One ofthe three ways to define your market is to focus on yourneighborhood or area of the city. (Photo: Shutterstock)

“I’ll take anyone.”  In their quest to grow, somefinancial advisors throw exclusivity out the window. Their only criteria is “If they’ve got a pulse” and “If they canfog a mirror.”  But if you are going todifferentiate yourself in your market, the first step is definingit.

3 possible markets

There are three basic choices open to you as you define yourmarket:

1. Look within walking distance of your office:Where you work sounds like the easiest.  Your market isthe downtown area of your city, within a chosen radius around youroffice.

Years ago, some firms assigned their business productsalespeople a certain part of Manhattan bounded by certainstreets.  They called on all the law firms or professionaloffices in those high-rise buildings.  If your market isthe area around your office, you can walk around, getting to knowthe local merchants.

Become their customer.  Join the Chamber or get activein the business improvement district organization.  Join aprivate club.  Your prospecting and business entertainmentis within walking distance.  Clients can easily meet atyour office for the same reason.

2. Look near your home: Where you live makessense too.  Assuming you work 40-50 hours a week and aweek has 168 hours, you are spending 70% of the week away from youroffice.  If you are building a clientele within thegeneral public, you are surrounded by them at home.

You have neighbors, local merchants.  You know peoplefrom religious services.  Your children go to the localschool.  You play golf nearby.  If a New YorkTimes article figured the average American knows 600 people, mostof yours are probably near your home.  If you live in awell-to-do area with plenty of double income couples, your naturalmarket is pretty big.

3. Find a niche market. Let’s say youwere an attorney and now you are an advisor.  Youknow plenty of lawyers.  You speak theirlanguage.  Or you are a military veteran.  Youbelong to the local organizations like the VFW and theAmerican Legion.  As a graduate of West Point, you areactive in the alumni association.

Or maybe you discovered earlier in your career you hit it offwith doctors.  They started referringclients because you understand the economics of running afamily medical office.  Or you might own ahorse.  You and your children compete at horseshows.  You know plenty of other horse owners, trainersand horse farm owners.  It’s a shame to let theseconnections go to waste.

How to find prospects

We all want current clients to send their friends ourway.  It’s a lot easier if you can tell them who you wantto meet and find other ways to raise your visibility.

If your market is the first option, “Within walking distance ofyour office,” the first step to defining your market is researchingthe landscape.  What are the local businesses on the mainstreets?  Who owns them?  Most states have aSecretary of State website with a Department of Corporationssection.  This section usually includes a scanner todetermine who owns a local business.  Enter the name, getthe profile, and find the owners.  It’s usually free.

Walk into those big buildings.  There’s usually adirectory.  What businesses are there?  See a lawfirm?  They probably have a website listing thelawyers.  Any professionals in the building? They are usually listed by name.

Your membership in the Chamber of Commerce will get you accessto local business owners too.  You attend their meetings,of course.  This gives you a big enough base to do someLinkedIn research and determine who knows who.

Maybe you chose “Near where you live” as your market. This research can be a lot easier because you know these peoplealready.  Identify them by pretending you were planning aChristmas party with unlimited capacity, inviting everyone youknow.

List some categories of where you know people from: the gym, a religious institution, local school, homeowners’association, golf club and neighbors. These are silos. Startlisting everyone you know in each silo. These aren’tstrangers.  The easiest way to bring up business might beto sit down with each one casually and ask about what they do for aliving.  Mention your assumptions.  People lovetalking about themselves.

Assume they know a bit about you too.  Fill in moredetails.  Instead of pressing for business that second,ask who they know with specific needs you explain indetail.  It might be them.

If you think finding a niche market suits you best, you’ve gotto populate that niche with names, identify every organizationaffiliated with that niche and raise your visibility. This means joining professional organizations.  Become asponsor, so it gets your name and logo out there.  Attendevery meeting and event you can.  Wear tactfully brandedgear, like a ball cap.  Look for speakingopportunities.

You have a large universe of prospects within your niche. If youare a military veteran, you might have researched certifiedgovernment contractors with an emphasis on local ones that areowned by a fellow veteran.  You show those names tocurrent clients within your niche.  Learn who knowswho.  LinkedIn can make some of this research an activityfor a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Each strategy conveys a degree of exclusivity.  You are“the agent or advisor everyone uses” in your local parish or thecountry club.  You respect client confidentiality, butword gets around.  You are the local guy local businessowners think of first, because you are right down thestreet.  You’re the fellow vet who attends all themeetings and helps out other vets.  You have a niche.

Note:  When using websites for prospectingresearch, always read and respect the legal and privacy notices onwebsites.  Only use the sites for the purpose originallyintended by the site and get permission from your office orcompliance manager before undertaking Internet researchprojects.

Bryce Sanders is president of PerceptiveBusiness Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition trainingfor the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” can be foundon Amazon.

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