ADVISER KNOWHOW THE WEEKLY TV PROGRAMME FOR ADVISERS BY ADVISERS HOW TO CREATE A NICHE Adding a niche to an existing business isn t always easy. How do you make sure you don t alienate existing clients and how do you make sure you don t neglect other areas of the business while you are building that niche? KEY POINTS 1 You shouldn t have to look too far for your niche 2 Make sure you understand your niche inside out 3 Don t necessarily shut out other clients
KEY POINTS KEY POINTS FOR THIS WEEK S EPISODE, FEATURING AN INTERVIEW WITH SUZANNE ALLEN OF HERITAGE FINANCIAL PLANNING. 1 3 YOU SHOULDN T HAVE TO LOOK TOO FAR FOR YOUR NICHE It might be an area you already know a lot about/ or have worked in previously You might find niche clients literally on your doorstep Referrals and connections will help strengthen that niche without you having to sell too hard DON T NECESSARILY SHUT OUT OTHER CLIENTS While you might want to only specifically serve your niche, consider the clients that are after broader advice Niches tend to evolve naturally 2 MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR NICHE INSIDE OUT Good to tailor your style of advice Your knowledge and deeper understanding of the niche will help you understand your client s needs Consider doing qualifications in that area
PROGRAMME TRANSCRIPT I think you really need to understand the industry that you re working with. You need to understand the challenges that those people, your clients, are going to come across. Adding a niche to an existing business isn t always easy and there are many factors to consider. How do you make sure you don t isolate existing clients and how do you make sure you don t neglect other areas of the business when you are building that niche? Suzanne Allen of Heritage Financial is in the studio to talk to us about her firm s niche, which specialises in advice for people working in dentistry. Welcome Suzanne. How did the firm come into this niche and was it always? The firm has always specialised in looking after the dentist profession and it was really when I joined Heritage and working with my business partner, Peter Dunn, who has historically a lot of dental clients, that we decided that we would take that further and really specialise more in that area. We spoke to a number of other advisers across the country about niches in their propositions, let s have a look at what they had to say. How did you find your niche? Jarrod Ellis, Delta Financial From our point of view the media niche that we found ourselves came from our parent accounting firm. They set up in a studio in Old Street in the 70s because they saw opportunity to work with people in the film industry. We became part of that firm and from that we developed an expertise in advising media clients. We were doing estate planning, we were also doing at and post-retirement strategies which then led us to look at the issues relating to later life advice. Do you have to immerse yourself in your niche world? Jarrod Ellis, Delta Financial The creative types think quite differently to the more I think analytical financial types. You can immerse yourself but I think the key thing really is to understand how they think, understand their hopes and their fears, which can be quite different from a lot of average clients. Doing the sole accreditation was the best thing in my opinion because it wasn t about the qualifications per se, it was about the application of life skills, you know, some soft skills, applying your technical ability, looking at things like your bedside manner. It s been great working with people within that field. Has working with a niche affected your style of advice? Jarrod Ellis, Delta Financial To give an example recently I had a client where he was going to be letting his property. He was slightly embarrassed to tell me he will be letting it out for under the market rent to people in his industry because he feels like he wants to give them a break and I said to him never ever feel embarrassed to tell me something like that, because that s important. It goes to the core of the kind of person you are and that enables me to give advice that s sympathetic to the way you feel. Absolutely. A lot of times when clients find you, you haven t got to do any selling. The selling process started way back when they checked you out on various search engines, the website, where they ve had a referral, so when they come to see you and they ring you they re ready to sit down and talk turkey. Suzanne, you don t just offer advice to people working in dentistry, do you? No. Initially the business is very focussed towards the dental market and it was probably in the last two or three years that we ve really developed the business more and decided that our style of financial planning can really help high-net -worth individuals and they may be business owners themselves but perhaps not own a dental practice. Maybe in publishing. Any high-net -worth individuals. This
A lot of times when clients find you, you haven t got to do any selling. The selling process started way back when they checked you out on various search engines, the website, where they ve had a referral. really evolved from working with our professional connections that we had that we were referring dentists to that perhaps weren t in dentistry themselves. What kind of benefits did having that niche bring to your proposition? I think the proposition itself is not just about financial planning. We re the person that the dentist - our client - phones up if they have a problem with anything at all, or they want to discuss something. What we want to do is be seen as can do and find a solution. Even if it s not us that puts that solution together we can liaise with one of our other professional connections to find a solution for that and we pride ourselves on always being able to say yes to help so I think that brings a great other element to our proposition in respect of it s not just financial planning it s business planning. It s anything at all that you want to discuss or talk through, it s we can help and if we can t help we know someone who can help. I think you really need to understand the industry that you re working with. You need to understand the challenges that those people, your clients, are going to come across. We found it helps running our own business because at the end of the day a business is a business whether you own a dentist or sweetshop, it s still a business. Definitely know your industry, make sure you get to know all of the professional connections that you can and those that are have a good reputation in that area as I said, make sure you are the person they go to when they want and they know you can help. You can download the cribsheet for this week s edition at citywire.co.uk/ adviserknowhow or bnymellonam.co.uk/ adviserknowhow or you can find the link and add your views @AdviserKnowHow on Twitter. Last thing, if someone is setting up a niche what kind of advice would you give them, what sort of pitfalls might they want to look for?
ADVISER KNOWHOW A PROGRAMME FOR ADVISERS BY ADVISERS Produced in association with BNY Mellon, Adviser KnowHow is a new groundbreaking programme, created specifically to help you and your business. Every week we speak directly to your peers in the industry to understand how they have addressed some of the key issues that advisers face every day of their working lives. Get involved and add your views on twitter: @Adviserknowhow
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