Business-Building Articles We Recommend
Below is a selection of articles and links designed to help you grow your business during the challenging economic times we are facing.
Advisors Must Stop the Bleeding And Start Growing
Advisors need to “stop the bleeding” when it comes to net new asset growth, according to a senior vice president at Raymond James.
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Why Referrals Are Declining
Reports from financial advisors and industry data indicate that clients are not referring their friends and family members as frequently as they did in years past. Still, there are ways to encourage introductions.
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How to Impress Prospective Clients
The all-important first meeting can either make or break your relationship with a prospect. So how can you ensure a good impression?
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Nine Ways to Generate New Clients
Prospecting is the lifeblood of any small business. Nobody knows that better than financial professionals. And it doesn’t have to be a time-consuming and demeaning experience. When done well, prospecting is much more than selling—it’s about qualifying potential clients and building relationships.
Tyrone Matheson highlights nine common networking tools that can be tweaked for better results.
Read moreWhich Clients Will Complain
If you ever wanted to know what kind of client is most likely to file a complaint, a new report from the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) helps clarify the picture. OBSI hired a third-party research firm to analyze the complaints it dealt with over a 12-month period, and found that seniors make up the majority of complainants (53 percent). Adding precious metals bullion to portfolios can significantly reduce the level of client complaints by increasing asset class diversification and reducing overall portfolio risk.
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Recession Proof Your Practice
Robert Abboud ,CFP, PFP, author of ‘No Regrets, A Common Sense Guide to Achieving and Affording Your Life Goals‘. shares six tips on recession proofing your practice in order to survive any significant downturn in the economy and markets. Interestingly, Robert’s first point is about diversifying. Gold is a great way to diversify portfolios, because it is negatively correlated to every other asset class.
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Coaching For Financial Planners
With so much time spent on providing clients with exceptional service, many planners find it impossible to carve out the time to evaluate their own business goals. Nancy Opiela looks at the benefits and value a coach can bring in order to help planners make their dreams reality.
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How To Build A Better Financial Planning Practice
Independent advisors face a daunting array of tasks in building a successful practice, but one of the most important is usually among the last to be addressed – how business metrics can help ensure that your firm is productive, profitable and competitive.
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OSC To Research Imposing Fiduciary Duty On Advisors
The Ontario Securities Commission plans to study the issue of whether to impose a fiduciary duty on financial advisors. The regulator says that it will, “research the pros and cons of imposing a fiduciary duty on financial advisors and identify what problems we think that introducing a statutory fiduciary duty would resolve.”
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How To Guide Your FAs through Turbulent Times
Branch managers must guide and motivate FAs to keep a positive attitude. While doing so can indeed be challenging in times like these, industry experts say that there are a number of things that can make a real difference in your advisors’ lives, and consequently your own.
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Leveraging Your Connections
Business networking – an often-underused skill in the investment business—can add significant value to your business if done well.
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3 Things Advisors Can Learn From Steve Jobs
Here are three things advisors can learn from how Steve Jobs grew Apple from a two-man team in a garage to a multibillion-dollar technology giant.