5 Ways for Bank Advisors to Boost Business

5 Strategies for Bank Program Growth

If there is one overriding message from banks to their investment programs, its this: Show us the growth. As low interest rates and sluggish loan demand continue to make healthy profit streams from traditional deposit and lending activities harder to come by at FIs, investment programs are increasingly viewed as a critical channel for generating non-interest income, according to LPLs Rob Comfort.

Comfort wrote about five strategies for that growth in his latest blog. Here we present the nut-shell version of those strategies.

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Optimize Your Focus

Some advisors spend too much time with their least profitable clients. Dont take on more clients, but rather spend more time with your most profitable existing clients. By carefully segmenting your book, you can determine which clients are the most profitable (or have the greatest potential to be.) Several of our bank advisors have found that partnering with junior advisors or licensed branch employees to service a portion of their book is one of the most effective means of increasing their own business.

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Partner With Others at Your Institution

Spending more of your time with your A-list clients does not mean spurning the mass market or turning away less profitable clients. Rather, it means finding a way to serve them more efficiently. Bank and credit union-based advisors will always have to deal with walk-ins and investors with limited means. The best way to deal with them efficiently, however, is to enlist the efforts of your financial institution colleagues to serve as your front line in attracting assets.

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Broaden Your Product Mix

Markets change. Products that worked well just five years ago may no longer be appropriate today. Some advisors built their businesses primarily on interest-rate sensitive products that are no longer as popular in todays low-interest-rate environment. This has translated into lost opportunities for the advisor and the institution. A broader mix of products reduces the impact of market cycles. More importantly, it allows you to serve a broader spectrum of your clients core financial needs, encompassing income generation, investment growth, protection and estate planning.

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Plan Activities Carefully And Execute Your Plan

Its important to map out a business plan for the year, but the more specific you can be down to creating weekly and daily plans on an ongoing basis and executing against them in a disciplined manner, the better you will optimize your time and maintain control of your business. Include time for the following: setting future appointments through disciplined outbound phone efforts to clients and prospects; meeting with clients, including setting service level commitments for A, B, and C clients; segmenting your book and analyzing your business; prospecting for new business; and marketing internally and externally.

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Develop Support Within the Institution

The wealth management program is a valuable, integral part of your organization, and deserves its full support and recognition. But its up to the advisor to get the word out and to build institutional support. Conduct an ongoing lobbying effort so colleagues in every department understand your program and its value. Cultivate strong working relationships among key centers of influence, including commercial lenders, private bankers, trust officers, and branch employees. If successful, you will remain top of mind and ultimately your colleagues will become advocates for your program and important referral sources for it among their own business clients.

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