Expert Advice to Grow Your Business

Build a community that can reap the most value from your level of service rather than spending your time prospecting a message to the masses. --Bob Cobb

A focus on the long term rather than the short term is what a financial advisor needs to keep in mind when it comes to practice management. Build a community that can reap the most value from your level of service rather than spending your time prospecting a message to the masses. An increased level of service increases the likelihood that a client will refer you to someone else.

-Bob Cobb, in Be More Referable

As with your client base, you don't need 10 average strategic alliances--you need one or two ideal ones.  --John J. Bowen, Jr.

If you can see that a potential partner does not share your entrepreneurial spirit—which should be obvious after only a meeting or two—you should simply move on to the next opportunity. A partnership that does not work in the beginning will not be any better a year from now. As with your client base, you don't need 10 average strategic alliances--you need one or two ideal ones. So don't be afraid to say no when the partnership is not in your best interest.

-John J. Bowen, Jr. in The Right Ally

You must keep what you appreciate separate because if you are thinking of your needs before theirs, that comes through in the communication.

Be clear about what you appreciate about the people you're in communication with. If what you're appreciation has anything to do with you, you're looking in the wrong place. If you tell them that you appreciate that they give you a lot of business, that they trust you, that they've been your client for over 20 years...those things are about you, not about them. You must keep what you appreciate separate because if you are thinking of your needs before theirs, that comes through in the communication.

-Teresa Easler in AdvisorMax coaching session "Build Your Business Through Better Communication."

In the next decade, the competitive edge will go to those advisors who are able to serve the growing needs of older, retiring clients as well as those who are still in their wealth accumulation years. --Len Reinhart

In this changed environment, your advice-giving approach must also shift, from a primary focus on wealth accumulation to a broader spectrum of topics that includes wealth enhancement but also addresses different strategies for generating enough cash flow to support investors in their daily lives. The financial advisor's next challenge is to figure out how to have these sometimes difficult conversations with clients as they move from one stage of their lives into another. In the next decade, the competitive edge will go to those advisors who are able to serve the growing needs of older, retiring clients as well as those who are still in their wealth accumulation years...The service package that you offer to your clients will have to be comprehensive as well. For example, can you provide access to trust services and corporate trustees? What about to important legal and health-care information and advice? Do you have an expert on your staff, or on call, who can work with those clients who want to restructure their long-standing spending patterns to give themselves greater peace of mind as their circumstances change?

-Len Reinhart is president of Lockwood, a service of Pershing, in Sea Change

Women need to feel a connection with the mission, vision and values of the not-for-profit organization. --Barbara Culver

It's estimated that there will be a $41 trillion inter-generational wealth transfer over the next half century, and with women continuing to outlive their spouses, they're going to be in charge of determining where much of this wealth is ultimately directed. This presents a big opportunity for investment professionals. But advisors with a large portion of female clients say that there are differences in the way women approach charitable giving. As a result, more innovative philanthropic plans are needed to suit that new mindset. Barbara Culver has found differences in the way her female clients choose the charities to which they donate. "Women need to feel a connection with the mission, vision and values of the not-for-profit organization. They're not giving because one of their golfing buddies comes up and says, 'Give to mine because I gave to yours,'" she says. Culver also notes that once her female clients choose their charities, they like to become involved. That means meeting the board members and attending events hosted by the charity. "They want to have a connection to the people and a relationship with the organization," she adds.

-Barbara Culver, president of Cincinnati-based legacy planners Resonate Inc., in The New Face of Philanthropy

Going into every meeting, your mindset should be to assume the sale. --Katherine Vessenes

Very few advisors understand that our business, financial services, is really a lot like theater. Your stage is your office and it needs to be very tidy and very professional looking, and your staff has to be warm and inviting and create a "wow" experience. You need to think of your client as the audience. And you're in the role of Brad Pitt or Catherine Zeta-Jones--viewing yourself as confident, in charge, powerful, and about to hit your mark and nail your role. Your mindset should be to assume the sale. Go into every meeting thinking that of course they will do business with you because you know you are really good at what you do and you have your clients' best interest at heart, and when you put those two things together that's a killer combination. This confidence is really crucial to closing more sales.

-Katherine Vessenes in AdvisorMax coaching session "7 Mistakes Advisors Make in the First Client Meeting"

Your bio needs to be written from the prospect's point of view. --Katherine Vessenes

When writing your bio, remember, this bio is not about you. Your bio needs to be written from the prospect's point of view. What they want to know about this bio is what's in it for them. Make sure to include a color photo of you looking at your finest, looking at the camera with a big smile. Have your name in nice, big font, followed by three to four paragraphs written from their perspective.

-Katherine Vessenes, in AdvisorMax coaching session: Practice Building: Your 2009 Marketing Plan

The more you can build interactivity into to your presentation, the more people will feel it’s customized just for them, and it will resonate longer. --Holly Thomas

Ask questions of your audience, take a poll that relates to your topic, do something to get people to raise their hands, speak aloud and get more involved. Thomas often starts by taking a short poll so she knows something about her audience--and they know more about each other. “The more you can build interactivity into to your presentation, the more people will feel it’s customized just for them, and it will resonate longer.”

-Holly Thomas, a certified financial planner who runs Independent Insights of Florida, in Public Speaking Skills to Impress Your Audience

Set aside specific zones, an hour or two in the day, to do your high priority tasks. --Joe Robinson

"Your IQ gets lowered 10 points when you being constantly interrupted and your productivity will be cut. The key to getting over the hump with this stuff is to be thinking and planning and managing and setting boundaries. Set aside specific zones, an hour or two in the day, to do your high priority tasks. The first hours of the day are typically the best. You can set your vacation reminder for those hours, saying you're on deadline and will be available again at a later time."

-Joe Robinson, in AdvisorMax coaching session "Lose Stress, Manage Time, Boost Performance"

If a client continues to express serious concern after discussing the cyclical nature of business cycles, then delve deeper and find out what the real issue is and try to find solutions.  --Nancy Gardner

Keep clients informed of impending economic conditions. If a client continues to express serious concern after discussing the cyclical nature of business cycles, then delve deeper and find out what the real issue is and try to find solutions. Our firm is a wealth management firm and as such we don't typically get into discussions about how to pay monthly bills unless we are trying to replace an income stream at retirement.

-Nancy Gardner, CFP, executive vice president of Tanglewood Capital Management, in AdvisorMax Q&A "Preparing Clients for a Recession"

If you do your ad right, clients will feel comfortable when they see your name in print. --Frannie Gardner, CFP

"People call when there is a life event, not just immediately when they see your ad," says Blum. Something in a client's life such as retirement, an inheritance or the birth of a child, will trigger the call. But a good ad can help trigger the need to see a financial planner, and it can help jog a potential client's memory when that trigger event occurs. Says Gardner, "If you do your ad right, clients will feel comfortable when they see your name in print."

-Frannie Gardner, CFP, Ayres Financial Group, in Does It Pay to Advertise in Print?

You must build a deep emotional bond with your clients long before they grow old. --Jason Zweig

You need to know that older clients “circle the emotional wagons” as they age.  Research led by Laura Carstensen at Stanford shows that, past the age of 65 or so, the typical person lets casual acquaintances drop, strongly preferring to spend as much time as possible with favorite family members, close friends, and long-established contacts...The implications seem obvious to me: You must build a deep emotional bond with your clients long before they grow old.  If you wait until they are in their 60s or beyond, they may have no interest in starting a relationship with someone they do not know well already.  The time to add retirees to your client base is well before they retire.  If you want to specialize in elder financial planning, market yourself to people in their 40s and 50s, not people in their 60s or beyond.  Try calling it “future planning.”

-Jason Zweig, in AdvisorMax discussion "The Neuroscience of Financial Decisions."

Financial advisors should play a key role in succession planning for their clients–this is the big picture for your client after all, the personal exit. --Nathan Bennett

A large segment of baby boomers are entrepreneurs in need of advice on how to retire from enterprises, Bennett adds. “Many independent businesses have not thought this out. Financial advisors should play a key role in succession planning for their clients–this is the big picture for your client after all, the personal exit.”

-Nathan Bennett, co-founder, San Ramon, Calif.-based Summit Financial Group, in How and When to Address Succession Planning with Business-Owning Clients

While I think web-based CRM systems make sense for some advisors, I'm not currently a big fan of web-based document storage because of the amount of time it takes to open a file. --Joanne Day

In general, while I think web-based CRM systems make sense for some advisors, I'm not currently a big fan of web-based document storage because of the amount of time it takes to open a file (think of trying to open a client’s tax return over the Internet and waiting for it to load). I suspect the speed issue will improve over time.  There also tends to be an increasing “fixed” cost for a web-based system as your storage increases.

-Joanne Day in AdvisorMax discussion "Beyond Outlook: CRM software to Improve Client Relationships"

You should not fail to remind [your clients'] children on a regular basis of what you’ve done for them. --Carl Brooks, CFP

Carroll Financial advises clients’ children who otherwise would not meet its minimum account size of $250,000, such as offering guidance on their 401(k) plans and other financial matters as needed. In addition to taking these steps, however, Brooks stresses the need to remind children how you are improving their parents’ (and ultimately their) financial well-being. “You should not fail to remind the children on a regular basis of what you’ve done for them,” he says. “The only way you can do that is an occasional telephone call or an occasional update in a family meeting, because when they walk in they don’t know the investment history.”

-Carl Brooks, CFP, is an executive vice-president with Carroll Financial Associates Inc. in Charlotte, N.C., in Connecting with the Next Generation