What High Performing Advisors do Differently Than Their Peers

As I mentioned in my last post, research shows that high-performing financial advisors communicate more frequently with clients than their less successful peers. They are also likely to find certain channels more effective for hitting home with their clients than their peers do.

Public speaking and writing books (including eBooks) are among the top three channels used by all advisors, but other channels have proven especially effective for high-performing advisors. According to our new Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ 2017, conducted in association with The Financial Awareness Foundation, advisors with double-digit growth expectations in 2018 are more likely than their less optimistic peers to place a high value on the following:

• Writing articles for publication
• Being quoted in the press
• Blogging
• Producing videos
• Publishing articles on LinkedIn
  
  

% of Respondents Finding Channels “Very” or “Extremely” Valuable

CHANNEL	Advisors expecting to grow by double-digits in 2018	All other Advisors	Gap
Writing articles for publication	69%	48%	+21%
Being quoted in the press	54%	30%	+24%
Blogging	48%	29%	+19%
Producing videos	48%	17%	+31%
Publishing on LinkedIn	32%	20%	+12%

Source: HB Publishing & Marketing CO, LLC and The Financial Awareness Foundation,2017

Still not convinced that frequent client contact is critical?

A CEG Worldwide study of more than 200 wealth advisors found that the highest earning financial advisors contact their top clients an average of 28 times a year (2.3 times per month). By contrast, the next most successful group—those earning $500,000 to $999,999 a year—contacted each client an average of just 13.2 times per year (1.1 times per month). The least successful financial advisors were even less likely to communicate with clients.

“The fact is, today’s clients greatly value regular outreach from their financial advisors—and will reward those who excel in this area,” concluded CEG researchers.

So step up your game when it comes to reaching out and touching clients—just don’t “carpet-bomb” them. Our research found that hosting webinars and social media posts (with the exception of LinkedIn), were considered among the LEAST effective clients communication channels.

And while you’re busy reaching out, don’t forget that October is National Estate Planning Awareness Month. As my survey co-author Val Sabuco points out, 120 million Americans (half the adults; rich to poor) don't have estate plans. THAT’S WAY TOO MANY. “Remember,” said Sabuco, “our goal is to touch the majority of the general public, high net worth individuals, financial service and nonprofit professionals and their organizations at least twice a year to get (and keep) their financial, estate, and gift plans in order.”  Let’s all do our part.

Conclusion

Q4 is under way. Let’s have a good week, month and quarter and finish 2017 strong.
*** Take the Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey and see how you stack up.

Are You Communicating with Clients Often Enough?

Chances are you are NOT!

A CEG Worldwide study of more than 200 wealth advisors found that the top-earning group (earning over $1 million annually) make it a high priority to reach out to their clients regularly. The top-earning financial advisors contact their top clients an average of 28 times a year (2.3 times per month). By contrast, the next most successful group—those earning $500,000 to $999,999 a year—contacted each client an average of just 13.2 times per year (1.1 times per month). The least successful financial advisors were even less likely to communicate with clients. “The fact is, today’s clients greatly value regular outreach from their financial advisors—and will reward those who excel in this area,” concluded CEG researchers.

Still not convinced that frequent client contact is critical?

According to a Vanguard/Spectrem Group Report across all wealth segments, client satisfaction “directly correlates” with the frequency of advisor contact. “Clients who heard from their advisors at least once per quarter were significantly more satisfied than those who received outreach semiannually. For millionaires, satisfaction dropped 28 percentage points for clients contacted twice per year as compared with those contacted every quarter.”

*** Take the Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey and see how you stack up.

But frequency of contact is not enough.

According to the latest Factset Research: “Impressive track records are no longer enough to inspire confidence in proposed strategy; very high net worth clients want to understand in depth how future returns will be sourced.” Researchers added that “their focus on content contrasts sharply with less wealthy clients, who draw on their personal experiences with a firm’s employees to guide their impressions.”

MONTHLY CLIENT CONTACT
0-1 times	*********************************45%
2-5 times	*************************31%
6 times or more	*****************24%

Source: HB Publishing & Marketing CO, LLC and The Financial Awareness Foundation,2017

Our own Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey, conducted in association with The Financial Awareness Foundation, found that more than half of wealth advisors (55%) are contacting their clients at least 2 to 5 times per month. And three-fourths of those advisors (74%) expert their firms to grow by at least 10 percent in the next 12 months.

*** Take the Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey and see how you stack up.

Conclusion

When it comes to client communication, there’s no substitute for quality and relevancy—but don’t underestimate the importance of consistency. In my next post, we’ll talk about the importance of “communication cadence” and look at the types of communications vehicles that successful wealth advisors are finding most effective.

VCRGD6XDXT3T


TAGS: Financial Awareness Foundation, CEG Worldwide, Spectrem Group, Factset, wealth advisor communication

Real-World Tactics for Reducing Stress

Make regular appointments with yourself and keep your employees happy

It’s no secret that we live in a hyper-caffeinated, always-connected world. Work/life balance is a pipedream for most professional people these days, even more out of kilter during the Holidays.

Fortunately, there’s hope. And you don’t have to go on retreat to India or Nepal to find a solution. One of our clients, CEG Worldwide, does a lot of coaching and research for elite financial advisors. In a recent study, CEG found that six out of ten high-income advisors were very satisfied with their current success despite the constant stress and anxiety that comes with managing millions--sometimes billions of dollars of other people’s money. As many of you know, year-end is often a time of wits-end.

Uncertainty about politics, the economy and the markets means many advisors have to reassure their clients continuously and they have to do a lot more hand-holding than they used to. CEG managing principal John Powell said a lot of advisors simply don’t take time for themselves and work too many hours, even though many times the long hour are sincerely in the interest of serving their clients better.

Face your stress head on

Here are three stress-reducing techniques that Powell recommends:

1. Trim your mix of clients. Examine your existing client base carefully to see if you are serving too many non-ideal clients. Sometimes it’s just better to let them go than to bend over backwards trying to save a relationship that isn’t meant to be.

2. Time block. Smart advisors block out time on their schedules for client meetings, during which they won’t accept phone calls or other interruptions. But they rarely do the same for other important tasks—from business planning to family time to exercise. Make regular appointments with yourself; block out that time on your calendar and treat that time it as sacredly as you do the time you reserve for your clients, Powell recommends.

3. Step away from the desk. CEG reports that some of its coaching clients significantly increased their earnings once they started taking more time off. Vacations forced them to be more efficient at the office. Also, when they were away, their creative juices start flowing again because they were away from the distractions of their normal environment.

Keep your people happy

Another good way to reduce stress around the office is to keep your employees happy. Jen Agustin senior director of marketing at a marketing technology company, Bizo, wrote recently that there are three keys to keeping your staff happy: (1) Top management sets the right tone; (2) Employees feel trusted; (3) You hire people with the right culture fit, not necessarily all the qualifications you seek.

1. Set the right tone at the top. No matter what size the company, Agustin said the “tone” ultimately gets set at the very top and trickles down to every employee. That tone can be positive in the form of fun, honesty and transparency, or in unfortunate cases, it can convey feelings of intimidation and mistrust. Which type of organization would you want to work in?

2. Show employees you trust them. At Bizo, you can work from home whenever you need to, but Agustin said 20 percent of its employees work from remote offices located across the globe, from Abu Dhabi to Omaha and Honolulu to Seattle. But it doesn’t stop there. According to Agustin, the only vacation policy Bizo has is, “take it when you need it.” When it comes to expenses, the rule of “treat the company’s money as if it was your own.” HR, are you listening!?

3. Make prospective employees feel like part of the team—during the interview process.  Instead of the usual interrogation or ambush style interviews, take candidates out to lunch or happy hour, or invite them to non-confidential meetings and ask them to participate as they would if they were already part of the team. “Past work experience is certainly important, but there’s no substitute for hiring someone whose positive, helpful attitude will ultimately trump any missed checkboxes on an interview questionnaire,” related Agustin.

We couldn’t agree more.

Conclusion

Stress is unavoidable, especially in the professions most of us have chosen. The good news: You have control over how you react to it, who you work with, who you surround yourself with and how you get yourself back to the right work-life balance.

Tags: Jonathan Powell, CEG Worldwide, reducing holiday stress, Jen Agustin, Bizo, keeping employees happy

VCRGD6XDXT3T

No Time for Social Media? Make Time for LinkedIn

As we’ve said many times before on the topic of social media, each platform has its merits—if you have the time and energy to master them. But, if you only have time to devote to one social platform—we know even that’s a stretch for many of you--then LinkedIn will probably give you the biggest bang for your effort.

LinkedIn for referrals

First, look at the user base. About 40 percent of LinkedIn members are Managers, Directors, Owners, VPs or C-Suite officers. Do you want likes, winks and friends? Or do you want new clients and trusted referrals sources? We thought so.

Second, obsess about accumulating the most connections. No one’s keeping score. Definitely reach out to your inner circle and to valuable contacts that you just made at a conference or professional event. Definitely follow interesting people so that articles (or online discussions) that are relevant to your work show up daily in your inbox. But, having 50 deep connections with the movers and shakers in your industry or profession is far better than having 500+ connections composed mostly of people you barely know beyond a quick business card exchange.

John Powell, a principal at one of our longstanding clients, CEG Worldwide, noted recently that LinkedIn can help you position yourself as an expert to members of your target market. To make LinkedIn work for you, your profile must spell out the specific value that you bring to your clients’ financial lives—for example, by including your mission statement and elevator speech. Also spell out how you do great work for your clients and the biggest benefits that investors gain by working with you, he said. When you ask clients for introductions to other people—don’t be afraid to do this often-- you can mention specific people by name and increase your chances of gaining an introduction to them. The key, said Powell, is not to ask for a referral per se, but to offer a “second opinion” in which you conduct a free review for a clients’ friend and associate

Social media to identify new prospects

When used correctly, social media networks can be excellent for identifying centers of influence (COIs)—the key players and most important people in your target niche market. The idea is to meet the COI to learn more about your niche’s issues and how you can address those issues. For example, you can do advanced searches in LinkedIn to find connections among your clients who might be good to speak with. You also might then ask your client to make the introduction the next time you meet. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

LinkedIn showcases your expertise and stimulates referrals

LinkedIn introduced “showcase pages” this week that allow companies or firms to highlight specific products or services by creating dedicated sites for them on the professional network. With a Showcase Page, you can segment content to distinct audiences who are interested in different aspects of your business or practice. As some of you might have guessed, this strategy is part of LinkedIn’s broader goal to be content marketing hub for companies—not just a career networking destination for professional folks.

How to start a LinkedIn Showcase

Showcase pages can be set up by company page administrators by going to the “Edit” dropdown menu on their dashboards and selecting “Create a Showcase Page.” Businesses, which can operate up to 10 showcase pages, will be able to track page performance through existing analytics tools.

Conclusion

LinkedIn and other popular social networking platforms are powerful tools for disseminating information to the masses. These tools are fast, inexpensive and easy to use, but if you’re not careful, they can be a tremendous drain of your firm’s time, energy and resources. Figure out which one or two platforms you and your firm can really get behind and find an in-house champion or outside expert to help you. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Just make sure reach out on a consistent, reasonable basis and for goodness sake, make sure your profile is updated regularly make sure you have something relevant to share whenever you tweet, post, Link, like connect or pin.

More tips can be found on the FREE Resources page of our website.

Tags: LinkedIn, centers of influence, John Powell, CEG Worldwide

VCRGD6XDXT3T