http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com EncoreAdvisor.com en-us Webmaster@EncoreAdvisor.com http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/133.cfm Too many of us drop everything when a call from a top client arrives. More often than not the caller is important, but the reason for their call is not urgent. We end up sacrificing our daily priorities unnecessarily. This article walks you through 6 techniques used by high performance teams allowing them to increase client service while doing more in less time. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/388.cfm We are approaching the halfway point of 2010, so it's a natural time of year to pause, review your progress and set direction for the next six months. This coaching session contains an update of six important questions for analyzing your practice. Whether your business is up, down or just holding its own, you should take some time to give your practice a mid-year checkup. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/public/111.cfm E.N.C.O.R.E. advisors work hard to continuously achieve new levels of success; they're striving for world class status. But when you consider the day-to-day challenges of managing your business, suggestions of striving for world class status may seem unrealistic. After all, how can you be world class when your internet connection is down or your assistant is taking a sick day? How can you be world class when your calls aren't quickly returned or when a major appointment is repeatedly postponed? If thoughts like these sometimes permeate your thinking, read this coaching session to learn the 6 daily success habits of E.N.C.O.R.E. advisors. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/107.cfm Have you ever lost a big prospect just when you thought you were going to close the business? Although there are no silver bullet solutions, the best long-term strategy for avoiding unexpected prospecting surprises is treating your top prospects as if they are already clients. This coaching session offers 5 steps to make this process a part of your routines. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/123.cfm Spring cleaning sounds both boring and obvious. Yet, when taken seriously, it can add to your productivity and help you take your business to new levels of success. This coaching session, inspired by the results of one of my clients, offers specific tips for getting better organized. Armed with these ideas, you'll be better equipped to less stressfully achieve your goals. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/386.cfm A couple years ago, one of my members suggested that sending a friendly reminder about Daylight Saving Time would be a nice "client touch". I agreed. So I wrote a short letter quoting Benjamin Franklin who is given credit for coming up with the idea. I recently updated the letter for 2010. If you're looking for a simple way to remind your clients that they're always in your thoughts, mail or email this letter to your clients this week. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/385.cfm Last week, I received a call from a member who was looking for a way to strengthen his relationships with CPAs during the tax season. In addition to making outgoing referrals, this financial advisor wanted to encourage the CPAs with whom he networked to remember him if they ran into tax clients who needed some investment or financial planning help. This coaching session contains a "sweet" idea. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/384.cfm Helping your clients organize their tax information presents you with a chance to provide a value-added service while potentially uncovering new business opportunities. This coaching session gives you a template for a personal client letter and a tax planning "tip sheet". This session is part of our ongoing "Delivering the Ultimate Client Experience" series. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/383.cfm If you're working on a 2010 kickoff letter for your clients, you'll find the template in this coaching session to be most helpful. In this easy to customize letter, you'll be able to give your clients a big picture overview of the year ahead and begin setting the stage for your review meetings. This letter can be sent with either version of our "2010 Preferred Client Questionnaire" or as a standalone letter. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/382.cfm The start of a new year is a perfect time to update your client profiles. You have an opportunity to uncover new objectives, discover new sales opportunities, solicit referrals and, of course, continue delivering the Ultimate Client Experience. This coaching session contains the 2010 version of our brief client letter and a simplified client questionnaire. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/381.cfm These days, retirement is on every boomer's mind. And many folks who are nearing their retirements are questioning whether they will ever retire. This follow-up coaching session offers some more tips on how to help your clients and prospects assess their retirement income needs. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/380.cfm Our letters are one of the most popular features of our website. They are easy to download, customize and merge with your client (or prospect) mailing list. Because they are written by authors who have years of compliance experience, they usually fly through any compliance approval procedures. Based on a recent request from one of our members, I wrote two year-end letters to offer your clients (and prospects) holiday greetings. I hope you'll put these greetings to work as standalone letters or as the personalized messages you add to your cards, notes and emails. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/379.cfm These days, retirement is on every boomer's mind. And with good reason. With the economic meltdown of the past year wreaking havoc on retirement savings, unemployment hovering near the 10% mark and Social Security and other government programs under pressure, your clients may be experiencing a trifecta of bad news. Many folks who are nearing their retirements are questioning whether they will ever retire. This coaching session offers some tips on how to help your clients and prospects assess their retirement income needs; it includes a downloadable letter to help get this discussion started. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/194.cfm As we approach the Thanksgiving season, take the opportunity to thank those who are important to both your professional and personal lives. This coaching session contains some helpful tips. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/378.cfm Sometimes financial advisors allow their referral strategies to become cumbersome and clunky. For some unknown reason, you overcomplicate them. You forget the value of the work you do for your clients, so you apologetically stumble through your referral conversation. Or you don't have one at all. If your approach to referrals needs some fine-tuning, this blog post offers four important questions that should help you get your referral conversations back on track. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/129.cfm Expertise based lead generation is a powerful tool for building a prospect pipeline full of qualified future clients. What's more, these prospective clients are looking for professionals with your know-how. If your prospect database isn't where you think it should be, take some time to build a simple campaign. When you do this with consistency, you will find it much easier to keep your calendar full of appointments and your business will grow. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/106.cfm This article is part of our "Quick Campaigns" series. Each piece in this sequence is written in response to requests from our members and focuses on providing actionable strategies for improving client communication or prospecting effectiveness. In this reply we offer help to a member who is having difficulty keeping up with his prospect database. We offer a step-by-step solution along with a sample telephone script and letter. This campaign is simple; share it with your team and get started right away - the results will speak for themselves. http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/374.cfm For financial advisors, ongoing client communication leads to greater loyalty and more business opportunities. Regular communication means more sales, assets and referrals. The "trick" is coming up with a system that makes your commitment to communication simpler and more consistent. This coaching session contains a video web class that walks you through a 5 step process for building "The Ultimate Client Communication System." http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/373.cfm Client communication should not be an accident. It needs to be delivered consistently and in many different formats. When it's done well, it pays big dividends. This coaching session contains an update of our popular client communication planning tool, with letters, campaigns and tools for each month of the year http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/members/371.cfm Fun letters can be a big part of Delivering the Ultimate Client Experience. They're a great way to let your clients know that you're thinking about them - spreading appreciation for their business. This coaching session contains a simple "Halloween Letter" that you can download, edit to your liking and merge with your client mailing (or emailing) list.