- Susan Weiner Investment Writing

Using CFP in your Twitter name–Read the CFP Board’s position

May 23, 2010/in blog, client communication, communication, compliance, financial advisor, financial topics, marketing, social media, social networking/by website admin

Using a term such as CFP in your Twitter name makes sense as a marketing strategy for financial advisors. It immediately identifies you as a credentialed professional. However, it also means you’re violating the CFP Board’s rules.

Twitter alerted me to this issue. When I dug into the CFP Board’s Guide to Use of the CFP Certification Marks, I discovered that point 1.7 says “CFP certificants may not own or use an email address or internet domain name that includes the CFP mark.” (Sorry CFP Board, I don’t know how to make the (R) mark appear in a Blogger blog).

Here are some examples from the CFP Board of proper and improper use of their mark.

A Twitter name isn’t an email or a URL. But Twitter does make the name into a URL following the format http://twitter.com/TWITERNAME.

I contacted @CFPBoard to ask if a Twitter name using CFP would violate its rules. Here’s the reply:

It sounds as if the CFP Board is open to your feedback about using CFP in Twitter names. So shoot SLaBonte an email, if you’d like to be heard.
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How to improve your financial planning client relationships

May 11, 2010/in career, client, client communication, communication, financial advisor, financial topics/by website admin

You can improve your relationships with financial planning clients by encouraging them to communicate honestly with you from the very beginning.

This is the main lesson I took away from Shari Harley‘s presentation on “How to Say Anything to Anyone: Paving the Way to Powerful Working Relationships” to the annual conference of the Financial Planning Association of Massachusetts.

Ask for honesty
Harley suggested that audience members achieve this by saying, “I want a great relationship with you. If I do anything that violates your expectations, frustrates you or causes you challenges, please tell me. I promise I will say thank you.”

Assuming that your client says “yes” to your request, then you can add, “I hope I can do the same with you.” This sets the stage for two-way communication. If it works, you’ll never be surprised again by a client defection.

I asked Harley what she’d recommend saying after “thank you” when a client gives negative feedback. Don’t say anything other than “thank you” right away, she suggested, because you’ll feel defensive. Go away and think things over. You can follow up later.

Follow up with questions
Don’t stop with your initial agreement to be honest with each other. Follow up with questions that help you to understand your client better, said Harley.

Here are some of her suggested questions:
1. Who was the best service provider you ever worked with?
2. What made him/her the best service provider?
3. What are your pet peeves?
4. Do you prefer email or voicemail?
5. What do you wish I would start, stop and continue doing?

I can see how these questions would benefit me as a service provider and a client. It’s time to rev up my courage and start asking more questions.

I believe Harley’s approach could benefit you in your professional and personal life.

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Morgan Creek Capital’s Yusko on investing

May 8, 2010/in financial advisor, financial topics/by website admin

“Alternative Thinking About Investments” was the topic addressed by Mark Yusko, CEO and chief investment officer, Morgan Creek Capital Management, when he spoke at the annual conference of the Financial Planning Association of Massachusetts on May 7. Yusko’s wide-ranging talk was provocative and entertaining, with some great one-liners that became tweets that I quote below.

Alternatives deserve more attention

Yusko thinks investors should put more into alternative strategies. A small allocation simply cannot have a big enough impact.

This is a lesson that target date fund (TDF) managers should consider, suggested Ryan Alfred, co-founder and president of BrightScope, in response to my tweet. As he explained,

Going back to Yusko, he also suggested that your clients should have at least one-third of their assets in illiquid investments because such investments “win” after recessions. He’s assuming that your clients have plenty of money that they plan to pass on to others in their wills. Yusko didn’t specify which illiquid assets he was talking about.

Provocative
Yusko isn’t fond of mainstream media. “Cancel your subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. It’s all wrong, it’s all biased.” He used the example of the war between Russia and Georgia to make his case, mentioning that Morgan Creek pays someone to read Russian newspapers for them.

Yusko also spoke in favor of high fees. He seemed to suggest that fees rise along with the investment manager’s ability to deliver performance.

Humorous Yusko
In closing, here is some Yusko humor.

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Marketing via U.S. mail still pays

April 27, 2010/in financial advisor, financial topics, marketing, writing/by website admin

“Don’t give up on mail,” wrote marketing consultant Libby Dubick in “Four marketing resolutions for 2010.” I agree that investment and wealth management firms should continue to use the U.S. mail.

Letters and brochures ranked high when Dubick conducted an informal survey of how senior marketing executives would like to be introduced to a wealth manager. They came in second only to personal referrals.

If you write a sales letter, remember these tips

Emphasize your prospect’s WIIFM–What’s In It For Me–rather than talking about your firm
Keep it short–People have short attention spans.
Don’t send it and forget it–Follow up with the individual.

Teleclass FAQ–Answers to common questions about "How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read"

April 13, 2010/1 Comment/in blog, communication, financial advisor, writing/by website admin

Are you a financial advisor with questions about whether my teleclass on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors” will work for you?

You’ll find answers to common questions below. Do you have questions I haven’t answered below? Leave them as a comment or call me at 617-969-4509.

Q. What if I can’t attend all of the scheduled class meetings? Is there a way to catch up on the content?

A. It’s no problem if you miss a class.

You can download an audio recording within 24 hours after the class. It’s easy to catch up with a mp3 file that you can listen to on your computer or your mp3 player.

You can save all the audio files to give yourself a refresher course months or even years after your formal training ends.

Q. What if I don’t see myself as a “financial advisor”? Can I still take your class?

A. I use the term “financial advisor” as shorthand for my target audience, which includes employees of investment, wealth management, and financial planning firms.

Q. Why is the class limited to 12 students?

A. You’ll learn more when you get the personal attention that comes with a small class. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask questions during our telephone call. Plus, you’ll get written feedback on your homework assignments.

Q. How are classes taught?

A. You dial a teleconference number to participate in your weekly teleclass. Prior to the class, you’ll download a handout so you can follow along and take notes during class. You’ll also receive weekly homework assignments, which you’ll post to a private website, so you can get feedback on them.

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The next session of “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A Five-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors“ starts on April 22. Sign up to receive my free monthly newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Which blogging platform should I use?

April 6, 2010/in blog, client communication, communication, financial advisor, marketing, social media, web/by website admin

If you’re not yet blogging, you’re probably wondering which blogging platform to use.

WordPress seems the most popular. If I were starting my blog today, I’d probably go with WordPress rather than Blogger. I’m no expert on blogging platforms, so you’ll find below some opinions from folks who know more than me.

Technology specialist Bill Winterberg told me via Twitter that he prefers WordPress “because if you need new functions, there’s likely a plugin available. Support and forums are comprehensive, too.” Speaking of plugins, Bill told me about Akismet, a spam-blocking plug-in that’s available for WordPress, but not Blogger. By the way, as I understand it, a plug-in is software that expands the capabilities of a larger piece of software–but don’t quote me on that.

The Tech for Luddites blog, written by my friend Elizabeth Kricfalusi, compares Blogger vs. TypePad vs. WordPress in “Picking a Platform for Your Blog.” She also favors WordPress. If you’re a non-technical person with computer questions, you may enjoy her blog, with its motto, “Increase Proficiency. Decrease Profanity.”

For a blogging platform comparison from another source, check out the “Blogger vs. WordPress Comparison Table 2010.”

WordPress was also the choice of the financial advisors who took my recent class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read” (next session starts April 22).

I’d be happy to get comments on this post from those of you who are more knowledgeable about blogging platforms.
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Sign up for “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A Five-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors“ starting April 22 or join the list for my free monthly newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Guest post: Five Tips for Delivering Bad News to Clients

April 5, 2010/3 Comments/in client, client communication, financial advisor, newsletter/by website admin

Everyone struggles with delivering bad news to clients–and financial advisors have had to deliver plenty of bad news over the past couple years.

That’s why I felt excited when I discovered that Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, the author of this guest post, can help advisors manage difficult communications with clients.

Five Tips for Delivering Bad News to Clients

By Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, LMHC, CPCC

Delivering bad news to your clients is not easy. It often stirs up uncomfortable emotions–for clients and for you. Learning how to deliver troubling news effectively in conversation and in writing newsletters is the key to maintaining good relationships with your clients in good times and bad.

Here are five tips for delivering bad news more successfully:

1. Sandwich the bad news. Use the following analogy to guide you. Think of bad news as the meat in a sandwich that’s surrounded by two pieces of bread and some dressing to make it taste better. Start the conversation with thoughts or facts about what is working in the markets, your company or the client’s portfolio. Then share the bad news or the meat of the issue. Last, end the dialogue on a positive note. Clients are human. We all find difficult news more palatable when surrounded by some good delicious information.

2. Be direct. Advisors and wealth managers have a tendency to talk too much when sharing bad news with clients. This is often because being the messenger makes you feel uncomfortable emotions, such as anxiety, fear or worry. Talking more may help you feel better, but it confuses the client. So fight the urge to over-verbalize. Just be direct with the client about what is not going well.

3. Make the client feel his/her reaction is normal. A client will experience feelings after hearing bad news about their financial investments. Don’t fight this by trying to convince the client or yourself that there is no reason to feel bad. Instead, take a deep breath and validate that this news is hard to hear and hard to give, so the situation is emotionally difficult. It is surprising how validating a client’s feelings calms them down and strengthens the advisor-client relationship in the long run.

4. Don’t personalize the client’s reaction. Many well-meaning advisors feel overly responsible for the pain caused by the current economy. It is okay, and even advisable, to have your own feelings, about the ups and downs in the market place. Just make sure you are not trying to control what is out of your control and taking on too much responsibility. Practice accepting your feelings and your client’s reactions without judgment. Only take responsibility for what is truly in your control.

5. Get support. The best way to survive the current economy is to get support from your friends, family and colleagues. Your job is challenging. You need a place to talk, vent and share your frustrations with others. Model this for your clients because this is a great lesson for all of us to learn. Sharing difficult news is never easy, but it is a little more tolerable when you are not alone.

Kathleen is founder and CEO of KBK Wealth Connection, a company passionate about helping financial services professionals and their clients master their money mindset through wealth psychology. She recently released a new audio program called Creating Wealth from the Inside Out.
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Sign up for “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A Five-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors“ starting on April 22 or for my free monthly newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

The compliance-constrained financial advisor’s guide to using LinkedIn: Part I

March 30, 2010/in communication, financial advisor, LinkedIn, marketing, social media, social networking/by website admin

“I’ll connect on LinkedIn if my clients ask me, but I don’t see the value of LinkedIn because my compliance officer won’t let me do anything.”

If this is how you feel about LinkedIn, this article is for you.

Even if you can’t post more than your name and company affiliation, you can benefit from LinkedIn in two big ways. First, your listing makes you more easily located in an Internet search. That’s the focus of this article. In Part II of this article, I will address more active, yet compliance-friendly, strategies you can apply.

It’s easier for clients, prospects, and referral sources to find you

You want clients, prospects, and referral sources to find good information when they Google your name. LinkedIn profiles tend to rank high in such searches.
Just make sure you’ve made your profile public by clicking on “Edit Public Profile Settings” and checking “Full View” instead of “None.”

You can increase the ease with which you’re found by creating a custom URL for your LinkedIn profile, so the URL reads http://www.linkedin.com/in/YOURNAME. Simply edit the Public Profile URL at the bottom of the “Edit My Profile” page.

Your LinkedIn profile also offers the advantage of presenting yourself as you’d like to be seen, within the confines of what’s permitted by your compliance department.

Another factor to consider: Many LinkedIn users will look for you using the site’s search box. If you’re not on LinkedIn, it’s almost as if you don’t exist.

So, hurry and put your profile up on LinkedIn. If you’re already on LinkedIn, stay tuned for my article on compliance-friendly ways to use LinkedIn.

Related posts
* My most popular blog posts of 2009
* Guest Post: “How to Use LinkedIn When Your Compliance Department Says No”
* Twitter to the rescue of my colleague with an RFP dilemma
* How to publicize your white paper using LinkedIn
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The next session of “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A Five-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors” will start in April. For more information, sign up to receive “Information on upcoming classes, workshops, and other events” as well as my free monthly newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

How should you thank clients for referrals?

March 13, 2010/in client, communication, financial advisor, marketing/by website admin

Everybody knows you should thank clients when they refer business to you. But financial advisors can’t agree on the right way to express their thanks.

Is a verbal thank you at your next client meeting enough? How about adding a card, gift or discount on your professional services? Often your response depends on the nature of your relationship with the client and the value of their referral.

If you decide on a card, must it be handwritten? Or could you use an automated service such as SendOutCards? I know advisors on both sides of this debate.

Some advisors reward referrals with a discount on their fees. Others shrink from this approach. They feel discounts make clients question the validity of their pricing. The non-discounters may prefer to buy dinner or send a gift to the referral source.

What do YOU think? Express your opinion in the poll you’ll find in the right-hand column of this blog. I’ll share the results of the poll in my April e-newsletter. (Note: The poll is no longer active, but you can read the results on page 3 of my archived newsletter.)

Update on June 23, 2013: The combination of urLetters and urFont might substitute for SendOutCards with something that appears handwritten. Learn more about the two apps in “App puts a techie twist on writing letters,” which appeared in The Boston Globe. I haven’t tried either app because I prefer to write longhand.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Guest post: "The Lost Art of the Thank You Card"

February 23, 2010/2 Comments/in career, client, communication, financial advisor, high net worth, marketing, writing/by website admin

I’m a big fan of saying “Thank you.” So I’m delighted to feature this guest post by Suzanne Muusers of Prosperity Coaching. Suzanne is a consultant to financial advisors. I met her through Twitter.

The Lost Art of the Thank You Card
By Suzanne Muusers

What would happen to your referrals if you wrote five thank you cards per week? Would your client relationships deepen? Would you spread goodwill and kindness?

I’ve been sending out a lot of hand-written thank you cards lately. I find really nicely designed thank you cards at Trader Joe’s and AJ’s and I just get the urge to send them. You wouldn’t believe the response I get when the recipient receives the card. I usually get a phone call from them gushing about “taking the time to send a hand-written card” and “thank you so much for thinking of me.”

We have become such a digital world we forget about the impact such a simple action can have. We now have email, ezines, newsletters, evite.com, and the like. While it’s nice to save paper on such niceties and be “green,” getting a card in the mail is like getting a present. When you send someone a card through the mail, I am betting that it stays on their desk for quite some time.

As I glance over my desk, I see a hand-written card I received from a financial advisor I met last month at the Financial Planning Association meeting. He asked me for advice on where he should get coach training. I gave him a few choice pointers and several days later received a beautiful zen-like card from him thanking me for the tips. You can bet that I’ll keep that card for a long time.

So how can you use thank you cards in your business? What occasions would be suitable for a thank you card?

How about:

Birthday cards
Nice to meet you cards
Thank you for the referral cards (as part of a written referral program)
Congratulations for your achievement
Sympathy cards
Wedding cards

Maybe thank you cards should be part of your Marketing Plan and part of your week!

Suzanne Muusers is a business coach, marketing expert, and a sales and marketing speaker based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her coaching program for financial advisors, The Prosperous Advisor™ , focuses on revenue-building activities.

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Susan B. Weiner, CFA
If you’re struggling to pump out a steady flow of good blog posts, check out my five-week teleclass for financial advisors, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” and sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved