December Week 2: Outlining your 2009 goals

Our goals are twofold: to help you retain your top clients — who are receiving their shrunken December statements, as well as phone calls from other advisers going after disgruntled clients — and to help you outline your plan for what is likely to be a tough year.
DEC 08, 2008
By  Bloomberg
This month, we’re doing some work on planning to get a jump-start on 2009. Our goals are twofold: to help you retain your top clients — who are receiving their shrunken December statements, as well as phone calls from other advisers going after disgruntled clients — and to help you outline your plan for what is likely to be a tough year. The challenge: finding the time to call clients as well as plan ahead. The solution: a systematized approach to spending two or three hours each day over the next five business days calling your best clients. Then use the remainder of your time to plan for 2009. Step One: Prioritize and pick up the phone. Contact 10 to 12 top clients each day between set hours, such as 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. By the end of the week, you will have contacted your top 50 to 60 clients. The strategy is to keep the calls short (about 10 to 12 minutes each) and concise. How do you keep the calls short? Let clients know that you are reaching out to your best clients to talk about their investments and December statements, acknowledging the difficult market and informing them of your own personal losses and planning for 2009. Clients need a positive next step they can take at this time, and that can be adding more fixed-income investments, for example. Remember that your self-employed clients and those who own a small business soon will be allocating money for their retirement plans. This is a good time to suggest investment ideas for those plans. The goal of your call is to listen to their concerns, provide a market update and reassure them about staying the course. If needed, consider moving some money to different asset classes to help address their concerns. Step Two: Start your 2009 business planning. Review your 2008 recap covered last week This will remind you of what you did and didn’t accomplish this past year. Start your business planning for 2009 with a clear, simple vision statement of where you want to be 12 months from now. Here are some examples: “I want to increase assets under management by 15%,” “I want to add 20 high-net-worth clients,” “I want to add a partner or acquire another small practice.” The next step is writing down the actions steps necessary to achieve those goals. Let’s take one of the goals above — adding 20 high-net-worth clients. The actions needed to reach that goal may include explaining how to target two such additions each month, outlining a plan for networking among high-net-worth sources to attract clients, writing down and scheduling seminars or events to attract potential clients and perhaps increasing exposure in local media to gain greater visibility. While doing your planning, it’s important to keep in mind a vision of what you want your practice to be and to become. Answering the following questions can help articulate your vision: • Where do you want your practice to be in five years? • What is the profile of your typical client? Are these the kind of clients you want to serve? • With whom do you really want to work? • Is the service you provide to baby boomers adequate, good or excellent? • What does your typical workday look like now? What would you like it to look like? • Do you have the right team members to help your practice grow? Next Week: Identifying and integrating life goals December: Planning now to jump-start 2009 Week One: Completing and reviewing 2008 tasks Week Two: Outlining your goals for 2009 and beyond Week Three: Identifying and integrating life goals Week Four: Building your activities for January

Latest News

Spotlighting the Fastest-Growing Fee-Only RIAs in the USA
Spotlighting the Fastest-Growing Fee-Only RIAs in the USA

Discover which fee-only RIAs had standout performances in 2024

Advisor AI startup Zeplyn adds ex-LPL leader Kabir Sethi to board
Advisor AI startup Zeplyn adds ex-LPL leader Kabir Sethi to board

The two-decade veteran, whose career also includes a stint at Merill Lynch, will help shape strategy for the Google engineer-founded fintech.

US wholesale inflation surprises on food, energy prices
US wholesale inflation surprises on food, energy prices

The latest PPI print, clocking in north of 3 percent, adds to concerns that inflation is far from tamed.

Robinhood earnings surge as TradePMR acquisition plan rolls along
Robinhood earnings surge as TradePMR acquisition plan rolls along

The DIY investment giant's positive earnings surprise, surpassing $1 billion in revenue for the first time, puts it on strong footing for future expansion.

Advisors expect revenue boost this year as Secure 2.0 provisions kick in
Advisors expect revenue boost this year as Secure 2.0 provisions kick in

Most retirement plan specialists anticipate gain of up to 10%.

SPONSORED Record growth: Interval funds emerge as key players in alternative investments

Blue Vault Alts Summit highlights the role of liquidity-focused funds in reshaping advisor strategies

SPONSORED Taylor Matthews on what's behind Farther's rapid growth

From 'no clients' to reshaping wealth management, Farther blends tech and trust to deliver family-office experience at scale.