by Jeff Greiber, Russell Investments
Many people will see the beginning of 2022 as motivation for a resolution. Many have good intentions, such as improving health, spending more time with family, saving more money, or learning something new. Sometimes this comes easy. But often these goals are out of our comfort zone and take additional work to accomplish.
Many financial advisors will also look for ways to improve their practices to start the year. They may look to bring in more clients, become more efficient/organized, or ask for referrals, among other goals. While these ideas may not be new, this can be a reminder of some things you can do to start your year strong.
Our top 3 actions for advisors to try in 2022
1. Closing more business
Here’s a simple way we believe will help make your client conversations more productive: Use custom proposals that reflect the specific client’s goals and preferences. Limit the use of too much data and jargon, and use pictures and graphs whenever possible to help illustrate examples. We recommend using a custom proposal for each client meeting. Why? Because each client’s investment situation is different and, arguably, so should each proposal presentation you give. Tailoring the discussion with the client can lead to a more engaging conversation, resulting in a better plan. It will also open the opportunity to look for outside assets with existing clients.
2. Ask for referrals
Most advisors want to replicate their best clients. There are different ways to ask for referrals. When is the last time you practiced asking for referrals? Do you have this as part of every meeting agenda? Think back to the last time you personally gave a referral and what the situation was. There is no shortage of books, podcasts, or blog articles to help with this. Invest some time into this skill and see if it can help your process.
3. Spend more time doing what you want
Some New Year’s resolutions involve adding things into your daily routine. You may want to exercise every day or spend time reading a book. Many times, we are adding these activities to an already busy schedule. You may be able to force the time initially but if you don’t make real changes to your schedule, it can become a challenge. The same can be said about your business. If you want to spend more time and focus with your “A” clients, identify something you can stop doing to free up that time. This could be a great time to revisit your service model for all levels of clients. The answer might be outsourcing a part of your book to a more efficient solution. But without making a change somewhere, it can be difficult to find the time.
The bottom line
We all know the cliché of a treadmill that is now a second clothes rack in your basement. Or how busy the gym is the first week of January but empty to start February. It points to how difficult some of these changes can be. Hopefully some of these ideas can help you get a jump start on the year and have a successful 2022.
