Retired police officers? Meet the advisers who target 'very' niche clientele

Alasdair Pal discovers how to identify and advise a specialist group of clients...

The traditional financial adviser used to be easy to describe: an everyman who dealt with the needs of clients from cradle to grave. But as the deadline to be RDR-ready gets ever-closer, some IFAs are increasingly looking to tap in to specialised markets.

The explosion of searches for advisers online would seem to present an ideal opportunity for web-savvy IFAs to capture their niche. The truth, however, is more complicated. Online marketing has a role to play, but so too does the personal touch.

Sometimes, finding your niche is easy. Paul Mullin is a former professional footballer who broke a club record of 362 appearances for Accrington Stanley in 2007. He joined Bolton-based Pro Sport Wealth Management as a financial planner after retiring from the game in May.

“The thing I found very strange as a player was that there was very little financial advice around,” he says. “Occasionally an IFA would come into the dressing room and do a short talk about savings or pensions, but it wasn’t really enough.”

George Emsden had a similar experience in the niche he now caters for: clients suffering from cancer. The senior consultant at In2 Consulting was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2007, and says credibility is vital in specialist markets.

“It’s really important to have been through it yourself,” he says. “Twenty years ago no one would speak about cancer – now you can’t open a newspaper without reading about it.”

Expanding a specialism

However, advisers without first hand experience of a specialist area can still find a niche. They may find they unknowingly have an already-specialised client base – and can move to expand it.

“When I left accountancy to become a financial planner, many of my clients were in the medical profession,” says financial planner Phil O’Connor, who runs specialist advice websites The Divorce IFA and The Medical IFA.

It could even come from something smaller still. Adam Mitchell, a partner at St. James’s Place Wealth Management, offers advice to retired police officers in South Yorkshire. “It started with just one client – a retired CID officer – and grew from there,” he explains.

Marketing yourself is a little more complex. A Google white paper, published in June 2010, found that searches for IFAs were increasing in volume and complexity. Whereas consumers’ searches used to be only two or three words, Google said they are now longer, reflecting a greater desire for specialist advice. A slick website to catch this traffic seems to be essential – something most IFAs in niche markets have.