But here’s an important point on how to best approach these professionals: They are at their busiest from December through mid-April, when the tax season is in full swing.
Therefore, a good time to start reaching out to tax advisors for more basic introductory meetings is after April 15th, when they come up for air.
Another approach is to make yourself available to tax advisors who already have some familiarity with you during tax season, offering your advice and help with tax-friendly investments or financial planning for the tax advisor’s clients.
It’s also a good policy to meet with existing clients’ tax advisors and to get to know them throughout the year—And especially when a major tax event or life change occurs for your clients.
Finally, remember that cultivating a COI relationship with a tax advisor requires staying current on investment tax planning and tax law updates.
What About Attorneys?
Lawyers can make excellent COIs because they often have clients with complex business or estate planning needs. Where there’s financial complexity, there’s demand for a financial advisor.
Unlike tax advisors, where there are certain specific seasonal and client life cycle inflection points to drive a relationship, the best way to develop a lawyer into a COI is to be direct and open a dialogue about referring business to each other.
Contact their office and ask to schedule a phone call with them. Offer to refer clients to attorneys after vetting them, provide speaking opportunities at your client events, attend charitable functions you’re involved with, or other social networking events.
But while the initial line of approach might be more direct, cultivating a successful COI lawyer relationship frequently involves delivering tangible value more immediately.
If sending referrals to a targeted lawyer isn’t an immediate option, consider offering to build the lawyer a financial plan so they can see firsthand what you provide to your clients.
Target, Engage, Reinforce
Millennial or Gen Z advisors are operating in an industry where the demand for professional financial guidance will continue to increase, even as the number of financial advisors has declined.
By targeting, engaging and reinforcing COI relationships now, next gen advisors can create a continuously expanding pipeline of new clients for years to come.
Greg Cornick is president of Advice & Wealth Management at Advisor Group (www.advisorgroup.com), the nation’s largest network of independent wealth management firms. Erinn Ford is Advisor Group’s executive vice president for Advisor Engagement