Breakaway Brokers

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the market’s been a bit bumpy lately, so I decided to send out my NewsLetter early to give you something to read other than financial pornography designed to scare the begeebies out of you.

When the harsh reality of the pandemic hit, I took stock of my own situation. A declining portfolio was the least of my concerns.

I know I need to be reaching out and contacting clients. But I feel like a sleazy salesperson calling them when I’m not sure whether, or how, the current situation is affecting them.

What protocol do you follow to assist your clients during these difficult times? Is it supported by peer-reviewed evidence?

Disrupted by the global impact of COVID-19, a pause in “business as usual” is providing advisory firms with an opportunity to review their business development strategy and use of digital capabilities to personalize their service.

Financial advisors are stressed about referrals. Here’s how you manage that stress.

Let’s address some of the biggest financial concerns your clients have as a result of current events, so they can take action and keep control financially.

What is the value of a financial advisor in 2020? We believe financial advisors have never been more valuable than they are right now. This annual Value of an Advisor study quantifies that dedication and the resulting benefit.

This is the best time for you to double down on your marketing efforts and fully embrace a digital communications process.

A by-product of the current crisis is that it’s caused me to consider more carefully about what I’m communicating and how I’m doing it.

I know that “experts” on what’s happening in the world have inundated you (and me) with pontifications, but I can’t resist putting my two cents in too, so I’ll start with the obvious. It’s scary as hell out there and with good reason. Covid-19 is expanding at a geometric rate, global economies are being decimated, and markets are in free fall.

The single biggest barrier to establishing trust in a new relationship is the lack of reciprocity.

What about all the other components of your referral network beyond clients and COIs? Don’t succumb to wearing referral blinders.

Contact your clients and prospects at a rate you have rarely done before. But you must use the right script.

There is a general perception that expensive equipment and expertise are required to create successful video content, but that is simply not true. Here are three simple steps to create professional-looking videos.

I have received several questions about advisors unable to behave appropriately during this stressful time.

Even with all the benefits attributable to closed-end funds—intraday trading, low financing costs of leverage, ability to be fully invested, and consistent source of income—they have some idiosyncrasies that present challenges, especially during extreme volatility

The more I review the research, the more convinced I am that giving advice in almost every context is ill-advised. But I’m receiving a lot of advice these days.

Intellectually, I’m confident the virus will be contained, the economic stimulus (when it’s passed) will reinvigorate the economy and this crisis will pass. The market will eventually recover. Emotionally, I’m terrified.

What does your corona response look like? Consider some of these opportunities.

Unfortunately, the premise underlying your advice may be flawed. You might be doing your clients (and yourself) a terrible disservice.

An area of expertise or niche like retirement-income planning is not enough to stand out and for new clients to find you. Top-growing firms recognize this challenge and have adapted by becoming content marketers.

Future-oriented planning serves a purpose, but it misses the central question: What do your clients want their lives to look like?

Why do good people make bad choices? There are plenty of examples of bad conduct, both in the security industry and by corporate titans.

How will the real professionals, going forward, distinguish themselves from the sales agents who are once again comfortably fitting themselves into sheep’s clothing?

In the easiest of times (are they ever, really?) it’s futile to make predictions about the market with any semblance of accuracy. Clearly, these are not the easiest of times; so the futility is magnified. Even with non-stop coverage of COVID-19; with every question answered, there’s another question to ask.

There are things we can do to help. I’ll mention one big idea at the end of this letter. But first, we’ll take a closer look at what happened in China and how it affects the world economy.

The CFP Board has eliminated compensation disclosures from its consumer-facing website. It may have had good reason to.

I’m going to answer two questions: How much do advisors typically spend to market their businesses? and How much should you be spending?

I didn’t know Clayton Christensen and I hadn’t read any of his writings. He was a Harvard professor best known for writing The Innovator’s Dilemma. He died on January 23, 2020 at age 67.

In a profession heavily dominated by men, female financial advisors need women to serve as mentors, role models, confidants and champions.

I outline what marketing personalization is and how advisors can use it in this digital age.

Sometimes life is an endless exercise in trying to attain goals that are just slightly out of reach. Even when we reach those goals, we’re not satisfied. We set new ones and repeat the process. But I’ve found a surprising “happiness hack” that breaks this cycle.

If you do any of the things below, you are on the “sales prevention team.”

For many advisors, asking clients for referrals remains a messy, uncomfortable situation.

We’ve all gritted our teeth whenever one of the trade magazines comes out with a list of the “top” wealth management firms, ranked from “top” to “bottom” based on the absolute least meaningful way to measure the quality of an advisory business: their AUM. The goal of such lists should be to identify those firms that are best at serving their clients and are managed in a healthy and sustainable way. Here’s a way to rank firms that achieves that goal.

Like the three little pigs building their houses, financial advisors have many choices of how they will build their books of business. Many of the most successful advisors embrace fee-only wealth management. In this blog post, we put some numbers to these theories.

The essence of the activities we enjoy – how we have “fun” – reveals a key personality trait. Identifying that trait and that of your prospects and clients is critical to providing good advice.

What if I told you that you could create one (just one!) blog post to drive your entire inbound marketing strategy?

Read Harold Evensky's latest newsletter.

The past decade has been one for the record books. There has been unprecedented change in almost every aspect of life including technology, transportation, politics, etc.

The typical vendor agreement is often one-sided and fundamentally unfair. I don’t sign them and neither should you.

In my 18 years as a referral coach for financial advisors, I’ve heard every complaint about COI relationships. The number one complaint centers on reciprocity. My clients want the secret to productive, reciprocal COI relationships.

The benefits of solitude are rarely discussed.

The stories of Sheetz and Wawa and how they shifted the focus of their brands offer a fantastic marketing lesson to every financial advisor.

Advisors have at least one thing in common with great athletes. Failing to acknowledge and correct a glaring weakness in their skill set will lead to their undoing.

Advisor Perspectives has been ranked as the most-read electronic newsletter by financial advisors in 2019, based on the annual media survey conducted by Erdos and Morgan.

Do you believe it is possible for someone to truly change their style and approach? One of our senior advisors has hired a very expensive coach to work with him to become a better person.

Many advisors haphazardly update their websites. Here are the five costliest mistakes I commonly see.

Using the Erdos & Morgan Financial Advisor Media Outlook and Usage Study (FAMOUS), this presentation will analyze three different types of Financial Advisors:

• Independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIAs),
• Wirehouse
• Independent Broker/Dealer.

We will examine the differences in their profiles, use of investment tools and knowledge of fund families in the first part of the presentation. The second part of the presentation will explore their media consumption and how best to reach and influence their opinions. Media includes:

• Print
• Digital
• Broadcast

By profiling the FA and examining their media consumption habits, FAMOUS will assist you in optimizing your targeting efforts.

Advisor Perspectives’ CEO, Bob Huebscher, will also present some of its market research, showing how advisors prefer to get information from asset managers and the types of information advisors are most likely to pass along to clients.

Communicating your expertise in solving a prospect’s problems seems like an important step in gaining their trust. But if you communicate in the wrong way, you’re much more likely to destroy trust than create it.

Our designated successor is not at all like his father, who founded our firm. He is arrogant, does not listen, seems disinterested in the investment side of our business and has already alienated one client by asking inappropriate questions.

Correct these five common advisor marketing mistakes in 2020. Make it your best year ever and stay true to those resolutions.

Given the undeniable benefit of being sincere, it’s surprising how often we retreat to the use of clichés, which denote a lack of genuineness. Using these phrases demonstrates laziness and very little thought.

What follows is an interview I conducted with an experienced financial advisor at an anonymous, major brokerage firm. It shows how easily someone can transition from a commission-based, stock-picking mindset to acting as a true fiduciary.

A brainstorming session hosted by the CFP Board on December 13 offered a look at how the planning profession will evolve over the next 10 years. Here’s a view of the landscape in 2030 and what it will take to get there.

I’ve learned my goal-oriented focus had a negative impact on my happiness. It took an artist and a lizard to show me a better way.

Here are a few steps to separate a potential client from an existing advisor.

MarketCounsel’s Summit, held earlier this week in Miami, lived up to its reputation as the “all-star game” of financial advisor conferences, attracting top-level executives from throughout the investment industry. Here are three highlights from Tuesday’s sessions.

If your ego is too loud, it stops you from reaching your goals and having a happier, more fulfilling life.

There are many prerequisites to becoming a true profession. Have we satisfied those requirements? And if so – do we desire to take the next step – seeking true status as a profession through legislation?

Few of us realize the anxiety-ridden mindset that drives prospects to seek a financial advisor. If they did, they would structure their initial meetings very differently.

The big myth with webinars is that your audience cares whether it is live.

Do you have clients who are overspending, have lost sight of their goals, or are stuck in a state of inertia? This guide explains the steps you can take to help them regain control of their financial lives. Understanding the principles of behavior modification, including the five stages of change, is the key to leading clients to execute change and build true confidence. Plus, you won’t want to miss these tips on coaching best practices and keeping your empathy in check.

During the interview process, a job candidate I liked very much talked about another offer she was considering and mentioned one of the benefits was “unlimited paid time off.”

It’s difficult to put your ego aside and focus on the other person. I confront this every day. But sometimes I fall into a vicious trap that advisors, as well, must avoid.

There are more opportunities for female advisors as firms seek to increase diversity. However, hiring should be based on more than filling a gender quota. It should be based on merit, understanding that most women have the same industry knowledge as men.

Here’s how you can radically accelerate your success, get back your time and freedom and build a wildly successful practice and life that you love.

Let’s look here for a handful of unfair advantages to gain over the competition in 2020. These are things that are not hard to implement, which will help you become more efficient, gain new clients or stand out from your peers.

Therapists and accountants are valuable resources. They have confronted the issues we experience during our lives. But that’s not why I’m recommending you see a therapist.

Nearly every aspect of the advisory industry is undergoing some form of transformation today—spelling an opportunity for those advisors who are committed to continuously evolving their approach.

Because you’re an expert on all things financial, you may believe you know what’s best for others – in their financial lives and otherwise. But it’s unlikely you do. The culprit is your inability to communicate effectively, as these “bloopers” illustrate.

RIA investment platforms – specifically the vehicles and tools they use to manage client portfolios – are about to undergo the most profound change in a generation. With the race to zero for trading stocks, mutual funds are becoming outdated. Customized portfolios of individual stocks will be the winner.

I like to think I’ve learned from my mistakes, of which I’ve made plenty. Recently I reflected on what’s worked and what hasn’t. Here are two rules that have endured.

How do I get my financial advisors to understand they don’t know everything about their clients?