Outlook Social Connector: A cool email helper
Better email communication results from a better understanding of the person with whom you’re exchanging messages. It’s hard to keep all of the relevant information in your head, or even to collect it in one place. This is why I like Outlook Social Connector, which I learned about in consultant Bill Winterberg’s presentation on “Transformative […]
Your investment performance reports are failing you
Sending inadequate performance reports to your firm’s clients can hurt your client retention, says Philip Lawton in Middle Office: Managing Financial Institutions in Turbulent Times. Too many numbers is a common flaw. Clients also need narrative explanations, says Lawton. In my experience, some people can quickly grasp the significance of a chart or table. Most people […]
POLL: What are your blog’s goals?
Why do you blog? I’d like to get a better sense of why my readers blog and the obstacles they face. That’s the focus of this month’s two-question survey. Talking with students in my blogging class for financial advisors, I often hear that they’d like to attract more clients. In fact, some of them take […]
Why I’m lucky clients didn’t flock to me
I reluctantly launched my career as a freelancer after getting laid off from a wonderful investment communications job at an investment management firm. After I decided to freelance, my phone didn’t ring with eager prospects. On the other hand, as an introvert, I didn’t do much to market myself. Cold calls? Heaven forbid. Blessing in disguise […]
“Turn signals” and good writing
“Use ‘turn signals’ to guide your reader from sentence to sentence,” suggests Kenneth W. Davis in The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course: Business Writing and Communication (p. 24). I like Davis’ analogy, but I think it’s even more important to apply it at a higher level than sentences. Every time your article, blog post, or other written […]