Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Practice Management > Building Your Business

Get Organized, and Grow Your Business

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

If the key to growing a business is marketing, then the key to managing a business is being organized. I’ve been focusing more lately on becoming more organized. For example, when I meet with a client, I need to easily determine if there is anything I have not covered which needs to be discussed. Are they taking advantage of every available service? To help keep track of this, I have created a customized report in ACT. Then, when I meet with a client, I will print out this report, and bring it to the meeting. The report is divided into several sections including: contact info, goals, services, and family.

The contact info section contains their mailing and e-mail addresses, phone numbers, the person who referred them, the date of our last meeting, client status or category (i.e.; “A” or “B”), birthdate, anniversary, etc.

The goals section lists their goals and the target date of each and any comments I may have logged.

The services section is divided into three parts. They are: portfolio management, financial planning, and miscellaneous. The portfolio management section tells me if I have all necessary documents on file, their required rate of return, their risk profile, etc. The financial planning section also shows which documents I have on file, plus the effective date of the planning engagement and the applicable fee. The miscellaneous section shows whether they subscribe to my newsletter, and a couple of additional services.

The family section lists each child and grandchild, their DOBs, and spouse’s name if applicable. Then I can talk about their family when we meet, which is an important part of the relationship.

In addition, I have created a marketing tab. The data in this tab includes every referral the client has made, the date of the referral, the result, whether or not a thank you has been sent, and a section for notes.

There is also a document tab where I will store the clients risk questionnaire, investment advisory agreement, financial planning engagement letter, and a few other pertinent documents.

Using ACT or something similar is an extremely useful tool in organizing and managing the business.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.