What should advisors do when their AUM fees fall? Here are my top five ideas, in order of least to most favorite.

In a world at war with the coronavirus, your worst enemy is the game your mind plays with itself.

Given the instability that the coronavirus has created, what I am going to say may sound highly unusual. This is a great time for financial advisors who can offer a higher level of service and deliver more to their clients. But how do you humbly and graciously communicate that without putting on “the marketing mask?”

I’m teaching my kids how to read books. But it’s just as important for them to know how to read people. The truth is communicated loud and clear through nonverbal cues; most of the time we aren’t listening.

It’s scrappy and humbling, but their phone is the one thing that people will run back into a burning building to retrieve. Bring cold calling back into your 2020 marketing!

Don’t look at me like I’m crazy – hear me out. TikTok in 2020 is what Instagram was in 2012. Here’s why you want to get there first.

An apology is a delicate thing. You get one chance, so don’t do it badly and embitter the person further. If you’re going to apologize, then say you’re sorry like you mean it.

Life is too short for a boring style. Eyeglass frames are a highly neglected aspect of your branding. Upgrade your eyeglass frames in 2020 and you’ll set yourself apart, give your look more personality and get more attention.

Below is an example of a one-page website for a hypothetical RIA firm, Blue Spruce Pine Elm Mountain Rock Advisors (remember how you advisors love to use nature words in your firm names). Clear, crisp, and to the point. Now that’s a welcome change, isn’t it?

It’s that time of year when inevitably people at the holiday party are going to ask you what you do for a living. Say arrivederci to the meaningless, awkward mish mosh you were taught in the past. Try these new, cool elevator pitch ideas.

Many of you are planning an office move or renovation next year. Here’s a morsel of advice as you dial up your Corcoran realtor: Get an office without a conference room.

My guest today, Sara Grillo, has written that she would rather piece her own ears than read another economic commentary written by a financial advisor. That is the question we are going to explore today. For sure, your clients are interested in understanding the key trends and developments in the economy, particularly as it pertains to their investments. But should you, as advisors, be writing those commentaries?

I would derive such immense pleasure from lighting a match to the website of every single advisor in this profession and watching it burn down to the ground.

When I was an advisor, I had tremendous success meeting prospects while my kid was swinging on the jungle gym. Here’s the method to use to meet new clients while your kid is at soccer practice (or tennis, basketball, etc.)

Many of you read my article about the “70 deep model,” which explained the paradigm for a practice serving 70 or fewer clients with deep, high-touch service that commands a higher price. Here is how to develop those relationships.

Time has come for change. Let’s take a hard look at the abolition of silence, the role technology can play, our values and identity as a profession and who we allow to lead us.

I’d rather pierce my own ears than read another advisor-written economic update piece. Advisor economic updates stink.

Most advisors are making life painful by sacrificing depth of client relationship for volume. Consider the “70 deep” model.

Should advisors wear a business suit to meet with prospects or are less formal options a better choice?

My business results drastically improved the day I decided to shut up and limit my speech to no more than two sentences in any given interaction with another human being.

Whichever title you use, introducing yourself with the word “financial” is enough to kill the conversation at the summer barbecue.

Choosing the wrong broker-dealer is a nightmare beyond reckoning.

A broker-dealer isn’t just somewhere to hang your licenses or clear your trades. And the best deal isn’t necessarily the one that is the most financially lucrative on paper on day one. It’s about finding an ecosystem that allows you to grow your practice to its full potential.

This webinar will be full of concrete examples of broker-dealer transitions that did and did not work out. From these real-life examples, advisors will learn how to judge a broker-dealer firm based upon the following:

• Compliance – Too lax imposes the risk of being subject to litigation or suffering the risk of being associated with a firm who has a bad reputation. But on the other side, too strict and growth can become compromised. How do you find the point of “middle ground” that works for you?
• Marketing –They all say they want to support your growth, but do they include the client acquisition blueprint to actually help you grow?
• Leadership – You’ve got to know that the long term vision for the company lines up with your own. As the spiel goes, at the end of the day it all comes down to people. What do you look for in the people who are running the company? What should be a red flag to you?
• Technology - Does the company have relationships with the right vendors? Do they have enough leverage with these vendors to offer a substantial benefit to you as the advisor? Or is it a “nothing special” case in which they are just checking the box.
• Size. There is a difference between big and small broker-dealer firms.

Kestra Financial leads the industry in wealth management, service and technology solutions, and practice enrichment. Our independent RIA and broker/dealer services have over 20 years of industry experience and are taking flight to elevate the level of personalized service you need. To learn more about how Kestra Financial can support your business check the box in the registration form to the left.

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CFA®, CPWA®, CIMA®, CIMC®, and RMA® CE approved

Investments & Wealth Institute® accepts this webinar for 1 hour of CE credit towards the CIMA®, CPWA®, CIMC®, and RMA® certifications. If you provide the required information during the webinar registration process and stay for the entire LIVE event we will report your attendance to IWI. If you watch the ON-DEMAND event please email us at [email protected] for the IWI® webinar ID to self-report your attendance.

When I talk to an advisor who is unhappy with their current broker dealer firm but scared to make a change, I understand why. Here’s how I chose the wrong firm and what I would have done differently. There’s a powerful lesson in it for advisors who are making the same decision.

This is the number one way I would find prospects who have suddenly come into wealth and need your services: Rather than lottery winners or athletes, start with a unique category – so-called YouTube celebrities.

Here’s yet another unpopular idea. Reg BI is no more than SEC posturing and won’t have a substantial impact on the way people do business.

Anytime you are in a meeting, recording a YouTube video or speaking on stage, the position of your hands matters.

Once you get a lead from an on-line service, like SmartAsset, how do you get the person to agree to a meeting without creeping them out?

I would rather read about your love life than anything in the typical advisor biography. Those bios stink. To liven yours up, read on.

If you are getting nowhere on social media it is probably because you sound like one of the following five examples.

A compliance officer sits on the other side of every single blog I write for a client. Here’s the one thing they don’t want you to know.

Amazon, Google or someone else is going to disrupt the paper-mongering insurance industry.

Sharing a client relationship with another advisor is as appealing as sharing your toothbrush. But relationship sharing is what can stop clients from terminated you and keep the ACAT forms away.

More than half of advisor websites are worthless. Read on to learn if yours is one and, if so, what a better option is for your marketing dollars.

If you’re skeptical about Boomers using the Internet to find you, the data proves that Google can deliver results. The problem is that you are trying to be “found” by the wrong search terms.

It’s easy enough to throw a client a risk-tolerance questionnaire (RTQ) and call it a day. The RTQ is one thing; the client’s real emotions and behaviors are another.

Here we are in the age of Amazon where the customer experience is king. Will the tech giants be the next big players? Or does brick and mortar still have an appeal?

Listen to hear more about what being competitive means in the digital age of financial advice. You’ll also hear all about Ric Edelman’s fantastic sock collection!

I recently uncovered a tactic to use to drive crazy amounts of leads on YouTube.

You can’t stop someone from lying, but you can improve your awareness so that you don’t get played.

Your hold music may just be the first impression your company makes on a prospect. Don't miss the chance to kick things off in an upbeat way!

I’m notoriously skeptical, but I could actually see Amazon killing it in wealth management. And what surprises me the most is that it’s for a few very basic reasons.

Here are my suggestions for how to respond to a client who stubbornly refuses to conceptualize the relationship between risk and return.

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There’s a major misalignment of expectations between the client and advisor when it comes to risk, and it’s not the client’s job to solve the problem. The whole risk conversation has to change.

Here are five of the best dressed RIA titans…and how they could look even better!

As a financial advisor, your website is an important part of your brand message. Are you screwing it up?

Join me and Dan Solin for this 30-minute free webinar about how to do it right, from the message to the content and media.

On February 19, 2019, listeners will learn:

• What the empirical evidence says attracts people to advisors and what they are looking for vs. what advisors believe clients are looking for
• Why it is so hard to come across as competent and warm, friendly, and relatable at the same time
• What all this means for advisors websites – what the true goal of a website should be
• How to visually organize your website – graphics, photos, and imagery
• The false perception that advisors have that they have to project perfection and be all-knowing.
• What your website should say and what its message should be
• How to create relatable content for your website
• Why people are not interested in other people; they care about themselves.
• How to get people to say “tell me more about that” when they visit your website.
• How to get your content to stay with people after they leave your site.
• How to create videos for your website that will engage the reader and come across as authentic
• The value of humor and how to use it on your website.

Register today!

Advisor websites are typically stiff and boring. Here’s how to get put them in the lineup for a homerun.

How come advisor welcome packets read more like a court summons than a warm, friendly bear hug?

Most people think desperation is a bad thing. I say the opposite; it’s the origin of massive success. Even if you feel like you’ve “made it,” there’s always somebody smarter who can put you out of business.

Bad keynote speaker selection is one of the biggest ways to mess up an advisor conference. Across the board, advisor event committees are paying speakers the wrong amount of money (most of the time it’s too much) due to lack of a scientific approach to hiring.

Industry leaders tell us what not to say with female clients and what women want in an advisor. What is virtually unanswered, though, is how advisors can meet female prospects. From the perspective of someone who is female and was an advisor, here’s what I would do.