Expert Advice to Grow Your Business

Don't use implied guarantees or language claiming you are the best, largest or oldest, unless you can substantiate it. --Nancy Lininger

Marketing Must Be Balanced. Don't use implied guarantees or language claiming you are the best, largest or oldest, unless you can substantiate it. Do add marketing sizzle to disclosure documents (Form ADV).

-Nancy Lininger is founder of The Consortium, a compliance, practice management and marketing consulting firm for RIAs and broker-dealers, in The Art of Compliance

Sometimes Outlook can be fine, but in many cases you might be missing an opportunity in workflow. --Dan Skiles

Advisors need to thoroughly understand what capabilities they're looking for in a CRM, Dan Skiles says. Otherwise they may purchase a solution that doesn't work for them. They must also know what their firm's internal technological abilities are in order to maintain the system. Even then, advisors should realize that some degree of customization will be necessary. "Some advisors like desktop applications because that means they control the data in office, and it's part of their own infrastructure," Skiles says. "While others like a web-based." Smaller practices may not necessarily need the most sophisticated CRM system. While rudimentary, Outlook may serve some offices well – to a point."Sometimes Outlook can be fine, but in many cases you might be missing an opportunity in workflow," says Skiles.

-Dan Skiles, vice president of technology with Schwab Institutional, in The Power of CRM

The real power of Roadmap is that it combines technology with a consultant. The combination helps advisors formulate plans and then ensures follow-up to help keep the plans on track. --George Tamer

Late last year, TD Ameritrade Institutional launched Roadmap, powered by ActiFi. This innovative online planning tool is designed to help advisors translate their business goals into well-defined, executable tasks. Roadmap, designed to be used by an advisory firm in conjunction with a TD Ameritrade Institutional Solutions consultant, allows the advisor to identify one of seven high-level goals (expertise, growth, profit, reduce risk, satisfaction, time or value) and then build a plan to address that goal...George Tamer, director of institutional sales at TD Ameritrade, says the real power of Roadmap is that it combines technology with a consultant. The combination helps advisors formulate plans and then ensures follow-up to help keep the plans on track.

-George Tamer, director of institutional sales at TD Ameritrade, in Tech Tools for a Tough Economy

For American firms that aren't spooked or crimped by the current markets, the U.K. presents very unique opportunities.

For American firms that aren't spooked or crimped by the current markets, the U.K. presents very unique opportunities. Though it's not clear what the FSA's retail distribution review will yield, it is likely that the model will resemble one used in the U.S. No one is deemed to be more knowledgeable about the future direction of the U.K. financial advisory industry than Lord David Lipsey, who is charged with overseeing consumer interests at the FSA. "The aim of the review is to work toward an alternative method to paying advisors by commission," Lord Lipsey says, adding that "this is the biggest conflict of interest in the giving of financial advice in the U.K. at the moment."

-Career Opportunities for Planners in the U.K.

You'll be able to remind clients of the strategy you developed when they call you in a panic over a market flop. --Mark Willoughby

Once you understand a client's temperament a bit, you can develop a policy. The strategy will act as a compass to guide you through the periods of volatility that will inevitably arise. It should prevent you and your client from making investment decisions based on emotions driven by that short-term volatility. It is these emotion-based investment decisions that have the greatest likelihood of harming the portfolio's compound growth rate, which is what ultimately determines client wealth. You'll be able to remind clients of the strategy you developed when they call you in a panic over a market flop.

-Mark Willoughby, CFP, CFA, is a principal and senior wealth manager at Greenbaum & Orecchio in Old Tappan, N.J., in Volatility Bites

To ensure accountholders understand the many facets of wealth management, try hosting educational presentations, calling on resources from the corporate office.  --Bill Tierney

To ensure accountholders understand the many facets of wealth management, RBC Dain Rauscher’s Bill Tierney often hosts educational presentations, calling on resources from the corporate office. “We do many events, for example with [Director of Equity Strategy] Phil Dow or Janet Engels, the head of our research department,” explains Tierney. Similarly, his branch will bring in insurance or wealth management specialists from RBC Dain Rauscher, as well as other professionals from the local area, such as tax attorneys, CPAs and estate planners.

-Bill Tierney, in Five Strategies for Educating Your Client

Outsourcing [the administrative aspects of creating financial plans, such data entry and note transcription] is a way to gain efficiency without adding overhead. --Wendy Kawolik

Wendy Kawolik, president of One Advocate Group, advises you to delegate tasks that prevent you from meeting clients and prospects. While she struggled with the decision, once she hired a para-planner she had more time to build her business, and her fee-based revenue increased significantly. If you're not ready to hire staff, you can outsource the administrative aspects of creating financial plans, such data entry and note transcription. Kawolik notes outsourcing these functions is a way to gain efficiency without adding overhead.

-Wendy Kawolik, president of One Advocate Group, in Practice Tips: Outsourcing

An action plan can’t just be freehand, it must be a structured process to analyze your strengths. The more I do it, the more the process becomes enjoyable. --Peter Antonelli

So far, Peter Antonelli is happy with the results of his coaching and praises the action plan. “I learned that an action plan needs to be accountable. It can’t just be freehand, it must be a structured process to analyze your strengths. The more I do it, the more the process becomes enjoyable.” Coach Liz Manibay has also helped him learn how to delegate his time better so he is not burnt out from multiple 12-hour workdays. “If you don’t measure your time, you end up doing a lot of little tasks that aren’t worth the time. Coaching has taught me that my strength is client interaction and I should focus on my strengths. Anything else can be delegated.”

-Peter Antonelli, senior vice-president of Lexco Wealth Management in Tarrytown, N.Y., in How Coaching Can Help Improve Your Practice

Even if you've heard 500 retirement stories that sound similar, it's best to take the time to listen to each client's story as if you had never heard it before.  --Karen Altfest

"My experience has convinced me that women are turned off to canned answers and packages. Even if you've heard 500 retirement stories that sound similar, it's best to take the time to listen to each client's story as if you had never heard it before." The secret of Altfest's success? "I enjoy listening."

-Karen Altfest, CFP, PhD, of L.J. Altfest Co. in New York City, in Practice Profile: The Listener

Systematically map out the work processes of individual team members and of the team as a whole. --John J. Bowen Jr.

Work process includes every action required to complete a task from beginning to end—including who does it, what they do, how long it takes, interactions with other individuals or with information systems and the physical or information exchange that is needed. Systematically map out the work processes of individual team members and of the team as a whole. Include what needs to be done both for clients and internally. You can do this mapping on a whiteboard or with computerized flowcharts, but in any case, do it visually so that everyone can see what is at stake. A great place to start is to define the client experience you are delivering.

-John J. Bowen Jr., founder and CEO of CEG Worldwide, in Build a Template for the Ideal High-Performance Team

I usually find a mortgage lender through my clients. --Bedda D’Angelo

Every financial planner should have a mortgage lender on their team just as they should have an estate planning attorney, a business attorney, a CPA, a third-party pension administration firm, etc.,” says Bedda D’Angelo...Clients themselves often help do the winnowing. “I usually find a mortgage lender through my clients,” D’Angelo says. When working on comprehensive financial plans for a client, she’ll review their contracts, loan agreements, investment income from rental property, and so on—and thus learn of clients’ mortgage arrangements.

-Bedda D’Angelo, president of Fiduciary Solutions in Durham, N.C., in Team up with the Right Mortgage Lenders

The Schwab Institutional Portfolio Rebalancer allows firms to automate the rebalancing process and scale for future growth. --Dan Skiles

During lean times, before looking to add staff, it makes sense to examine existing processes and technologies in order to make sure you're getting as much as you can from your current infrastructure...While advisors can mine numerous areas for overlooked opportunities, there is one asset that almost every advisor has at their disposal, but that way too few take full advantage of: the free and/or discounted tools that custodians and independent broker-dealers make available to their advisors. Right now, Dan Skiles thinks many advisors can benefit from the Schwab Institutional Portfolio Rebalancer. "This tool allows firms to automate the rebalancing process and scale for future growth," he says.

-Dan Skiles, vice president of client technology consulting at Schwab Institutional, in Tech Tools for a Tough Economy

When somebody is well-informed, you really create more of a partnership, where you act as a guide. --Candace Bahr

From a practical standpoint, if a client doesn’t know the difference between securities and fixed income investments, you end up spend a lot of time at each meeting explaining the rationale for your recommendations, notes Candace Bahr, Managing Partner of Bahr Investment Group in San Diego, California. Conversely, a knowledgeable client speaks your same language and can collaborate with you on putting together a sound financial plan. “When somebody is well-informed, you really create more of a partnership, where you act as a guide,” says Bahr, whose two-person practice has $100 million in assets under management. The client understands that he or she has a role to play in the decision-making and shares responsibility for the ultimate success of their portfolio.

-Candace Bahr, managing partner of Bahr Investment Group, in Five Strategies for Educating Your Client

Using tacky materials is shortsighted, since the collateral--arriving in the mail before the initial meeting--is often the prospect's first impression of the financial advisor. --Katherine Vessenes

"Collateral" is a term used in the marketing industry that covers the written presentation of your firm and supports your brand. It can include business cards, seminar invitations, newsletters, brochures, or even the folders that you would use to present your financial plans. The same financial advisor who would spare no expense on his or her personal office can suddenly become a cheapskate when it comes to the collateral. These documents often look like they had been printed on a back-office computer by a 13-year-old. And that may not be far from the truth. Using tacky materials is shortsighted, since the collateral--arriving in the mail before the initial meeting--is often the prospect's first impression of the financial advisor. Advisors don't realize they are creating a big chasm between two different messages.

-Katherine Vessenes, in Stupid Marketing Tricks

Advisors should learn to recognize a family's emotional dynamics and whether they create the potential for harmful relationships. --Mitchell Rose

Estate plans can positively influence heirs' future behavior and reduce family conflicts--or they can reinforce unproductive behaviors, intensify poor communication, and create lasting wounds...Advisors should learn to recognize a family's emotional dynamics and whether they create the potential for harmful relationships. Giving money to children who are either chronologically or emotionally immature, narrowly restricting the terms of an inheritance, and giving unequal amounts to different siblings can all create poisonous resentments down the line. Advisors can provide a great service to families--and also gain the lasting loyalty of future generations of clients--by helping them avoid these pitfalls.

-Mitchell Rose, a former advisor, is a New York-based financial writer and an editorial consultant to financial services firms, in Emotional Rescue