5-21-2013 FAN Newsletter

1. FAN members affected by OK tornadoes         3. Best Practices Corner

2. FAN 1-Minute Video Series                  4. Special FAN Member Benefit

 

1. FAN Members Affected by Oklahoma Tornadoes

FAN has at least a dozen members living or working in the area devastated by the yesterday's tornadoes in the Oklahoma City area.  Our thoughts and hopes go out to them and everyone else in that area.  

These tornadoes is a sad reminder of the need to have contingency plans for our advisory businesses and with our loved ones.  

  + Backed up information on the cloud or at a far away site 

  + Arrangements for the forwarding of phone lines, even if to another advisor's office again, at a far away site

  + Arrangements with family members to meet at a predetermined location, with a secondary location if a disaster strikes. 

  + Offer digital document copying and cloud-based storage for clients 

 

2. FAN's 1-Minute Video Series   

Here are the links for one of our weekly series of videos, all focusing on how advisors present themselves:

FAN - Advisor Dangers of Social Media
FAN - "Listener" as an advisor's brand
FAN - Advisor Business through Leadership
FAN - The Office Advisors Keep
FAN - Advisors are What They Wear

3. Best Practices Corner - Member Discussions

Our discussion board  always has great conversations related to advisor best practices ideas.  Each newsletter, will expand on one of these discussions.

Think Like a Digital CFP - Part 1 - One of our members posted a great article on how to grow their advisory business faster, by better using technology and social media to obtain and service their clients.  I like how this article gives you some great ideas, instead of just being conceptual. 
 To Think...Like a Digital CFP - Part 1.

 4. Special FAN Member Benefit

Free White Paper: The Enduring Case for High Yield Bonds

Researched and written by TIAA-CREF, to answer the question, "are high-yield bonds worth the additional risk at today's high prices and record-low yields?"  Link for free white paper

This white paper has interesting analysis and conclusions about how high-yield bonds can provide attractive risk-adjusted returns and help diversify risk in fixed income portfolios. Some of their conclusions about a long-term allocation to high yield through changing markets:

 • Higher income that drives long-term returns, potentially outweighing bond price fluctuations

 • Lower sensitivity to rising interest rates than Treasuries and high-grade bonds

 • Enhanced diversification to help manage portfolio risk, based on low correlations to Treasury and high-grade bonds

 (Many FAN members don't know that TIAA-CREF has mutual funds for clients of financial advisors.)

(Commentary about the above white paper is by FAN and not TIAA-CREF)

FAN Newsletter - April 18, 2013

Contents of our 4-18-2013 FAN Newsletter

1. FAN's Daily Video Series         3. Best Practices Corner

2. FAN Webinar Series                  4. Special FAN Member Benefits

1. FAN's Daily Video Series   

FAN's daily one-minute video series was created because of the feedback we received from our members.  We all need ideas on how to grow our investment advisory businesses, but we don't have too much time to read the ideas and implement them.  This is why our daily videos are about one-minute long, with each one taking less than 15 minutes to receive some benefit from (some require no follow-up work.)  Here are the links for this week's videos, all focusing on LinkedIn:

FAN - Updating LinkedIn Profiles - 4-15-2013
FAN - LinkedIn Profile not a Resume for Advisors - 4-16-2013
FAN - Dreaded Compliance with LinkedIn - 4-17-2013
FAN - Connect with Your Clients on LinkedIn - 4-18-2013
FAN - Contact details on linkedin profiles - 4-19-2013

2. FAN Webinar Series 

Recording of Last Week's "Capturing the Potential" FAN Webinar - This webinar was done in partnership with CEG Worldwide.  It was a great success, with many strong ideas and strategies to help build your practice.  Please note that we have access to this recording for a limited time.  Link for recording of webinar 

Some of our members requested a copy of the slides we used in this webinar, because of all the helpful information contained in them.  Link for webinar slides

For our members who have at least $200,000 in net income, CEG offers you a free "Best Year Ever" evaluation.  This is a private one-on-one call, where you'll find out the best ways to bridge your gaps and to reach your biggest goals. Then you'll receive a personalized Best Year Ever road map, to help you implement the strategies shared during your consultation.  Link for scheduling consultation

Free Emerging Markets Webinar: on broader opportunities and declining systematic risk. April 25, at 1:00pm EDT.  Limited seating   Link to register

Alexander Muromcew, EM Equity Portfolio Manager, and Katherine Renfrew, EM Debt Portfolio Manager - both with TIAA-CREF - discuss broader investment opportunities beyond the BRIC countries and the growing importance of emerging markets as strategic portfolio allocations.

3. Best Practices Corner - Member Discussions

Our discussion board  always has great conversations related to advisor best practices ideas.  Each newsletter, will expand on one of these discussions.

Five thoughts on asking for referrals - One of our members started a great discussion, which we are expanding upon here, about asking for referrals from clients. 

 i.  Ask, ask and ask some more - If done properly, asking for referrals doesn't cheapen your advisory business or bother your clients, quite the opposite.  Most people are flattered when they properly are asked for referrals.  If you find that rare client who doesn't like giving referrals, make a note in their file and never ask them again.  See the fifth thought if your clients ARE bothered by your referral requests.

ii.  Work hard to earn the referrals - Make sure your service and servicing is exceptional, and that you are positive and passionate.  As well, find ways to help your clients beyond your advisory work.  For example, help an unemployed client find a job, by checking with your network of people.

iii.  Create referral events and opportunities - You don't need expensive client appreciation events - though they work great - to get your clients to invite family and friends to attend.  You also don't need to give investment seminars.  Instead, provide non-investment help.  For example, you could have a weekly social media class for older clients, and their friends, who want to stay in touch with their grandchildren.  Smaller events/opportunities are better, because you aren't overwhelmed with people to follow up with.

iv. Know what to say, and practice it - The best time to ask for a referral is after a client thanks you, or when the client has a positive response to your question about whether you are helpful to them.  Then see if they have family members or friends who could benefit from working with you. See the sixth thought, for ideas on what to say.

v. Worse type of referral request, ever! - The referral request which makes clients anxious is, "who do you know...?"  You get the deer in the headlight look from them.  Their very long pause causes you to be timid the next time you ask for a referral - timid kills!  Best: specific people they know, from your various chats with the client, and LinkedIn searches. 2nd Best: types of people they know, like people at their country club - even better, people at their country club retiring in 5 years, like them.

vi. Buy a great book - Yeah, I said there were 5 thoughts, and this is thought #6 - look at it as a bonus.  Buy "Get more referrals now!" by Bill Cates,   It's cheap, a quick read and has many financial advisor examples.

 4. Special FAN Member Benefits

New Free White Paper: The Enduring Case for High Yield Bonds

Researched and written by TIAA-CREF, to answer the question, "are high-yield bonds worth the additional risk at today's high prices and record-low yields?"  Link for free white paper

This white paper has interesting analysis and conclusions about how high-yield bonds can provide attractive risk-adjusted returns and help diversify risk in fixed income portfolios. Some of their conclusions about a long-term allocation to high yield through changing markets:

 • Higher income that drives long-term returns, potentially outweighing bond price fluctuations

 • Lower sensitivity to rising interest rates than Treasuries and high-grade bonds

 • Enhanced diversification to help manage portfolio risk, based on low correlations to Treasury and high-grade bonds

 (Many FAN members don't know that TIAA-CREF has mutual funds for clients of financial advisors.)

(Commentary about the above white paper is by FAN and not TIAA-CREF)

Free Advisor Summit On Closed-End Funds, on May 22, New York, NY
FAN will be represented at this conference - for advisors using, or considering, closed-end funds.

Join other industry experts and keynote speaker Richard Bernstein who will present his “13 Investment Themes for 13.” Attendance is FREE, but there is a limit on attendees.
Register here

What does response to Goldman resignation letter tell us?

Wall Street circles wagons with Greg Smith's Goldman Sachs resignation - By now, everyone knows the details about Greg Smith's open resignation letter from Goldman Sachs.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the response from those with connections to Wall Street, including Mayor Bloomberg.  They not only defended Goldman Sachs, but did it with a such a level of veracity that it seemed they were told make such a defense.  I guess I'll never get hired or do business with Goldman, by writing this blog.

"Come on, grow up - these firms aren't charities" - I heard this quote from a Wall Street professional on the radio this morning.  Of course financial firms aren't charities - duh!  I'm not picking on Goldman Sachs, but looking at the industry in its entirety.  The question from this resignation letter is does the industry have a fiduciary responsibility to their investment clients?  If not, should the fact they don't have such a fiduciary responsibility be disclosed in a better way to their clients.  Or, do they at least have a responsibility to disclose to their investment clients that there are inherent conflicts with

Passion should be more than a feeling for advisors

The "passion push" to advisors - As a financial advisor, you keep hearing how you need to have passion in order to win over prospects.  That you need to talk about how you help your clients with "infectious enthusiasm."  In other words, your prospects will pick up on your enthusiasm and want you to be their financial advisor.  But, what do we say?  How does this "passion" impact the level and type of service we provide?  It isn't just "passion for passion's sake," is it?

Think of passion as an adjective - OK, for the grammarians out there, think of "passionate," which is an adjective, as a way to grow your advisory business.  In other words, take a passionate approach to becoming a more knowledgeable and helpful advisor.  This passionate approach encompasses all aspects of your advisory business, as briefly reviewed, below.

Passionate client service - Think about how you can give it your all to have a level of client service which is second-to-none.  Being passionate means that you read everything you can get your hands on, related to delivering an exceptional experience to your prospects and clients.  This includes online searches and books.  Being passionate about this means that you break down every single touch point with your prospects and clients - viewing it from their perspective - and determine how both you and your staff can make it a "wow" experience that your clients and prospects will talk about with anyone who'll listen to them.


Passionate operational approach - Think about how you can put all your effort behind having an advisory business which operates with a high degree of efficiency and effectiveness.  By the way, getting there will make it easier for you and your staff to deliver passionate client service and be passionate about the other key business elements.  Being passionate about this means that you will break down every function of your business and explore how you can make it more efficient and effective.  You will talk with fellow advisors - you can email me at m.sakraida@att.net for ideas - read everything you can get your hands on and even talk with vendors who provide various services. Sub-categories here include: your contact and document management systems; your proposal and investment solutions systems; your social media systems; your client communication and account review systems; and your marketing and sales approach.  I didn't touch upon content here, because this section is focused on the technology and processes you employ.

Passionate investment approach - Think about how you can stay on top of the latest information and solutions related to investment programs for your clients.  At this point in this blog, you should know that being passionate about your investment approach means that you will have an all-out effort to know which investment solutions are the best for your clients.  This will entail online searches, reading articles and talking with staff, fellow advisors and vendors.  Many believe that advisor need to adjust their investment approach and solutions over time because of three important reasons: 1. Changes in the marketplace - what works well in one kind of market, doesn't mean it will work well in another type; 2. Changes with the available investment vehicles and strategies - we all know that there are new or more prevalent vehicles and strategies today than there were even five years ago; and  3. Changes with the clients' needs and perceptions - I would dare say that most of your clients have a different view of the markets and their tolerance for risk today, than they did in early 2008.  And I dare say that most of them will have different views three years from now.

Passionate speaking and presentation skills - Most of the above are "hard skills", that is skills which can be learned.  Speaking and presentation skills are "soft skills", which require practice practice and practice, like with shooting a basket.  At FAN, we have members who join Toastmasters, to help them organize and present information effectively.  Others practice on their spouses or fellow advisors.  If one takes a passionate approach here, they will come up with many more ways they can improve this important soft skill.

About FAN - The Financial Advisor Network (FAN) on LinkedIn is a great forum for sharing ideas with your fellow advisors.  If you are an advisor and aren't already a member, be sure to look us up in the Groups tab of your LinkedIn home page, and request to join.  Also, feel free to contact me at m.sakraida@att.net if you'd like to set up a conversation, where we can talk about FAN or ways in which you can grow your advisory business.

Be sure to register for future blogs and pass this blog on to your fellow advisors, to help them!

"Observe, perform, teach" for financial advisors

Advisors can use a medical doctor intern training method to grow their businesses. During their internships at teaching hospitals, doctors follow a simple method which financial advisors can copy and benefit from: "observe, perform and teach."  They first "observe" another doctor perform a certain task on a patient.  The second time that task comes up, the intern "performs" it themselves.  And the third time it comes up, that same intern teaches another intern how to do it.

Profit from sharing business-development techniques with your advisory clients. Much of what financial advisors learn about how to become more successful business people, can be of great benefit to many of their clients.  So, after the advisor successfully has "performed" a particular business-building task, they can benefit themselves and their clients by "teaching" their clients these same tasks.  Such teaching will greatly enhance the advisor's ability to grow their business through referrals and a larger share of their clients' investments.

Example of this beneficial approach.  Lets say you attended one of FAN's (Financial Advisor Network's) free webinars on how to grow your advisory business through social media (link for recording of this webinar: FAN Social Media Webinar )  This would be the "observe" part for a new doctor.

After some practice, you now are using social media to put your networking efforts into hyper-drive.  This would be equivalent to the "perform" part for an intern doctor.

Now we want to capitalize on the "teach" portion of this approach.  Think of all of your clients who could benefit from understanding and using social media like you now are using it.  There are many types of clients who could benefit from this knowledge: business owners; salespeople; professionals; unemployed; new career and other people.  Steal and adapt much of the information I included in this FAN webinar (OK, I'll let you use my social media program) to create your own presentation.  Present this lesson to small batches of your clients, say once a month, at your office.  But ask them if they have any friends, co-workers or family members who could benefit from attending such a seminar.  I bet you have at least three guests for each of your clients who attend - just think how much new business that could generate.

Many other "best practices" seminars for you to "teach."  Think of all of the business-building activities you have "observed" and and now are "performing" - now "teach" them to your clients and their guests.  Anything come to mind, yet?  How about a seminar on obtaining referrals, or one on obtaining free PR?  Have a one-month run for your first webinar - do this once a week, with different times for each.  If there is demand for it, extend the seminar beyond the one-month run.

Focus on helping your clients and their guests.  Each of your seminars only needs a quick one-minute review of your financial services for the guests.  The seminar itself will sell these guests on you.  Offer each attendee a free one-on-one consultation, to help them with their social media effort, with the above example, and, for the guests, to give them a second opinion (just like with doctors - like how I'm extending the doctor analogy?) regarding their financial plan.  This is why you want to do these seminars in small batches, so you can give each attendee the attention they deserve, and have the one-on-one sessions with each of them within a week or two (momentum is everything, with the follow up.)

Obtain referrals from your referrals.  When you talk with each guest who attended your seminar, ask them if they found value in it.  After they say yes, ask them if the have any friends, co-workers or family members who could benefit from this seminar.  Don't be surprised if you obtain another 3 to 5 referrals from each original guest.  Now, "rinse and repeat" with these guests of guests during your post-seminar talk with each of them, asking who they know who could benefit from this seminar.  This seminar can play longer than Wicked on Broadway!

Please use and spread the good word about FAN to your fellow advisors.  If you aren't already a member of the Financial Advisor Network (FAN) on LinkedIn, please click on the Groups tab of your LinkedIn home page, to request membership into FAN.  If you aren't already signed up to receive our blogs, like this one, please sign up for it right now.  And, don't hesitate to email me at m.sakraida@att.net if I can be of any assistance.

Michael Sakraida
Founder of FAN
m.sakraida@att.net

Free webinar on increasing your account size by becoming an Alpha Advisor

This blog is published by FAN (Financial Advisor Network) on LinkedIn.  If not a member of FAN yet, please see how at the bottom of this blog.

Free webinar on Increasing Your Average Account Size by Being An Alpha Advisor - Tuesday, February 28, at 4:15pm EST.

Register for free webinar on benefits of being an Alpha Advisor    You will receive a follow up email, with your unique registration link, along with a reminder of the date and time of the free webinar.

Why become an Alpha Advisor, and what is an Alpha Advisor - An "alpha advisor" is their clients' main point of contact, or their clients' "quarterback" for all of their investment programs.  Because wealthy clients have multiple advisors, the one who acts in the Alpha Advisor role will obtain a greater share of their each client's assets.

Hear about what activities are performed by Alpha Advisors - Becoming an Alpha Advisor requires a minor adjustment of daily activities for most advisors.  This includes obtaining information on most of your clients' assets - including those away from you - and taking them into account with the program you put together for them


Hear how Alpha Advisors have more referrals -  Alpha Advisors can obtain more referrals, both from their clients and their professional network.  Because you would have a more all-encompassing relationship with your clients, they will be more loyal to you.  And because you will be guiding your clients on matters like taxes and estate planning, you will have many more referrals for accountants and attorneys.



Find out how to position yourself as an Alpha Advisor - The webinar will provide you with some sample scripts on how you can approach your prospects and clients as an Alpha Advisor.

Discover what tools easily can enable you to become an Alpha Advisor - In addition to this webinar providing you with the philosophy, strategies and tactics behind you becoming an Alpha Advisor, we will show you the simple online tools you can use to run such a program.

Follow a set process, with practice - This webinar includes a step-by-step process, so it will be very easy for you to become an Alpha Advisor.

How to join FAN - After registering yourself on www.linkedIn.com complete your profile.  Then click on your Groups tab, and enter "FAN - Financial Advisor Network" in the search field.  Then click on the Join group button.

Please feel free to forward this to your fellow financial advisors.

Email FAN with questions about this free webinar

Michael Sakraida
Founder of FAN

Social Media idea and free webinar for financial advisors

This blog is published by FAN (Financial Advisor Network) on LinkedIn.  If not a member of FAN yet, please see how at the bottom of this blog.

Free webinar on Growing Your Advisory Business, using Social Media - Wednesday, February 22, at 4:15pm EST.

Register for free Social Media Webinar  You will receive a follow up email, with your unique registration link, along with a reminder of the date and time of the free webinar.

Advisor focus on Social Media - Many financial advisors have been trying to use Social Media as a key way for them to effectively grow their advisory businesses.  Experience has shown us that there are key things which Social Media can and cannot do for advisors.

What is Social Media? - Social Media are all those online sites which enable advisors to get themselves, service and ideas to a vast audience.  Key sites for most advisors are LinkedIn.com and facebook.com.  There also are blogs, tweets and youtube.

What Social Media cannot do for advisors - Social Media rarely creates unsolicited business for advisors.  Your LinkedIn profile, or even your blogs, rarely will result in someone seeing it and contacting you to become their financial advisor.

What Social Media can do for advisors - For financial advisors, Social Media should be viewed as a way to put their networking efforts into hyper-drive.  This means that the advisor still must first reach out and connect with both potential clients and networkers, before either group is ready to give you business.  The beauty of Social Media, is that instead of you connecting with, say, a dozen people a month, you can connect with a dozen people a day.

Follow a set process, with practice - Effectively using Social Media requires the development of new "hard" and "soft" skills, which require a process and practice.  Hard skills are knowledge-based (e.g., practicing what you will say to a prospect), and soft skills are performance-based (e.g., practicing how you will say something to a prospect.)

How to join FAN - After registering yourself on www.linkedIn.com complete your profile.  Then click on your Groups tab, and enter "FAN - Financial Advisor Network" in the search field.  Then click on the Join group button.

Please feel free to forward this to your fellow financial advisors.

Email FAN with questions about this free webinar

Michael Sakraida
Founder of FAN