CBC did an informative piece about the dangers of relying on bank insurance for protecting your mortgage.  Check it out:

Guiding clients into making appropriate decisions, based on their financial picture, can be a challenge.

One of the most important things we can do for our clients is to LISTEN to what they are (and aren’t) saying.  Their input and opinions are valuable tools for a Financial Representative!  Afterall, we work for them.  One of the keys to making the relationship work, is to figure out how their mind works.  This article that I am going to share has some tips for dealing with the “Brick Wall.”

Within the article is a link to completing a Money Mindset Quiz – which you can complete for your own knowledge, as well email the link to potential clients to try and get some insight on how they view money.

http://www.advisor.ca/my-practice/know-your-clients-financial-personalities-52725

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=money-mind-set-quiz

You have been working hard with your clients to plan their retirement and to build your book of business.  When retirement occurs and they start withdrawing from their investments for a source of income, it de-cumulates their investment and lowers your profitability.

I highly recommend you read this article for some insight on how it can impact your business – and what you can do about it.

This excerpt, from the article represents some interesting numbers – that bring up some important talk points.

“The under-40 age group represented less than 3.5% of advisors’ revenue streams. The greatest concentration of revenue, on the other hand, was in the 50-60 years of age category, at 32.5%.  Even more compelling, the 50+ group represented a staggering 85% of revenue, on average, in these advisors’ businesses.”

The first being to diversify your client base.  We recommend clients diversify their portfolio - so should we!  Your client base should have a broad range of ages, in order to accommodate all eventualities.  The younger generation will eventually be our “older and more profitable” clientele, so why not treat them like they are now?  Work with them closely and build a solid relationship and celebrate the various stages of life with them.

The second major point is our future.  We are designed to die.  We all know we can’t bring anything with us when we enter the gates of Heaven – so we leave our money and assets behind to the generations remaining.  If you don’t have a relationship with their son or daughter, what makes you think they will involve you in the financial planning of those funds or assets?  With a relationship already in place, they will turn to you automatically for advice, and ultimately, for service of these assets.  While financial planning, include the whole family.  Ask for those referrals for their friends and family members.  That way, the older generation can be confident their loved ones are in good hands – and the younger generation knows their parents are being looked after by someone they know and trust.  It is a win-win for all parties involved.

“Seniors Need Life Insurance Too!”

Experienced advisors know that people’s insurance needs don’t end when their house is paid off, or their kids have grown up and started lives of their own.  Every person has a different list of reasons why they might need coverage to the end of their lives.

From a professional stand point – I would argue that EVERYONE needs “End of Life” coverage.  Funerals are an expensive burden to leave your family with!  At an average cost of $12,00 CDN, that money must be sourced from your children and\or spouse.  If you asked them today, “Do you have $12,000 right now to pay for my funeral if something should happen to me?” – how many would say yes?  On the other-hand, I believe if you asked them if they would be willing to pay a small amount per month to cover a life insurance policy, of which would pay for your funeral and possibly offer some extra funds to even repay their investment into the policy – they would say YES!  This would essentially revert that policy into costing them nothing in the long run.  A return of premium becomes more of investment for them, along with the added benefit of having the funeral paid for.  It is food for thought!

Along the same same lines, their is a great article here that provides some other reason why seniors should think about  insurance.

{Guest post by: By Donald Cooper, MBA, CSP, HoF.}

Do you have a clear sense of how big and how good you want to be in your business and your life?  What’s your Vision…and do you have a Plan to become it?  Remember, there’s no such thing as business goals …only the personal goals of the people who control the business.
Life is full of possibilities and, ultimately, it’s about making wise choices.  An example that I often use with clients to illustrate the many possible Visions that we can have for both our business and our life is what I call “The 4 Barbers”.  Here’s how it goes…
Barber #1 works in other people’s barbershops all his life.  He struggles to make ends meet, takes two week’s vacation each year and then, one day, he goes home and dies.
Barber #2 opens his own barbershop.  He says, “I’m not working for somebody else. I want to be my own boss but I’m not going to hire anyone else to work with me.  That’s way too stressful.  They probably won’t do things my way and they’ll mess everything up. I’ll be happier working alone.”  He works long hours, six days a week, 50 weeks a year and when he’s not there, he’s not earning.  Then, one day he locks up his shop, he goes home and he dies.

Barber #3 opens his own beautifully designed shop, hires four other barbers, a hair washer and a manicurist and sells top quality, professional hair care products to his clientele, thus creating leverage and the add-on sale.  He builds equity in his business by creating a loyal clientele.
He becomes so expert at cutting hair and promoting himself that he becomes the preferred hair stylist for top businessmen and celebrities in his market area.  He and his wife take three vacations a year and while he’s away the business keeps making money. On his 60th birthday he sells his barbershop and he and his wife travel the world doing most of the things that they’ve always wanted to do. They also set up a foundation to teach street kids to become top hair stylists. And one day, they go home and they die.
You see it always ends the same way.  We’re all going to die…but that’s not the point.  The point is the journey.  The point is choosing for yourself the journey that gives you and the people you love the most joy and the least regret.

Barber #4 is a former chartered accountant who owns the Magi-Cuts hair cutting business with hundreds of low-price, high volume franchises and several high-end salons.  By age 38 his company had sales of $300 million and the man does not personally know how to cut a head of hair…but he does have Vision, passion, focus and the ability to lead and manage.
There’s no right or wrong here…only the reality of how big and how good you want to be and how big you must be to be a profitable market leader and to create your extraordinary life. What is “wrong” is not thinking it through; not considering the possibilities; not making wise choices for yourself and for the people you love, and not having a Plan to make your extraordinary business and life happen.  What’s “wrong” is ending your life with an overwhelming feeling of regret!

So, which “Barber” do you choose to be?
Hi there.  Here is the Word version.  Below is what we’d like to have as Donald’s credit…

Donald Cooper, MBA, CSP, HoF, is a Toronto-based international business speaker and coach.  He helps business owners and managers to rethink, refocus and re-energize their business to create compelling customer value, clarity of purpose and long-term profitability.  Donald can be reached at 416-252-3704…or by email at donald@donaldcooper.com.

{guest post by: Helena Devries Sales Manager FaithLife Financial}

I was reading an article written by Bill Cates, The Referral Minute.  Here are some creative ways for advisors to market events.  These ideas came out of a Referral Boot Camp for Financial Professionals near Baltimore, Maryland. Twenty-four financial professionals gathered for a 1½- day immersion into the referral process. The attendees were from all over the world (including Mark, who came all the way from Australia).
This issue contains some simple ideas that came from the Boot Camp attendees. That’s one of the beauties of the Boot Camp. Every attendee brings their Best Practices to share. Read through these simple ideas and act on each one as quickly as you can. Each idea works towards you getting more and better referrals.

Host a Wii Party

One Boot Camp participant told us about very successful client (bring-a-friend) event. She hired a party planner to help her put together a Wii party. She had 6 stations in a private room in a local pub. She said that all her clients had a blast playing Wii tennis, baseball, bowling, etc, without their children making fun of them. This event has already yielded 4 new clients with several more possible.

Help Clients Promote their Business

Another Boot Camp participant told us about an event where she hosted a party at her home for many of her small business clients (and salespeople, etc.). The purpose of this event was to introduce them all to each other to see what alliances or even direct business might be generated. Her clients were invited to bring their promotional literature and promotion products (chachkies). When you give referrals like this, referrals tend to come back to you.

The Power of Scarce Resources

Here is an age-old marketing strategy. How you can apply it to your business? One of the Boot Camp attendees told us about a remarkable phenomenon that happened to her in 2008. When the stock market was tanking, she informed her clients that, for the time being, she could not take on any new clients. She wanted to focus on helping all her current clients get through this tough period. Her phone began ringing off the hook! “I need you to work with my parents!” “My business partner was about to call you.” “Can’t you take one more?”
Limiting her resources created more demand. How can you apply this to your practice? Are you allowed to put “by referral only” on your business card? Can you tell your clients that you only have X number of slots available this year for new clients? Can you tell them that you need to be very careful how many and what types of clients you choose to serve so that you continue to bring them a high level of service? Brainstorm this with your team and/or some of your colleagues.

Creative Centers of Influence

One advisor at the Boot Camp has tapped into Executive Recruiters as a great source of high-quality referrals. When people are changing jobs, they probably need you! You can meet these folks through your client base and by going to chamber of commerce events and other business events. You can also find them through internet searches, but I always recommend relationship-based methodologies first.

Business Friendships Create Loyalty and Referrals

Here are a few websites that will help you work on your business friendships with your clients. http://www.BirthdayAlarm.com allows you to enter all your clients birthdays and then will remind you when it’s time to send a card. http://www.SendOutCards.com/billcates will do this too, but allows you to send out a real paper card for all sorts of occasions. At http://www.dmarie.com/timecap you can put in the date of a client’s birthday (or their child’s birthday) and come up with all sorts of fun and interesting information. For instance, the year I was born bread cost $0.16 a loaf and gas was only $0.27 per gallon. You will have to figure out what year that was.

How do you want your clients to feel about doing business with you?
As you continually work on your client-service model to provide your clients with the best possible service and build the best possible relationships, keep this thought in mind, “How do I want my clients to feel about doing business with me/us?” By you and your team asking this question every step along the way, you will be more creative and more client focused. Then, translate the answers to this question into specific action steps, items on your check lists, etc.

Business Friendships Create Loyalty and Referrals

Here are a few websites that will help you work on your business friendships with your clients. http://www.BirthdayAlarm.com allows you to enter all your clients birthdays and then will remind you when it’s time to send a card. http://www.SendOutCards.com/billcates will do this too, but allows you to send out a real paper card for all sorts of occasions. At http://www.dmarie.com/timecap you can put in the date of a client’s birthday (or their child’s birthday) and come up with all sorts of fun and interesting information. For instance, the year I was born bread cost $0.16 a loaf and gas was only $0.27 per gallon. You will have to figure out what year that was.
How do you want your clients to feel about doing business with you?
As you continually work on your client-service model to provide your clients with the best possible service and build the best possible relationships, keep this thought in mind, “How do I want my clients to feel about doing business with me/us?” By you and your team asking this question every step along the way, you will be more creative and more client focused. Then, translate the answers to this question into specific action steps, items on your check lists, etc.