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Justifying Fees on Active Management
by Beverly Flaxington, 6/28/16
How can advisors justify the fees for active management?

How the Entrance to Your Office Should Look
by Beverly Flaxington, 6/21/16
Do you think it matters to clients whether we have beautiful paintings in our entryway?

How to Help Clients Understand Your Value Proposition
by Beverly Flaxington, 6/14/16
We need our clients to know our value proposition. But they don’t understand it. Is this why they don’t refer business to us?

Working Effectively in a Dysfunctional Organization
by Beverly Flaxington, 6/7/16
When I am selling I keep running into my colleagues as competitors. I’ve complained to my boss, and he says he knows and is “working on it.” I am stunned at how the image of this company is so good, but the internal machinations are abysmal. Is it possible for me to succeed here?

What to Do When Clients Aren’t Honest with You
by Beverly Flaxington, 5/31/16
How can a client meet with me twice over two years, talk to me about his portfolio and talk to me on the phone several times in between but not let me know about a significant life event?

Closing the Difficult Prospect
by Beverly Flaxington, 5/24/16
For more than 80% of our prospects, we have a conversation, get interest from the person or couple and provide a proposal for our services, but we are not able to close the business. We follow up with email and phone calls, but we don’t hear back. Do you have ideas about what we could try differently that might lead to better results?

When You Think a Colleague is in Trouble
by Beverly Flaxington, 5/17/16
An advisor in our practice has started coming in late. He doesn’t shave and seems distant and preoccupied. Is there an appropriate way to broach what’s going on with him?

What is the Value of a Value Proposition?
by Beverly Flaxington, 5/10/16
How important is it for a firm to have a value proposition?

Managing Stress Overload
by Beverly Flaxington, 5/3/16
I can’t take much more of the negativity and abuse here. Please do not recommend that I speak to HR. Is there anything I can do or say to these people who are being so abusive?

When Financial Advisory Partners Don’t Get Along
by Beverly Flaxington, 4/26/16
My firm’s partners have heated discussions with the doors open. They badmouth each other to us, which is extremely uncomfortable. Should we run for the door and find other opportunities as quickly as possible?

When Your Employer Doesn’t Support Success
by Beverly Flaxington, 4/19/16
What if you are a person who really wants to succeed, but you are stuck in a financial services firm that doesn’t allow you to do so? My employer doesn’t support success. In many cases, the system deters it.

Increasing Your Influence with Prospects and Clients
by Beverly Flaxington, 4/12/16
I am not a very influential person. I vacillate between being too forceful and not pushing hard enough with prospects and clients. Are some people naturally good at influencing while others, like me, just have to work with what they have?

Managing a Stressed Out Team
by Beverly Flaxington, 4/5/16
Our advisory firm is booming, and we are benefiting from the market ups and downs in a big way. Our strategies are perfect for what’s happening. But my team is stressed. People are working 14-hour days. We can’t keep up. Everyone is jumping down one another’s throats.

How to Sustain Behavioral Changes
by Beverly Flaxington, 3/29/16
Every time I make a commitment to do something differently, I fall back into bad habits. I am motivated, but I am not successful. This is a vicious cycle because once I am not successful, I feel less motivated. I’d appreciate any tips on how to make behavioral changes work for me.

How to Develop Team Bonds
by Beverly Flaxington, 3/22/16
I have done a great job of hiring individuals who espouse our values, but when they get together as a group, they don’t gel. Indeed, some of them actively dislike one another. What can I do to encourage more harmony?

Teaching the Next Generation How to Sell
by Beverly Flaxington, 3/15/16
As the years roll on, more advisors consider retirement, but they don’t have a strong plan to keep their legacy going. The aging of the industry is a real concern, and my firm is often called on to train the next generation. For this week’s column, I have excerpted from my book on sales for financial advisors.

Setting the Right Expectations for the Next Generation of Advisors
by Beverly Flaxington, 3/8/16
The younger CFPs and CFAs I’m meeting don’t seem interested in working 15-hour days. They don’t want to pay dues before they are given the keys to my kingdom. Is there a secret formula to igniting the passion and interest of these younger folks?

Are “Pitchbooks” Outdated?
by Beverly Flaxington, 3/1/16
Do we still need a traditional pitchbook? Our new marketing person is spending a lot of time revamping ours. We do a lot of questioning rather than pitching, and we use our iPads to show prospects and clients information. The pitchbook seems like an outdated method of communicating.

How to Stay Focused on New Revenue Activities
by Beverly Flaxington, 2/22/16
The less motivated others are to help, the less enthused I am. I like the kick that comes from closing new business and seeing our numbers grow but I don’t think I can keep it up for 10 more months if no one else is helping me out.

When You Fear an Employee
by Beverly Flaxington, 2/15/16
Our office manager is not working out. My team wants me to fire her, but I am afraid of a lawsuit. She is so aggressive that I believe she would do something to damage our firm during an exit.

Six Keys to Confident Presenting
by Beverly Flaxington, 2/8/16
The person who can best communicate thoughts and feelings to an audience gets heard. For financial advisors, effective communication with prospects, clients, centers of influence and peers is critical. I have developed the Six Keys to Confident Presenting as a guideline for the best way to deliver a message to any audience.

Managing Stress During Market Downturns
by Beverly Flaxington, 2/1/16
With market movements being mostly negative, I’m riddled with anxiety and stress. I dread every phone call with a client. Is there anything I can do to alleviate this? I can’t ignore the markets; I have a job to do.

Getting Centers-of-Influence to Refer
by Beverly Flaxington, 1/26/16
This year in particular, with the markets underperforming, accountants and attorneys must have clients who need a second pair of eyes on their portfolios. We would be willing to do reviews at no charge and make recommendations. Why aren’t we seeing referrals from these firms?

How to Provide Career Development
by Beverly Flaxington, 1/19/16
Less than 30% of our staff believe we do a good job in career development. We would like to take steps to address this issue, but we’re not sure where to start.

Looking Ahead to 2016: What Matters Most
by Beverly Flaxington, 1/12/16
You work with advisors every day. What do you think will be the biggest challenges and opportunities we’ll face in the coming year?

New Year’s Goals to Effectively Increase New Revenue
by Beverly Flaxington, 1/5/16
What is the right way to set achievable goals? I don’t want to set the bar so low that my team doesn’t need to work hard, nor can I afford to do that. At the same time, if I set it too high, all I will hear is grumbling for the first few months of the year.

My Top Ten Tips for 2016 – Part Two
by Beverly Flaxington, 12/29/15
I hope you enjoyed Part I last week. Here is Part II of my “Top Ten” list of advice for 2016. Hopefully these lists will be beneficial and spark some ideas.

My Top Ten Tips for 2016 – Part One
by Beverly Flaxington, 12/22/15
The end of the year offers a chance to reflect on what’s worked well and decide what we’d like to do differently in 2016. For the last two columns of the year, I will provide my “top ten” list of advice I’ve given, common issues I’ve heard and ideas that come up over and over again. Part I -- the first five -- appears here, and Part II -- the second five -- will run next week.

Are Clients Honest When They Say They Refer?
by Beverly Flaxington, 12/15/15
More than 90% of our clients say they would refer us if asked. However, our new business comes from only a handful of clients who actually refer us. Why do you think this is happening?

How to Focus Your Practice on Millenials
by Beverly Flaxington, 12/8/15
I receive a lot of questions about marketing to the next generation and working with millennials. For this week’s column, I sought input from a successful financial advisor who is a millennial and focuses on them in his own business. Read on for some millennial advice from Eric Roberge, founder of Beyond Your Hammock.

The Problem with a “Culture of Niceness”
by Beverly Flaxington, 12/1/15
We all get along in our firm, and that’s the problem. Issues go unresolved because no one wants to rock the boat. People don’t raise their concerns because our firm leader is the consummate “nice guy.” How do I bring issues up without being the bad guy?

Action-Oriented Teambuilding
by Beverly Flaxington, 11/24/15
We want to do a teambuilding activity for our advisory firm. We get along reasonably well, but we are always passing one another in the hallways on our way to our next meeting or phone call. I run the firm, and I’d really like to get everyone engaged in an activity that would be fun but also meaningful. Do you have any ideas?

Improving Team Effectiveness When You’re Not a “Coach”
by Beverly Flaxington, 11/17/15
Why can’t the newer generation of advisors learn the way we did, at the “school of hard knocks”? I think we are creating a generation that needs constant input and teaching.

Matching Your Sales Approach to Your Target Market
by Beverly Flaxington, 11/9/15
Sometimes, prospects are referred to us and they just want to get going. Our paced process irritates them. Should we change our process to match the audience, or match our process to the right people?

Matching Employee Style to Firm Culture
by Beverly Flaxington, 11/3/15
We keep churning through administrative staff who tells us our environment is too fast paced and too intense. We keep adding new clients, and our clients are demanding. Our partners thrive on the fast changing nature of what we do, so I don’t see it changing. How do we find the right people to keep up with us, or how do we slow the partners down so they stop burning out staff?

Five Tips for Making Better Hires
by Beverly Flaxington, 10/26/15
Our last three hires have been disastrous. I don’t know if it is my own bad choices or the hires themselves, but the time I spend trying to fix and negotiate is wasted time from other things I could be doing for clients. Is there a secret to making better choices in the hiring process?

Is it Worth the Effort to Improve Your Referral Skills?
by Beverly Flaxington, 10/19/15
We have yet another coach working with our advisory firm to help us with referrals. As it is, I get more referrals than anyone on our seven-person team, but I am forced to participate in these activities. Is there a way for me to gracefully back out of this coaching or explain to him why I don’t think I need to participate?

Dealing with Bad Decisions in a Big Company
by Beverly Flaxington, 10/12/15
I see the problems that arise when we take bad business. Most of the time, it is obvious from the outset that it will cause us trouble, but everyone is trying to meet the numbers. Why don’t the leaders of our company see the problems that these divisions cause?

The Keys to Finding New Prospects
by Beverly Flaxington, 10/5/15
Can I find prospects without cold calling or running an advertisement, both of which are time consuming and expensive?

Helping Wholesalers Sell Effectively
by Beverly Flaxington, 9/28/15
Wholesalers are supposed to be product pushers. Lately our firm is making us learn skills to build better relationships. How can I push back professionally on this idea? Spending time learning something that isn’t going to help me is a waste.

Applying the Sales Effectiveness Model to Your Firm
by Beverly Flaxington, 9/21/15
Over the years I have had the chance to work with countless financial advisory firms to help them increase their growth. While most do not want to “sell,” they would like additional assets coming in the door! This week’s column gives a peek into the assessment process I use.

How Do I Leave My Legacy as an Advisor?
by Beverly Flaxington, 9/14/15
What’s the best way to go about securing my legacy but not letting clients think I am jumping ship soon?

How to Get More Out of High-Performing Advisors
by Beverly Flaxington, 9/7/15
I have two high-performing advisors in my firm. They find “new” money from existing clients all the time, and they get referrals without having to ask for them. But I need them to take these skills and sell more aggressively.

Dealing with Quirky Markets and Nervous Clients
by Beverly Flaxington, 8/31/15
Unsettled markets are creating unsettled clients. We are being proactive, but I wonder whether being proactive tells clients that there is a problem. We can’t say, “There is nothing to worry about” without creating a concern that there IS in fact something to worry about.

Getting Advisors to Recognize Bad Behavior
by Beverly Flaxington, 8/24/15
I have an advisor who is boisterous and pushy. My administrative team does everything to avoid him. I know he doesn’t mean to be so aggressive, but no matter what I say to him, he laughs it off and makes it out like I am the problem.

What New Advisors Need to Succeed
by Beverly Flaxington, 8/18/15
Our newer advisors – while credentialed – are not experienced. We can’t put them in front of our large clients. But because they have credentials behind them, they think that doing analysis or behind-the-scenes client work is beneath them. How do we explain that doing the time in analysis is important and does require a high level of expertise on its own?

New Ideas for Client Segmentation
by Beverly Flaxington, 8/11/15
We’re struggling to decide which factor should determine our categories for client segmentation. Do we base it purely on asset size? Or do we do a profitability analysis? One of my advisors wants to categorize by “irritation factor;” those clients who call too much and ask for the world without paying for it would drop to the bottom of the list first.

When Employees Become Owners
by Beverly Flaxington, 8/4/15
I hired a team member a couple of years ago who was very seasoned with an excellent background and a track record of success. He arrived, and all of a sudden he wasn’t motivated, didn’t return client calls in a timely fashion and had no fire in the belly. He wants ownership, but I need to see motivation to give it.

Why High Performing Individuals Fall Apart in a Team
by Beverly Flaxington, 7/28/15
I have hired the best individual contributors anyone could find. Individually, they are strong performers, but they trip over one another whenever they have to agree on ways to meet client needs. Are there incentives or punishments I can dole out to change this dynamic?

Four Principles for Proven Success on Social Media
by Beverly Flaxington, 7/21/15
In last week’s article, I discussed the need for advisors to use social media effectively. This brought a number of follow-up questions. This week’s column provides guidelines for navigating the often-murky waters of social-media marketing.
Results 501–550 of 710 found.