How Advisors Can Tap the Doctor Niche

So you’re looking to add doctors to your client roster? There are some tried and true techniques financial advisors can employ to tap into this coveted, potentially lucrative market segment. (For more, see: A Look at Advisors Serving Niche Clients.)

While most doctors are affluent, their salaries range according to their specialties. Research the different sub-disciplines to narrow in on the specialty that makes the most fiscal sense for you to target. Consider the following average salaries from a Medscape survey, which are broken down by specialty: (For more, see: Strategies for Winning Advisory Business in 2015.)

1. Orthopedics: $413,000
2. Cardiology: $351,000
3. Urology: $348,000
4. Gastroenterology: $348,000
5. Radiology: $340,000
6. Anesthesiology: $338,000
7. Plastic surgery: $321,000
8. Dermatology: $308,000
9. General surgery: $295,000
10. Ophthalmology: $291,000
11. Oncology: $290,000
12. Critical care: $281,000
13. Emergency medicine: $272,000
14. Pulmonary medicine: $258,000
15. Obstetrics/gynecology: $243,000
16. Nephrology: $242,000
17. Pathology: $239,000
18. Neurology: $219,000
19. Rheumatology: $214,000
20. Psychiatry/mental health: $197,000
21. Internal medicine: $188,000
22. Diabetes/endocrinology: $184,000
23. Pediatrics: $181,000
24. Family medicine — $176,000
25. HIV/infectious disease — $174,000

Different specialties often signal different needs. Some specialists are more likely to jettison malpractice insurance because of escalating costs. Others are more apt to operate on a cash-only concierge basis in order to sidestep government regulatory rules and insurance burdens. Knowing the trends of a given specialty will allow you to be more assertive when tapping into that market. (For more, see: Growth Strategies for Financial Advisors.)

Consider partnering with experts in other areas to intrigue doctors with a comprehensive, one-stop panel of wealth management specialists. Linking up with insurance agents, accountants and estate attorneys is likely to breed referrals. This will allow you to share information and get an inside track on their physician clients, garnering useful information on things like a physician’s asset protection plans, life and disability insurance and buy-sell agreements. The more you know, the better prepared you’ll be for initial meetings with prospective new clients. (For more, see: Why Advisors Should Sidle Up to Estate Attorneys.)

Use trade media to your advantage. There is no shortage of magazines catering to the medical profession and these publications don’t solely run articles on the scientific end of the discipline. They also feature pieces about lifestyle, office management, and investment and finance. (For more, see: Converting Relationships into Advisory Clients.)

These publications are also constantly on the lookout for new and interesting angles to fill their pages — preferably authored by those in the know. So why not raise your hand and ask to pen a contribution? Don’t worry if you’re not the most persuasive writer; you can always hire a ghostwriter to mold your ideas into a compelling narrative. And once you have a few published articles under your belt, you can use them to build a press kit to show editors and simplify the process for writing future pieces. Finally, showing reprints of your bylined articles to potential doctor clients will cement your position as a thought leader in the physician asset management space. (For more, see: Key Steps to Building a Great Financial Planning Practice.)

Customize your financial services offerings for this niche. As physicians can commit ten years of their lives to fine-tuning their skills, they’ll appreciate financial advisors who have a deep understanding of their specific needs over your non-physician base. Invest time and money in shooting a web video catered specifically to physicians, touching upon the areas unique to them. Tell them you’ll stay late to accommodate their long days or offer to conduct online review sessions at their convenience. (For more, see: Tips for Advisors Who Want to Grow Their Practice.)

Placing into action these aforementioned recommendations will indeed require a great deal of time, effort and persistence. But for financial advisors willing to go the distance they can radically increase the chances of winning and retaining the sought-after, affluent doctor client segment of the market. (For more, see: How to Be a Top Financial Advisor.)