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When advisors ask me to help them set up systems for their business, I put on my professional organizer hat. One area that is always a big issue is paper – both the physical and electronic kind. Here’s a system to ensure you will easily find the information you want and always get to the tasks that are important.
The financial services industry requires us to maintain detailed records which afford many opportunities to accumulate paper.
As you look around your office, do you have piles of reading and client-meeting notes to catch up on?
Do your clients wonder what personal information of theirs might be floating around in these piles?
Are you behind on your online reading or in responding to emails?
Are you spending too much time trying to locate documents, whether in files or online?
Are you tired of looking at your messy office and feeling behind on your to-do list?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, here’s how to improve this situation.
The first step, with physical and electronic paper, is to separate everything into two primary categories: Is this reference material or an actionable item?
Reference material
Reference material is just what it sounds like. It’s something you keep in case you want to refer back to it at a later time. Reference materials are not actionable.
Reference material can be further broken down into two additional categories. It is either pertinent to running the business or pertinent to growing the business.
Below is an example of files you might set up for these two categories. Files can be physical or electronic:
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Run the Business
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Grow the Business
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Lease information, property information
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Marketing Events
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Technology and other office equipment
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· Marketing ideas for future reference
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· Computers and printers
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· Past marketing events
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· Telephone system
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· Current marketing initiatives
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· Cellular phones
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· Event planning ideas and checklists
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Human resources
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Networking
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· Create a file for each person on the team
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Centers of influence
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Business planning
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Referrals
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· 2017 business plan
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Client advisory board / focus group
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· 2016 business plan
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Charitable & civic organizations
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Practice management (ideas)
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DRIP marketing
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· Client service model
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Online – Web presence, social media
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· Fee structure
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· Meeting prep and follow-up
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Product information
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· Create a folder for often used products
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Strategy information
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· Cash reserve strategies
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· Education planning strategies
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· Retirement planning strategies
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· Estate planning strategies
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· Social Security
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· Medicare
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Remember, these are reference materials – a place holder for thoughts, ideas, articles, conference notes, product literature and the like. This is not an exhaustive list, just a few suggestions to get you started.
Actionable items
Category number two is actionable items. The document, piece of paper or envelope with a note written on it is a reminder of something you have to do.
Of the actions you need to take, 90% can be broken down into just a few activities. They are:
- Calls to make
- Waiting for a reply
- Computer work
- Upcoming events
- Need to talk with someone in the office
Although it seems easy to determine the next step for an actionable item, it is not always as simple as it first appears. It can take some practice to quickly determine the next actionable step you need to take.
Once your actionable items are broken down into the above categories, the next step is to prioritize them. For example, if you have 15 people to call, the top priority calls you need to make should be at the top of the list or pile.
If you have 10 projects to complete on the computer, make sure the projects at the top of the pile are the top priority projects.
In my office, I have a three-tier tray that is labeled calls, waiting for reply and computer tasks. I do much of my reading while I eat breakfast or lunch, so I keep short articles or newsletters on one of my dining room chairs. I also do some reading most nights before retiring for the evening. Therefore, some of my reading is on my night stand. This is where I read magazines and books.
Regarding items where you need to talk with someone in the office, create a folder or designate a notepad for each team member. As you think of things during the day, jot a note on the notepad or toss a note in the folder. When you have your one to one meeting with each team member, you already have your agenda – the items you wrote on their notepad or the notes you tossed into their folder.
Alternatively, you can create a draft email to each team member, adding items or tasks you think of throughout the day. At the end of the day, send the one email. This way, you are not interrupting your team members with important, but not urgent, messages all during the day. If there are a number of tasks on the list, prioritize them.
With all of your to-dos organized by the next actionable step you need to take, you can block time on your model week to get these action items completed.
Help with the in box
To help manage your in box, set up folders for actionable items so you can move emails out of the in box and into actionable folders.
A great idea I garnered from David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: start each folder with the @ sign so it appears at the top of your folder list. For example:
- @ Calls to make
- @ Waiting for a reply
- @ Reading
- @ Upcoming events
Depending on how much “stuff” you need to sort through, keep these two strategies in mind:
- Sometimes you have to make a mess to create a masterpiece. It is challenging to get organized if at the same time you are trying to keep things neat. Spread out.
- Consider taking on this task over a weekend. It is nearly impossible to stay focused on getting organized if the phone keeps ringing or you keep getting interrupted by a team member. One advisor I know takes on this task over long holiday weekends.
It is always a good time to get more organized, but many of my clients seek me out to help them get organized either at the beginning of the year, over the summer or as the year comes to an end.
As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
For the past 19 years, Teresa Riccobuono has been a professional organizer, business consultant and practice-management specialist to the financial services industry, helping advisors bridge the gap between their existing and their ideal financial planning practice. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area but works with advisors across the country. She is a member of the board of directors of the East Bay Chapter of the Financial Planning Association and is currently the co-chair of the public relations committee. She can be reached at [email protected].
Read more articles by Teresa Riccobuono
