Evolution of the family office
March 10th, 2010
Tags: Evolution Of The Family, Family Office
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Three ways to inspire clients
March 10th, 2010
What’s your main goal when meeting with clients?Given the beating their portfolios have taken and the general mood of pessimism, often it’s to have them leave feeling more optimistic and upbeat about their future prospects and in particular about your role as their advisor.
After all, people shouldn’t see meeting with their advisor as a prescription for pain, similar to going to the dentist. Instead, your goal should be to have clients walk away from meetings feeling better than they did when they came in.
Here are three ways to do that, without pretending we aren’t facing real issues putting our credibility at risk.Help clients regain control
Tags: 2c, A6, Asset Mix, Conservative Estimate, Credibility, E2, Financial Future, Financial Futures, Financial Planning, Future Prospects, Gap, Going To The Dentist, Itt, Main Goal, Part Time Job, Pessimism, Pessimistic Outlook, Portfolios, Powerlessness, Three Ways, Tradeoffs, Work With Clients
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Shaping your brand
Building your business
Is Your Focus Narrow or Broad?
March 10th, 2010
In defining your business, there are a number of decisions you have to make in order to appropriately position what you offer. You can choose to have a narrow or broad focus to your business. By choosing a narrow focus, you have opted to specialize. A financial advisor may choose to focus on a specialty such as investment advice, life insurance planning or estate planning and, consequently, offer a particular set of products and services. Another way to narrow your focus is to specialize in defined market segments such as retirees or pre-retirees. If you specialize in the retirement market, your clientele would primarily consist of people in their 50s, 60s and beyond.
Tags: 50s 60s, Array, Case In Point, Case Size, Clientele, Collateral, Financial Advisors, Financial Health, Financial Planning, Financial Security, Financial Services, General Practitioner, High Net Worth Clients, Insurance Premium, Introductions, Investment Advice, Life Insurance, Market Segments, Narrow Focus, Retirement Market
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Articles You Can Send Your Clients (August 5, 2009)
March 10th, 2010
This last week has been marked with the continuation of the great melt-up in the markets, with more confirmation coming from the markets in the form of tried and true rules of thumb passing a stamp of approval, such as Dow Theory Letters calling of the bull market. In addition, their has been renewed strength coming from the commodities sector with oil prices creeping still higher, a reason for many Canadian investors to be happy. On the economic front, the Case Shiller Housing Index registered what some are saying is a bottom, and that was taken as very positive news. Whether this is a secular or cyclical “bull,” there are still reasons to believe that we are far from the end of this rally, at least for now.
Tags: Benjamin Graham, Canadian Investors, Case Shiller Housing Index, Commodities, Confirmation, Continuation, Dow Theory Letters, Economic Front, George Soros, Industry Insiders, J P Morgan, John Templeton, New Values, Nouriel Roubini, Oil Prices, Perma, Peter Lynch, Positive News, Rally, Rothschilds, Rules Of Thumb, Stamp Of Approval, Universal Agreement, Warren Buffett
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Getting a do-over on investing decisions
March 10th, 2010
My March column in Investment Executive describes a talk one evening last fall in which I spoke to 200 investors, filling in at the last moment for a speaker who’d had to cancel because of a family emergency.
I asked the audience to imagine that it was January 1 of 1970, forty years ago – and they had $100 to invest. They could put that $100 in one of six stock markets – the United States, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia. Further, they could divide it up in any way they wished – they could put it all into one market, divide it up evenly among the six or any combination in between.
Tags: Academics, Audience, Compendium, Exercise 1, Family Emergency, Forty Years, Hong Kong, Investment Executive, Investor, January 1, Last Moment, Market Bias, Phrase, Proximity, Recency Effect, Roller Coaster Ride, Stock Markets, Target, Tendency, Volatility
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Turning service problems into opportunities
March 10th, 2010
No matter how hard we try to avoid them, it’s inevitable that on occasion clients will experience a service problem – a change of address doesn’t go through, something that was supposed to be sent slips through the cracks or a request wasn’t followed up on.
Even small mistakes can be costly – they can corrode client confidence, undermine goodwill and sometimes even cost you a client. A while back, I spoke to an investor who pulled his account because of a succession of irritating mistakes over an eighteen month period.
Tags: Advertisement, Change Of Address, Client Confidence, Cracks, Email, Face, Goodwill, Gritted Teeth, Investor, Relationships, Shoulders, Six Step, Slips, Succession
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Fundamentals helped firm flourish
The family office evolved
De Goey: Probability, disclosure and client choice
March 9th, 2010
Tags: Client Choice, De Goey, Disclosure, Probability
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Final Words: Ethnic communities present opportunities
March 8th, 2010
Tags: Ethnic Communities, Final Words
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Patti Branco’s Words of Wisdom for Advisors
March 5th, 2010
This article is a guest contribution from Patti Branco, author of The Path to Million Dollar Production.
It doesn’t matter if you are new, connected or from a rich family. These are clearly advantages, but a lack of them is not a deal killer or a career breaker.
People buy people. ‘Sales’ is often more art than science. It is a continuous learning process, where listening is often more important than speaking, and learning should be your food for success. Product knowledge, people skills, enthusiasm.
- First, learn to block your time so that all of the important activities are not left to chance.
Tags: Branco, Competency, Confidence, Continuous Learning, Curve, Dollar Production, Moment Of Your Time, Moments Notice, Network Opportunity, Precious Moment, Product Knowledge, Rest Of Your Life, Seminars, Sincerity, Three Feet, Upbeat Music, Volunteer, Warmth, Whiner, Words Of Wisdom
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A four step conversation to build confidence
March 5th, 2010
Last week, I talked to an advisor concerned that if he called clients too often, he might communicate that he is truly alarmed by what’s going on and raise their anxiety levels as a result.Consider advice on this topic from a recent interview with Rob Kaplan, former Vice Chair of Goldman Sachs and currently a professor at the Harvard Business School:
Tags: Anxiety Levels, Bad News, Confidence, Conversations, Downside, Economy, Goldman Sachs, Good Advice, Harvard Business School, Human Nature, Investors, Lot, Organization, Rob Kaplan, Tendency, Vice Chair
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Valenti: Protecting your client book
Celebrating Advice: Measuring a clients’ needs
More Articles to Send Anxious Clients
March 3rd, 2010
Last week’s post with articles to send nervous clients got a great response.
In light of that, here are more articles from this weekend’s Barron’s , New York Times and Wall Street Journal that might reassure anxious clients.
First, the Chief Investment Officer of Harris Private Bank in Chicago looks at valuation, the economy, liquidity, psychology and momentum to make a strong case for U.S. equities.
Barrons.com – For Stocks, the Signs Point Up
And the cover story in today’s Barron’s outlines how the highest quality stocks have lagged in the recent run up – but are positioned to outperform going forward.
Tags: August 15, Barron, Board Business, Business Economy, Chief Investment Officer, Email Clients, Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Board, Global Trade Business, Inflation Pressures, Liquidity, New York Times, Nine Months, Positive Outlook, Private Bank, Quality Stocks, Recession, Upturn, Wall Street Journal, Wsj
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A template for a year end letter
March 3rd, 2010
Many advisors have told me they’ve got a positive response from the quarterly review letters they’ve sent based on the templates I’ve provided.
Here’s a template that can be a starting point for a year end review letter – just remember that to be effective, a letter such as this one needs to feel:
1. substantive
2. candid
3. backed up by facts
4. easy to read
5. that it reflects the personality of the advisor writing it.
That means you need to take the time to personalize the letter to language and examples you’d use and to reflect your point of view.
Tags: Collapse, Consensus, Economic Forecasters, Economic Recovery, Economic Stagnation, Global Financial Markets, Global Markets, Governments, Personality, Point Of View, Profit Growth, Prospects, Reminder, Roller Coaster, Sentiment, Stimulus, Stock Market, Stock Markets, Substantive, Year End
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Your Best Use of Marketing Dollars in 2010
March 3rd, 2010
As you think about marketing in 2010, one under-utilized strategy to consider is running a series of small, unique and focused client-oriented events.
Recently, the leading online US resource for advisors, Horsesmouth.com, featured an excellent article on this subject. This article is reprinted with permission (I’ve added a few comments of my own in italics.)
Note that for a trial subscription, go to www.horsesmouth.com
Guest article from Horsesmouth.com
The thinking behind event-driven marketing
With a client event marketing strategy, you commit to a series of regular get-togethers with your best clients outside of the normal meetings to talk about their finances.
Tags: Benefit Schedule, Budget, Event Marketing Strategy, Groups, Guest Article, Horsesmouth, Initiatives, Intimate Dinner, Italics, Low Key, Mass Events, Oriented Events, Relationships, Running, Small Group, Time And Money, Trial Subscription, Urban Centers, Wine
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Improving retirement income decisions
March 3rd, 2010
Tags: Decisions, Retirement Income
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