When discussing the acquisition of new clients, people often use the word ‘recruitment’. ‘I need to recruit new clients’ is a phrase advisers often use when they call up asking for marketing advice.
While there are undoubted parallels between the recruitment of staff and the recruitment of new clients, there are not as many as there should be.
In many ways, when used to refer to a client, the word recruitment is a very positive one. It infers that the adviser actually knows what it is he/she is looking for and that the relationship will, hopefully, be a long-term one.
When recruiting staff, one would hope that – whatever the size of firm – job and person specifications will have been developed and that it is fairly clear what you are looking for.
If you are looking for an administrator or a para-planner with certain qualifications or who are prepared to study, you are likely to spell that out in the advert.
Same approach
The same approach can and should be used when ‘recruiting’ new clients. For many advisers – mortgage brokers and IFAs – the identification of their ideal ‘target’ generally stops at, ‘high net worth’.
While this is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t really answer the question: what clients are you trying to recruit? Returning to the example of recruiting staff, the more specific you are in your advert, the more likely you are that the applicants will meet the firm’s needs.
If you advertise for mortgage brokers, but don’t specify that they will be working in the South West, then you – and they – will be disappointed when you have to turn down those living in Newcastle and who aren’t prepared to travel.
Falling short of ideal
While identifying the need to recruit clients who are ‘high net worth’ is better than wanting to recruit ‘just anyone’, it still falls some way short of being ideal. What do you mean by high net worth? Is it those who live in houses worth over £1 million? Or is it those who have mortgages in excess of £350,000? For IFAs, the phrase is more likely to relate to their assets.
Where do these people live or work? Are you willing to travel more than, say, 20 miles to see them? If you’re not, then they probably aren’t prepared to drive that far to see you either.
If you have an online offering, geography is not an issue – however one criterion you’ll need to build in is, ‘those who are prepared to undertake the process online without face-to-face advice’.
While you can’t discriminate on age when recruiting staff, you can when recruiting clients. Are you looking for the 40-somethings or are you keen to recruit younger people who may be less profitable to you now, but who will become long-term clients?
Develop a person spec
It may be an idea to develop a person specification to describe your perfect client. As when recruiting staff you are unlikely to ever find the perfect client, but knowing who you want to recruit really helps when it comes to promoting your business.
It makes advertising decisions easier – you can quiz those ever keen advertising salespeople about how many people with the characteristics you’ve identified actually read their publication.
It also helps with the wording and design of adverts, corporate brochures, flyers, posters, etc. Identifying your target market doesn’t mean you need to exclude anyone, it just means you are more likely to appeal to the people you really want to recruit.
