Blog - Financial Advisor Coaching by Susan Danzig

Essential Strategies for Succession Planning: Initial Questions and Preparations

According to a recent survey by FMG Suite, a startling 73% of advisors do not have a written succession plan, but 60% of those same advisors are planning to
retire within five years. While building a comprehensive plan can be a time-consuming process, it ensures that your life’s work will continue after you’ve ridden off into the sunset to enjoy the next phase of your life. In order to provide your team with the best chance of success, you should start considering your succession plan as soon as possible and make adjustments along the way to support the sustainability of your firm.

When Should you Start Considering Your Succession Planning?

Ideally, you should begin evaluating possible transitions as soon as your business is viable. Once you feel that you have mastered the tools of the trade and feel confident in your advisory skillset, it is time to consider possible next steps for business development. This can include onboarding a team to expand your reach, or simply acquiring a book of business to expand your current client list and AUM. Regardless of which path you take, you should start considering your options, grooming a second in command, and deliberating possible next steps for your firm.

Under What Conditions Would a Transition Take Place?

Having a firm plan of the conditions you’d need to transition will help you immediately consider or reject any incoming terms, as well as providing a logical framework for an otherwise sentimental decision. Write down the answers to these questions and use it as a personal reference as you start considering your options:

In an ideal world, how long would you like to keep working at your firm?
If something minor goes wrong with your health or personal life, how might it shorten this timeframe?
If something major goes wrong with your health or personal life, how might it shorten this timeframe?
Who would handle your current accounts if you had to take short-term leave?
Who would handle your current accounts if you had to take long-term or permanent leave?
What is the minimum amount you would be willing to sell your stake in the firm for?
What would you ideally like to sell your stake in the firm for?
Are there any personal or financial roadblocks preventing you from retiring or selling your business?

Once you have written out the answers to these questions, you’ll have a better understanding of your position that will help you make the right decisions with your upcoming strategies.

Is Your Team Ready to Make Changes?

As you begin your succession planning strategy, it’s essential to take an honest look at your team. Consider their personalities and capabilities both as a close colleague, and from a client perspective. Is your team capable of running your firm with minimal input from you? Is there a natural leader who would be able to take the helm if you decide to leave? How would the other team members react to having this person manage the business? If you see a natural choice for a successor, it might be right timing for a conversation with them to determine if they are interested in being a part of your succession plan. If you are aligned that the fit is a good one, you can also start allocating more responsibilities and grooming them for the promotion. If there isn’t an obvious choice, it may be time to bring in a fresh perspective with new hire(s.)

Succession planning is an essential part of growing your business, and it’s important to ask these questions as early as possible. Once you have evaluated your position from both a logical and emotional standpoint, you will know how to prepare for your next steps

How to Attract Millennial Clients

As Millennials begin to establish careers and take over the consumer market, businesses have been struggling to adapt to their preferences and needs. Words like
“lazy,” “entitled,” and “sensitive” dominate the headlines and create a bias against this generation that can dissuade businesses from focusing on the next generation of clients. However, as Baby Boomers begin to retire and make up less of the consumer market, businesses need to adapt and redesign their marketing strategy. Here are some tips to help make Millennials feel supported and included in your business plan.

Be Direct

Perhaps more than any previous generation, Millennials want to get straight to the point. When designing your website and marketing materials, use direct language about what your company offers and the values you embody. Headlines and bullet points are particularly effective for this demographic, especially when citing hard numbers and statistics. While marketing to previous generations relied mostly on emotional appeals, Millennials are more likely to immediately search for the facts about what you deliver, so be sure you’re being direct and straightforward with your marketing message.

Monitor Third Party Reviews

Constant access to the internet allows the younger generations to be more thorough in their research, whether they’re buying a single product or signing up for a service. Ensure your company stands out by monitoring third party reviews and opinions about your business and addressing any complaints that arise immediately. Asking loyal clients to leave reviews on Google Places for Business, Yelp, or the BBB can help kickstart your online reputation and appeal to those who do their research!

Get Involved in Your Community

If you’ve been watching marketing trends over the past year, you’ve likely seen a trend of “woke” marketing designed to appeal to Millennials. Corporations now take political stances to drum up an audience and create buzz surrounding the causes they support. While your business might not want to take this to the extreme, you can still mention charities you support and what values matter most to you in the about page on your website. Posting photos from charity events and fundraisers that you attend is another way to emphasize the good you’re doing in the world, which is essential to catching the eye of Millennial activists.

Try Organic Marketing Channels

The biggest difference between Millennials and the previous generations are how they respond to marketing in general. Growing up in an environment inundated with ads has made them more critical—and even cynical—about the blatant consumerism that surrounds them. That’s why companies targeting Millennials have turned towards more organic means, using word of mouth and influencers to expose people to their brand. Though you may not have the funds to pay $250,000 for an Instagram post by Kylie Jenner, you can still integrate this strategy into your marketing. Encourage your current clients to spread the word by sharing your posts or talking about your brand on social media, and perhaps enter them into a raffle for their influence. An positive review from a passionate client is worth its weight in gold when working with a media-savvy audience like Millennials.

While some businesses still resist marketing to Millennials, it’s essential to integrate them into your marketing as demographics shift. They are poised to dominate the consumer market in the next few years and learning how to appeal to their open and direct approach to life will help your brand succeed in the changing market.

Transitioning a Business from a Partnership Break-up

While splitting up from a business partner can be one of the most stressful transitions in running a company, there are ways to gracefully pivot in order to minimize chaos and nurture your existing clients. This roadmap can help you plan out your exit strategy to keep things running smoothly in the event of a partnership break-up.

Split Up the Assets

Much like any breakup, you should begin the process of determining which business partner gets to keep each asset. While this obviously includes physical objects like building space and office furniture, you should take time to divide up intellectual property as well. Don’t forget to allocate things like the company slogan, website, and mission statement when redistributing your company assets.

Consider Custody of the Clients

While most businesses split clients by their monetary value in this process, it’s essential to evaluate their emotional connection as well. Keeping involved clients with their primary point of contact will minimize stress for everyone, and you should be careful not to forget their emotional needs as well. When splitting custody of the client base, balance the emotional rapport you’ve built with each client along with their financial contributions to the company.

Remain in Constant Contact

Since divvying up a partnership is extremely time consuming, it is essential to be mindful of your existing clients throughout the process. One simple way to ensure you’re in constant contact with your clients is to schedule out dedicated time each morning and afternoon to answer any emails and phone calls that came through. Supporting your existing clients will minimize churn and reduce your stress in the long run, so it’s worth your attention even in the midst of larger issues.

Take Time to Realign

Any major business transition is an ideal time for rebranding, and this is no exception. Take a step back from the hustle and bustle and evaluate your primary expertise and your ideal client. Has this changed since you founded your original business? Should you begin to take things in a new direction? While this evaluation may not require you to drop everything and march in a new direction, it will help you guide your marketing plan and acquire the right type of clients moving forward.

Brand Your Business

If you’ve decided to realign your business objectives, this is the perfect time to create a branded system that clarifies your ideal client and what services you deliver. Take the time to create a new slogan, tag line , and marketing plan that will attract your ideal client and help you reach your new goals!

While a business break-up is a stressful turn of events, it gives you the perfect opportunity to reframe your expertise and craft a new marketing plan. These steps will help ensure a seamless transition for your employees, existing clients, as well as helping you craft a new and improved branded system.

How to Maximize the Success of Your LinkedIn Content

Once you have your LinkedIn Business Profile up and running, you have the ability to connect with thousands of professionals within your target market. However, to catch their attention, you’ll need to create compelling and timely content and share it with the world. Here are some tips to make the most of your LinkedIn presence!

Use Hashtags

Like Twitter or Instagram, LinkedIn uses hashtags to deliver content to the right people. Users can opt to follow tags that speak to their passions, and it’s an easy way to speak to your ideal client. Consider what professional or personal hashtags would be relevant to your target market and include them at the end of your description to maximize the reach of each post. As always, location-based hashtags are a must, as it will draw in prospects who can schedule an appointment with you in person.

Encourage Sharing

If you follow a number of people from a single company on LinkedIn, you may notice that numerous employees will share the same company content. This allows each person’s connections to view the post in their own feed, trying to expand the audience of the post as much as possible. When you post something on your LinkedIn Business Page, encourage all your employees to share it on their personal pages as well.

Repost Evergreen Content

Like most social media sites, LinkedIn prefers to show its users newer posts and content. As a result, you should repost your best content repeatedly to get the best results. If you have seasonal content (like tax season or holiday-based articles) be sure to post these again every year to maximize their utility. After all, you spent a lot of time creating each piece, so you want to make the most of it!

Share Articles That Speak to Your Target Market

In addition to your own content, you should consistently share news articles and personal interest stories that would speak to your target market. This allows you to keep your page active even when you’re not creating new content yourself. Adding a personal story or weighing in on the content can provide particular emphasis on why the article caught your attention, and it’s a great way to add a human element to your business.

Include Images

Take a moment to scroll through your personal LinkedIn feed, and you may notice that you’re more likely to stop and look at an article when an image is attached. Humans are largely visual creatures, so including a compelling photo can be the difference between being liked or being ignored.

As you start marketing on LinkedIn, these tips can help you maximize the influence of your page. Overall, posting consistent and quality content will start boosting the number of your followers and expand the reach of your business.

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Business Page

While LinkedIn is often overlooked when it comes to social media, it is an essential part of business development. For both Business to Business and Business to Consumer marketing, LinkedIn gives incredible flexibility to help target your ideal client and increase brand awareness. As you get started, these tips will help you completely optimize your LinkedIn Business page and hit the ground running.

Create Your Company Page and Add Your Contact Info

If you don’t already have a company page, navigate to the LinkedIn Homepage and then click the “Work” icon at the top right of the navigation bar. This will pull up a full list of options for you to select from. Click the “Create a Company Page” at the very bottom to get started. Select the category that fits your company best, then add relevant information like your company name, website URL, industry, logo, and contact information.

Choose a Relevant Banner Image

The banner image is the first thing that someone sees when they navigate to your company profile, but many businesses neglect to take advantage of this prime real estate. I recommend uploading an eye-catching image relevant to your industry to start, but eventually, you should upgrade this to something more meaningful. Many companies hire a graphic designer to either create an image with their tagline, primary services, or relevant awards they have won. To stand out from the crowd, I encourage you to create a custom banner image when time and resources allow.

Encourage Your Employees to Link to Your Page

What sets LinkedIn apart from other social channels is the completely work-centric nature of your marketing. Encourage your employees to tag your company as their employer in their work experience section and share the new content that you post. In addition to keeping your employees engaged, it helps to increase the brand recognition of your company and bring new viewers to your page. People who are connected to your employees can engage with the posts they share, and then their networks can see this engagement as well. This creates larger audiences than most social media sites, which focus primarily on direct contacts.

Join Relevant Groups

Another unique aspect of LinkedIn are the professional networking groups that flourish there. These groups allow you to accurately target your ideal audience and share content that is relevant to them. Are you looking to work with Physicians over the age of 40 to help plan their retirement? Write a relevant article and share it in all the “Young Doctors” groups that you can find. Even outside of professions, you can find a plethora of groups for locations, interests, and developing skillsets. To learn the ropes of networking groups, add your University Information and join all the alumni groups that you can find to see what content is trending in each one. Additionally, sports fan pages and community groups are great for finding new contacts in your area!

As you expand your social media influence, LinkedIn should be an essential part of your marketing plan. Being able to target consumers by their job titles, interests, and locations makes it easy to deliver relevant content to your ideal clients. By optimizing your LinkedIn Business Page, you’re taking the first step towards a free marketing channel that can deliver excellent results using the content you’ve already planned out.

How to Create Noteworthy Facebook Content Right from The Start

Now that our last blog post has helped you create your business Facebook page, you now ready to face the challenge of posting relevant content throughout the year. For many financial advisors, this can be a daunting task, these tips will help you maximize your social media marketing while minimizing your effort.

Schedule It Out

Like most financial services professionals, you likely center your life around the appointments in your calendar. To make social media marketing a priority, go through and schedule a few ten-minute appointments throughout your week to post new content, reply to comments, and see what strategies are working best for your page. This will help keep you accountable even as your schedule starts to fill up!

Share Your Own Content

One of the challenges that new social media marketers face is knowing what to post. Your priority should always be to advertise your own content. If you create a new page or add relevant information to your site, share it on Facebook with a short message (ideally under 150 characters). You should also be sharing all of your blog posts across social media sites, and it’s not a bad idea to reshare essential content a few months down the line to be sure everyone sees it.

Broaden Your Horizon

But what should you post when your company has no new content? This is one of the most challenging aspects of social media, and it requires taking time to think about your area of specialization and all that you deliver for your ideal client. Ideally you have created a branded system that includes sharing all that you bring to the table and address for your ideal clients. From there, focus on those topic areas and take into account what your ideal prospects would want to see on their Facebook feed. Keep in mind that, while I recommend focusing on the areas that are your strong suits, you can also post other articles of interest that don’t have to be related to your field at all. Many companies will share local events or news that affects their target market to create a blend of their own content and other relevant articles. By widening the scope of your posts, you can find relevant and timely content to share every week.

Post That Holiday Cheer

An easy way to come up with content is to schedule it around the holidays in your calendar. Sending out season’s greetings to your clients and fans is an excellent way to broker goodwill and boost your number of posts every month. Don’t forget about the minor holidays as well! Valentine’s Day, Easter, Veteran’s Day, and even cultural events like the Super Bowl are worth posting about.

Images Are Essential

When people are scrolling through their feed, they are more likely to notice posts with a compelling image. Including a relevant stock photo or icon along with your posts will likely increase the attention it gets, so don’t forget to attach a pretty picture!

Be Patient

When working with social media, it takes time to organically grow your followers. By posting relevant and shareable content, you will slowly start to see new users liking your page. Overall, remember that this is a free avenue to share the values of your company, so it’s worth investing the time and effort to nurture this slow but steady growth.

As you begin your adventure into social media, these tips will help you maximize your impact and attract new fans to your page. Being consistent and dedicated in your posting is a critical step in creating a viable social media presence for your business!

How to Setup Your Business Facebook Page

Having a basic social media presence is essential in the modern world, as it will allow you to bring in new prospects while nurturing relationships with existing clients. Yet taking the first step into social media can be a daunting task for small businesses, especially those who have never used social media before. Fortunately, Facebook has made it easy to get your profile up and running, and these tips will ensure you optimize your presence from the start. Here is a step-by-step guide to get you started.

Create a Business Page

To get started on your company page, go to https://www.facebook.com/business and click on the blue arrow button in the top right corner. This will drop down to give you the option “Create a Page.” Click there and you will be directed to a new page that gives you two different options. Select “Business or Brand” by hitting the “get started” button in the left-hand box. Enter your business name in the Page Name, select a category, then add your address and phone number when prompted so future prospects can find you.

Add A Profile Picture and Cover Photo

A picture is worth a thousand words, and this is twice as true when working with social media. The visual display of your profile is essential to success, and you should ensure you’re making the best first impression.

For your profile picture, it’s usually best to upload a copy of your logo. Navigate to your new business page and click the blank white circle to upload a new profile photo. Keep in mind that this photo will display as a circular image, so you may need to add white space behind your photo in order to get it to fit without cutting off.

You should also upload a cover photo that showcases your services, your team, or your location. If you’re unsure of what to add here, look at the pages of similar businesses to get inspiration. Above all, pick an image that is welcoming and engaging.

Explore Your Options

Once you have your basic page built, Facebook will prompt you to do a walkthrough of their features. Use this tutorial to learn how to create posts, add details, and keep in touch with your followers.

Expand Your About Section

Click on your page’s “About” section and add in all of the relevant details. At minimum, add the link to your website, a brief description of your business and who you serve, and your contact info. This will help new users reach out to you if they’re interested in using your services.

Find Fans!

This is the long-term goal of your social media setup, and it requires patience and a few minutes of work every week. To start, use your personal Facebook Profile to share your new page so your friends and family can like your business. Encourage them to like and comment on your posts to boost your popularity at the start. You may also want to send an announcement to your clients or add a postscript to your emails asking them to like your business page. As your followers grow, your page will appear more popular and make it clear that you are a central part of your community. You should also add a link to your Facebook on your website and any other social media, and you may consider adding your Facebook URL to any business cards or promotional material in the future. This will continue to bring in new fans for your page!

Social media is an essential part of modern marketing and having a basic page in place allows prospects to get to know your business before they even reach out to you. As you continue to post and share stories on this page, you’ll create a new avenue to attract prospects and nurture relationships with your existing clients.

How to Demonstrate Your Commitment Even When Delegating

As you focus on your business development, you will likely reach a point where you can no longer manage every aspect of your business. This is an exciting step in the growth of your company, and it allows you to devote your energy to your own strengths and passions while letting the rest of your staff handle those items that they are well qualified to handle. However, the act of delegating responsibilities can worry anxious clients, so here are 4 tips to communicate your dedication even as you allow your team to step up to the plate with client relationships.

Step 1: Create a Personalized Introduction

It’s natural for your clients to feel disappointed when they’re passed along to an unknown associate but crafting a personalized introduction can help ease their anxiety. Take copious notes on the likes, dislikes, and personalities of each client and include them in the account information when onboarding new team members in the lead role of account manager. Ideally, you want to invite your clients to the office for face-to-face introductions to facilitate all parties getting to know each other. Finding shared connections like sports teams, hometowns, or hobbies can create instant rapport at the initial meeting. Brainstorm these connections in advance to support rapport building while creating the space for a smooth transition.

Step 2: Focus on the Positives

When you inform your clients of the change in responsibilities, it’s important to frame the transition in a positive light. The best way to do this is to highlight that the reallocation of responsibility will better allow you to prioritize your own skills, while delegating the other details to your associates who are well qualified to handle all that they will be responsible for. Emphasize your team capabilities and reinforce the point that they will continue to be well taken care of while you will still be providing clarity of direction and monitoring the results for each account. You will remain in close communication with your team members to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Step 3: Emphasize Accountability

One of the simplest ways to set your clients at ease during a transition is to outline the leadership structure that they will experience. Make it clear which team member will manage each task and set up regular meetings to review the status of each account. Emphasizing that the supervision of each account will be a team effort will increase client confidence during a transition, particularly if they have multiple people that they can contact when concerns arise. Ensure that your team responds quickly to client needs during the transition and afterwards. Add a message at the bottom of the email that recommends the correct contact for that task in the future and cc that colleague directly on the email. This provides the level of support that clients expect while still allowing them to note the right person to reach out to in the future.

Step 4: Stay in Close Contact

As you transition accounts, reach out to them and confirm that they are happy with the new experience. In addition to monitoring client satisfaction, this also reminds them that you are involved in the process and still care about their wellbeing. If concerns arise, quickly address them with your team so they can adjust their strategies in support of the client.

It can be challenging to adjust your role with clients although the key to a smooth transition is strategic planning in advance with your team on client relationships and approaching the changes consciously in support of a positive transition for both your clients and colleagues. Follow these steps to ensure that your clients are cared for and content!

How to Celebrate Your Wins Without Bragging

In a results-driven industry like financial advising, it is essential to walk the fine line between touting your victories and bragging. Coming across as too cocky or
self-assured can make clients uneasy, so this is a worthwhile skill to cultivate as you build your business. But how do you get started? Below are some tips to help you mention your successes while still remaining humble.

Facts Over Flourish

While exploring your achievements, stay focused on the facts. Instead of delivering sweeping generalizations about your skills like “I excel at client relations,” stick to demonstrable facts like “I have retained 98% of my client base year over year.” This retains the underlying compliment while still sounding genuine…and you’ll have the figures to back up your claims!

Focus On Your Efforts

One of the simplest ways to sound more relatable is to mention the hard work that goes into your success. Avoid making your accomplishments sound too easy by mentioning any extra effort or overtime that went into your success. However, you should only mention this briefly, as you don’t want to sound too overwhelmed!

Be Grateful

Though it may feel like all of your accomplishments are due to your own hard work, it’s essential to mention the people who helped you along the way. If you have an exceptional team member who has been instrumental to growing your business, thank them! It allows you to come across as humble even as you mention your career successes. As an added bonus, it boosts the morale in your office and makes it clear that you are a cohesive team working towards the same goal.

Don’t Qualify It

It may seem tactful to qualify your statement with some variation of the phrase “I hate to brag…” but studies show that trying to lessen your statement with false humility is actually the worst thing you can do. Being direct and sticking to the facts is a better way to get your point across, and everyone is allowed to brag about their achievements once in a while! As long as you remain humble and to-the-point, you’re better off touting your achievements without the qualifier.

Though it can be challenging to truly honor your wins without sounding braggadocious, these tips will help you deliver the facts and figures to your clients without going overboard. Mentioning your hard work and delivering credit to other team members will make you sound relatable and honest while touting your achievements!

Reevaluating Your Ideal Client

The new year is an ideal time to examine your marketing strategy, but you may decide to make even deeper changes to your company’s goals. By looking back at the successes and challenges of the past year, you may even decide to make a fundamental change. What prospects should you try to attract in 2019? Should you redefine your ideal client? Here are some factors you may want to consider as you evaluate your client base.

Envision the Future

Ultimately, being a financial advisor gives you the flexibility to pursue very specific goals. Every year, you should take time to imagine what your perfect future looks like on a large scale. Who are you helping? What functions and roles make you the happiest at this point in time? Will there be any planned changes to your life over the next few years that may affect your priorities? As you walk yourself through these questions, you may end up aligning your professional goals to match the personal.

Consider Your Current Crop of Clients

Look back at the interactions you had over the entirety of 2018. What clients were a delight to work with? What specializations and functions did you enjoy most? Reviewing your workload over the past year can guide your marketing efforts and help you decide what type of clients to target in the future. From there, you can create content to meet their needs and build a business that aligns with your values. Whether you are expanding your ideal market or looking at ways to hone it in, considering your favorite aspects of financial advising can help you take the next steps.

What if Certain Clients Don’t Align?

Inevitably in your career, you will find that some partnerships just don’t work out. Though this can put you in a tricky place as a financial advisor, you can create an easy transition for your clients that will still leave them with a positive impression of your services. If you determine that you need to transition out certain clients, provide them with various options and hold their hand through the transition. If you are passing them on to another team member, introduce the clients to their new advisor either by email or in person. Ideally, you can also create a smooth transition when moving them to another firm, though the client may have to be more involved in this case. Above all, be kind and courteous in thanking them for the opportunity, and mention that the new advisor will have more bandwidth to deliver excellent service.

As you evaluate your favorite aspects of financial advising, you may find yourself adjusting or refining your ideal client. Every year, you should review your personal highlights to determine what career path will deliver you personal fulfilment at work, and this will help guide your marketing strategy moving forward.