Search Results
Results 151–200
of 434 found.
Getting Prospects to Respond to Your Emails
by Dan Richards,
The chances that a prospect will open an email from someone they dont know are slim. Advisors who rely on mass emails are increasingly challenged to find creative ways to get their message through. But a few advisors who are succeeding in attracting clients via email invitations told me of five ways they get past inbox filters.
Three Steps to Make your Business Grow
by Dan Richards,
If you’ve got ambitious growth plans for your business, you need to track progress against three sets of objectives: three-year goals, one-year/quarterly goals and day-to-day goals. All three of these are essential for success ? but few advisors rigorously track progress in all of these categories.
Getting Past “Blah, Blah, Blah” When Talking to Prospects
by Dan Richards,
We’ve all had our eyes glaze over listening to someone who knows their topic well but goes on too long and gets into too much detail. A recent conversation at a backyard barbeque outlined how two successful advisors fell victim to the “blah, blah, blah” effect, but a third was able to clearly articulate her value and differentiate herself.
How a Teenager and Skype Deepened Client Relationships
by Dan Richards,
Successful advisors are always on the lookout for cost-effective ways to deepen relationships with top clients. Last week, an advisor told me how he hired his son for the summer, and the two created an impressive offering that exceeded the expectations of his key clients.
A Mid-Year Letter to Clients: A Positive Outlook on America
by Dan Richards,
Each quarter Ive posted templates to serve as a starting point for advisors looking to send clients an overview of the three months that just ended and the outlook for the period ahead. This quarters letter focuses on why the U.S. is expected to be the leader among global economies.
Becoming the Safe Choice for Your Target Clients
by Dan Richards,
When it comes to gaining clients, many advisors harbor this fantasy: Your phone rings and on the line is a qualified prospect with a million dollars, asking if youre available to meet and talk about the possibility of working together. For most advisors, theres only one way to make that happen, and thats to become the recognized, go-to expert for people in a defined target community.
Three Time Bombs that Threaten Retirement Plans
by Dan Richards,
Three poorly understood developments threaten secure retirements ? without wishing to be alarmist, I will call them time bombs. These developments will change the retirement dynamic for many Americans: increasing lifespans, escalating medical costs as people age and safe withdrawal rates on savings dropping from historical levels.
How Specialist Advisors Earn Twice as Much
by Dan Richards,
In any profession ? medicine, dentistry, law, accounting ? the average income for specialists is more than double that of generalists with the same years of experience. My experience with successful financial advisors who’ve built a niche practice confirms this, but first they had to overcome three common myths about developing a niche positioning.
The Perfect Team Meeting to Start Your Week
by Dan Richards,
A focused, productive meeting with your team is the single most powerful way to start your week. Despite this, many teams dont have those regular sessions to start the week ? and where meetings do take place, they often underperform versus their potential. For your team to believe that Monday meetings are a good use of their time, those meetings should achieve five goals.
How Responding to Client Requests is Like Returning a Sweater to Sears
by Dan Richards,
A source of frustration for many advisors is the amount of time that’s consumed by mundane administrative requests ? things that clients don’t value and chew up a ton of time. But there is a way to take the time spent on routine matters and turn it into something that clients see as delivering quantifiable value. A veteran advisor told me how he did exactly that ? and enhanced relationships with the accountants for key clients in the process.
The Satisfaction Gaps that Cost You Clients
by Dan Richards,
Most advisors recognize that clients are unhappy with returns in the last decade, but believe they are satisfied with communication and the relationship as a whole. That’s why three recent conversations I’ve had with investors and advisors should set off alarm bells.
How to Help Your Middle-Class Clients Retire
by Dan Richards,
The burgeoning field of behavioral finance points to some simple methods to help clients save more, invest their savings more effectively and maintain motivation through tough patches. Using these methods, advisors can help middle-income clients take the steps to increase the odds of being able to retire when they want, how they want ? and to reduce their stress along the way.
Why Landing Clients is Like Dating ? and Seven Other Rules for Prospecting
by Dan Richards,
In the last 10 years, the dynamics of acquiring clients has fundamentally changed. Todays article outlines eight new rules for prospecting; among them why gravity no longer moves prospects through a funnel and the need for a communications catalyst as a result.
A Q1 Letter to Clients: Why Warren Buffett is Bullish on Stocks
by Dan Richards,
Since 2008, I have posted templates to serve as a starting point for advisors looking to send clients an overview of the year that just ended and the outlook for the period ahead. This quarter’s letter draws on Warren Buffett’s most recent letter to shareholders, and why he is bullish on the US equity market.
Five Steps to Demonstrate Your Value Today
by Dan Richards,
Of the broad trends facing the financial service industry, the most powerful will be greater transparency. It will force everyone ? and advisors in particular ? to clearly demonstrate the value they provide. How advisors respond to this shift to a value-driven world will determine whether they succeed or fail.
Three Ways to Turn Referrals into Clients
by Dan Richards,
In the perfect world, every prospect who's been given your name would immediately call you. But the real world doesn't work that way, something I was reminded of by a recent email from a financial advisor. Here's how to address that situation.
What to Say When a Friend Doesn?t Want to be a Client
by Dan Richards,
Many great client relationships emerge from friendships. That said, some investors are uncomfortable working with advisors with whom they have close friendships. Here's how to respond when a good friend eliminates the possibility of working together, precisely because of your friendship.
The Three Minutes that Cost a Million-Dollar Prospect
by Dan Richards,
Small investments of time often pay big dividends. That message was agonizingly clear to an advisor who wasted several minutes having a coffee at a Starbucks, when he should have been preparing for the prospect he was about to meet.
Ten Minutes that Uncovers What?s Really Important to Prospects
by Dan Richards,
It can be incredibly hard to get prospects ? and even some clients ? to let down their guard and talk openly about what really matters to them. That's why a 10-minute Priorities Exercise is an essential tool. Using a list of 20 possible priorities as a starting point, the exercise quickly homes in on the most important issues in people's lives in a comfortable, unobtrusive fashion.
Four Steps to Get in Front of Million-dollar Prospects
by Dan Richards,
Most advisors tell me that once you're face-to-face with a prospect, you have an excellent chance of signing them up. It's not the slam dunk that it might have been 15 or 20 years ago, but good odds nevertheless. The big challenge is getting that face-to-face meeting.
Your Most Important Resolution for 2013
by Dan Richards,
With the first month of 2013 behind us, many of those New Year resolutions relating to diet, weight or exercise are distant memories. That's why this is an opportune time to make a new resolution for 2013 for your business: This is the year that you will excel at bringing new clients on board.
Template for a Year-End Client Letter 2012 in Review: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future
by Dan Richards,
Client concerns about whether you're on top of things can be reduced by sending regular overviews of what's happened in the immediate past and the outlook for the period ahead. That's why each year since 2008, I have posted templates to serve as a starting point for advisors looking to send clients an overview of the year that just ended and the outlook for the period ahead.
Six Lessons for Advisors from the Mayo Clinic
by Dan Richards,
The Mayo Clinic's world-renowned reputation as the preeminent provider of medical services was achieved through decades of refining and improving its core processes ? and by constantly reviewing whether the assumptions behind its mission were still valid. A visit to that clinic revealed six lessons for advisors.
Three Steps to Dynamite Client Events in 2013
by Dan Richards,
Last fall, I wrote about the declining effectiveness of broad-based client events, especially when it comes to attracting your most important clients. Today, I want to focus on the three qualities that have led to successful events for advisors.
Putting Clients' Cash to Work
by Dan Richards,
A central challenge advisors face are is clients who need mid- to high-single-digit returns to achieve their long-term goals, but who have an overweight position in cash. A recent luncheon with a group of highly successful advisors highlighted this challenge and illuminated a way to overcome it.
How an Advisor Turned 20 Minutes into $2 million
by Dan Richards,
I regularly hear from advisors who've implemented an idea they've read in my newsletter or heard at one of my talks. But I've seldom heard of an outcome as dramatic and immediate as the one obtained by an advisor who translated an investment of 20 minutes into $2 million in new assets.
The Most Memorable Client Thank You Ever
by Dan Richards,
Two advisors hosted client events earlier this year with entirely different outcomes, despite the fact that their costs were similar. The first advisor invited clients to an event at her office that was a waste of money; the other organized a thank you for his top client that resonated at the highest level.
Getting in Front of Your Top Clients this Holiday Season
by Dan Richards,
The single best use of your time is regular reviews with your top clients. But periodic informal conversations with clients over coffee or lunch are an equally powerful way to build deep bonds. With the holidays approaching, this is a great time to arrange those meetings.
Harvard's #1 Strategy Guru on the Key Decision for Your Business
by Dan Richards,
Competition has brought many once-dominant names to the brink of survival - General Motors, Kodak, Sears and Xerox. Michael Porter, Harvard's top expert on strategy, explains why advisors ignoring the important lesson here do so at their peril.
The Three Most Important Hours for Your Business
by Dan Richards,
Rocky markets mean that you can't rely on referrals alone. If you've built a significant client base, you want to continue to dedicate the bulk of your time to communicating with them. But for your business to stay healthy, you need to bring in new clients ? advisors need to carve out three hours a week to focus on reaching out to prospective clients.
Finding Hidden Revenue with Existing Clients
by Dan Richards,
Investor skepticism and an uncertain economy are challenging advisors to maintain revenue growth and practice profitability. That's why I was intrigued by an advisor who's used a simple strategy to achieve substantial growth in assets from existing clients, even though she already managed most of their money.
A Q3 Letter to Clients - Insights from a Wall Street Legend
by Dan Richards,
Here is a template for a letter to serve as a starting point for advisors looking to send clients an overview of the past 90 days and the outlook for the period ahead. In it, I draw upon investing principles articulated by the legendary Barton Biggs, who passed away earlier this year.
Results 151–200
of 434 found.
