One of the biggest challenges for any financial advisor is getting new inquiries. Some will say that one way to achieve that is by making more calls or spending more time and money on marketing activity.

In the modern world, many people spend a fortune on social media advertising but get very little reward for the cost and effort.

What if there was a way to generate unlimited leads of the highest quality for zero cost? What if those leads could be filtered before you even talk to them so that only those who are serious and have sufficient economic capacity make it through the vetting process?

I have been using traditional marketing techniques for decades, including print, radio and TV. This has led to me becoming a recognized expert through numerous marketing channels. However, I now use that vast experience and apply it to the modern form of communication — social media platforms — all at zero cost and bringing in at least three top quality inquiries every day. This strategy even produced 31 millionaire inquiries on the first day of 2023!

In creating an online presence, there clearly must be some credibility that needs to be generated quickly. After that, the credibility becomes self-fulfilling — the more you do, the more you become the go-to person.

Advertising is clearly a traditional form of communication and promotion that can help to create a brand but not necessarily a reputation.

When I started my career, I had a clear five-year plan of what I wanted to achieve. I use the analogy of a jigsaw puzzle: You would never start one without the picture on the box, yet how many of us live our lives without the picture on the box? We pick up pieces of life’s puzzle and only realize at the end of our life that we picked up a lot of the wrong pieces; perhaps they were not part of our picture but belonged to someone else’s story.

I identified what I wanted my future picture to be and then sought the pieces of the puzzle I needed to make that picture. One of these was to create a public brand by using media that targeted my niche. I started writing a weekly newspaper column and began to be recognized at parties, weddings and networking events. My brand was building.

The articles I wrote were to build my personal brand as an expert. They built credibility and were written in a style that educated people about aspects of financial planning, with no sales pitch.

I won a national award for UK IFA of the Year, and I then started to appear on radio and TV as a guest phone-in expert or was interviewed on news programs.

One day the manager of one of the cable TV channels told me that I was the channel’s favorite live phone-in expert because I never answered a viewer’s question! He explained that all the other guest advisors tried to show off their technical knowledge and addressed the answer solely to the specific question. I was the only one who understood that there was a wider audience that needed to be engaged.

These methods worked for me for many years. I have never had to cold call and have always generated enough inquiries to keep me busy and sustain Top of the Table status.

Then along came social media, in particular Facebook. Initially, I saw it as a way of keeping in touch with friends around the world rather than as a source of business leads.

I realized that there were many Facebook groups that are free and easy to join. These groups often have thousands of members, who would ask questions about all sorts of issues, seeking help.

Whenever there was a financial-related question, I would reply. But I understood that the audience I was addressing was not the person asking the question but all the other people who would be reading the answer. I would write a short article or several paragraphs that addressed the question, explained the different strategies of achieving the objective and then gave my contact details if they wanted to use my services.

I have been asked by the owners of those groups to run some live webinars for the members, which then become permanent guides on the group’s homepage.

Other media have seen my profile and asked me to do work for them, such as being a guest on a series of podcasts. I now cross-link to those third parties, to the podcasts and other articles, and even post the TV videos as part of my answers. This third-party endorsement is priceless and makes my credibility sky high!

I am now wary of answering questions, as every time I do, we get an influx of new inquiries, often too many to handle. To cope with the volume, we have also learned to filter the leads.

First, we are positioned as a premium brand. That means that we don’t get any inquiries for people looking for a cheap advisor.

Next, when we get the inquiries, we make them go through a series of fact-finding steps (that they do themselves) and watch a one-hour video; if they won’t do the homework or watch the video, we do not conduct a meeting with them. I take the view that I am offering a lifetime relationship, and if prospects won’t invest a couple of hours of their own time toward that, they are not entitled to any of my time.

This free marketing activity and unique process has been proven to bring in huge cases and helps us avoid wasting time on prospects who need chasing or closing. Many cases have produced over $50,000 of revenue, and we have been competition free.

Indeed, I am constantly surprised that others have not yet developed the art of communication and think that advertising or writing blog posts is the only way to generate new leads.

By the way, I only use Facebook, and, of course, there are many other social media avenues that I could be using. If I had the time, I might look at others, but our team can’t cope with what we currently get.

How are you using social media, and what groups could you join that target affluent people (or at least people in the group who might be)?

What stories could you write as case studies so that you have a bank of articles that you can use immediately?

What does your brand say about you? Not your company’s brand, but your own?

Why should a new prospect choose you and not a competitor?

What is your process for engaging and filtering new leads? Or do you really want to talk to someone just because they are breathing and might buy?

Spend some time considering your entire marketing and proposition and engage with social media with a focused and consistent effort, and you can reach MDRT with just one client!