Archive for November, 2009
Seven steps to establishing rapport with prospects
Monday, November 30th, 2009
The article below first appeared in the U.S. advisor website Horsesmouth.com and is reproduced here with permission.
These days potential clients may need a little more time to get to know you before committing to your investment process. One advisor’s background in counseling gives him a host of relationship-building skills that you can apply to building trust in your own first meetings.
In his first job out of college, advisor Dennis Nolte counseled homeless alcoholics at a Salvation Army in Indianapolis. While that experience is an uncommon launching pad for a career in financial services, the job taught Nolte, a psychology major, how to listen to people-a skill that has paid dividends over the last two decades.
Tags: Advisory Business, Building Trust, Business Trust, Client Accounts, Disney World, First Date, First Job, First Meeting, First Meetings, Homeless Alcoholics, Horsesmouth, Inheritance, Launching Pad, Natural Curiosity, Orlando Fla, Salvation Army, Seven Steps, Thriving Business, Uncomfortable Questions, Wealth Management
Posted in Dan Richards, My Practice | No Comments »
Three tips on successful prospecting
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Recently, I talked to three advisors who have had significant success bringing in new clients this year.
They have different approaches, book sizes, length of time in the business – and are located in three different cities.
Despite this, some consistent themes emerged. Here are three things that came out of our conversations.
You don’t win clients – other advisors lose them
The first advisor talked about an old adage in politics – Governing parties don’t get defeated, they beat themselves.
In essence, given the choice most people would rather stay with an incumbent government.
Tags: Confidence, Conversations, Desperation, Disaffection, Incumbent Government, Length Of Time, Logical Successor, Old Adage, Opposition, Pipeline, Prospects, Some Consistent Themes
Posted in Dan Richards, My Practice | 1 Comment »
Faceoff: Saving for retirement
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Multi-boutique firms encourage shared ownership
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Tags: Boutique Firms, Shared Ownership
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Providing holistic advice requires coupling of skill sets
Friday, November 27th, 2009
Tags: Advice, Holistic, Skill Sets
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Advice for Children Entering University
Friday, November 27th, 2009
It’s often the little things that build deep bonds with clients.
For most students entering college and university, this fall is at the same time an exciting and scary time … and that’s equally true for their parents.
This past Sunday, the New York Times published a series of nine short articles titled: “College advice from people who’ve been there awhile”, featuring advice from some of America’s best known and most respected educators. You’ll find links to those articles below.
If you have clients with children heading off to college or university this fall, consider emailing these tips, both for them to read and perhaps to pass on to their children
Tags: 15 Year Olds, 99s, Bonds, College Advice, Crest, Evenings, Globe And Mail, Golf Games, Luncheon Invitations, New York Times, Notes Of Thanks, Online Bookstore, Oppo, Parents, Relationships, Scary Time, Series Of Nine, Sweatshirts, University Bookstore, Work Colleagues
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Giving Back and Paying Forward
Friday, November 27th, 2009
The following is based on one of Norm Trainor’s clients, Walton Rogers.
What does it mean to be in the top 1% of your profession? For members of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), it means that you are not only recognized as having reached the pinnacle of success in your profession, but also, that you are the beneficiary of a tradition of sharing that is unusual in our competitive world. Walton Rogers was chosen by his peers to be the President of MDRT for 2009 and to be a part of its Executive Committee for five years. His election to this august position recognizes his years of giving back as a trusted member/leader in over 25 leadership positions. However, Walton would be the first to admit that he has gained far more than he has given through this association.
Tags: Beneficiary, Commitments, Competitive World, Executive Committee, Importance Of Planning, Jonathan Williams, Leadership Positions, Mdrt, Norm Trainor, Person Concept, Pinnacle, Proper Perspective, Robert Zimmer, Select Group, Standard Of Excellence, Succession Plan, Succession Planning, Symbolism, What This Means, Younger Associates
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
New ways to help divorcing couples
Friday, November 27th, 2009
Tags: Couples, New Ways
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Younger advisors will trade income prospects for stability
Friday, November 27th, 2009
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Attract the best to build your team
Friday, November 27th, 2009
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Stock picking matters: Kanko, Jenkins
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Avoiding the black hole of business planning
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
This month, many advisors are working on next year’s business plans.
For many advisors, these business plans will end up like a black hole in space – lots of energy will go in and little or nothing will come out.
Causes of the “black hole” effect
There are number of things that cause business planning to fail to translate into results.
First is underestimating the impact of entrenched habits – and failing to build in routines around new initiatives emerging from the business planning process.
Tags: Absolute Commitment, Advertisement, Black Business, Black Hole In Space, Business Planning, Business Plans, Business Process, Cause Business, Commitments, Consequences, Exercise, Failure, Goals, Initiatives, Loyalty, Mid Term, Practice Efficiency, Prospective Clients
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
Talking to Clients About Market Timing
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Some clients have always wanted to try to time the market – to be in for the market for the ups and on the sidelines for the downs.
And those numbers have grown, driven by anxiety about the direction of markets and seemingly constant media coverage of money managers and market strategists making short term forecasts.
The only way to deal with the desire to time markets is to help clients understand how low the chances are of achieving this goal.
Just telling clients this isn’t good enough – in many cases, we have to provide evidence from a credible source to back us up.
Tags: Bond Portfolio, Column Points, Credible Source, E Zines, Forecasters, Globe And Mail, Globe Investor, Globe Mail, Hindsight, Investor Magazine, Market Strategists, Market Timing, Money Managers, Stock Bond, Stock Exposure, Stock Pickers, Stock Portfolio, Target, Term Forecasts, Time Markets, Ups, Valuations
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Free webinar – Using low-cost client lunches to build prospecting momentum
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Many advisors are struggling with a strategy to communicate with prospective clients.Last week, I conducted a webinar with U.S. advisor site Horsesmouth, outlining a simple approach to prospecting using a series of low cost client lunches that advisors can host in their boardroom.
You can listen to the webinar at the link below – there’s no cost, you simply have to enter your email address.
http://register.webcastgroup.com/l3/?wid=0720610094723&pre=1
For much more information, please visit http://www.clientinsights.ca.
Sorry, it turns out the webinar referred to above is no longer available, however, here is the transcript of the presentation by Dan Richards:
Tags: Advertisement, Amp, Boardroom, Campaign Goal, Email Address, Free Webinar, Informal Survey, L3, Lunch, Luncheon Series, Luncheons, Minute Time Blocks, Momentum, Private Room, Prospective Clients, Prospects, Register, Roundtable, Rule Of Thumb, Sandwiches, Wid, Www Ca
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Celebrating Advice: Effective business planning
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Tags: Advice, Business Planning
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Five End-of-Year Marketing Tips
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
The following article is a guest contribution from *Kristen Luke, of www.wealthmanagementmarketing.net.
With fewer than two months left in 2009, time is running out to execute your last minute marketing campaigns. Marketing in November and December is a different beast than during the rest of the year. If you are like many advisory firms, you might find it difficult to set appointments with prospective clients during this time.
This slow period, however, doesn’t mean you should halt your marketing efforts. You need to adjust your strategies and take advantage of the unique opportunities that are available during this period. Here are five tips to help make the most out of your end-of-year marketing.
Tags: Advisory Firms, Beast, Coffee Breakfast, Continuing Education Courses, Cpas, Great Marketing, Kristen, Lunch Meetings, Marketing Campaigns, Marketing Efforts, Marketing Marketing, Marketing Opportunities, Marketing Plan, Marketing Plans, Marketing Tips, Minute Marketing, Plant Seeds, Prospective Clients, Referrals, Slow Period
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
How to Consolidate Client Assets
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
In recent workshops, I’ve talked about the need to focus on one primary business goal for each key client you work with.When I ask advisors for examples of possible objectives, the one that comes up first most often is “consolidating accounts held elsewhere.”
Wanting to do this is a good start …. The key question is how best to go about this.
Becoming the exclusive financial advisor for key clients has always been a priority for advisors … but these days, this is even more important. Partly that because advisors are looking to regain some of the assets lost in last year’s market decline – and in part it’s because of the recognition of the risk that if you don’t act, another advisor you share a client with might.
Tags: Advertisement, Business Goal, Client Assets, Confidentiality, Conscious Decision, Financial Advisors, Financial Affairs, Financial Institutions, Focus, Good Reason, Instances, Insurance, Investments, Investors, Market Decline, Money, Priority, Relationships, Risk, S Market, Second Group, Umbrella
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
What do Financial Advisors Want?
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Every Financial Advisor {FA} wants to answer three questions:
1. What role do I play in my practice?
2. How big do I want to become?
3. What is the requisite {required} organization {RO} to enable me to answer questions 1 and 2?
Most FAs get paid for results. Their compensation is tied to the sale of products such as investments, insurance, mortgages, savings, loans etc or the sale of advice. People tend to think of the FA role as a sales function. Yet, the tasks an FA is required to perform are much more complex than simply selling. Today, the vast majority of FAs are entrepreneurs who have chosen to work in financial services. They are building a business. There are two principles that determine how big and sustainable that business will become:
Tags: 80s, Art And Science, Capability, Cpa, Financial Advisors, Financial Services, Immigrant, Income Families, Insurance Mortgages, Investable Assets, Investments, Leverage, Life Insurance Agent, Loans, Optimization, Organi, Premiums, Profitability, Six Figure Income, Twenty Years
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
Giving clients hope in tough markets
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
These days, many advisors are focusing on meeting with key clients to review and discuss their portfolios.In some cases, the market developments of the past year mean that advisors are recommending significant changes.
In other instances, however, the portfolio in place a year ago still makes sense and there is no reason to make a change – a situation that can pose a problem. Here’s why.
In my conversations with investors since last fall, there is a universal sense that the investing climate has changed dramatically – and the feeling that there portfolio should be changing as well.
Tags: Climate, Conversations, Corporate Bonds, Corporate Clients, Corporates, Diversification, Instances, Investing, Investment Bonds, Investments, Investors, Market Developments, Optimism, Portfolio, Portfolio Cases, Portfolios, Proactive, Risk, Sake, Status Quo, Universal Sense
Posted in Dan Richards | 1 Comment »
Updated Twice Daily - Click to Listen