Pound the pavement, urges Schwab expert

Advisers need to bolster their sales efforts to snag new clients since most advisory firms’ sales are down 10% to 40%, one industry expert told advisers at the Financial Planning Association’s Business Solutions conference at the Chicago Westin. J. Scott Slater, managing director of business consulting for San Francisco-based Charles Schwab Corp's adviser practice management division, said advisers can't rely on the market rebounding to garner new assets. Instead, Mr. Slater told advisers that their business won’t thrive unless they bring in new clients. He recommended that a firm’s top salesperson should be focusing mostly on getting more leads. "You're not in a position to hire more people to help yourself with the servicing of new clients," Mr. Slater said. "You're dealing with margin compression.” He also advised reps to have weekly sales meetings, and to encourage colleagues as they try to bring in new business. "A lot of it is setting the right expectations," Mr. Slater said. "If an employee got a callback or even a referral from a client then celebrate the smallest success to reinforce what they're doing."