A new LinkedIn feature due in the coming months is expected to introduce a more seamless user experience for financial advisors and their clients.
Announced in May, the “Advice Sessions” feature is currently being beta tested by a small number of Premium Business members in the U.S. LinkedIn plans to soon offer it to all users of this membership tier and higher tiers globally, a company spokesperson confirmed.
The tool allows experts to offer paid one-on-one consultations directly from the social media platform, so people don’t have to jump through as many hoops to seek out their advice. Users can sign up to add a “Get advice from me” button to their LinkedIn profile.
“More and more people are building a ‘portfolio career’ with several different income streams, a trend we see growing especially with Gen Z,” Ora Levit, vice-president of product management at LinkedIn, told Investment Executive in a statement.
“We built Advice Sessions to help subscribers tap into this trend. It’s a simple way to get paid for your knowledge and build your reputation and business on LinkedIn by offering one-on-one consultations.”
Premium Business members can manage bookings, secure payments through Stripe and schedule video consultations, which take place on Google Meet, all in one place. At this time, LinkedIn doesn’t take a cut of revenue.
You don’t need to be a Premium Business member to book a session.
Free meetings are also an option. Experts who want to host a meeting with someone free of charge can use a “Book an appointment” button that will allow their audience to book a complimentary meeting with them through Calendly.
‘A welcome addition’
Derek Notman is among the Premium Business members in the U.S. testing the LinkedIn feature. Though he’s only had it for a little over a week and hasn’t received any bookings yet, he’s a fan.
“I think it’s amazing,” said Notman, a financial advisor and founder and CEO of fintech Couplr AI in Florida, in an interview.
“Financial advice is really a trust and relationship business, and LinkedIn is a great place to start building rapport with potential customers.”
Notman added that the new feature will “make it as frictionless as possible” to book an advice session, rather than requiring people to potentially leave the social media platform or reach out to an expert requesting their services.
Ermos Erotocritou, founder and CEO of Advisor Acquisition Academy in Whitby, Ont., sees promise in the feature.
“Anything that LinkedIn can do to make it easier for a prospect to reach out to a financial advisor is always a welcome addition,” he said in an interview.
LinkedIn has “a number of quality controls in place to ensure a safe experience on both sides,” the spokesperson said. Experts and bookers must both have verified profiles, and LinkedIn’s trust and safety policies apply to all sessions.
Both Notman and Erotocritou said it’d be best for there to be a rigorous vetting process to determine who can offer advice through the new feature, suggesting that this process should check whether a professional has active credentials and how many years of experience they have.
LinkedIn could also provide links for bookers to independently verify whether a person is registered with bodies such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, Notman suggested.
“If I was LinkedIn. I would not just make it available to everybody. I would have some parameters,” he said.
LinkedIn’s currently relying on feedback in the testing phase to improve its user experience and said it’ll be “gradually rolling the feature out to account for learnings as we ramp.”
“Anything that can help an advisor get in front of more people is always a good thing,” Erotocritou said. “I just think that it may not automatically lead to … like five free leads a day. I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
He recommends advisors create a post introducing themselves and offer free initial consultations before expecting clients to book paid advice sessions.
The best way for advisors to get clients on LinkedIn is to differentiate themselves and talk about how they can solve problems that people are commonly concerned about, such as running out of money in retirement and facing stiff taxes, Erotocritou said.
“Talk about the problems that you solve … in the language of your prospect,” he added.
To grow your clientele, Notman similarly recommended introducing yourself, your experience and how you can help people through platforms such as LinkedIn.
“If you create a warm educational environment where people start to get to know you, when something happens in their life, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, Bob’s been posting a lot about this, and Bob seems like a good family guy, and I can get advice from him right here on LinkedIn,’” Notman said.
“There are so many opportunities here, if you use it correctly.”