Establishing trust is key to success as a financial advisor. But it is not enough to say your are trustworthy. A “trust framework” will help you establish your professional expertise to clients and prospects, so they will become confident that you are the right advisor for them.

Developing a trust framework consists of a series of steps in which you will communicate your brand and show how you can help others, says Kirk Lowe, founder of Toronto-based TactiBrand, which specializes in helping advisors brand their businesses.

The goal is to further develop existing relationships with individuals who are enthusiastic about referring you, and bring new people into your practice.

But first you must begin to develop that trust — a process that calls for time and patience as you begin to build an audience without expecting anything in return.

Lowe offers two initial steps toward building that trust:

1. Connect
This first step could take a few weeks or a few months. But connecting with your audience is necessary to build a base in which you can demonstrate your value. Begin by attempting to contact people you know and ease your way into connecting with the individuals known by your contacts.

Acquaint yourself with others through an email campaign. Invite them to connect through social media and share relevant content through a blog. Also, ensure your content is search-engine optimized and contains keywords that relate to your desired audience. Important details to include in descriptions are your professional title, your niche and your location.

In order to get others to fully experience your expertise, your published content should almost always be your own thoughts and analysis.

“If you’re going to build trust and establish credibility,” Lowe says, “it’s best that you are speaking your wisdom and not sharing somebody else’s.”

2. Intrigue
Creating intrigue comes from having a strong and compelling brand. You can begin to figure out your story by asking yourself the following questions:
> What do I stand for, and how does that resonate with my audience?
> What is my competition doing?
> What solutions am I bringing forward?
> What makes me different from other advisors?

Believe it or not, Lowe says, being trustworthy and client-oriented and offering comprehensive planning does not make you unique. Those are just starting points, which are usually used by other advisors to describe their practices.

“You want to teach people something that’s beyond that,” Lowe says. “If you don’t have a brand, you’re never really teaching them that other stuff that is really different.”

For example, if you are an advisor who helps small-business owners, that specialization is not what makes you different; there are many other advisors providing the same service. What helps you stand out could be the way you work with your clients. For example, perhaps you insist on having review meetings in your clients’ workplaces, so you can become familiar with their teams, who can then be involved in some discussions.

This is the first installment in a three-part series on developing a trust framework.

Next: developing trust through the content you create for your blog, website and other channels.