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There is no easy answer for determining which niche an advisor should focus on. However, you can find your niche by examining the intersection of passion, aptitude, and profit.
If there were an easy answer to finding a niche, everyone would have one, and there would be no competitive advantage.
The best niche for your firm will be revealed by determining what makes you unique. Randomly picking a niche market is not a successful strategy.
Passion
Start with passion because you want your work to be something that not only interests but excites you. Passion is contagious, and prospective clients will pick up on this energy, making them want to work with you.
To brainstorm what you are most passionate about, ask yourself:
- What are my interests and passions?
- Who am I passionate about working with?
- What types of people do I naturally network with or spend time with?
- What would I be doing if I weren’t a financial advisor?
- Which types of clients are enjoyable and easy to serve?
Answer those questions professionally and personally to discover the best options to consider.
Aptitude
Next, look at your aptitude. Your aptitude is your natural ability, or general suitability, for a specific type of work.
To uncover your aptitude, analyze your experience, skills, and talents that not every advisor can claim they have. Your aptitude comes from your natural talents, current and past professional experience, and life experience.
To discover your aptitude, ask yourself:
- What services do my clients find most valuable?
- What specializations do I have, or special services do I offer?
- What unique educational background do I have?
- What previous career or professional background do I have?
- What is unique about my life experience?
- What types of clients are most engaged in our work together?
- What hole in the industry do I naturally fill?
- What natural talents and strengths do I have?
Profit
You want to look at profit because making money is the only way you can stay in business. Ask yourself these questions:
- What types of clients are most profitable?
- What types of clients are naturally attracted to the firm without much effort?
- What types of clients are willing and able to pay for my services?
Spend 45 minutes brainstorming everything that comes to mind. The first 15 to 30 minutes of this exercise will reveal the obvious answers. It’s when you brainstorm for more than 30 minutes that more innovative ideas come to light.
Then spend an additional 15 minutes making connections between the different ideas you wrote down in each of the circles.
As you answer these questions, you will find that the overlap between your passion and your aptitude is what makes you unique. The overlap between your aptitude and your profit is where you create value. And the overlap between your passion and your profit is what motivates you to do the work you do.
Let’s say you decide that your passion is in helping young people who are building wealth. You determine that your aptitude is in the tech industry since you worked in it before you became a financial advisor. And, you realize that you have found profit as a financial advisor by helping tech professionals whose companies had an IPO.
By making the connections between your passion, aptitude, and profit, you’re able to see that a potential niche for you is tech employees who expect to receive a windfall due to an IPO.
Once you find the intersection of your passion, aptitude, and profit, that is the niche for you.
Kristen Luke is the president of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing agency specializing in helping RIAs promote their businesses to a niche through an expertise approach. Over the past 15 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide. For more information, visit www.kaleidocreative.com.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
