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Financial Planning > Behavioral Finance

The Best Way to Succeed? Know Your Niche.

By Heather Trese, Heather Trese

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According to a new report by the Insured Retirement Institute, boomer clients like to get their financial advice face-to-face rather than over the phone or online. This probably comes as no shock to many agents, who have probably been working with their boomer clients for many years. (That same study also showed that 55 percent of boomers more than five years out from retiring do not know how much they need to save for retirement, which is troubling but unfortunately is nothing new.)

However, when I conducted interviews with Gen Yers to learn about their financial habits, most of them expressed a desire to purchase their insurance products online. Even though they might want to work with an advisor at some point, theyre more than happy to communicate via email, phone, Twitter, or even text message theyre on the go, and theyre fine with a financial advisor who can communicate that way, too.

Seniors, on the other hand, may be in a variety of different financial situations, and often have younger family members with a vested interest in their financial situations. Youll have to deal with those family members, too.

If you choose to market to one specific age group, the best thing you can do is to know your niche. Study what type of marketing that age group responds to, how to effectively market to that age group, and what communication methods that niche groups like to use. This is particularly important if you arent a member of the niche you want to work with.

But what if you arent a niche agent? If your goal is to serve one and all, you can still use niche marketing tactics to help you in your business. Before you meet with a client, try to do some basic fact-finding over the phone. Learn how old they are, or at the very least find out if theyre married or have any children, which should help give you a rough estimate of their age. Then do some basic research about the communication methods that will work best for that type of client. If it helps you, create a cheat-sheet with effective marketing and communication points for different age groups that you can refer to at-a-glance before meeting with different clients. That way, no matter the age of your client, you will be able to talk with them in a way that youre both comfortable with.

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