Guide
How financial advisors get clients: referrals first, video helps them book
Updated
Most new clients come from someone who already trusts you: a client, an accountant or a lawyer. Short videos let the person they send you see and hear you before they book.
In short
- Financial advisors usually get clients through referrals from clients, accountants and lawyers, and also through search, seminars and LinkedIn.
- Referred prospects often look you up before they book, and a short video lets them see how you explain things.
- The five videos to make are a fee video, a first-meeting video, who you serve, a weekly question and news explained.
- A fair test is eight weeks of weekly videos, judged by booked intro calls rather than views.
- Cutroom edits each video for 100 credits plus 20 per minute of export, and your first video is free.
- Videos that answer what prospects ask before booking
- 5
- Weeks of weekly videos before you judge the results
- 8
- Cutroom credits for a 1-minute video
- 120
Where financial advisors get clients
Most new clients come through a few channels. Video does not replace them, but it helps more of those people book a call.
Where advisory clients come from
| Channel | How it works | How video helps |
|---|---|---|
| Client referrals | A happy client passes your name to a friend or colleague | The friend looks you up and sees you explain things |
| Accountants and lawyers | Professionals refer their own clients to you | They can share your videos with their clients |
| Search | People search a money question or an advisor near them | Your answer videos can show up on YouTube and your website |
| Seminars and webinars | You talk to a group and follow up with those interested | A short video invites people and follows up afterwards |
| People see your posts and comments over time | A weekly video keeps you in their feed |
Channel: Client referrals
- How it works
- A happy client passes your name to a friend or colleague
- How video helps
- The friend looks you up and sees you explain things
Channel: Accountants and lawyers
- How it works
- Professionals refer their own clients to you
- How video helps
- They can share your videos with their clients
Channel: Search
- How it works
- People search a money question or an advisor near them
- How video helps
- Your answer videos can show up on YouTube and your website
Channel: Seminars and webinars
- How it works
- You talk to a group and follow up with those interested
- How video helps
- A short video invites people and follows up afterwards
Channel: LinkedIn
- How it works
- People see your posts and comments over time
- How video helps
- A weekly video keeps you in their feed
What a prospect wants to know before booking
Before someone books an intro call, they want to be sure of three things.
Video is the easiest way to show that you would be easy to work with for years, before anyone books a call.
Three things prospects want to know
| What they want to know | What shows it |
|---|---|
| You know your field | Your credentials and clear answers to real questions |
| You will not push products on them | Plain answers with no sales pitch |
| You would be easy to work with for years | Seeing and hearing you on video |
What they want to know: You know your field
- What shows it
- Your credentials and clear answers to real questions
What they want to know: You will not push products on them
- What shows it
- Plain answers with no sales pitch
What they want to know: You would be easy to work with for years
- What shows it
- Seeing and hearing you on video
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Five videos that help prospects book
Each one answers something prospects wonder about before they call.
Five videos for financial advisors
| Video | What you say | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Fee video | What you charge and how you are paid, in one minute | Fees are one of the first things people want to know |
| First-meeting video | What happens, what to bring and what you will not ask for | It shows the first meeting is not a sales pitch |
| Who you serve | Who you work with, and who you refer elsewhere | People can tell if you are right for them |
| Question of the week | A real client question, answered plainly | It gives you a new video every week |
| News explained | What this week's news means for your clients, without predictions | It shows how you think when markets are in the news |
Video: Fee video
- What you say
- What you charge and how you are paid, in one minute
- Why it helps
- Fees are one of the first things people want to know
Video: First-meeting video
- What you say
- What happens, what to bring and what you will not ask for
- Why it helps
- It shows the first meeting is not a sales pitch
Video: Who you serve
- What you say
- Who you work with, and who you refer elsewhere
- Why it helps
- People can tell if you are right for them
Video: Question of the week
- What you say
- A real client question, answered plainly
- Why it helps
- It gives you a new video every week
Video: News explained
- What you say
- What this week's news means for your clients, without predictions
- Why it helps
- It shows how you think when markets are in the news
A weekly routine that fits a full client load
Do the work in batches, so one morning covers a month.
- Write four or five scripts in one sitting. If your firm reviews scripts first, send them together.
- Film them in one morning, up to 3 minutes each, with the phone at eye level and a window in front of you.
- Post one a week and reply to every comment.
- After eight weeks, count the intro calls where the prospect mentions your videos.
From referral to booked call
The referral
A client passes on your name
The look-up
They find your profile and your videos
A few videos later
They know how you explain things
The intro call
They book with someone they feel they know
Where Cutroom fits
Cutroom edits each video for you, and you check every word as text before you post it.
A 1-minute video costs 120 credits: 100 to edit and 20 per minute of export.
- You upload a video of yourself talking, up to 3 minutes long, and a finished vertical (9:16) MP4 comes back in about a minute.
- Cutroom cuts it, adds captions timed to your voice and puts stock clips over the things you mention.
- If you would rather not film, Basic at $39.99 a month turns a photo of you and a script into an avatar video, at 350 credits a minute plus 70 a minute for the voice.
- Cutroom does not approve or archive anything. That stays with your firm.
Ways to edit your videos
| Option | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Your phone and the app's own captions | Free | A plain video, posted as it is |
| Your first Cutroom video | Free, no card | 600 credits for one video, within 7 days, with a watermark |
| Cutroom, 30-second video | 110 credits | A finished vertical MP4 in about a minute |
| Cutroom, 1-minute video | 120 credits | Captions, stock clips and a short headline |
| Cutroom Lite plan | $19.99 a month | 1,250 credits, about 10 one-minute videos |
Option: Your phone and the app's own captions
- Cost
- Free
- What you get
- A plain video, posted as it is
Option: Your first Cutroom video
- Cost
- Free, no card
- What you get
- 600 credits for one video, within 7 days, with a watermark
Option: Cutroom, 30-second video
- Cost
- 110 credits
- What you get
- A finished vertical MP4 in about a minute
Option: Cutroom, 1-minute video
- Cost
- 120 credits
- What you get
- Captions, stock clips and a short headline
Option: Cutroom Lite plan
- Cost
- $19.99 a month
- What you get
- 1,250 credits, about 10 one-minute videos
Questions people ask
- How do financial advisors get clients?
- Usually through referrals from happy clients and from accountants and lawyers. Search, seminars and LinkedIn bring in the rest. Short videos help more of those people book a call.
- How long does it take for video to bring in clients?
- Nobody can promise a date. Give it eight weeks of weekly videos and count booked intro calls, not views.
- Should financial advisors talk about returns in videos?
- No, not as a promise or a prediction. FINRA's rule bans performance predictions in retail communications. Fees, process and planning questions are safer topics.
- Do I need a YouTube channel too?
- It helps. Question videos on YouTube keep getting found through search. Start on LinkedIn, where referred prospects look you up, and post the same vertical video to both.
- Can I use my seminar or webinar recordings?
- Not in Cutroom, which takes clips of up to 3 minutes. Descript can cut a long recording into clips. For a weekly video, a short script filmed on purpose is quicker to get approved.
- What if I never want to be on camera?
- Cutroom's Basic plan, $39.99 a month, turns a photo of you and a script into an avatar video, at 350 credits a minute plus 70 a minute for the voice. Say in the video that it is an avatar.
- What does this cost per month?
- One 1-minute video a week is about 480 credits a month, at 120 credits each. That fits in Lite's 1,250 credits at $19.99 a month. Exporting again after changes costs another 20 credits per minute.
Film your fee video this week and put it where referred prospects will find it. Your first video is free.