18
Jun
2018
They Do Not Want Your Marketing
“The market” doesn’t want your marketing. Have you read the marketing that is regularly published? I encourage you to open 10 advisors’ websites – it doesn’t matter whose – and read them. When you’re done, ask yourself, “Are any of these meaningfully different from the others?” and “Is this what future clients really need to hear?” It is highly likely that the answer is “No” to both. Most marketing is busy answering a bunch of questions that no one needs answered. So what do we do about it? What the market wants is the truth. Now, we don’t say that thinking that someone is telling an un-truth. We say that Read more
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15
Jun
2017
Is Your Future Client Sitting at the Table?
I’ve spent the last 21 years through my work at think-legacy teaching advisors how important it is to bring all voices and decision makers to the planning table, yet I am constantly finding advisors are leaving female spouses behind. Now I understand from a historical perspective men have predominantly taken the lead when it comes to finances. Looking in the rear view mirror also tells us that men were the primary bread winners in the majority of households and more highly educated, but times have changed. Did you know…… 48% of Estates Greater than $5 Million are Controlled by Women? 57% of Bachelor Degree’s are Women? The Majority of Master’s Read more
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15
Jun
2017
Welcome to the Table
When it’s time to sit down at the planning table with a wealth holder, odds are you won’t be alone. The client frequently receives advice from many others including lawyers, insurance providers, money managers, accountants and philanthropic advisors. It’s up to you to ensure that the needs are being put first, and there’s a good possibility that the wealth holder might question the motives of some of the others at the table. Everyone knows they’re seated at the table with the motive of commerce, but whose interests will they put above all else? The answer isn’t always clear, and the client’s interpretation of what’s happening will have a tangible impact Read more
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15
Jun
2017
A Look Inside the Wealth Holder’s Mind
It’s a strange time when so many people are moving toward poverty, while simultaneously so many are moving into affluence. Indeed this has been called the Era Of Affluence as an increasing number of people will have more money than time. When that happens, they need good advice – but strange things are happening in their brains. The human brain has 2 jobs: connection and protection. It wants to connect, to be part of something, and to not be left out. But it also is cautious, fearful and guarded. That makes it a bit challenging when you’re trying to help someone because it falls to you to help them feel Read more
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10
May
2017
Marketing is your friend. Actually, it’s more than that…
We’re big fans of good marketing. That may not sound like a ground-breaking statement, and you likely say the same, but here’s the thing: good marketing isn’t common in the advisory space. We’ve been providing professional, thoughtful, creative and effective marketing services for almost a decade, and it’s a favorite (“favourite” if you’re in Canada) thing for us to do for advisors. There are 2 big industry challenges that we see show up for you regularly. One is that marketers want to give you cool messages without knowing anything about you. Let’s face it, how is that even remotely possible when they don’t know your brand, your niche or the Read more
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15
Apr
2017
The Right Relationship, Every Time.
If you’ve ever uttered the words, “This business is all about relationships,” then you’re in good company; we’d be hard pressed to find an advisor we’ve worked with who hasn’t said the same. 20 years of talking with advisors has had that single thread running through almost every conversation: relationship. The result is that we’ve honed a Relationship Expertise that we want to share. With that in mind, have you paused to consider that, if relationships really are the key to it all, what your strategy is to creating great ones? Do you have a framework for them? Do you apply a process to it? Now you may think, “You Read more
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01
Apr
2017
Interview Clients Better
Here are 6 Rules About Interviewing that we teach advisors to help them really zero in on their clients during Discovery (or any other time the client’s mouth is moving!). Good listening is more important than you think – treat it that way. Look for the things that are meaningful to them, not you. Listen for what they value. It requires that you are actively attentive to what’s being said, how it’s being said, and the sequence it’s presented to you. Document back to them what you heard (after the meeting) – this is ridiculously powerful. Listen without looking for a solution or an opportunity to speak. Help them get Read more
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