Breakaway Brokers

A woman to whom I was referred because she is facing a nasty divorce turns out to be a close acquaintance of mine.

There are many studies that provide aspiring leaders with sound guidance on how to manage your firm, and how to create a happy, collegial and productive environment.

I’m sick of the impoverished language that advisors use when trying to market themselves to business owners. Try these one-liners instead.

A founder-driven growth model isn’t sustainable or efficient.

When it comes to investments, economic growth, and entrepreneurship, women remain structurally excluded from high-level participation compared to men.

We can learn a lot from Oprah Winfrey’s bombshell interview of Harry and Meghan.

With the new SEC ad rule at the Federal Register, the 60-day waiting period is in effect. Advisory firms who take the time to plan will successfully leverage reviews to grow their firm.

To use Asset-Map for business development, your first step is to identify a proponent of Asset-Map so that they use it and experience its effectiveness and value. The question is how to get to that point.

The temptation to offer solutions for those facing a problem is overwhelming. Therein lies the trap for unwary advisors.

Very few of my financial advisor clients are less overwhelmed than pre-COVID.

In my 1,000+ interviews with financial advisors over the past 15 years, frustration with a lack of COI referrals is one of the most common refrains I hear.

Everything you’ve been taught about elevator pitches is wrong. I’m here to show you a much simpler way.

I was recently introduced to an impressive tool that organizes and simplifies the planning process, and shows clients how to meet their financial goals.

Those of us in the coaching business may be doing some harm, notwithstanding our good intentions.

It takes courage and humility to realize you’ve erred and to issue an apology. Don’t waste it by doing it in a way that negates your intent and may exacerbate the problem.

The key to getting referrals from a board is treating those influential people as genuine centers of influence.

How do you tell someone you work with they need to have better on-camera etiquette?

A solution for the challenge of moving wirehouse clients with active securities-based loans.

Here are my five favorite podcasts for financial advisors in growth mode.

No advisor has asked me about the plight of the prisoners in The Shawshank Redemption. But I am frequently asked what an advisor should expect as they leave their current firm to transition to the RIA model.

We can learn valuable lessons from T.J. Ducklo’s written apology.

We are process crazy. Everything has a process – from small things like asking for vacation time to larger things like client onboarding.

The fundamental concept that you must understand about LinkedIn is this: It is not a meritocracy, it’s an attention-getting contest.

The customary Valentine’s Day activities ignore the real issues many relationships face.

There are a few things you must do to really improve your daily social media strategy.

Let’s look at the correlation between size of independent advisory firms and the average wealth of the clients they serve.

I hope to raise awareness and hasten a wake-up call for workplace disability support, especially in the securities industry.

While your chances of winning an argument on any given topic are slim, there’s one situation where it’s non-existent. That’s when you’re confronted with a high-conflict personality.

Many financial firms have one rainmaker, meaning they rely solely on one person to bring in new business.

Here’s how to avoid being misunderstood by a prospect or client.

If you could send a one-line email and get a prospect’s attention, how would you do it?

After working with hundreds of financial professionals to improve their digital presence, I’ve noticed some trends in what is and isn’t working to garner more engagement.

Here’s how to tell if your website is stuck in the past and, if it is, how to position it for success.

In my third and last article in this series, I identify the two most powerful steps I’d like to see advisors take to get more clients.

To persuade someone to do something, you have to show them the positive opposite of what they are doing by using this one word.

I spend a lot of time studying about how financial advisors should differentiate themselves. But perhaps this is a waste of time for several reasons.

This is the second in my series about what I’d like to see more and less of in 2021.

We have a lot to reflect on this year. Here’s what I’d like to see more and less of in 2021.

I'm going to assess the state of the profession as we emerge, exhausted, from our tumultuous 2020 experience.

I’ve distilled what advisors have found most helpful into two critical, research-based, actionable lessons.

I rounded up the six key reasons your marketing strategy will fail in 2021 and how to avoid them.

I divide advisors I meet into two groups. I can tell what type you are immediately.

Many investors have become unsatisfied with how their advisor chose to respond to the pandemic.

I recently learned of a Chinese concept called “guanxi” that explains exactly why some advisors are more successful at building their client base and AUM.

Managers of VIX-informed strategies have nuanced understanding of volatility, utilizing it as a tool in all market cycles.

This mass exodus of breakaway brokers hasn’t happened, much to the chagrin of us prognosticators, and I know why.

If you feel like you sputtered around and never got what you wanted out of your marketing plan this year, here are three tips so you can rock 2021 like Eddie Van Halen.

The number one thing stopping advisors from growing their businesses on social media is the lack of a strategy, not a lack of followers.

Advisors are highly qualified, although few clients are capable of understanding the difference in your credentials. Does it matter?

You don’t need the advanced training of an FBI field agent to spot the truth. There is a better way.

Collecting client feedback doesn’t have to be a complex process.

As a result of the coronavirus, the advisory business model has changed precipitously, with two key trends driving this transformation…

It’s time to consider an entirely different approach to your process for converting prospects.

What is the best way to redesign marketing materials to convey our message to a specific audience?

When we explore the specifics of an advisor’s business, there are commonly asked questions around the nuances between the SEC and FINRA.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a special day. The reality is different, but a daily, five-minute exercise can transform it into the experience we all want.

Presenting data is challenging, but sometimes advisors have to. Here is how to do it better than your peers.

Here are four habits to incorporate into your daily routine that will trigger referral activity.

Here are the key characteristics that distinguish highly successful digital-marketing practices.

For the second consecutive year, Advisor Perspectives has been ranked as the electronic newsletter that is most-read by financial advisors.

Here are five growth opportunities that will help you advance your firm while the competition sits on the sidelines.

There are three disastrous mistakes I see advisors make with Zoom calls.

During the recent Advisor Perspectives Thought Leader Summit, two of the industry’s most respected experts shared their best practices and insights on growing and scaling your business with fintech solutions.