Since January, I’ve been conducting full day workshops to help advisors adjust their businesses to today’s new reality. I’ve had a terrific response to these – typically, advisors emerge excited with a long list of possible initiatives and new ideas. That’s good news at one level – but also risks having advisors feel overwhelmed and fail to act as a result. The difficulty after a workshop is almost never not enough new ideas – it’s almost always too many.
Here, below, we share with you this thought provoking presentation made by Psychologist Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice. As an advisor, you may have encountered the problem of potential clients taking a very long time to decide on a course of action that you have proposed to them.
As a former advisor, there were times (in hindsight, of course), in fact, I’m positive, that I overwhelmed potential clients (and they stayed that way) because I was trying too hard to impress them by laying the (investing) world at their feet. In a nutshell, keep it simple. That makes for much easier decision making.
Last fall I began posting quarter end letters that advisors could adapt for their own use. Many advisors have told me that they have received an outstanding response to the letters they sent as a result.
There are five qualities to an effective client letter.
At some point, all of us have procrastinated when it comes to difficult or unpleasant tasks.
For many advisors, this has become a big issue. Seldom has the gap been larger between the things we feel comfortable doing on one hand and those we know we need to do on the other – whether it be scheduling client meetings that are likely to be difficult or setting aside time each week to reach out to prospective clients.
This last point came home recently in a vivid fashion. I asked a group of successful advisors how many hours they’d spent in the past week talking to prospects. The most common answer: Zero.
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Here is the transcript Consuelo Mack WealthTrack interview with Bruce Berkowitz - August 27, 2010
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Jeffrey Saut Daily Audio Comment Raymond James
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At some point, all of us have procrastinated when it comes to difficult or unpleasant tasks.
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