No financial advisor wants to be labeled as “salesy.” Yet, many traditional methods of growing your business – networking, events, webinars and even social media – could easily fall into that category.  If you had access to the “perfect” tool for building your business, what would that look like?

You’d probably want a tool that could position you as a leading expert in your area and of course, continually build your credibility in the process. It would be great if it was its own referral source – stimulating referrals and prospects to come to you – rather than you worrying about how and where to find them. Increasing positive word-of-mouth would also be a real plus. Ideally, it would be something you could repurpose and leverage – expanding its use in many different ways. Finally, it would be great if it was almost exponential in nature – something your existing clients would be proud of and couldn’t wait to tell other people about. 

Believe it or not, this “perfect” tool actually exists. Writing a book can accomplish all of these things and much more. Think about it. When we see a nonfiction book on the shelf, we automatically assume that the author is an authority in their field. And, if you discover that someone you actually know has written a book, you can’t help but be impressed – your opinion of them ratchets up a notch or two and you will probably end up telling others about your friend, the author, and their book.

Writing a book gives you the ability to begin building trust with prospects before they even meet you.

Clients like to think of their financial advisor as successful so they act in much the same way.  When you write a book, most clients can’t wait to show you off. When you look good – they look good. Not only do they tell their friends about you and position you in a positive light, but they don’t hesitate to pass your book onto friends and relatives. There’s a certain celebrity factor that goes along with writing a book and when you’re viewed as a celebrity – to some degree – so are they!

Not only is a book the perfect tool for growing your business but 2023 is the perfect year to write one. Investors are facing high inflation, rising interest rates and a year when most leading economists are predicting a recession. People want an expert. They want a guide – someone who is experienced, can help them understand the fundamentals and so they can make better decisions – especially when times are uncertain.

Your Book As A Powerful Lead Generator

 Writing a book gives you the ability to begin building trust with prospects before they even meet you. It establishes you as an authority in your field and showcases your expertise. It also gives potential clients insight into who you are and the way you think. A book demonstrates to readers that you are experienced and have the ability to educate and explain complicated financial subjects in a way that regular people can actually understand.

A book helps readers feel more comfortable with you – almost like they’re getting to know you as they read your book. This can give them the confidence to reach out to you and that’s exactly what writing a book is designed to do – have prospects calling you instead of visa versa.

It is a powerful lead-generation tool because it can be used and repurposed in so many different ways. Below are just some of the ways you can use your book to generate leads:

  • Host a book launch to capitalize on your new celebrity factor – invite clients, prospects, friends, and members of your network. Give a brief presentation on why you wrote the book and offer insight on key topics covered. Follow the presentation up with an autograph session where you personalize each copy and have an opportunity to speak briefly with everyone present.
  • Give at least two copies of your book to every client and ask them to pass one along to someone they care about.
  • Send copies of your book to prospects as an educational tool to help establish credibility and begin to deepen your relationship with them.
  • Build your events, speaking engagements and virtual events around the book.
  • Leverage your book to get more speaking engagements in front of new and different audiences you might otherwise never gain exposure to.
  • Use the book as a giveaway at events, webinars and seminars.
  • Build more traffic to your website and generate more activity by using excerpts and quotes from your book in social media posts with a link back to your website.
  • Use the book as a lead magnet to encourage potential clients to sign up for your mailing list.
  • Create an effective series of marketing videos around key topics that you cover in your book.
Using Your Book To Build Your Personal Brand

 Writing a book can also be an invaluable resource in helping to build your personal brand. As an author, you immediately differentiate yourself in a crowded financial services marketplace by developing a unique brand identity that stands above the competition.

 A book is a tool for sharing your unique perspective, approach and values. It allows you to build a level of trust with clients and prospects in a non-threatening way. It establishes credibility and typically, it won’t take long before you’re considered a financial expert in your local area.

A book can also give you significantly more exposure to new prospects and audiences. Through book signings, TV and radio interviews, podcasts and social media promotion, you can reach a large number of people who otherwise would have never known you existed.

 Because of all the ways a book can be utilized and repurposed in your business, it has a considerably long shelf life. It provides tremendous potential for content that can be leveraged through a variety of different channels. Books create endless marketing collateral that can be used in videos, podcasts, social media posts and email campaigns.

Writing a book puts you on the fast track to building a strong personal brand. It establishes you as a recognizable and authoritative presence in your local area which makes it much easier for new and different prospects to find and connect with you. Doors to high net-worth prospects that may have been previously shut are often opened when you’ve written a book. People who were unreachable may now be willing talk to you.

What If I Can’t Write or I Hate Writing?

So what if you believe in the power of the book as a primary marketing tool in your business but you got a C- in composition in college or you hate to write and a 75-word email takes you 45 minutes to complete? I used to think writing was nothing special and everyone could do it – until I was a branch manager for a major wirehouse and had to approve everything leaving the office. I soon realized it’s not everyone’s gift but just because you can’t write doesn’t mean you have to give up the idea of writing your book. Simply hire a ghostwriter.

A ghostwriter’s job is to write a quality book for you with your name on the cover as the author. Hiring a ghostwriter is not cheating. Believe it or not, industry experts estimate that more than 60% of non-fiction books are written by ghostwriters. Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, Suze Orman, Tony Robbins, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Cramer, Anderson Cooper, Oprah Winfrey and Stephen King are just a few famous people who have hired ghostwriters to write their books for them – so you’re in good company! Even John F. Kennedy’s famous book, Profiles in Courage was written by a ghostwriter.

Hiring a ghostwriter has many advantages. It is said that everyone has at least one book in them and most people have dreamed of writing a book at one time or another in their life. However, the #1 reason people never get their book written can be traced back to time constraints.

Let’s face it. As a financial advisor, you are in of a highly reactive business and wear many hats. Regardless of how advantageous writing a book may be to your business, at the end of the day, there is little time left for the time-consuming task of writing a book.

Your time is best spent on high level activities such as meeting with clients, service and sales. A good ghostwriter can not only save you many hours of time,  but they can take your ideas – even if they’re unorganized and scattered – and craft them into a cohesive, well-written book that’s a true reflection of you as a professional. 

When working with a ghostwriter, you can be as involved or uninvolved as you choose to be. I’ve worked with everything from advisors who provided me with detailed notes and were very involved in the process to others who gave me the main idea for the book and said – write it with very little input from them until the final editing process. It’s completely up to you. Regardless of your degree of involvement, a ghostwriter should be able to create a quality book relatively quickly – much quicker than you could ever do yourself.

A ghostwriter brings an advanced level of writing expertise to the project. Most advisors possess a deep level of knowledge in their field. However, they may lack expertise in the intricacies in writing, structure and storytelling. These are all essential components to transforming your ideas into a compelling book.

A ghostwriter can also strengthen your brand throughout your book. They can build your brand directly and even subliminally through the words they choose and the tone they set. Ghostwriters also have the ability to build and reinforce the authenticity of your brand.  Using sentence structure and word choice, they can make the content feel genuine and relatable.

Style and voice are another important aspect of a well-written book. A good ghostwriter is careful to ensure that the book is an accurate reflection of your own unique style, voice and perspective. The final product should sound eloquent and sophisticated but in the end, it should sound like you wrote it – not the ghostwriter.

Most ghostwriters specialize in a specific type of writing and this should be one of the first questions you ask when interviewing ghostwriters. You probably won’t want to hire someone who specializes in gothic romance to write your book on finance. The better a ghostwriter understands your business, the better your book will be. Due to the complexity of the business and the many industry terms used in financial services, it’s a good idea to find a ghostwriter with experience writing in business or financial genres.

 The cost associated with hiring a ghostwriter depends on several variables – the length and complexity of the project, your degree of involvement, the number of edits involved, and the experience of the ghostwriter. General costs can range from several thousand dollars up to six figures depending upon these variables.

There are many benefits to hiring a ghostwriter – a well-written quality book that actually gets written, the authority, credibility and celebrity factor you derive from a book, the increased strength and recognition of your personal brand and the many different ways you can utilize and repurpose all or parts of the book in your marketing. For most advisors it can be money well spent.

Most financial firms are predicting a volatile year in 2023. As investor pain levels increase, they’ll be searching more and more for an expert and a guide to help them navigate uncertain markets. You can be that person. Using a book strategically to build your business is one of the best ways there is to begin driving new clients to you in an increasingly noisy and competitive marketplace.