Most Popular ArticlesAugust 25, 2009
Young defined a vision statement: “To create an exclusive club of prudent disciplined advocates who would achieve their goals and benefit from relationships with each other and the firm.” Young presented this statement at the informational meetings and made sure his clients bought into his approach. He supplemented his vision statement with a code of conduct and explained exactly how clients could help with referrals, if they were inclined to do so.
Individual meetings were held with advisory board members for Young to refine his understanding of their interests and goals, and he wrote a follow-up letter to them summarizing what he heard in those meetings.
Once this process was complete, Young assembled the data and formalized his plan for client events. He held another meeting to present his plan to his board. By that time, they had taken on ownership of the plan and were ready to deliver its message to his entire client base.
Rolling out the plan
To roll out his plan, he hosted meetings for groups of 50 couples, presenting his vision statement, code of conduct, and the benefits he would offer over the course of the coming year. Those benefits included items such as a new financial planning process, relationships with strategic partners, a newsletter, and, most importantly, the events he planned for the year.
At the end of the meeting, he presented a slide show of the upcoming events and had stations around the room where clients could sign up for events. Those clients who didn’t attend were mailed information to sign up for events.
The annual schedule includes two ladies’ events, one men’s event, two trips, three or four educational sessions, three or four entertainment sessions, one major educational event with a dinner, one charitable event, and a Holiday party for his advisory board. His board meets one other time during the year, and he has lunches with board members regularly.
The annual schedule of events Young now offers, which changes from year to year, includes a mix of educational, recreational, and charity-oriented activities. In the past year he has offered classes on economics, finance and investing – even giving final exams at the end of each session. Grading was competitive and the top scorer was designated the valedictorian.
At another event, he aired the movie The Secret of My Success, a 1987 movie starring Michael J. Fox, who joins a poorly-run company as a mailroom employee and then assumes a second identity as a new executive, ultimately orchestrating a hostile takeover of the company. After the movie, Young had members of his advisory board masquerade as AIG executives while his clients threw nerf footballs at them. Young also gave a 10-minute talk on how the Fed is addressing the financial crisis.
He has run trips to casinos, New York City, the Baltimore inner harbor, and has seven bus loads of clients signed up for an upcoming trip to the Cleveland air show.
On the charity side of things, he held a wine tasting at a winery. After the tasting, a group of Special Olympic athletes arrived and each talked about their accomplishments and the importance of the Special Olympics to them. Young raised $5,000 for the charity.
Display article as PDF for printing.
Would you like to send this article to a friend?
Remember, if you have a question or comment, send it to .
