One of the smartest moves you can make right now is to pursue a target market of investors whom you are ideally suited to serve. As I've pointed out in previous columns, enormous numbers of investors are unhappy with their current advisors and are looking for better guidance and solutions. And by targeting the right clients for you and your firm, you'll set yourself up for a great future.

Conducting interviews with centers of influence (or COIs) should play a major role in your efforts. Centers of influence are the key people with whom the members of your target market surround themselves. They are the movers and shakers who have a deep understanding of the market and the unique issues and challenges its members face. As a result, COIs are in the best position to provide you with insights about your target market, to help you establish yourself as a true expert within it.

That's exactly what David DeWolf, principal at Quantum Wealth Management in Culver City, Calif., discovered after doing 15 interviews with COIs in his chosen niche of successful executives going through significant life transitions, such as exiting a business they created years ago. Those COIs included executives who had gone through major life changes themselves, as well as business coaches, therapists and others "There is no better way to understand your target market than by talking directly to the people who are affecting it or being affected by it," DeWolfe says. "If I were to rank my knowledge of my niche before COIs, I might be a 3. Today I'm an 8."

FINDING THEM

To identify the COIs in your niche, first talk to any existing clients who belong to the niche and ask them who the most influential people in their group may be. Then contact the executive director of the local, regional or national association within that niche, or other organization of their group. An excellent resource is the Encyclopedia of Associations, a guide to more than 135,000 national, regional, state and local associations (available at most libraries).

A combination of these approaches worked best for Larry Heinrich, founder of Integrated Wealth Partners in Centennial, Colo., who was looking to identify COIs to help him with his niche of business owners within three years of a liquidity event. Talking to his entrepreneur clients helped Heinrich find key COI contacts with local business brokers and consultants-some of whom are now interested in forming strategic alliances with him. In addition, Heinrich got help identifying entrepreneurs to interview by reaching out to the local Home Builders Association.

Once you identify 10 COIs, call them. Let them know that you are a financial advisor, that you are focused on serving their particular niche and that you would like to interview them in order to understand the challenges facing them and how you could better serve their niche. "People aren't just open to helping-they are very excited to help," DeWolf says. "They love to share their experiences and their knowledge."

If you are planning to publish an article based on what you learn, make it clear to the COI that this article will benefit all members of the niche and, by association, the COI as well. You could say, for example, that you plan to use your research to create an article or white paper and that you would make the final result available to the COI.

DeWolf is using the information he has received from his interviews, for instance, to write a white paper that he will use as part of his marketing efforts to build credibility among members of his niche and the other professionals that serve them.

INTERVIEWING THEM

To schedule and conduct effective interviews, follow these steps:

1. Call to set up the appointment. Explain that you are a financial advisor conducting research to determine how to add the most value for the members of the community given the challenges in today's market. Say you were told that the COI might be willing to share his or her insights and opinions, and try to schedule a one-hour meeting for breakfast or lunch.

2. Open the interview. At the meeting, describe what you would like to accomplish and how it will benefit both members of the niche and the COI. Say, for example, "I think the members of our community will benefit as we uncover how best to solve the problems they face today. My plan is to publish the results of my research in an article."

You may occasionally find that the person is uncomfortable with the purpose of the meeting. Reassure the COI that you are not there to sell anything, but rather to conduct research to discover how you can better serve the community as a group.