Voices

Where to Find New Clients (Hint: Everywhere)

Prospective clients can turn up anywhere. At church one recent Sunday, someone hunted me down after I picked my kids up from Sunday school to ask me about working with them. (Yep, accosted after Sunday school to talk about business -- that’s the first time that’s happened.)

My family goes to a church that has about 800 regular weekend attendees. My wife and I go to weekly 11 a.m. services with a lot of other families whose kids attend Sunday school. We talk about life in passing, but it’s tough to keep in touch with someone’s life while waiting in line to collect our kids. For that reason, many of the working parents are connected on LinkedIn.

On this particular Sunday, this one dad found me and mentioned he had seen everything I had been posting on LinkedIn and Facebook about my transition and the new firm. He loved my fresh approach, and as he works in IT, my technology strategy was a big plus for him.

Although he’s not in my target market -- that is, he’s not a teacher -- he asked if I would consider working with his family.

In some cases, without a personal connection, I might refer a prospect to another advisor. But in this case, I know the family personally and have actually worked with another mutual friend; he approached me based in part on that referral. So I will be talking further to him -- and I’ll remember that I can meet clients just about anywhere.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Financial planning Practice management RIAs
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING