Breakaway Brokers

I’m looking over my previous “trends” article, published at this time a year ago, and some of my ”fearless predictions” were outlandish then but now seem ordinary. That means I did something right.

Over the years, clients have told me what resonated when I spoke to them. But there have been three situations that go beyond my expertise and ability to be helpful.

During our holiday party, one of my longest tenured advisors came up to me to say how appalling he thought it was that we held such “an expensive party.”

One of the most emotional topics I discuss with advisors – male or female – is about appropriate dress. This was evident in a recent conversation with an advisor who tried to look “cool.”

Here is a structure for the first meeting to make prospects feel understood.

Stop being reactionary, waiting to get inbound opportunities, rather than systematically and proactively putting in place a system to target specific ideal clients (i.e., higher net worth) that you want to engage.

I’ve uncovered these false assumptions that may cause you to waste your marketing budget.

This nonsense is non-existent in the RIA model.

Let’s look at the powerful feature set an advisory firm could put together from a collection of the higher-rated, low-market-share programs and solutions that I’ve collected from past surveys, many of which you may not even be aware of.

Most advisors – from lifestyle advisors to the leaders of larger firms – have failed to create their desired level of success because they fail to invest in the asset with the greatest return.

The emotional component begins with the hunger to be a true entrepreneur coupled with the frustration that builds every time wirehouse management demonstrates just how little control their advisor employees have.

To market to your niche, start with “patient zero.” Here is how to identify and work with someone who can help drive your firm’s viral growth.

You will lose clients and fail to gain new ones unless you make dramatic changes right now.

Here are three signals people use to let you know when they are feeling pushed.

Here are three ways you can add value in the context of insurance issues.

Let’s look at four keys to building trust through deeper relationships.

Rather than let procrastinators ruin your day and invoke unhealthy emotions, overcome your clients’ and prospects' reluctance to move ahead using the skills and techniques I mentioned to win over that last 10%.

Here are three more subtle cues that a prospect likes the solution you are presenting.

I’ve learned from experience what it takes to mount a successful marketing campaign. Here are some observations.

How will you leverage networking’s holiday season grand finale without being perceived as the friend who is desperate for business?

Here are some of the cues that indicate a prospect has accepted what you have presented and want you to move on to the next step.

I am about to hit the 30,000-follower mark on Linkedin. I thought it would be helpful to share the four easy-to-do tactics that I employed each week for the last two years to help me grow.

How come the focus is always on the leader and never on the team members getting on board and playing their part?

Are you just an educator or can you motivate prospects to implement your ideas?

I proclaim the pending demise of the independent broker-dealer model.

Less than a month after I recommended that an organization – specifically NAPFA – set new membership standards regarding an RIA firm’s revenue model, one has risen to take up the challenge.

Exit interviews don’t often yield enough information to answer why your people leave.

Small businesses have an alternative to 401(k) plans. A cash-balance plan has much higher contribution limits and is a powerful tool for those needing to accelerate retirement savings.

The Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter is the leading authority on industry structure and competitiveness. His framework shows how RIAs should think strategically about the current state and future evolution of their industry.

It was 40 years in the making, but the deadline for the new SEC marketing rule is finally upon us. It introduces many exciting opportunities for financial advisors. It also brings tremendous uncertainty around how to best take advantage of the new regulations.

We are debating whether to expand our niche or whether to expand at all.

This is Advisor Perspectives' fourth consecutive year of ranking ahead of The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg among the e-newsletters listed, with 14% more readership across the 1,120 financial advisors surveyed. Advisor Perspectives also claimed the number one spot for e-newsletters among the independent registered investment advisor (RIA) segment.

I’ll be the first to say that the RIA model is not for everyone.

To ensure your homepage is set up for success, I’ve listed six advisor sites that nailed their homepage messaging through copy and design.

I know more about certain parts of your practice: How to align your goals with your money; how to live an “amazing” life; parenting advice and other “life coaching” tips.

If you’re an advisor for whom producing a detailed quarterly client letter is painful, step back and think about your own personal strengths – and what you enjoy doing.

What will happen to the clients of advisors who don’t have a formal succession plan in place?

As more advisors break away from broker-dealers and drop their series 6 or 7 registrations, the annuity industry has evolved to support and compensate them through RIA-friendly solutions.

What are the worst ROI marketing tactics advisors are taking on today? Behold, the top four.

Instead of focusing on the advantages fiduciary standards would provide to the profession, lobbyists who represent advisors should point to the catastrophic failures of the perverse incentives embedded in the brokerage business model.

I will provide several examples of how to reduce your real estate expenses, thus increasing your practice's profitability.

When you choose a client niche, you may find that the focus is too narrow or too broad. Here’s how you can remedy the situation.

A stall – having a client tell you they need to “think about it” – is your worst nightmare when trying to close business. Here are two ways to avoid that catastrophe.

Businesspeople in the US have been complaining for more than a year about how hard it is to hire anybody.

Here are the 10 best books I read from September 2021 through August 2022.

Have you noticed the epidemic of poor follow up? Recently, I did a LinkedIn survey asking this question and 88% of respondents said ”yes.”

How can you leverage the keystone concept to unlock the practice of your dreams?

Advisors won the last war – true professionals achieved victory by adopting fiduciary principles and providing comprehensive planning. But a new battlefront has emerged – what I call the “next argument” – and achieving victory will slow and painful.

We are frustrated by the lack of new clients this year.

I finally cracked the SEO code, but it wasn’t easy.

This means your chances of finding a good candidate are worse than at any time in the last 40 years. If you hire wrong, it will set you back months. You need someone good now.

We have a team of advisors who are the kings and queens of gossip.

I explain how attempts to view advisor compensation through a moral lens instead of an economics lens lead to false conclusions about the relative merits of each pricing model and hence to misguided predictions for the future of planner compensation.

Have you struggled to get calls returned?

Most advisors and practices get defensive during bear markets and recessions and look inward to protect what they have. They wait for the external climate to change to return to offense and growth.

The views you often read on advisor compensation models and their future are misguided.

Having a strong marketing foundation requires the following four cornerstones to make the tactics and strategies you implement effective.

Have you seen a situation where the person running the advisor team is former college football star and every single story – I mean every one – is about football?

How can you leverage the time you have left in this year to maximize your referral results?

Amazon.com Inc. was the latest company to discuss its belt-tightening efforts this week.

Looking for greener pastures, advisors are weighing their options.

Here are six relationship-marketing tips advisors can use to celebrate clients.

The issue is that John is very involved in politics in our community and his political leanings are the total opposite of the rest of the family and of mine.

I have a vision of a profession where the most straightforward advisors, not the coolest ones with the best spiel, rise to the top. To achieve that ideal, here are 17 ways that acting more honestly than the competition will win more clients.

What is the state-of-the-art for consolidating a tech stack and protecting client data?