Archive for January, 2010
Faceoff: Consolidated reporting
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
The Drive to Excel
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
The following is based on one of Norm Trainor’s clients, John Nicola.
Tags: Capability, Cognitive Capacity, Complexity, Determinant, Dr Elliott, Elliott Jaques, Financial Advisory Firm, Financial Advisory Firms, John Nicola, Mantra, Norm Trainor, Organizational Effectiveness, Personal Accomplishment, Pinnacle, Relationship Skills, S Vision, Strata, Sustainable Business, Thinker, Wealth Management
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
Building a Vibrant Practice in a Dying City
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Today’s article is a guest contribution from a leading online publication for U.S. advisors. The article outlines how an advisor in a midwestern American city has overcome that city’s negative economic trends to build a growing practice – last year using client appreciation, recognition and education events to obtain 65 introductions that translated into almost 50 new clients.
This advisor’s success would likely be hard to replicate in a larger city and it’s unlikely that any reader is going find everything in this article relevant to their situation .. but consider whether there are some aspects of his approach that you might apply to your practice.
Tags: 50 Million, Appreciation Programs, Attendees, Brokerage, Client Appreciation, Cold Call, Distinction, Economic Trends, Education Events, Federal Do Not Call List, Financial Group, Insurance Products, Introductions, Marketing Efforts, Marketing Strategy, Metropolitan Area, Prescribed Rate, Prospects, Telemarketing Call, Telemarketing Staff, Ter, Youngstown Ohio
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini – Audio Presentation)
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Robert Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, and the foremost authority on the subject of influence and persuasion, gives a fascinating and worthwhile speech on the psychology of persuasion and about his latest book, Yes!: 50 secrets from the science of persuasion
Click play to listen:
Engaging, connecting, reasoning and persuading citizens is a vitally important role for any public communicator. Indeed, influencing others is a crucial factor in any organisation’s success, be it a commercial institution, local authority or elected government.
Tags: 1 Million, Arizona State University, Arizona University, Array, Audio Presentation, Citizens, Colleagues, Commercial Institution, Dr Robert, Foremost Authority, Goldstein, Human Decision, Influence Science, Influencing Others, Local Authority, Main Images, Noah, Princeton, Psychology Of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini, Scientific Processes, Steve Martin, Uc
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
A first step to rebuilding trust
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Among the casualties of recent market events has been the confidence of investors in their financial advisors and financial institutions. It’s not just that many clients believe that advisors and the investment industry over sold their ability to forecast market events. Even more serious, a growing number of investors today suspect that the advice to stay invested was influenced by their advisor’s desire to maximize compensation levels – in other words that their advisor put his or her interests ahead of theirs.
Not all clients suspect their advisors of a “heads I win, tails you lose” mindset – but the number who take this view is not trivial.
Tags: Anglo Irish Satirist, Asian Contagion, Compensation Levels, Economic Troubles, Explicit Code, Fricassee, Investment Industry, Jonathan Swift, Long Term Capital Management, Market Chaos, Market Collapse, Medical Profession, Modest Proposal, Portfolio Insurance, Rebuilding Trust, Satirist Jonathan, Systemic Failure, Wealth Advisors, Wealth Managers, Wholesome Food
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Focusing on Prospect Hot-Buttons
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Last week I talked to a recent entry to the business who has been spending several hours a day cold calling business owners in his community – and earlier this year made a change in his approach which has paid big dividends.
Prior to that, his focus when calling business owners was to try to get a meeting to discuss their financial situation, with a view to identifying possible tax saving opportunities.
Fighting discouragement
Tags: Accountant, Bad News, Business Owner, Business Owners, Cash Balances, Change In Direction, Conversations, Currency Risk, Discouragement, Dividends, Financial Situation, Foreign Currency, Hot Button, Hot Buttons, Investment Advice, Last Spring, Marketplace, Promises, Rbc Dominion Securities, Something Concrete
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Stress your value when talking to clients
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Help determine client priorities
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Advisors need sales friendly disclosure documents
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
How to cope with challenging clients
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Keep elderly clients in mind
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Celebrating Advice: The advisor evolved
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
The Most Important Word in Business
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
When I give a presentation, I often start out by asking the audience the following question: “If you had to choose one word that is critical to the success of a business, what would that word be?” Typically, people will respond with words such as “motivation”, “planning” or “innovation”. Obviously, all of these words are important elements in the success of a business. However, if I had to choose just one word, it would be momentum. We learned in high school physics that momentum = mass x velocity. For our purposes, in business, mass is comprised of the people working in the business, the capital invested in growing the business and the utilization of technology to foster growth. Velocity is the rate at which the business grows and the direction in which it is moving.
Tags: Audience, Choose One, Elements, Greatest Challenge, Growth Trajectory, Growth Velocity, High School Physics, Innovation, Mass X, Momentum, Motivation, Next Sale, People Working, Percentage Of Entrepreneurs, Perception, Predictable Manner, Profitability, Share Price, Time Terry, Twenty Years
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
A lesson on managing expectations
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
In early December, I had a first hand reminder that satisfaction isn’t driven by the absolute level of performance, communication or service – but rather the level compared to going in expectations.
With an invitation to speak at a conference at Whistler on December 1, in October I decided to extend my stay for four days to ski. Given notoriously unreliable snow conditions that early in the season, there was a good likelihood that the skiing would be marginal – but decided to take my chances.
A first hand experience on the ski slopes
Tags: Absolute Level, Conference Attendees, Good Fortune, Hand Experience, Invitation, Late November, Lift Ticket, Likelihood, Managing Expectations, New Snow, Performance Communication, Reminder, Satisfaction, Ski Resorts, Ski Slopes, Skiers, Skiing, Snow Conditions, Unpleasant Surprise, Whistler
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Seven steps to making 2010 a breakthrough year for your business
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Last week I hosted a round table lunch for a group of advisors.
A focus of the conversation was having started the year full of enthusiasm and ambitious objectives, two weeks later many already felt bogged down and had run out of steam.
The difficulty is that evening start with good intentions, we quickly get caught up in day to day demands on our time. Steven Covey wrote about this in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, when he talked about getting so consumer in things that are urgent in the short term that we fail to invest the time to deal with the things that are important in the long term.
Tags: Ambitious Objectives, Breakthrough Year, Business Focus, Business Step, Business Week, Ffffff, Good Intentions, High Impact, Impact Activities, Implementation, Invest, Lunch, Manageable Number, Minded Focus, Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, Seven Steps, Steam, Steven Covey, Substantial Changes, Target
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
Holmes-Winton: Debt’s not a dirty word
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Tags: Dirty Word, Winton
Posted in Advisor.ca, My Practice | No Comments »
Framing events to increase motivation
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
How can advisors stay motivated in the face of tough day after tough day in markets, a relentless stream of bad news in the media and a succession of difficult client conversations? One useful strategy can be “framing” the way you think about market events or tough client meetings to control the impact these have on our mood. Last week, I was invited to participate in a conference call for advisors by Mackenzie Financial. In talking about the theme for this call, we decided to concentrate on strategies that advisors can put in place to maintain motivation and a positive mindset.
Tags: 100 Years, Auschwitz, Austrian Psychiatrist, Bad News, Client Meetings, Conference Call, Conversations, Influential Books, Mackenzie Financial, Mindset, Motivation, Passcode, Positive Attitude, Positive Outlook, Relentless Stream, Six Months, Succession, Tough Day, Victor Frankl, World War Two
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
How do your clients refer to you (when you’re not around)?
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Matt Oechsli writes in Registered Rep that suddenly affluent clients trust financial advisors, and asks, “how are you positioned to take advantage of that?”
- new norms have already changed the affluent client/financial advisor relationship
- the affluent do not blame their advisors for what has happened the last 12 months
- fewer affluent clients trust stockbrokers and insurance agents
- the financial crisis has forced financial advisors to dramatically increase their levels of knowledge based communications with affluent clients
Tags: 12 Months, Accountants, Affluent Clients, August 1, Facets, Financial Advisors, Financial Affairs, Financial Crisis, Financial Health, Financial Planners, Insurance Agent, Insurance Agents, Management Trust, Norms, Personal Finances, Registered Rep, Second Opinion, Stockbroker, Stockbrokers, Wealth Management
Posted in My Practice | No Comments »
Three steps to building prospecting momentum this fall
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
In early September, I hosted a round table lunch in Vancouver with eight successful advisors.
A key topic was the frustration most were experiencing in attracting new clients.
In discussing this further, consensus emerged that for almost everyone in the room, the number one objective for this fall is developing prospecting momentum, so that they hit the ground running in January.
Three things need to happen to build prospecting momentum this fall.
Step One: Giving client development priority
First, you have to make prospecting a top priority.
Tags: Amount Of Time, Assets, Business Goals, Business Step, Consensus, Consistent Time, Development Priority, Early September, Frustration, Investing Money, Mindset, Momentum, Objective, Referrals, Six Hours, Systematic Fashion, Three Steps, Tier Approach, Time And Money, Top Priority, Typical Client, Vancouver
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Ten minutes that can pay big dividends
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Monday’s post outlined the case for making conversations with clients a priority this week. The post described the anxiety that some clients will be experiencing as they think about their investments over the holidays and suggested a strategy to preempt some of that concern with a call this week.
Tags: Anxiety, Break, Conversations With Clients, Couple Of Days, Dividends, Futures, Holiday Pay, Holidays, Investments, Motivation, New Year, Patience, Priority, Relationships, Respects, Stress, Terrific Opportunities
Posted in Dan Richards | No Comments »
Updated Twice Daily - Click to Listen