Archive for January, 2012

As a woman it’s natural to be humble, we have been taught from an early age not to talk about ourselves yet our male counterparts are quite competent about talking about their strengths and the value they can provide.  Women must learn that there is a difference between promoting vs boasting.
As a female financial advisor your prospects and clients must feel confident in your ability to manage their wealth.  They must feel and hear your confidence in order to build trust and commit to doing business with you.
While women are great at building relationships with clients and prospects many struggle to convert that “Like” to business.  Yes it’s important that prospects and clients “Like” you but what’s more important is that they gain the confidence that you are serious about managing money. They must know that you have the ability to make important and often tough decisions with their money.
As a female financial advisor if you are getting in front of a lot of people but are not closing enough business or perhaps your closing business but never getting the big assets odds are they “like” you but don’t feel confident in your skills as a money manager.
Your job as a female financial advisor is NOT to be everyone’s friend; your job is to convince clients and prospects that your first and most important priority is making smart decisions with their money. If you’re not closing enough business or struggle to get all the assets learn how to turn off the likeability and infuse more promote-ability into your presentation skills.

I can understand why women struggle to rise and succeed in the corporate world but why the number for female financial advisors is struggling is beyond me.  Women in the corporate world must learn to play the game by the man’s rules.  While female financial advisors do not have to play by these strict guidelines they constantly act like they do.
As a female financial advisor the only person you need to be accountable to is yourself. The only thing that determines your success is your numbers, bring in the clients, raise the assets generate the production and you answer to no one (excluding compliance) but yourself.  So if it’s that simple why are women struggling?
Learning how to do what is important vs what others want you to do is key in developing a successful practice.  Women tend to carry many other responsibilities as a wife, mother even daughter.  These responsibilities add additional demands on their time and energy as a result women must often squeeze more into one single day than their male counterparts.
Woman must learn to say NO, say NO to company meetings, say NO to training that sounds good but may add little value to your business, and say NO to the next wholesaler that calls to talk.  When there is something that you need in your business set it up, make it happen but if you do not know specifically what you will learn from a particular event, meeting or training …DON’T GO.  Your time is very valuable, be sure that the time you spend can have a direct impact on solving a problem, adding to a particular aspect of your business.  Remember, your time and energy is a highly valuable commodity don’t give it away freely.

Most Financial Advisors do not recognize the incredible impact of rebranding their practice. A new brand can redesign your compelling message giving you more focus and clarity. A new brand can re-stoke the fires under an existing client base stimulating referrals. A new brand can inspire new ideas and a new perspective accelerating the growth of your business.  A new brand can jump start your practice making 2012 your best year yet.

At some point or another every advisor will reach a plateau in their business, where the growth rate slows down to single digit numbers. Referrals dry up, prospecting is non-existent, your day becomes almost a mundane routine (is this resonating with you?) The good news is this lull in your practice can signify time for a change.  By just rebranding your practice, redefining your business and message you can quickly and effortlessly turn things around.

Many financial advisors shy away from change fearing they may upset the apple cart and generate disgruntled clients, when in fact the opposite is true. Some advisors prefer the stability of the daily routine creating some consistency to an already volatile business yet this resistance to change prevents growth elevating the impact of natural attrition.  The reality is change is inevitable you can either be at the tail end of change being forced to amend and adapt your practice or you can lead the change proactively reenergizing your clients, prospects and new business development. This seems like a no brainer to me.  To rebrand your practice there are just 3 things to consider your tribal market, tag line or message and method of marketing.

#1.  The first step in rebranding your practice is to reevaluate your tribal market. Just as everything evolves so do you and so should your business?  As you review your client base you may find that the kind of client you used to attract is different than the client you are attracting now.  It could also be that the kind of client you used to work with is different than the client you enjoy working with now.  Don’t be afraid to redefine your tribal market, this will not negatively affect your existing clients but will only add more focus and attract more of the clients you want to work with.  Remember branding and marketing is all about moving forward and should be directed to the kind of client you would love to attract.  Whether or not you actually change your tribal market will not impact the next step in the process and that is defining your brand.

#2.  Defining your brand is really about you and has everything to do with what you actually end up doing for your clients. Most financial advisors will say “Well I make them money” or” I provide them with a financial plan” in most cases that is what you are expected to do for your clients.  What we are looking for here are the non-typical benefits of working with you, the principles or the values you incorporate in order to provide value to your clients. Think about some tag lines that resonate with you in your everyday life.  Nike for example, their tag line is “Just Do It”, this certainly sends a message of “Just Get off your tush and get it done” yet the simple words (and more appropriate words I might add) “Just Do It” say’s it all.  The old tag line for GE “We bring good things to life” sends a bigger message than just saying “We build great light bulbs”, they are supposed to build good light bulbs.  Your brand and tag line is all about sending a bigger message with fewer words.

#3.  Once you know your tribal market and you have developed your brand you now want to develop a launch plan. How are you going to share this new message and image with your clients, prospects even friends and family?  If you are truly excited about your new brand and message you will want to share it with everyone. Live it up and leverage the opportunity, utilizing social media is a must going forward. Send a mailer announcing your new brand and message with a “New Programs Coming Soon”, even clients like to know you are thinking, changing and evolving.  Use email to announce your new brand, host seminars and events, run an ad in the newspaper or local town paper, and hold a focus group with a handful of clients and prospects to roll out your new program.

If you think this through and plan ahead you can spend the first 6 months reigniting the energy behind your business, stimulating new growth, inspiring more referrals with greater assets and production, you can accomplish all this by just rebranding your practice.

If you recognize the power of branding and are looking to utilize seminars as method for expanding your brand If you would like to learn more about how to develop and leverage your brand as a financial advisor then send me an email at adri@yourpinkoffice.com or