tolerance and current financial situation. The information you gather from this step will be the foundation for creating a successful investment proposal that captures the prospect’s unique investment objectives.
Then, take the time to really understand the needs and goals of your prospect beyond the basics, to develop a strong understanding of their unique financial situation, investment objectives and risk tolerance.
Looking for a place to start? The Zephyr platform helps financial advisors gather comprehensive data through customizable questionnaires, and let’s you leverage this information into a winning portfolio proposal.
Exceed Expectations with Personalization
We often talk about creating a customized experience for your clients, but in the case of creating a successful proposal, the proposal must be personalized. A cookie-cutter approach will no longer cut it, and it’s imperative that advisors create a proposal that aligns with everyone’s unique situation and wishes.
The most successful advisors utilize the information gathered from questionnaires (and continuous communication!) and determine what a prospect wants, how they want to see it and tailor their proposal each time. In fact, 100% of Zephyr users create personalized client reports, and in 2023 alone, Zephyr users created over 750 personalized portfolio proposals. Personalization is a train you already need to be on to stay level with client expectations.
You could start by understanding whether the prospect values basic or in-depth investment analytics; not everyone will want to thumb through a 30-page proposal, so consider whether it can be 3 pages or 30.
Finally, it’s also important to use analytics that help tell the story of the proposed investment strategy and how it aligns with a prospect’s unique objectives and risk tolerance.
Level up your proposal generation by making it personal.
Leverage Captivating Graphs
To further showcase the value you can bring, use optimized and personalized graphs and analytics to increase client understanding and engagement. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a graph that shows a success trajectory can be priceless.
Create captivating graphs that illustrate your client’s goals and story. For example, if your client is most concerned about preserving her capital during periods of market distress, show a drawdown graph that highlights the investment strategy’s ability to limit drawdowns during periods of market sell offs like the Great Financial Crisis.
Furthermore, call out portions of the graphic that help highlight your strengths and differentiate you from competition. Take advantage of Zephyr’s library of resources to help gain a better understanding of what investment metric to use to help highlight your proposed investment strategy.
Creating Efficiencies with Technology
As we’ve seen, creating a personalized proposal is important, however making the process efficient while not sacrificing personalization is even more important. There are only so many hours in the day and financial advisors are pulled in many different directions, so creating an efficient process by leveraging technology is vital.
While the early fact-finding mission with your prospects to create a personalized proposal may seem daunting, setting up an efficient process without losing the personal touch can be the more difficult challenge.
The solution? Use a comprehensive investment management platform (like Zephyr) that gives you the tools to efficiently create a captivating portfolio proposal. From creating comprehensive personalized portfolio proposals in under 30-minutes, to demonstrating portfolio performance and showcasing results.
The first impression counts, so find out more about what Zephyr can do for you to speed up and smooth out the proposal generation process.