To all our highly valued clients and acquaintances:
As we head towards the end of the 1st Quarter and I speak with more and more Advisors and Managers, fundamental points keep consistently surfacing as areas for productive focus:
- Truth is, no one really knows how long this time period is likely to last and to what degree
- As many are already doing, we recommend you carefully allocate and invest your resources
- The first priority is to ensure all your clients are well-served and that you are very accessible
- At times, it is important to do full portfolio and estate reviews, knowing what we now know
- Listening well is mission critical and takes plenty of careful time and energy – it builds trust
- First mission of listening well? For the client to declare that they feel understood and heard
- Upon the basis of what you hear and don’t hear, ask good questions, to help uncover needs
- Once your clients are satisfied, let them know that you are available to also meet others
- After you first serve clients well, then you can offer confidential courtesy time to referrals
- Great time to survey people you have known for years – what do they most want/suggest?
- Be constantly on the look out for ways to simplify/streamline the running of your business
- Repeat, repeat, repeat…until we all come to the point in the future where it is time to adjust
Eventually, as many agree, we will reach a next stage where the level of investor amenability to other perspectives will diminish and referrals/net new asset transfers will be harder to come by.
Now is the time to stay focused on delivering exceptional client service and to meet with as many new potential clients as possible – for those who do, we envision that their businesses will come out stronger in the end – while, in the shorter term, also replenishing assets and revenues depreciated by market conditions. We see it happening already. It’s what there is to do right now
One last point?
Do whatever you have to do to light a fire under yourself and keep yourself warm and fully alive.
What are we focused on right now?? Helping Branch Managers & Financial Advisors to:
- effectively re-assess what’s most needed to preserve and grow their business
- provide services that help them create high trust relationships in a low trust environment
- consistently get new referrals to investors who are looking for better ways to receive help
- take great care to run their business well and keep a focus on acquiring net new assets
We will continue to be vigilantly searching for innovative and leading edge ways to go past our fiscal environment’s current challenges and come to you with helpful recommendations for 2009
Also, many have asked if we have room or desire to explore value-adding possibilities with other Branch Managers or Financial Advisors that you may know – colleagues who are researching additional perspective or useful resources to help them make the most of their business in 2009.
To that end, we are happy to set up such confidential calls, where we first seek to understand their most important goals and challenges, as well as share what we have found has worked well with other professionals in the industry. From there, we can determine win-win strategies.
Thank you for continuing to let us know what you are up to and up against.
We look forward to expanding our relationship and our future efforts together.
Please call upon us @ any time and let us know how you think we can serve you best –
we are committed to be just a simple phone call, e mail and heartbeat away. Let’s keep in good touch.
With sincere and deep appreciation,
Coach Don
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