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Financial Planning > UHNW Client Services > Family Office News

5 non-marketing ideas to increase production

By Erica Pauly

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Today’s retirement advisor is being pulled in every direction for lead generation. From seminars to radio to niche programs to referrals, how are you as an advisor supposed to know which direction to head? 

With hundreds of marketing campaigns pulling at your coattails, how do you know which ones are worth the investment, and which are not? As an advisor, you could easily spend millions of dollars each year between all of the different marketing campaigns available at your fingertips.

Below are five ways you may be able to avoid throwing more money towards new marketing campaigns and instead find exactly which ones you thrive in. And you don’t have to spend a dime to figure it out.

proper planning1. Proper planning

Let’s face it. Advisors generally aren’t recognized for their attention to detail or their ability to plan ahead and follow-through, at all. But planning ahead for any marketing campaign will enable you and your team to think through events, plan them well, and execute them with your best foot forward, knowing they will achieve what you’ve planned for them to achieve. Plan ahead, stick to the plan, and stay focused all the way until it is completed. When you stay on track, you can then be confident in the commissions that will follow.

training2. Efficient employee training

A common trend in our industry is to hire a spouse or a family friend for your team. While hiring that person does not propose an issue, often their lack of training does. Scheduling appointments can be taught quickly, but office management, event planning and marketing are a whole other beast. Training your employees to work with deadlines and plan events backwards will ultimately keep the office running smoothly, issue business faster, and keep everyone accountable. In order to make this happen, your employees should attend at least one team training hosted by your FMO. If your FMO does not offer such a training, find an independent consultant who does specialize in that area. It’s important that your team can keep the office running while you are meeting with clients and closing business.

accountability3. Lack of office accountability

Your team members may know their role in your company and what is expected of them, but without accountability, things will be missed or forgotten. Deadlines for mailings may pass or approach suddenly, leaving you all in a frenzy to quickly plan for your next seminar (which takes us back to number 1). It is imperative to set up accountability within your office. Create a system for your team to help one another stay on task and keep the right priorities in focus. With so many plates spinning, it is easy for even the best employee to drop one. Accountability within your office is crucial to bringing in more prospects, keeping on track, and issuing business promptly.

tracking system4. No tracking system in place

It is imperative for your team to track all lead, appointment, and production data so you can have a clear picture of where clients are coming from, and how much you are making in each of your marketing efforts. Why spend $8,000 on a mailing if seminars aren’t your most profitable marketing campaign? Gathering this information does not take a lot of time. It takes one person to stay on top of entering data into any data tracking template. It could be as easy as 15 minutes per day for your team members to enter in any set of data you need. At the end of the quarter, you will have all the numbers in front of you. It is simple, but it does take accountability to be sure the numbers stay up to date (see No. 3 to review). 

future focus5. Future-only focused

Today’s advisor looks ahead. You look ahead when case planning for a client and you look ahead to grow your business. But not all growth comes from looking forward. Taking a look back a few times a year will help keep your business going in the right direction moving forward. Once tracking templates are in place, and your team is well trained and held accountable to enter in the data you need, it is as easy as sitting down and reviewing your company information. If it has been done properly, it will be clear where you are thriving and what marketing efforts are working well. Taking a look back will show you the holes that need to be filled and will be your key to moving forward, ultimately helping increase production and lower marketing costs.

The next time you see that next great lead generating campaign come across your desk, it may be worth your while to implement a few in-office changes before you throw caution to the wind and toss your hard earned dollars at it. Wouldn’t it be a much better ending if you had the proper structure set up inside your office so you could see exactly how that campaign played out in six months? 

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