Plan your 2010 communications launch

As December winds down, now is the time to reflect on the last year and determine what, if anything, you would have done differently in your practice or even in your personal life

As December winds down, now is the time to reflect on the last year and determine what, if anything, you would have done differently in your practice or even in your personal life. The answer may be nothing. It was a challenging year, and the good news is, it has ended on a more a positive note than 2008.

Review the business-planning tips from the past two weeks and fine-tune your plan. Answer the questions about where your practice is today and where you would like it to be at the end of next year and in five years. And finally, do your top three personal or life goals align with the goals for your practice? One top adviser said she takes two hours each day during the last three business days of the year to reflect on her business, tighten up her plan, and then celebrate the wins from the year. Often we don’t celebrate the ways we have helped clients and made a difference. Now is the time.

Complete your 2010 business plan

We have given you several resources for business plans, but the best place to start is your firm’s intranet or business-planning area. A business plan is designed to set goals, identify service levels, segment clients, identify new revenue streams, and map out how you will get there. One of the most critical areas to concentrate on is your communications plan. There have been many discussions about clients who are considering moving to a new adviser once the year-end tax reporting is completed. Having ongoing communications with your clients will be critical, and that should be your focus in the first quarter. Specifically, locking in clients’ rollovers and capturing their colleagues as new clients.

Execute and measure results

This is where the rubber meets the road. One top adviser said that by putting a quarterly business plan review in place, he was able to shift the direction of his practice in 2009 to reposition it as a retirement rollover resource, and as a result, he’s gained a new range of referrals from current clients. Here are a few tips to execute your plan and measure results every quarter:

Commit to a quarterly review the last week of each quarter (put it on your calendar right now).
Review life goals along with business revenue.
Check what is working and what is not.
Identify three things that need to happen to reach weekly, monthly and quarterly goals.
Discuss roles and responsibilities — have job descriptions, goals and specific responsibilities for each team member. Hint: One adviser tied quarterly bonuses to reaching the practice’s overall goals. The result was that every member had ownership and excitement.

Consider team coaching with another adviser (not necessarily with your firm), and share your goals and vision. Create a coaching checklist and meet or talk once a month. It is easy to see on paper if you are reaching your business goals, but much harder to evaluate what is working and what is not. It will be valuable to gain another professional viewpoint.

Have clear revenue goals

Write down annual goals. Set the expectation for your team and manage to changes.

Ring in the New Year with a Client Communication
Here are three examples of client communications that advisers use to jump-start the year, with little or no time commitment:
Happy New Year newsletter with a perspective on the markets, risk management or Roth IRA conversion information. Call your key wholesalers this week for an approved newsletter or see the MMI’s website for an industry white paper on risk management.
Send a checklist on the Roth IRA conversion opportunity. InvestmentNews has a calculator to help clients determine if they qualify, and again, leverage the resources your wholesalers have available that have been firm-approved. Even if clients don’t qualify, they may have family and friends who do.
E-mail top clients the communications, along with the seminar and events calendar, to set expectations. Proactive communications to clients reinforce how you are helping them through these times. Keep in mind that clients often leave a practice because of the lack of communication.