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Okay, everybody, let’s get to it. Now, let’s talk about how to automate your lead generation process using social media. So first thing we’re going to talk about is what is social media? What is each medium for? We understand – okay, social media – there’s Twitter, there’s Facebook, there’s YouTube, is blogging, there’s podcasting. But what is it? What are they each for? Is there a purpose for each one? On the surface it just looks like Twitter – it’s a waste of time. Facebook – why would I want to do that? And it just seems like another job.

So what I’m going to do is just sort of talk about each medium and really what it seems to be focused on – in our opinion where it’s best used, and what Twitter is for. So we’ll start off with Twitter, and then we’ll move on to Facebook and YouTube, blogging and podcasting.

So Twitter – really what Twitter is great for is its instant, up to the second notifications on new happenings in areas of your interest. So when you go to follow somebody, basically what you’re doing is you’re going to be following areas of interest, or people of interest, or something that’s of interest to you. So it’s interesting. I’ll give you an example of how I really got turned on to Twitter, and it impacted me on how powerful this medium is. There was an earthquake that happened. It started in the DC area and traveled all the way north up to where I’m at, which is north of Toronto. And I was sitting at my desk in our Caledon office – sitting at my desk and all

of a sudden my desk started moving back and forth. And I looked out the window and realized it wasn’t my guess. It was the whole house was starting to sway back and forth. And I sort of stopped for a minute and I thought, should I bolt? What should I do? What the heck was that? That must’ve been an earthquake.

So I was sitting at my desk, and I went to my computer, and I fired up Google. And I quickly googled Caledon earthquake – nothing. I went to one of the local news – or a main news company’s website. I think I went to CTV, which is a local national news in Canada here – nothing. And I went to Yahoo. I just started – and I thought there’s nothing there. But I happen to have my Twitter account up, so I went in to Twitter, and I quickly typed in Caledon earthquake, or earthquake I think the term was. I just typed in the word earthquake. And all of a sudden – boom, boom, boom – there was like 20, 30, 40 entries of people saying, “Hey, did you feel that? I think there was an earthquake. There was an earthquake.” And I quickly tweeted something out that, “Yeah, I felt it up here.” And all of a sudden all the information I was looking for came through. I read through all the information. I must’ve been there about five minutes or so. I went back to some of the other news sites. Sure enough – there was nothing there.

So the speed at which people were communicating back on Twitter – it was amazing. And I thought, well that’s interesting. I mean, that was sort of an area or topic of interest that I needed to find out about. So searching in Twitter was possible, Andy gave me some instant updates. As well, it’s a great tool for if there is something of interest. I mean, that’s what you do. You follow the people of interest. And from that social media standpoint, from a lead generation standpoint, that’s what you want to do. You want to actually get people to follow you because you are an area of interest for them.

So now are going to talk about Facebook. So where does Facebook fit into all this? Facebook is actually a powerful, huge, huge thing. But basically what Facebook is Facebook is a log of content, new content, from people and companies you’ve elected to associate with. So it could be from your friends. It could be from companies that you like. It could be from certain things. You can also … really, what you’re looking at there, I mean, it’s all about the Like, the Like factor. So basically when you’re basically in Facebook, you’re wanted people to like you. And if they like you, then they’re going to start see the feeds you’re putting out. So you’re on Twitter – or people are on Twitter – because they’re … sorry I was just talking about Twitter. You’re on Facebook, and people are on Facebook because they’re wanting to follow the happenings of certain people or companies that are of interest to them.

So I can use an example of that. I was interested in a new restaurant that was in the area. So I went on to Facebook, and I went because my curiosity was – if people really like the restaurant, then they’re going to “like” the restaurant. So sure enough, I went in, I found the restaurant, and there were a whole group of people that had liked it. And I thought, wow. They’re all different people. None of them were my direct group of friends, but people did like. And I thought well that’s interesting. So there’s social proof. And really in Facebook, it’s all about social proof. So if you can garner a lot of that social proof for yourself then when people, if they happen to search for some of the content, or if they like some of the content that you’re putting out there, then it might motivate them to somehow take it to the next level and find out more about you and even get together with you.

Then we’re going to talk about YouTube. So YouTube – what is it? Well, I mean, we all know it as sort of a video sharing site. Well, it’s a communication sharing consolidator, and it really allows you to subscribe to video content from providers who are of interest to you. So it could be certain sport activities. I know I’ve got … I subscribe to a couple of … I’m a water skier, so there’s some mountain biking ones, which I’m also interested in. But basically it’s a great place to get some information in a different format, which is a video format. So an example of where you might want to use that – you might want to host some of your webinar content there. And you can even post your podcast content. So if you’re started a podcast, then you can host those there as well. Now if you’re doing a video podcast, then you can put the video. And if not, then you just put the audio up there with an information screen that stays on as well. So just another content consolidator that you can take advantage of.

Now blogging – it is a fantastic medium that really allows anyone to post their views on specific topics, and then you can follow their writing. So if there’s a journalist or somebody that’s got a topic of interest for you, and you happen to like their writing, and like their opinion, and like their views – or maybe you don’t like their opinion, you don’t like their views, but you’re still interested in it nonetheless – then you can actually follow their blog writings. And so that’s what the medium is all about. It’s again, another content consolidator for a certain person or companies views. An example of that – if you just want to check out Mashable.com. I mean, that’s a great blog because it’s got topics on all different types of things. And it’s a nice example of that.

And then finally, we’re going to talk about podcasts. I mean, this is where it’s recorded audio, can also be video, and it’s basically of shows dealing with specific topics of interest. So again, if there’s a topic that you’re interested in, you can go to iTunes and you can search for a variety of podcasts that might be talking about that particular topic.

That’s what each medium is really for and that’s … you can start to think about that a little bit, so you can start to take advantage of the different options that are available. People tend to gravitate to the consumption method that fits their lifestyle. So I tend to personally … I’m a podcast junkie, so I’ve got a whole slew of podcasts that I listen to. And I happen to be in the car quite a bit. I have a certain hour probably commute back and forth to our head office, so I’m in the car for at least two hours on the days that I do head into the head office there. And even if it’s … before I go to bed I can throw on a podcast on a certain topic. But it’s amazing ’cause it’s a great … it’s almost like … I sort of equate it to an audible – what’s the term I’m looking for? It’s the documentary – sorry – an audible documentary on a particular topic. So it’s just something that allows me to get up to date, current information because when people are podcasting – if they’re keeping up with their podcast – then it’s sort of the latest and greatest information on that particular topic.

So definitely, everyone’s got their own consumption methods and their own ways that they want to consume things. And a lot of people go for walks, and they go for runs. And again, I tend to do a lot of mountain biking, so I’ll take my iPhone with me, throw on one of the podcasts that I’ve got, and listen to it through my ride.

So what we want to take from this is that we really need to be posting through each method to ensure we capture the greatest audience. Because if you’ve got some people who like to listen to things on their computer, other people that like to listen to things in their car, other people that like to listen to things on their iPhone or their MP3 player or just simply read things on their website – there’s different communication or different content consumption methods for each person. And so you can’t just say I’m only going to do a podcast, for example, because some people may not want to listen to a podcast. They may just want to read things. So you want to make sure that you’re going to be using each consumption method, and you’re posting to that.

So the problem with that is who has time to do all of this? I mean, it takes a certain amount of time to do it, but I’m going to sort of share with you my plan, the way I do things with the whole social media thing and making sure that people see me as a content provider that they want to get involved with, and how I make it because I don’t want to add another job to my already busy life. So this is the plan that I use.

So when it comes to Twitter … what I do with Twitter is first of all you want to create a Twitter account that will be used to deliver content to your target market. So I have a few Twitter accounts and each one is devoted to a particular target market. So you set up your Twitter account, and if you can get clear on who your target is for that particular account, that’s going to make a big difference. So you set up that Twitter account and you’re then going to go to your Google Reader. So with Google, there’s a program called Google Reader. Now what it does is – it’s a free program. You just go into Google and google Google Reader. And what it does is it’s an RSS feed consolidator. Now we won’t get into too much detail on RSS feeds, but RSS stands for really simple syndication. And so what it does – it’s the opposite of what you’d think. So if you have a blog or something that – a website that you like the content on that you go back to on a fairly frequent basis – what the Google Reader will do is it will actually pull in to you anytime there’s new content on that particular site. So create a Google Reader account, and then create a folder of various websites that you go to to consolidate the content of interest to your target market. Now you’ve got content that you can start to talk about in your Twitter feeds.

So you’re gonna then … you’re gonna start off with getting the Google Reader account, set it up, and then create the folder for that particular target market. Then you’re gonna create what’s called a tweet inventory. And the tweet inventory – it sort of contains all of … a lot of things – relevant quotes, relevant statistics, topics on your blog, topics found in your Google Reader account we just talked about, event notifications, and then certain tweets that you can put in the inventory about marketing your services. Now you want to be limited on that because you don’t want to be seen to be selling or marketing too, too much. You want to be … really Twitter is you want to be focused on providing valuable content that is not self-serving. Really take a look at that. Create your tweet inventory because it’s gonna come in handy when you have your weekly routine.

So what I do every Monday morning is it takes me about 15 minutes, and I open up my Google Reader account, and I start just going through the folder particularly devoted to that particular Twitter account, so that particular niche. And I start going through it and I look for content that has been delivered to my Google Reader account that’s of interest to that particular market. It takes about 15 minutes. You get however many you want for the week, and basically then you’re going to put it together. And this is now part of your content that you’re gonna be sharing via Twitter. So the question then is how do you share it all? Well, there’s a variety of programs that we’ve gone through and we’re tested. Some work really well. Some really don’t work very well. Some you want to stay away from because Twitter might see them as spammy type programs. You want to make it seem like it’s something that’s actually being delivered by you and not sort of spamming out there.

So what you do is you go to www.ourtestedsocialmediadashboard.com, and what you’re going to find there are the social media dashboards that I’m currently using and why I’m using them. So go there, click on the links and that will give you some information – the current ones that we’re using and why we’re using it. And basically what you’re gonna do is you’re going to schedule those tweets for the entire week. So really what you want to do is you want to schedule them probably 10 to 20 tweets a day, starting whatever time in the morning. Recognize as well that most people are reading their tweets first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. So you don’t want to be spending too much time in the middle of the day because it’s probably going to get lost. But you do want to focus on making sure you have enough tweets going out there so that whenever somebody goes to check their account, they’re probably going to see some of the content that you’re putting out there. But you also want to make sure that a lot of the content isn’t repeated on a regular basis throughout the day. So you need to build a lot of that inventory from the Google account. So go out there and then schedule the tweets so that for the entire week your tweets are gonna be running out, and therefore, you’re basically done. So go to www.ourtestedsocialmediadashboard.com, and you’re gonna find a listing of the tested social media dashboards that we’re currently using.

So that takes care of Twitter. Now, the podcasting then is part of our plan as well. What you’re gonna do with podcasting is you’re gonna create an episode template. The key to podcasting is making sure there’s a certain routine, and there’s a certain frequency to the podcast because people are gonna start to rely on that. And you’re gonna train them, and they’re gonna start to anticipate – well what’s coming up? So this is just a rough template that I like to use. You start off with an episode announcement. So you’re gonna record that each time. You’re gonna then look at the intro, which can be pre-recorded. So you record it once and then you’ve got that spot for each one, so you don’t have to record it each time. And then you’re going to record an “in this episode” spot as well. It’s probably a 30 second spot that just sort of explains what the episode … what you’re gonna be talking about. Then you’re also gonna move on to a “what’s new” section. So I just talk about what’s new. I mean, if you look at the beginning of this podcast, I sort of shared with you what was new in my life today in the area of fee-based financial planning and shared that. And it just allows people to build a bit of a relationship with you because you’re sort of sharing some current happenings in your life.

Then the next section you’re going to record is gonna be a feature segment. And this is where you’re gonna be talking about whatever the topic is for that particular episode. You’re gonna dive deep into it. You’re gonna try and make it as valuable content as you can get. And really explain and divulge as much information as you possibly can. If you want, you can also have been the next segment, which would be a bonus segment. And there you just sort of added some bonus material that might be … it could be a quick tip. It could be certain applications that you’re using, certain software that you’re using, certain tools that you’re using, whatever – just something of interest, something that might be considered a bonus for the listener. And then you can also … in the last step you are going to how is what’s called an “outro” and that’s where … you can pre-record that. You record it once, and it’s basically just the ending of the podcast. So that gives you a rough episode template.

And now the next question that people usually have for me is, “What do I talk about? What topics do I talk about?” Well, what you want to do is you want to create a topic inventory. And I’ll tell you, it’s amazing the different times you’ll think of – oh wow that would be a really interesting topic to talk about, and then you don’t write it down anywhere, or you don’t have a process for being able to capture the information. You sit down to start recording your podcast, and you just go blank. So you want to have the topic inventory. So each step of the unique process that you have is important. So what you can do is – to use some examples of topics – you can talk about all the different stages of your financial planning process. So talk about the first meeting, talk about the second meeting, talk about what happens at the planned presentation meetings, for whatever. Really just talk about the importance, and why each component is so integral to your overall financial planning process. Another thing you could talk about – you could highlight a specific topic or concept so you could start talking about maybe some current – right now in the marketplace, retirees in my market are really, really focused on “What are the best income solutions? How do I ensure my income is stable and not affected by the market volatility and whatnot?” So you could talk about various topics. You can talk about the insurances, or government initiatives, or government programs, or anything like that. So you can do that. So those are some examples of topics you can talk about.

Now, moving on – we’re going to talk about blogging. Now blogs right now are really – how do I put it? They are replacing traditional websites. So traditional websites were more of a glorified business cards. Well blogging, or belongs, are now kind of replacing that because now what people are interested in on the Internet is there recognizing the internet as a great place for gathering content, for gaining information. Well, you want to sort of support. And people are looking for content, and when they come to your website, if you don’t have any content, all it does is it’s a fancy looking site that your mom might be impressed with, but if it doesn’t deliver any value instantly, then you’re really not going to be attracting their interest.

Well, that’s where blogs are changing things because blogs now allow you to provide a tremendous amount of value to the market that you’re working in. So a good website is a good content site for a particular topic or niche. What do you do if you already have a website? I ran into this problem when I sorta dove into this. And I thought, okay, well I spent a lot of money on putting together my website. I don’t want to just trash that because it does look good, and it does sort of explain what it is we do, and how we do it, and all that stuff. But the problem with it was a really didn’t have a lot of content. So what are some of the things you can do to sort of build this? Well, what we did was we added a WordPress blog to our existing website. So definitely WordPress, hands down, there’s no other blogging platform that I would recommend you use. You just must use it. It’s free. It’s got so much support. There’s so many plug-ins. There’s so many added programs you can do. There’s just nothing you can’t seem to do with WordPress. And it’s just probably the easiest one that I’ve ever come across using. There are other ones out there, but the reality is the support that WordPress has behind it – it just feeds right into all the search engines, and it’s just an amazing program. And the fact that it’s free just blows me away.

So what you’d want to do is you either want to add a WordPress blog to your existing site, and then just add the blog button on your site. Or you can, if you want to, you can just replace your entire site. So if you don’t really like your existing site, then definitely go ahead. You could just replace that site with a new site. Point your URL to your new WordPress site and just start building it that way. I mean, it’s so easy to use, with all the different plug-ins, and themes, and looks, and feels you can make with it. It’s just basically point and click. And boom, it just looks fantastic. WordPress really – I can’t stress it enough – that you want to be using when it comes to content management. It’s 100% free, used by serious companies. I mean, I’m just going to list for you – I just went through and googled who’s using WordPress for their website. Well, here’s the list: top down it’s the New York Times, CNN, Forbes, Reuters, Maclean’s, General Motors, UPS, eBay, Sony, Volkswagen, Yahoo, Digg, Ford, People, Samsung. I mean, these are serious Fortune 500 companies, in many cases, that are all using WordPress. So you definitely … you can’t go wrong if you’re following that.

So the thing is, though, you’ve got to host your WordPress site somewhere. And not every host is set up for WordPress. So again, what I would do is I’ve gone through … I’ve got my old site, which is hosted at a completely different place, and when I found out how easy it was to post your own site and how inexpensive it was compared to what a pain in the other one, I just couldn’t believe it. So we’ve gone through, and we’ve tested out a whole variety of web hosts. So what I would do is go to www.ourtestedwebhost.com, and there you will get a listing of who we’re currently using for the sites like this. For what we’re talking about here, you don’t need to go and blow your brains out on a big powerful sort of dedicated server host. A shared server platform is fantastic, but you want to make sure that you’re with a very reputable one. So go to www.ourtestedwebhost.com, and you’ll find out who that is. I think ours cost us $5 or $6 a month, and you can have as many WordPress sites as you want on that particular account. It’s just amazing. And the greatest thing about that is that the site … they have a one-button setup, where you basically activate your account, you go down, you find the WordPress logo, you click on it, it says, “Do you want to install WordPress on this particular host, on this site?” You say, yes, and it just says okay. What do you want your user name and your password to be so you can login to use it. And boom, you’re good to go. It basically sets the entire thing up for you – safe, secure – it’s a one button click. It literally takes less than five minutes to set up. It’s an amazing program. So definitely go to www.ourtestedwebhost.com, and you can get your WordPress site set up. And literally, you’re set up in minutes. Then you can start posting your blogs and your content from that point.

So now, what do you put on your blog? Well, I would break 500 word opinion articles or how-to articles. You can post your podcast, if you’ve got a podcast, and you want to post it, definitely post it through your content site, through your WordPress site. That’s how we do ours, and there’s a way that we set it up so whenever we post it to our WordPress site, it instantly gets then put up onto the iTunes site. And then basically all of our iTunes subscribers get it as well. So we try to leverage off of everything and basically I want to make things as simple as possible. So I do something once, and then it sort of spreads the information out to where it needs to go.

You can answer common questions with your blog posts. So if you know that there’s certain questions that seem to be coming in, what I would do is go and check your inbox and see what kind of e-mails are coming in from clients, and what questions are they asking you? So you can start to answer those questions in your blog posts, and then you can start to share that information with your clients, with other prospective clients, and anybody who’s interested. People start googling certain questions, and if you’ve answered not a one of your blog posts – because you’re using WordPress – it’s going to then need that information into Google, and it’s going to already archive, or it’s going to index that through Google. So when people start searching for it, they may just come across your site because you’ve already answered the exact question.

Remember, Google ranks you based on relevancy, and if the person’s search criteria very, very closely matches the topic and the content that’s in the WordPress post that you put together, then your relevancy goes way up. And that means people are going to start finding out about you more and more. So the more posts you get the more chances you have of being raised up higher in the search engines. And then you’re going to promote valuable content. So you can promote things like free reports, free videos – any sort of incentive that you can put together. And the purpose of the incentives, the purpose for the free reports is to … and we’ve talked about it … or we’ll talk about it in future podcasts. But you want to start building a database, an e-mail database, of people who are interested in your information, your content. So you can say, “Look, I’ve got this free report. If you want to get a copy of it, just give me your e-mail address, and I’ll send it right up to you.” And you set that up. You can set that up, and your auto-responder takes over. It sends it right back out, and says, “Here’s the report you’re asking for.” Now you got that information. You got that person on your mailing list, and you can start to build a relationship with them.

So that takes care of the blog from what to put on your blog. The other question is what’s the best way to set up your blog? And we talked about that as well – definitely WordPress, definitely go to www.ourtestedwebhost.com because it’s going to give you a direct link to the current company that we’re using, which basically gives you bad quick install for WordPress. And I tell ya, literally within a few minutes, you’ll be up and running. The next question is, well, how do you make your blog look better because we’ll tell you, when you do set up your first WordPress blog, it looks kind of crappy. It doesn’t really … it’s got some of the generic look and feel. It has no bearing on your particular … maybe you got your company name there, but that’s about it. So what I want you to do is … you want to start looking at what’s called WordPress premium themes. And premium themes are complete websites in a template. And what they do is they change the look and feel of your website. They give you control over it, so you can change the color. You can change the font. You can change the way it shows up, where the columns are. It’s amazing what you can do. It’s all pre-formatted into these great themes.

So we’ve gone through, we’ve tried all whole variety of themes. The best ones we’ve been able to find again are at www.ourtestedwordpressthemes.com, and there you’re going to find a listing of the current theme companies that we’re using. And now the companies that we’re using, we’re using for a reason. These companies keep their themes updated. As WordPress keeps on evolving and more added features keep on getting added to it, you want to make sure that the theme you’re using can keep up with the WordPress version a you’re on. So one of the great things about the www.ourtestedwordpressthemes.com is that they make sure their themes are always kept up to date. So you buy it once – I think it’s $70 for three themes. So you get three different themes for $70, and you can try them out and whatever. But basically once you gonna, they keep on updating it whenever there’s a new release of the new WordPress, WordPress will update itself. And then you can automatically come along and say, “Then I want to update my theme, so that it matches the current version.” And in these, www.ourtestedwordpressthemes.com, that’s going to happen for free.

When I started my first website, I spent over $15,000 to have it developed. WordPress has basically brought that down. So what I did was I went and I paid $70 to the www.ourtestedwordpressthemes.com – $70, I got three templates, which allowed me to sort of play with the look and feel of it. And the company that I had paid over $15,000 for my original site, I had them take a look because I thought maybe I’ll have them come in and do some fine tuning on the WordPress site. They came and looked at it and said, “There’s not much we can do. Everything looks pretty good.” And sure enough, I was able to choose the colors that match my existing site. So when I had people go and they click on the blog link, it takes them right to our WordPress site and – yeah, sure, it looks a little different – but it seems to be inspired by, so you’d still know you’re in the same company’s website. And you realize that now, because you’re in the blog or the content management site, now you’re starting to get the information that you’re looking for. So it was amazing when they came back to me and said, “Well, there’s not much I can do because the theme that you’re using looks pretty good.” I thought, man, have we, a long way – $70 for three themes – unbelievable. So for me I think my website now costs … for the first year it cost me $170. It was $100 for hosting for the year, and $70 for the three themes. And that’s it. So I haven’t put another dime into it. It’s amazing how much you can do for quite an inexpensive amount and look completely professional. So definitely check out www.ourtestedwordpressthemes.com, and I will give you all the information you need for making your blog and the WordPress site look fantastic.

So now we’re going to move onto YouTube. So what’s my plan on YouTube? Well, webinars – I interview a lot of other professionals. You can interview people. You can do screen captures or whatever of certain content that you might find of value to your audience. So definitely take advantage of that, and you can then post those onto YouTube – quarterly investment updates, basic conceptual explanations of certain topics. How to topics for financial planning, how to register for government pension benefits, how to register for … how much life insurance? I mean, the topics are endless. So whatever topics you can find, then just think them up. What are questions that clients are asking you? And just go and answer those questions through screen capture or a webinar. So definitely take that and then you can post those on YouTube. Again, what you’re doing is you’re putting that valuable content on the Internet. YouTube is owned by Google, so you know it’s going to rank high in the search results.

And then now we’re moving on to Facebook. So what’s the plan for Facebook? Well, Facebook is the greatest tool for gaining social proof. So everything in Facebook is all about social proof. I really don’t care too much about Facebook for my personal profile. Don’t worry about your personal profile unless you … really just reserve it for your personal friends and family. But I don’t spend any time on my personal profile. I spend all my time on my company page. So you want to make sure that you have a good company page and that the emphasis on the company page … see people initially come to it. So you can send out links and say hey, check you my company page, all the information you need there. When they get there, you want to offer them some sort of an incentive to like you because they may get there, and then say they look around and that’s about it. But then it doesn’t help you in the social proof area.

So Facebook pages – first of all, what are they? Well, it’s not your profile. Everybody needs a personal profile when you get onto Facebook. But then you can add these things called pages. The pages are where you can have … if you’ve got a company or different divisions of your company, or if you’re a financial planning firm, you’ve got your financial planning side of your business. You’ve got the investment side of your business. You got the insurance side of your business. You can have a page for each component of your business. So definitely take advantage of the Facebook pages and start driving people to that. Now how many pages should you have? As many topics as you want to talk about that are specific to niches. You can have one for … if you have insurance in your practice, and you wanted to have one for life insurance, for long-term care insurance, critical illness insurance, disability insurance. You can have a page for each one if you wanted to, if you find that that’s going to be of greater value for you to be able to share the content that you want. Now the thing you’ve got to remember with pages is that you do have to somewhat keep them updated. And the more pages you have, the more work is going to be to keep those updated.

So another question is – how do you get these things set up because if you go around and check out all the different pages that are out there, some of them look pretty good? How did they do that? And the one thing this is not is not a podcast that will teach you how to set up your WordPress – your Facebook pages. It’s just not something that we do. And to be honest with you, I don’t really care how to set up. I don’t want to learn how to set it up. That’s a waste of my time. My time is definitely spent that are developing content. So what we’ve done is there are certain people that we’re using for setting up our pages, and you want to check out www.ourtestedfacebookpagedesign.com. That’s www.ourtestedfacebookpagedesign.com, and what you’re gonna find there – you’re gonna find the companies that we are currently using for setting up our Facebook pages. And the pricing – dirt cheap, again. For what you’re getting and the presence that you’re building on your Facebook page – as you don’t want to have sort of a Mickey Mouse style thing, like when the websites were being developed first of all, you didn’t want to have sort of a Mickey Mouse, looks like it was developed by your grandson in his garage. You want to have a pretty good looking Facebook page because that’s going to be the first representation, and you’re going to encourage people to like your page. So definitely check out www.ourtestedfacebookpagedesign.com, and that will give you who we’re currently using to set up our pages.

So what else can you put on your Facebook page? I mean, you can actually put – once you got the page setup – you can then have a page within that page. Because remember, a page is kind of like a mini website, so you can have a link within your page for your blog. So if you’ve got a blog feed going, if you’ve got a Twitter account that constantly tweaking out feeds, then you can actually have that and show up on your Facebook page as well. So people, when they get there, again, you’re trying to create it so that no matter what content or social media sites that they’re coming to to consume their content that you are promoting all aspects of your content. So when you get there, you can have a Twitter feed, you can have a blog feed, and basically just have it show up there, so people can then go and say, “Oh, I’ll follow this guy on Twitter.” Or “I like that blog. I’ll click on it.” And it takes you back to the blog, and they can start to follow it there as well. Things you can do – you can put announcements on there. So you’re going to want to start posting to your wall there whenever you have a new blog post or whenever you have a new webinar, or whenever you have a new announcement of something, or there’s a certain topic that might be of interest – put it on there. Limit what you put on your Facebook page. People are looking at Facebook, remember, as a source of valuable information. There is more content you can put on Facebook and you can Twitter. Twitter is sort of like the quick blasts of information. But on Facebook, you don’t want to sort of inundate it – probably, one, or two, maybe three at most posts a day would be more than enough. But make sure that whatever you post there is good value.

So the key on your Facebook page … now this is something I didn’t know at first, and when I really started looking at it, I started really recognizing how social proof works. And social proof is really all about the number of links that you have. So it’s critical when you’re working on Facebook that you give people an incentive to like your page. So basically what you say is, “If you want a free report, or access to these free videos, or this online calculator, or free information on all these topics, then like me, and I’ll release it all to you.” So basically, all they have to do is click on the like button, and boom, they get instant access to all the information.

So if you do have a blog, and maybe you want to keep that sort of quiet, then you can say, “Look, I’ll release the blog information to you if you’d like me.” Or, “I’ve got a report,” and generally the reports tend to work really, really well, for the free videos. That tends to work really well because all they have to do is like you, and then boom they have instant access to that. So definitely take advantage of that.

So why do you want to do all this? Why are you spending the time on social media to try and build all of these different presences – the presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, all that sort of stuff? One reason – there’s only one reason why you wanting to do all this, and that is simply to capture their e-mail address, so you can build a relationship with them before they become your client. And that them I’m talking about are anybody that is interested in your particular content, your niche – so anybody in your target market. You want to promote items of interest and content of interest to your particular target market. And in exchange for that content, you want them to give you their e-mail address so that you can continue to automate the process of communicating with them.

People want to do business with people they already feel comfortable with. Give them the opportunity to build a relationship with you first. Then give them a call to action. So everything up front – it’s all front end loaded with giving good content so that people can start to build a relationship. People are so jaded these days with the financial industry that they feel like – well everything that looks good sometimes isn’t good. Well, prove to them that you’re good first, and then they’re going to give you your business – or give you their business. So definitely, calls to action will come later in the process once you’ve started to build a relationship with them.

So with all of this information – definitely comment on any of this. Do you agree with it? Do you not agree with it? Do you find it of value? Did you find it useful? Did you find it useless? I mean, let me know what your thoughts are on this, so comment on the blog post or the podcast episode. Go to the episode; go to the show notes, and at the bottom there’s a comments section. I would love to hear back from you on what you’re finding a value with this particular topic. Did this provide you with information? Is there information you want me to expand on? Let me know, and I’d be more than happy to do that. So please comment with any questions you may have on this topic, and I’ll get back to you with some responses there. But let’s just start building a community. We’re all here to help each other, and my goal is to get this information right back out to you to tell you to tell you what’s working for me, to let you know what’s not working for me, so that we can help build a better industry.

So definitely take advantage of the comments section. Go to www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com, click on episode one, go to the bottom of that, but your comments there. There you can post any questions, anything, just make sure you start engaging with me, and we’ll get information back out to you as quickly as we can. And in future podcasts – who knows – any questions that you may have, perhaps that’ll be the topic for the future podcast.

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Copyright © Scott E. Plaskett 2013 All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced without Scott E. Plaskett’s written permission.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

On this episode of Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery I’m going to talk about the curse of knowledge and how it’s holding you back.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

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If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

On this episode of Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery I’m going to talk about the key technology that I’m using today.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

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If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

On this episode of Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery I’m going to talk about the most important two questions you could ever ask.  What’s it worth? And, How do you know?

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

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Episode Transcript

Hey, everybody.  I’m just going to have a little chat with you about what’s new with me, I mean, what we’re doing here.  This is a podcast and I’m really excited about it because it’s giving me a chance to sort of give back to the CFP community, to the financial planning community.

It’s something that I’ve been always wanting to do and I really didn’t know how because, for the longest time, I was just working on an island by myself.  I got up in the morning and I would go to work and I would speak with my business partner, who is also my wife, and we would carry on throughout the day and we’d get the job done, we’d talk with our staff and that sort of thing, but it was all within those four walls and it was in kind of a confined space.

So I’m really excited about being able to talk to you today and be able to talk in this podcast about financial planning, how to run a fee based financial planning practice because it’s something that I’m very passionate about and it’s very near and dear to me.  I think the industry has really gone through some real changes and is constantly changing.  The industry is changing so rapidly that the old systems that really built the industry, we can’t rely on them any more.

Compliance number one is one of the main things that drove me to a lot of the decisions that I made in our practice.  Compliance is becoming more and more challenging.  We’ve heard it all before.  We’ve heard the stats in the past where years ago, the dollars spent on compliance was a small percentage of revenue that was coming in.  And now, the dollars spent on compliance are upwards of 30%, 40% of the revenue that firms are generating.  Compliance departments are absolutely huge.

When I first started in this industry, I started with one firm.  It was really just one person who was running the division of the company and she was really compliance.  We then moved to a different dealer, who had three people in total and those three people, one of them was really involved with sales, one of them was dealing with operations and one was more at admin so compliance was kind of really not a main concern although it was you wanted to make sure you were doing good business.

And one of the things I did appreciate with the firm that we’re still with today, I did appreciate the fact that they really did a lot of due diligence on the advisors that they took in to their dealer.  So I appreciated that so much.  It’s not happening as much any more.  I think now the dealers are just struggling to make ends meet and they’re just doing everything they can to find good producers, but in any event, compliance is really one of the big challenges.

Another challenge that we’ve got is that there’s more educated consumers.  Everybody with the Internet and with the — they’re that much more aware, they’re paying more attention and they’re just taking the time to learn a little bit more than they knew before.  Now the problem with that is that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and so it becomes more and more frustrating from our side of the table.  We’re meeting with clients, who are prospective clients, who think they know a little bit and think they sometimes know more than we do and the reality is — sometimes they do, but the reality is, when you’re at the level that we’re at, they don’t know more than we do and they’re making it more and more difficult because they’re very sceptical.

The media is not helping at all.  We’ve had a lot of scandals in the recent past, market corrections.  The overall market turmoil has been very difficult so the media is really playing off of that and the media is sensationalizing a lot.  Now in some cases, it’s warranted because there have been some scandals, which are absolutely horrible and, rightly so, the people have been convicted and are put away in jail for the rest of their natural born life and so they should be because of the abuses that they took advantage of.

But the reality is that, as a result of that, there’s a lot more regulation and the consumers are a lot more jaded and it’s becoming more and more difficult for them to trust anybody.  And the regulators are stepping in and trying to help that, but what the regulators are doing is they’re making decisions and they’re not making the greatest decisions.

And so when the regulators are stepping in and, in some cases, they’re saying well, we’ll just going to put away with commissions completely and so everything’s got to have full disclosure, which I believe in full disclosure, but the reality is that the industry can’t change overnight and, for that to happen especially in Canada – I know it’s happened in the UK and it is changing very, very quickly there and the regulators in North America are paying attention to that to see how that’s working, but the reality is, it’s not going to happen overnight, but it is on the horizon.  And if we don’t incorporate some decisions now to make sure that we’re protected against that, we’re going to find ourselves sitting in a commission-based model, looking for where our next pay check’s going to come from.

So we do need to start making some changes and the reality is that, with the pace at which the industry’s changing, my hope is to take a podcast like we’ve got here and to explain to people, listen, this is what I’ve done, this is what I’m doing, this is what’s working, this is what’s not working and really just to help people make better decisions on how to move forward and to give them some confidence.  Maybe if there’s a decision that they’ve been putting off making because they just feel like they’re by themselves and they don’t know if it’s going to work.

Well, the reality is I’ve probably made that decision and that decision was probably not an easy one for me, but I did make the decision.  Sometimes it wasn’t the right decision, sometimes it was the right decision, but I’m going to share with you what decisions I have made and why I made them and what it’s done for me and how it’s allowed me to grow my practice, a very successful practice to a level that I’m quite happy with.  Now I am eagerly wanting to make it and take it to the next level, but the reality is that we’ve made the tough decisions, the toughest one being migrating our practice to a complete fee based model.

A lot of people are often asking me how did you do that, how did you do this and what are you doing in this area.  Well that’s what this podcast is all about.  We’re going to explain a lot of those decisions we’ve made and why we made them and the outcome of those decisions.

So I’m just going to give you now a little bit of background on my journey and this whole world.  I’ve been in the business for a long time.  The early ’90s is when I started in the business and I’ve been around for a while and I’ve been constantly practicing with the idea of financial planning always behind me.  I began working on my CFP designation while I was still enrolled at university and I was in an Honours Business program there and I became licensed in 1993 and I actually left university early.

I was at school for an Honours Business Degree, which was going to take me onto my MBA and everything was going to be the traditional academic route.  And then while I was there, I caught wind of this whole financial planning thing and it was very, very new at the time and not very many people were talking about it and I just, for whatever reason, it resonated with me and so I really, really wanted to take advantage of that.  So I actually started my CFP designation while I was at school fulltime.  So it was a pretty busy ride for me.

I always focused on financial planning and when I started in the business, in 1993, when I first sort of hung my shingle, I was a young guy, speaking with people who, at that point, had more money than I did.  At that point, I really embraced the whole financial planning concept.

Now, the comments I got were from other, at that point, commission-based advisors who were, man, they were churning out commissions like crazy.  Everything they could do to find the next deal, they were just so hungry for it and everything was about converting it over into a deferred sales charge system to get the upfront commission and then move on and they were just doing everything they could to follow that model.  But to me it was a sales approach and I understand there’s a level of sales that has to take place in this business, but the motivation wasn’t really — they were there to help clients and they were probably doing the best they could with the products that were available, but a lot of the products were commission-motivated.

And looking back in hindsight, a lot of the products that were sold really were horrible.  They didn’t do anything for clients.  Well, they didn’t nothing for clients other than make them feel like things were going in the right direction because the guys who were selling them had the sales techniques down.  So my branch manager, when I really focused on financial planning at the time, my branch manager at the time came to me and said, what are you doing?  Why are you wasting your time on this financial planning stuff?

And I said, well, understand people need to be advised properly and the only way we can do that is through understanding a lot more about them and the information that we’re gathering right now is really just superficial.  So we need to spend more time and really, really focus on that.  And the branch manager at the time said, whatever.  If that’s the business you want to build, go for it, but that’s not where the money is.  Well nowadays financial planning really is the business and more and more people are trying to find out how do I make that change, how do I bridge that gap from going from a commission-based model into a financial planning-based model.

So back in the early days, I was in there and I was focusing on financial planning and we were really building our brand in that regard and one day a new advisor walked into the office and I just couldn’t think of anything else.  That person became a business partner and we started working together and one thing led to another and basically that business partner became my wife.  So it was a wonderful experience.  It was a wonderful way to meet somebody who shared sort of the same ideals and what not.  I love her.  To be able to love your partner in business as much as you love your spouse, which in my case are the same, really gives you a huge sense of confidence.

Now it also makes it a little more challenging sometimes and we can get into reasons for that, but I’m sure you can appreciate that working with your spouse is not always the easiest things, but there are certain rules that we’ve put in place and certain things that we’ve done that I wouldn’t change for the world because when you know somebody’s got your back the way your spouse does in this business, it makes a big difference.

So we really started growing our practice and we recognized each other’s strengths and really started to capitalize on that.  I mean everybody shouldn’t be doing everything in the business.  Certain people are better at other things and so we kind of gravitated towards that.

So in 1996 we then moved to our flat-fee dealer at the time and that was revolutionary.  I mean that was where the flat-fee model for your dealer was unheard of and a lot of the dealers were saying that model’s not going to work, it’s not going to fly.  The costs are going to be too high, they’re not generating enough revenue and so on and so forth.  But the reality is we embraced that model early on because we just recognized that the dealers weren’t providing us the service that we needed to help build our business.  It really helped to build their business and it furthered their brand and it did everything in that regard, but what it didn’t do was it really didn’t give — what we were paying for through the override model that we were involved with, we weren’t getting the value from it.

So I just recognized that, you know what, I’m just going to play a flat fee and I’m going to build my business the way I want to build it with my brand and we’ve moved forward with that and we’ve been with that dealer ever since.  So we’ve had a really good success in moving with that dealer.

So early on we launched our trade mark financial planning process.  That was one of the biggest things that we did because now we had something to build on.  We had the concept and idea of financial planning, but we packaged it in such a way that it was uniquely ours.  Nobody else could take that away from us and it became a huge competitive advantage whenever we were speaking with somebody, apples to apples, they would look at two advisors and say well, what’s the difference between the two.  But with us, they would see us and say, well wait a minute, yeah, but they’ve got this financial planning process so yeah, that’s different.  They’re the only ones that have that and they’re the only ones that have license to that and they created it so they must know what they’re talking about.  So it became a really, really big competitive advantage by putting this financial planning process and launching it early on in our career.

Now, going on from that, what we then started was we started charging fees and we recognized early on that the advice should be — we shouldn’t be compensated on the advice by selling a product because, in some cases, the right advice meant not buying a product and I had a real challenge with the fact that we were giving away the advice, but we only got paid if we implemented something that generated a commission for us.

And so we started to look around for other solutions and that’s where a fee-based system came from.  And so we actually charge fees.  I always felt, from charging fees, that it put me on par with other professionals.  You go to your accountant, you go to your lawyer and what do you do?  You pay them a fee for their advice.  You pay them a fee for the time and effort they put in to working on your problems and challenges and helping you with their solutions.  So charging a fee just simply made sense to me because it allowed me to be on par with other professionals and, because there weren’t that many people doing it at the time, hardly any at the time, it really gave us another competitive advantage.  It gave us a uniqueness that set us apart from the competition.

Now we started out initially charging fees and we thought all the advice we’re giving away for free didn’t make sense so we’re going to charge a fee, but we got resistance and so we stopped charging fees.  Well why did we stop charging fees?  Well it was tough to create value using the traditional commission-based methods.  When you’re working from a commission-based process, the commission-based process was all about selling something.  And so when we started charging a fee, maybe it looked different, but it didn’t feel any different.  And so we then had to regroup and figure out how can we change things back again.

So we revamped everything.  The number of times we’ve changed our business process and how we do things and rewritten things and made it better, it’s really quite high and we finally settled down and got into a nice groove, but early on there were a lot of changes we made as we went through.  So we did start charging fees very, very quickly again because I just couldn’t — I mean we were making money on a commission‑based model, but again, the fees just seemed to be where it was at and to me just made the most sense.

So we started charging fees again and why did we do it?  What really motivated us to do it again?  Well, compliance made managing assets and, at the time, we had a bit of a focus on the investment side, compliance made managing assets a real ordeal.  Any time we wanted to make a change to a client’s account because we did a lot of asset allocation and rebalancing and what not, any time we made a change, that change then had to be documented in all these different places and we had to paper the file properly.

And the dealers started incorporating these trading systems that were monitoring the asset mixes of clients and, if the asset mix didn’t match the know your client form, the KYC form, if the assets didn’t match that perfectly then we suddenly got flagged and the trade that we put through got put on hold and we had to justify it and then we had to go and get the client to sign another document and it was just becoming more and more of a nightmare.

So compliance really encouraged us to move away from the actual managing of those assets, but we wanted to oversee them still so we started looking for other solutions with regards to that and we’ll start talking about those later on and in further episodes.

We also recognized that the clients felt more confident when we outsourced to the best in the business.  So from an investment standpoint, we began to realize when we were the ones that were making the adjustments on our system, our dealer was saying we need to be able to cover our behinds, the CYA cover their behinds on anything that was being done on the client accounts.  So that’s why we were having to repaper the file.  So I thought about it and said, okay, well what if I can find a solution where any adjustments didn’t happen on our system so that our dealer wouldn’t have to worry about the adjustments.  The compliance then was parlayed and put onto the other institution.

So we began to outsource that.  We began to look for solutions that would actively manage a client’s asset mix and account to keep it on target, but that those systems and solutions wouldn’t show up on our trading system.  And so we began to really incorporate and really embrace the whole idea of outsourcing to the best in the business.

That then allowed me to really be able to puff my chest up and say to a client, look, this is the best solution we’ve been able to find for you.  I’m not going to be managing the actual asset, the individual securities for myself.  I’m a boutique financial planner that I don’t have a chance to go meet with the managers and meet with the management teams and go and visit various companies and check out this and that and the other thing.  I just don’t have time or the resources to do that, but we’re going to outsource that to the firms that do and 100% of their business is all focused on managing the asset and they actually are now sitting on the same side of the desk because their revenue increases when your assets appreciate.  So it seemed to be a nice match.

So clients felt much more confident with that because, deep down when a client comes to see you, they recognize that if you are the best investment guy, well why are you meeting with them?  Their accounts, maybe they’ve got $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, $500,000, $1 million; even if they had $10 million, why are they just dealing with you?  Not to say that you’re not good, but if you were so good then why aren’t you managing a billion dollar pool or something like that.  So it just allowed us to be a little more on the level with clients and say, look, I recognize where my weaknesses are, but I also recognize my strengths and we’re going to go find the right teams for you and start to implement through the best solutions we can find.

So we did that.  We went out and found the best that we could.  We put them through our own screening process and narrowed down the groups and that did a few different things for us.  Number one, it really gave us a lot of the attention we got from those firms began to increase because when you start placing more and more of your business with fewer and fewer companies, you become more and more on their radar so they pay attention to you.  And what that means is that whenever you come up with any issues or things that need to be fixed for clients or something like that, they’re going to make sure that they keep you happy.  So by doing that, it just simply makes them pay more attention to you, which in return, gives you the ability to give better client service to your clients.

So from that, we were very committed to charging fees for our financial planning process and what we did was we carved out the financial planning from the implementation.  So we focused on creating value in the financial planning side of the business so that I’d really feel more comfortable charging the fees required to make that side of the business profitable.

So the reason why we were able to charge fees again is because we said, look, lets look at this and look at it from the standpoint that, if we were going to build our business solely on the financial planning side, what would we need to do in order to justify our fees and to be able to really add value?  And when you place that emphasis on that side of the business and ask yourself, if I’m charging $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, $10,000 for this financial plan, what would it have to look like so that I would feel like it was valuable.  What would have to happen, what would I have to cover, what would be involved in that process so that I would really be comfortable with paying that fee?

So when you look at it from that standpoint, the whole concept of charging fees, I think, a positive by product that we got from charging fees was that it elevates your game.  It brings the whole process to a new level where, if you’re comfortable saying to a client I’m going to charge you $2,000 for the writing of your financial plan, knowing full well they’re going to get more than $2,000 in value, well now you’ve got something you can really start to build upon.

So we did that.  We created an overall financial planning process.  We talked about it earlier where we trade marked the process.  We named it.  now, the thing is, you’ve got to name it and it’s a little bit of a weird experience to go through that when you start naming your own process.  You kind of feel like Starbucks where they’ve renamed coffee, they’ve renamed the sizes of coffee.  It was weird at first.  It was like what the heck is a Venti, what the heck is a Grande?  I mean, I thought Grande was large, but then I realized that there was a Venti and it was even larger.  So they branded it and they created their own language, which people started to embrace and suddenly people started to use the language.

We found that as well.  By branding our financial planning process and naming it, people are now starting to use the terms back to us and identify the components of the financial plan with the names that we’ve given them.  So it feels really weird at first and we’ll go through it in much more detail and sort of a naming process and how you do it and how you come up with the proper name, but the reality is, if you haven’t done it, it will feel really weird at first.  But by naming your process, it does one thing.  It makes it uniquely yours and nobody else can touch it.  Nobody else can actually say they use that particular financial planning process because they don’t.  Only you do and so it’s definitely a competitive advantage.

So what we did there was we created different programs for clients at different financial stages.  So through the process, we ended up with a core financial planning process that we used as the core in general, but then we broke it off and had three different programs for people who were at different financial stages of their life and then we also parlayed that into a corporate version for business owners.  And by doing that, I found that the whole planning process, the closing ratios that we found for clients who were truly qualified for our services, and when I say truly qualified, not everybody is truly qualified for your financial planning service.  Not everybody should be your client.

You want to identify who do you work with the best and focus your financial planning process around that.  Then when you meet with somebody and you go through introducing your financial planning process to them, what you can do is you’ll begin to get a real clear sense of whether or not it makes sense for them and then, by putting a fee in front of them, it gets rid of the people that shouldn’t be there.  So when I say that our closing ratio went up, it did go up.  However, we started turning away people who we didn’t feel were qualified for our services.  But for the people who were qualified for the services, man, our closing ratio went through the roof.  And, as a result of that, because people were now paying for our advice, they implemented our recommendations and our implementation ratios, again, skyrocketed.

Client trust and confidence went way up.  Clients now came to us and they just absolutely loved us.  They loved the whole process.  They loved it because all of our recommendations were documented, were justified.  They could basically look at everything and say that that makes complete sense.  I have a real desire that whenever I’m coming up with a solution, I have to have a certain degree of logic behind that solution.

Now I understand that not all solutions are — people move forward with solutions not because of pure logic, but most of the time it’s emotion, but you’ve got to be able to speak to the logical side.  When you can go through and present in a logical fashion that says, well this is the solution, here’s the analysis that we’ve done to say why we think it’s the best solution, here’s what we were looking for and here’s what we found, clients look at that and go, yeah, okay, sign me up.  I totally want to implement that.

The other benefit is they don’t want to implement anywhere else because, for them to implement somewhere else means that they have to then find that person and then tell that person what they want.  Well, if you were an advisor and somebody came to you and said okay, this is what I want, unless you’re in the transaction business where you’re just basically there to take orders, you’re going to say, well wait a minute, I need to add some value to this.  Let me take a look at what you’ve got.  Well, clients have already paid for somebody to take a look at it.  So it’s a natural extension.  If you don’t have an implementation ability or division in your financial planning firm then clients are going to think that there’s something weird with that.

I’ve seen firms and other firms, fee-only firms and fee-based firms that kind of promote the fact that they don’t have any implementation, but the reality is they have some sort of a relationship with somebody, if they’re not generating the revenue, they’re referring it to somebody else, but the reality there is as well, it’s very, very difficult, in my mind, to generate enough — to do the work you need to do and generate enough revenue from that work without implementation revenue coming in.  It’s just very difficult.

Unless you’re completely able to strip out all of your fees and charge them separate even for the assets and what not and charge them high enough, it’s very difficult to do that.  So it’s easier many times to make sure you have the implementation services available, but also make sure that your fees are fully disclosed and they’re fully transparent on those implementation services.  So as I say, client trust went through the roof and it was fantastic.

We automated our entire process to streamline efficiency really, really early.  Now, as a financial planner, you do a ton.  That’s one of the reasons why the commission-based model, in my mind, people have held onto it so much because they know they really just need to do whatever it takes to get the product [is] to get it sold.  And once it’s sold, they receive their commission.  The reality is, when you start incorporating comprehensive financial planning into your practice, you’re going to be doing a lot more if you’re not charging a fee for nothing because a lot of the services that we provide, whether it be through our cash flow management or our debt consolidation strategies and what not, with the recommendations to pay down debt, well if you’re not getting paid for that recommendation, it’s the right thing to be recommending the client then you’re not making any revenue.

So you do need to make sure that you have that in your system and, because there’s so much involved, you really want to take a look at your workflow, you’re business processes so you can automate as much of your business processes as possible.  The reality is that, from a financial planning standpoint, when you’re putting together a comprehensive financial plan, you are going through a series of similar steps for every client.

Now the results are going to be different for every client, but the process you go through, which is why it’s important to document your process, the process you go through will actually provide you with the tools necessary to automate things.  So you can break your process up into different compartments and you can then start to assign different parts of your process to other staff members and so on or outsource it to whoever so that you don’t have to do it so that it frees you up because one of the challenges we found, starting out early on was we got right into it, we started getting clients and then writing a financial plan and then it all came to a grinding halt because now I was writing financial plans.

And then I would go through a period where I was bogged down with writing financial plans, I couldn’t meet with any new prospective clients and it really just slowed the whole process down.  Then I got to a point where I started meeting with a lot of new people, but then I wasn’t writing any financial plans because I was so busy on the sales side of trying to sell the financial planning process.  So you do have to make sure that you’ve got — the process is automated for the actual writing of the financial plans and we can go into that in much more detail and I’m definitely going to go into that in much more detail because it’s something that I’m working on right now is really trying to automate and streamline that whole process to make that as efficient as possible.

We also recognize the need to market our uniqueness.  So for the longest time we thought, yeah, we did a great job and everything we did was wonderful, but it was kind of like winking at somebody in the dark.  We knew we were doing it, but nobody else did.  So we needed to find a way of marketing our uniqueness.  So what we did was we tested seminars and we went out and we said, okay, we’ve got a unique process, we’re going to go out there and we’re going to start talking about financial planning, which was different than most because most people were talking about here’s the best investment solution or here’s the best insurance solution, but very few people were tying it all together with financial planning.  So we thought okay, well there’s an angle that we can start to really focus on and we can start to market our uniqueness.

So we tested seminars and they worked.  They worked really well, but they were costly and they were involved.  So what I have done then is I really began to look at ways of how do I take the information, the systems and processes that we’ve been using for our seminars because they worked well.  We were able to target our audience, we were able to fill the seats for every seminar.  We were able to get — not only just fill the seats, but we were able to fill the seats with people who qualified for our services and were part of our target market and our appointment booking ratio, we were getting anywhere from 30% to 50% of participants at the event, booking appointments for the coming weeks.

So we had some really good success with that, but all it took was a rainstorm or a snowstorm or inclement weather or something like that, or even really good weather.  All it took was some event to derail the process a little bit.  So we did have times when we have RSVP’d and have people all set to come to the seminar and then a rainstorm would happen and, yeah, the numbers went down and fortunately the numbers went up on the other side for the walk-ins that we got because we did get a lot of walk-ins, but the reality is that I believe that we could have had more so long as we had everything come together; a perfect day, a perfect time and all that sort of stuff.

And so the reality is sometimes it just doesn’t work out so I really looked for ways of solving that problem.  So along came social media.  So we’ve really gone for the last couple of decades now.  This is the process we’ve come to, but now we’ve really come along and social media is becoming more and more prevalent.  And so what I’ve done is I’ve embraced it.  I’ve embraced it in the terms of podcasting, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, webinars.

Now, a lot of the financial community have embraced it, but they still don’t know what they’re doing with it.  They don’t have a goal, they don’t have an objective.  They don’t have a reason for what they’re doing.  I mean there are people who have Twitter accounts and they’re tweeting a lot and you think what the heck am I tweeting for?  Who’s following my tweets and what do I tweet about and I don’t have the time to tweet or Facebook, I don’t have the time to communicate with people on Facebook.

So what we’ve done is we’ve really recognized that there is a rationale for why you should be, on each one of these things, podcasting, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and webinars, why you should be using each one, but don’t look at them individually.  Leverage your content creation so that it can really serve more than one purpose.

So we’ve put tighter a nice process where we’ve really embraced the social media.  We’ve solved the problem.  In our minds we’ve solved the problem for how to use that whole process to build credibility, generate leads and automate the whole process because, right now, if you’re following our Twitter feed and I encourage you to follow the Twitter account is feefpmastery.  So if you go, you can follow our Twitter feed there and you’ll start to see that it’s happening all the time and while I’ve been podcasting right now, I’m sure a couple of tweets have gone out and I’ve had it all automated.

So I’ll talk to you about automating it because the one thing I don’t want anybody to do is to get caught up in creating a new job for themselves.  Social media is not something that needs to replace financial planning.  Financial planning is your core business, but social media can really enhance that and so we’ve got solutions on how to make that work for you.

So really the goal of the podcast, this is episode zero.  Episode zero is there because we’re not really talking about solutions at this point.  I’m sort of sharing with you why I’m doing this and what I’m doing it for to encourage you to subscribe to the podcast and then every couple of weeks, really I think at this point, on the first and the 15th of every month, you’re going to get a new episode sent out to you and we’re going to be talking about certain topics that are affecting me right then and there, topics that are top of mind at that point in time, what we’re doing.  I’m going to share with you things that have worked and that haven’t.

Really, the goal of this podcast, I put it together because the one thing that I’ve been asked time and time again is how do you do what you’re doing?  You’ve got all those things set up and how is it possible that you run a firm that’s not a huge firm; we don’t have a lot of staff.  We’ve really pared it down, we’ve got systems in place that run our business, how do you do all that?  How have you been able to take so much time in the summer at your cottage?  How do you take time off and I’m not saying that because I want to brag about it, I’m saying it because we’ve got solutions in place that allow us to stay in touch with our clientele, service our clients and give me a life outside of that.

So everybody I think is really looking for that and so we feel we’ve cracked the code on that.  I’ve always been asked how do I do what I’m doing and, really, I’ve always kept it quiet and I’ve kept it sort of secret to myself, but the one thing I’ve noticed is that the CFP community, they’re willing to share.  A true CFP, people who are really in the business to help add value through financial planning, they’re a pretty unique group.

And so one of the reasons why I stopped going to industry conferences and to road shows and all these types of things is because I couldn’t stand the people I was meeting with.  I couldn’t stand sitting there just to overhear conversations of people bragging about the latest commission or the latest deal that they’ve done and it was just all — it just got all schmarmy and I just didn’t like it.  So I said screw it.  I’m not going to continue with that because I don’t like associating and speaking and whatnot with these people because I’ve got nothing to say to them and they’ve got really nothing to give me back so what’s the point.

Well that started to change when I started doing a lot more promotion for CFPs for promoting the financial planning ideas and I began to get in contact with other CFPs who also kind of embraced the idea that the promotion of financial planning was important.  And so building that tight community, I recognized that these are good people.  These are people that are not solely commission-generated, solely revenue focused.  These are people who want to do a good job for their clients and are putting solutions in place to do so.

So I started talking more and more with these people.  There are a few that I communicate with on a fairly frequent basis.  We get together once a quarter and just sort of talk about what’s working, talk about what’s not working and I recognize that there’s a lot of people out there and I live in a small town and there aren’t that many other CFPs around so it’s very difficult for me to have a community of CFPs that I can turn to.

So then the light went off and I thought well I can podcast about it and the CFPs, who really want to do what I’ve done and are looking to solve those challenges that they’re faced with of converting to a fee-based practice, this will attract them and hopefully it’s going to start to encourage them to comment and share their experiences on the blog at feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

So by working together and sharing what’s working and what’s not, the entire CFP industry will become a better place, a place where clients are less sceptical and more confident with their financial planner and the planners are more confident in that what they’re doing is right, but also in what they’re doing is profitable for them because you can’t do it unless you’re making profit.  You can’t do it unless you’re making revenue.  And so this is all designed to help further the industry, make it a better place, get rid of all the scepticism that’s out there, but also show people how you can do it and make a pretty good living at it as well.

So I’m going to be sharing with you exactly what I’m doing right now.  As the weeks and months go on, I’m going to be sharing with you things that have worked, things that haven’t worked, how we’re doing, what we’re doing because I’m recognizing that, of all the planners that I know, the CFPs that I know that are right in my community, not once have I ever come up against a competitive competition with them.

I’ve never been in competition with them and we share a lot about what’s working and what’s not working.  And everybody, every time I get together, I’ve got one group that I meet with on a quarterly basis, it’s a study group of other financial professionals, not once have I ever come into contact with any competition against any one of them and every one of them shares.  And what they communicate to me on is they say, when we get together for our quarterly session, often times we’ll bring speakers in and we’ll have different industry topics and what not, but it’s the conversation between the sessions that the value is actually had.  It’s the conversation between sessions where you glean those tidbits of information like, oh, that’s what I was working for.  That’s perfect.  It’s one idea.  It’s one topic, it’s one concept that could change everything.

So we just recognize that there really is no competition between planners and, especially in the fee-based space, I’ve got planners that I know that are 400 or 500 miles away and we communicate, what’s the harm in sharing our best practices and secrets with them.  I’m not going get ever any competition with them.  They’re 400 miles away.  So it allows you to really, really become the best of the best in a community of like-minded financial planners who are all there to help each other out.  And, by doing that, I think it’s going to make a really big impact and difference.

The regulators want to put an end to commissions.  They don’t like the commission-based model.  They don’t like the embedded commission-based model and they’re doing what they can to make those changes.  They’ve already started over in the UK.  They’ve made some decisions.  North America is watching to see how that works and we’re having industry discussions about whether or not can commissions and fees work in conjunction with one another?  The regulators really do want to put an end to commissions and they feel that that’s in the best interest of society, of investors in general, of people who are looking for financial solutions so it’s definitely something that’s on the horizon.

So in each episode, I’m going to highlight some of my business and explain how it’s working, both the good and the bad and hopefully spark an online conversation that we can all learn from.  So I’m not saying I have all the answers.  I’m definitely not a guru, but I’ve been there before.  I’ve been in the trenches, I’m currently in the trenches, I’m running my practice now and I’m building a fee-based financial planning practice that I feel that, if we can just get a group of others and a lot more other people embracing that concept then this is a group that’s not going to have to worry about the whole idea of losing commissions and what not.

We’ll be able to justify our fees and make sure that the clientele continue to get the valued service that they’re looking for.  So really what the point is here is lets work together and make it a better industry for our clients and ourselves.  So at the end of the day, what I really encourage you to do is go to feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com now and click on the episode 00.  So that’s our first episode.  It’s the inaugural episode that we’re doing right now.

Click on that episode and there you can post any questions in the comments.  Tell me, first of all, do you like the podcast?  Secondly, do you have any questions or anything you want me to answer in future shows, any burning questions that you just don’t know who to ask and what not.  So what I’ll do is I’ll address those questions on future episodes.  And then make some comments if we talk about a concept or a topic that’s near and dear to you that you agree with or even don’t agree with, I want to know why.  I’m going to learn from a lot of that as well as you guys are.  By putting all that information online, it will simply allow us to build a better practice for ourselves, add more value to our clients and everybody, the whole industry will become a better place.

Copyright Disclaimer

Copyright © Scott E. Plaskett 2013 All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced without Scott E. Plaskett’s written permission.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

On this episode of Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery I dive in Part 2 of the question are you to busy earning a living to earn any real money?

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

It seems that everytime I go to an industry event, speak with a journalist or meet with a group of my colleagues, they all at some point say – I would love to do what you have done.

Well, the one thing that has served me well over the past 20 years that I’ve been in business is: swimming against the current.

Now, I’m not saying that this is easy or even recommended.  In fact, it’s the exact opposite.  It is definitely not a route for the faint of heart.  But, it is rewarding…

It has taken me 20 years to create this easy success (Lol…!)

So, here is my recommendation to you:  Watch what your colleagues are DOING, take a deep breath… and then do the opposite.

You know why this works?

Most people aren’t having a whole lot of success.  Most people aren’t getting what they want out of their business or their life.

And, the bottom line is that if they aren’t getting results then I want to go in the exact opposite direction.

I have always been a bit of a dreamer.  But, a dreamer with the balls to act.  I’m more interested in finding out what doesn’t work as quickly as possible because then, I can put more time and energy into what does work.  Not because I think it will work.  Because I know it will work.

My focus is on getting extraordinary results, so I’m not going to follow the same path as everyone else.

That’s what I love about The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery community.  The people.  These people who align themselves with this community through the fee based financial planning mastery website, the private LinkedIn Group, the LinkedIn Business Page, the Facebook Business Page, The Google+ Business Page or The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Academy all have the same things in common.

• They love the financial advice FIRST business model.

• They love the win-win results they get from operating as a fee based financial planning firm.

• They love the total transparent relationships they have with their clients.

• They understand that when people pay, they pay attention.

• They truly love financial planning.  They recognize that financial planning is the key.  It always has been and always will be.

So, thank you to everyone who has contributed to this site.  You are the industry leaders.  You are the pioneers.  You are swimming against the current – and you love it.  You are my heroes.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

On this episode of Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery I ask the question are you to busy earning a living to earn any real money?

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

On this episode of Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery I’m going to discuss How To Design A “Frictionless” Lifestyle Business.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’ll share with you the behind the scenes in my practice on what I do to keep track of and manage all of the moving parts of a fee based financial planning business.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

In this episode, I talk about how to create a delivery process to properly deliver your financial plan to your clients.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast™!

In This Episode

In this episode, I open my Kimono and let you in on a secret video I’ve been working on for some time now.  The next session of The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Academy™ is going to open up soon and this episode will provide you with everything you need to find out more about The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Academy™.  To watch my “Opening The Kimono” free video, click here.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

In This Episode

In this episode, I review everything you need to know about planning your best year ever using the V2MOM.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

In This Episode

In this episode, I highlight what you need to do in order to run your business from a bomb shelter.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Hi Everyone,

It does’t look like I’ll be posting an episode for mid-November.  Lot’s of other great things being developed on my end to help you all in your quest to build a better business.

Unfortunately though, something this week had to give so I decided to hold this weeks episode over.  The next episode will be released for December 1st.

Then, shortly after that, you can expect some interesting new announcements.  In the meantime…

Thanks,

Scott

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

In This Episode

In this episode, I run through with you the top 7 programs I use on a daily/weekly basis to run my successful fee based financial planning practice.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
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If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

In This Episode

In this episode, I review everything you need to know about setting your fees, marketing your fee based financial planning services and creating deliverables that will WOW! your clients.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

Yes, it was 1993 when I hung my financial planning shingle.  Much to my parents dismay, I left University without a degree.  But, this move allowed me to lay a solid foundation that I stubbornly just kept building upon.

I went to the University of Guelph and was enrolled in a B.Comm Hon’s program.  While at school, I became enamoured with financial planning (when I started University, I wanted to be a lawyer… phew, glad I dodged that bullet).  I enrolled in the Chartered Financial Planner designation program while doing my B.Comm.  To say I was busy, was an understatement (thank goodness for the option of basing my University marks on 100% of my final exam scores).

Then, in the middle of my third year of University, I couldn’t take it any longer.  I needed to get out into the real world and launch my financial planning business.

My guidance counsellor told me that I almost had enough credits to graduate with a general Bachelor of Administration, but I was three “Arts” credits shy of my degree.  So, I enrolled in a black & white photography course to get missing credit #1 and off I went, into the real world.

The long and short of it is that I have learned a lot along the way.  All of what I have learned was mostly due to mistakes I made from lack of guidance, poor judgement and listening to the wrong people.  But, as a result, I have amassed a series of immutable laws that continue to guide me, and protect me.  Laws that have made me what I am today and protect me from my mistakes from the past.

So, here is a listing of the 10 laws that are simply required if you are planning on getting to that next level.  Building a solid foundation takes time, energy and determination. But, it’s all worth it…

10 Laws of Insanely Successful Fee Based Financial Planners

1. Your list is your greatest asset

My history with this point is mixed.  When I first started my business, I had no list of prospects to turn to.  Financial planning wasn’t my second career, it was my first.  So I didn’t have relationships with old co-workers.  I was 21 and all of my friends were still at school.

So, I began to offer interesting content to targeted markets in exchange for people’s names and addresses.  This worked like a charm.  Provided me with people to tell my story to and hopefully, if they needed help, encourage them to use my services.  The problem was, it worked so well that I stopped doing it because I was saturated with prospects to talk to.  What I should have done was put the whole process on auto-pilot.

When I started, the internet really wasn’t main stream. Heck, I didn’t even have an email address until my third year in business.  So, automating at this point was much more involved than it is today.

My point to you though is to put this list building process on auto-pilot and continually nurture and build a relationship with this list.  I have been doing this for many years and it is amazing how many people I meet with today, for the first time, who say – “I’m meeting with you today because you are the only one who has kept in touch with me for many years”.

2. Fail forward

One of the biggest hurdles you need to overcome to be successful as a fee based financial planner is your fear of failure.

Here’s the way I look at it.  Failure is simply valuable information that tells me what not to do any longer.  Which, when you really boil it down is invaluable information on what to do.  Looking at it simply, if you hit a fork in the road and need to decide whether to go left or right, just choose and go.  What’s the worst that can happen? If left doesn’t work, you re-group, take a few steps back and go right.

What you will find is that when you take that step back, you will meet a lot of people who are still standing there wondering which way to turn.  They will be discussing the pro’s and con’s of going left.  Then, the pro’s and con’s of going right.

But you, as a result of what you know will just walk on past with an air of confidence that other’s will long for.  Why are you so confident?  Because you have more information than most.  Because you failed forward.

The great thing about failing forward is that the more you do it, the easier it gets and as you flex this decision making muscle, your decisions get better and better and you will have more and more instant successes as a result.

It takes a lot of failures to become an overnight success.  So, fail forward right past your competition.

3. Take the long view

As a fee based financial planner, you need to be congruent with your message and your branding.  I’ve seen far too many people put the long view aside for a quick buck today.  They get caught up in selling the latest product incarnation as opposed to focusing on quality.  New is not necessarily better.

I have watched many “new” products crash and burn a few years later.  These are not conversations you want to have with your clients.  If something is so great, watch it for a while.  Good things take time.  Don’t be afraid to be patient.  Your clients will thank you for it and your messaging will remain consistent.

4. Ruthlessly control your time

The most valuable resource we have is our time.  You must not let others control your time.

I have found the key to my time protection has more to do with me than it does with anyone else.  I start my week with a plan.  I identify everything that needs to be done for every client meeting I have – and I make sure that every meeting is 100% prepared for on Monday.  Then, I identify the three most critical items that just have to get done for the week.

Next, I identify the strategic projects I would like to move forward and I list them.

Now, I have my week all planned out.

I attack my Monday.  I ruthlessly focus on my meeting preparation in the order that my meetings will occur.  I lay out each meetings documents so I can pick up the pile, walk in to the meeting and nothing get’s overlooked.

Next, don’t do anything else accept the first most important thing on your list.  Then move to the second.  Then the third.

Anytime you lose your focus, go back to your Ideal Week Worksheet to remind yourself what it is that you should be working on.

This process will ensure that you are never unprepared for a meeting and always moving your most important items forward.

If you want to find out more on how I do this, check out this podcast episode.

5. Diversify your revenue stream

Rule number one to protecting anything is don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  It’s good advice…

Recognize that as a fee based financial planner, you will (and should) have multiple revenue streams.  Building a practice that is not solely reliant on investment revenues or insurance revenues or fee revenues is a the key to consistency and confidence.

6. Delegate and Outsource

You have got to get out of your own way.  Sure, you are capable of doing everything, but would you hire “capable”?

Businesses don’t grow on their own.  They need to be supported.  Hire an assistant as quickly as you can.  Then, delegate properly.  Delegate to people who are better than you and focus your time on what you do best.

7. Take care of yourself

This is a demanding career.  Fee based financial planning is not easy.  If it were, everyone would be doing it.  But, be careful.  Working can be addictive.  Work can become your “crack” and can very quickly encourage bad habits.  If you are serious about this business, you need to be serious about keeping healthy.  The best information I have ever come across pertaining to how to live a healthy lifestyle without sacrifice is Mark’s Daily Apple.  I encourage you to download the material on this site, read how conventional wisdom regarding what is healthy and what is not is simply flawed.

8. Be valuable first

Value creation should be at the core of who you are and what you do.  Short term tricks and tactics to get people to work with you will end badly.  Focus on creating value with everything you do.  I like to ask myself this question to see if I am a value creator or not: “If I had to rely on my clients success first, before I got paid, would this do it?”  Focus on value creation.  It’s your path to success for everyone.

9. Weed

This one is a law of nature.  If you don’t weed your garden, your most beautiful plants will not flourish.  In his book The Pumpkin Plan (which is a book every fee based financial planner should read, highlight and dog ear), Mike Michalowicz uses the analogy of how to grow the worlds largest pumpkin.  You need to constantly weed out the pumpkins that are going to suck the life out of your best pumpkin and then water the hell out of your best pumpkin.

Looking at this from a fee based financial planning firm, identify your best clients and weed out the one’s who it is not appropriate for you to be working with.  Then, focus your value creation on your ideal clients.

10. Mastermind

There is nothing more powerful than a mastermind group you can turn to.  Put 10 – 20 entrepreneurs in a room, throw a problem in the middle of the group and watch the magic unfold.  A problem to a group of entrepreneurs is like putting blood in the water of a pool of sharks.  Just watch how quickly the problem is consumed and digested.  I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the mastermind groups I am a part of.

So, there you have it.  My 10 laws.  Let me know what you think.  Have I missed any?  Probably.  But, if you just work through these ten, you will be in awesome shape.

What was your number 1 law?  Which did I forget?  You know I read all of the comments so have at it…

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I discuss how to become a financial planning authority in your market.  It’s sooooo much easier than you think.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I discuss the eight key attributes to building an insanely successful fee based financial planning practice.

It is important to work on your business every once and a while.  But, what aspect do you work on?  Going through these eight key attributes will provide you with the answer.  This episode can be used as a focusing tool to help you zero in on the aspect of your business that, when worked on, will yield the greatest return on effort.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I discuss being a rich or famous fee based financial planner and how being famous will stunt your ability to grow your practice.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to talk about a very challenging side of running a fee based financial planning practice – the fact that you can’t and shouldn’t work with just anybody.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I talk about designing a fee based financial planning practice to support your ideal lifestyle.  With so many people being so unhappy about not being able to spend more time with their family, friends and hobbies, in this business, it is possible to design a lifestyle that is supported by your business – and not the other way around.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I go through how easy it is for a fee based financial planner to create their own high-quality website – without having to hire a firm to do it form them.  I reveal little known secrets that some website development firms wish you never knew.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to talk about the best investments a fee based financial planner can make for the greatest ROI.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I interview Adam Baker, Producer of “I’m Fine, Thanks”.

I’m Fine, Thanks is a documentary that will “give thousands of people inspiration to live their lives based on their own hopes and dreams – not someone elses vision or script for their life.” – Adam Baker

 (Click here to PLEDGE or watch the Trailor on Kickstarter Page)

Adam Baker is a great guy.  My interview with him was not only a blast, but it really brought to light that life can be meaningful – you just have to make yourself aware.

Some may say that this episode doesn’t have anything to do with running a successful fee based financial planning practice.  But, I would say it has EVERYTHING to do with it.

You tell me.  Please comment below and let me know how or if this has impacted your outlook.  I bet it has.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to talk about how to design a “WOW” client experience.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to continue to talk about the most important part of marketing for a fee based financial planning firm – Lead Conversion.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to continue to talk about what I have been doing for some of my marketing and explain exactly what you need to do to automate your marketing program.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to continue to talk about what I would do if I was starting my own fee-based financial planning practice from scratch.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to talk about what I would do if I was starting my own fee-based financial planning practice from scratch.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’m going to talk with your about CRM solutions and why a CRM solution is the most powerful tool in your fee based financial planning toolbox.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely!  I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’ll share with you how to value your business so that you can justify the highest possible multiple when you sell.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’ll share with you The Ultimate Fee Based Financial Planner Time Management Solution.  You see, if you wear the term Workaholic like a badge of honour, you are just preaching to the world about how inefficient you really are.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

My Ideal Week MindMap Template

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

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If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’ll share with you the secrets behind migrating your commission based practice to a fee based financial planning model.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’ll share the five steps to becoming a “virtual” fee based financial planner.  This is a critically important step to building a life into your lifestyle.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

Business plans are written for one person.  Your bank manager.  The only reason they need this document is to follow protocol.  Protocol says that a person who has completed a business plan has “thought through” their business.  As far as I’m concerned, a business plan it total B.S.

There’s a big difference between working “on” your business vs. “in” your business.  A full blog post could be written on the difference (and I’m sure if you Google’d this, you’d find a bunch).  Working ON your business is what business owners do.  Working IN your business is what employees do.  We’re business owners.  Say no more.

You have a passion deep down in side of you.  It’s what’s driving you.  It’s what makes you better at one thing than anyone else.  It’s your competitive advantage.  It’s that one little thing you are insanely good at.  Your business needs to become an extension of this passion to be successful.

If you don’t harness that passion, you get lumped into the same category as all of the others in your industry.  And, if your market is anything like my market, getting lumped into that “looks like everyone else” bucket sucks.

The next time you walk into an industry conference, pause and ask yourself if you want to be lumped into the same category as 90% of the people there.  I’ll let you hang on that thought for a while…

Ok, so what do you do.  Well, I’d like to introduce you to two documents.  The V2MOM and My Ideal Week.

I first found out about the V2MOM when I read Marc Benioff’s book “Behind The Cloud” (a book I strongly urge you to read – I have a link to it on our Recommended Reading page).  If you don’t know Marc, he is the ridiculously successful business owner and creator of Salesforce.com.  In any event, he created the V2MOM and credits its use as one of the main reasons he became successful and as soon as I was taken through how it is used, I was blown away with how clear I was able to get on what I needed to do to take my business to the next level.

So, at the beginning of my fiscal year in 2011, I completed my V2MOM.  (Check out this previous post I wrote on V2MOM for further details)

For me, 2011 was a crazy year.  And, I’ll be honest, I didn’t hit all of my goals.  But, what the V2MOM did for me was keep me focused on what was important and allow me the freedom to tweak things along the way.

Here’s my V2MOM for 2011 and what I learned from it:

VISION: Define what you want to do.

The first point under vision is to clearly layout your top line revenue vision.  For me, 2011 was the year I was going to top seven figures.  Did I hit that target?  Nope.  But, since I broke the revenue goals down by type (Financial Planning Fees, Investment Fees, Insurance Revenue) I was able to see what area I need to focus on in 2012.  My goal for financial planning fees increased from the previous year by 25% but fell short of my goal by about 40%.  My Investment Fees goal was surpassed by almost $150,000 and I exceeded 2010 by about 30%.  My Insurance revenue fell dramatically.

• So, what did I learn from this?

Fee based revenue rocks.  Commission based revenue sucks!

I also had the vision to be viewed as one of the leading financial planning firms in my area for the 55+ market.  This is a tough one to quantify but of the new clients that we took on, the majority of them fell into this market so we must be doing something right in our messaging.

The final area of my Vision was to create a team based financial planning practice.  We hired a financial plan monitoring specialist.  Six months after hiring this person, we fired our financial plan monitoring specialist.  This whole experience was frustrating initially but taught me a lot about hiring for this position.

So, when it comes to our Vision for 2011, I feel good about what we did as a team.  I acknowledge that our goals were set fairly high but the bottom line is that we were successful for the year.

VALUES: Prioritized principals and beliefs that are most important about the vision.

We totally knocked this section out of the park.  My stated values were to ensure that all of our new clients were managed through our trademarked financial planning process.  All client goals were tracked and reported on through this financial planning process and each component of the process was enhanced to provide each client with an exciting experience during each phase of the process.  We also wanted to align ourselves with the best in the business and fully utilize our “Top Guns” network.

• So, what did I learn from this?

Working with each client through a very well documented financial planning process is exactly what clients are looking for.  Our passion and belief in financial planning really shines through and it is contagious.  Clients always left our review meetings feeling better than they did coming in to the meeting and introducing our clients to our team of “specialists” generated so much good will with our clients as they really see us as a trusted advisor as opposed to a sales outfit.

METHODS: How to get it done.  Actions and steps to take.

We identified that we needed to hire and expand our team and hired three people.  But, as I mentioned previously, we ended up then firing one.

We knew we needed to leverage our existing systems so we hired a consulting firm to assist us in customizing our CRM (Salesforce.com) and are seeing wonderful results from this.

Our marketing efforts (primarily through various social media outlets) are beginning to gain traction as our Podcast and online video series has generated new leads for us without any further effort on our part.  We have been able to automate our process to the point that 90% of the system works on auto-pilot and the metrics and tracking of these systems is easy to obtain to determine the success/failure of each marketing campaign.

• So, what did I learn from this?

You can’t do this business alone.  You need good people.  Don’t be afraid to hire virtually (we have two virtual workers) and don’t be afraid to fire quickly.  We are very clear as to who our next hire needs to be and are actively looking for this person.

OBSTACLES: Challenges, problems and issues to overcome to achieve the vision.

I identified that there were going t0 be challenges to getting our team up to speed and needed to find a way of having our clients embrace the idea of a financial plan monitoring specialist.  I knew that we were moving into uncharted territory with our marketing efforts.  I had no idea if our marketing efforts would generate any leads and didn’t know exactly how to increase our adoption of Salesforce.com.

• So, what did I learn from this?

If you are going to introduce a new team member to your clients, make sure that everyone is very clear on what the roles are of each team member so clients don’t get confused and staff stays on message.  Understand that just because someone has the credentials, doesn’t mean they are well suited to be on the front lines of your business.  Being in the trenches with clients takes a very specific skill set that is hard to come by.  However, we were very successful in our search for a Salesforce.com partner.  We hired through LinkedIn and will definitely utilize this resource further in the future.

MEASUREMENT: Specify the actual results to achieve.

I stated exactly what my top line revenue number goals were for each component of our business (Financial Planning Fees, Investment Fees and Insurance Revenues).  This allowed me to know exactly what my numbers were throughout the year.  If you can’t track it, it’s not worth doing.

• So, what did I learn from this?

Try to have a reason for the numbers you are working toward.  I realized two things.  Because this was my first V2MOM, a lot of the numbers I stated were educated guesses.  However, now that I have been through the process once, I have a much better idea as to what are realistic goals for 2012.  I also understand that you need a great team to take your business to the next level.

The V2MOM (Vision, Values, Method, Obstacles and Measurement) is a great tool to focus you on what you need to do and how you need to do it.

So, go now and complete your V2MOM for the new year.  Then, once this is done, complete the “My Ideal Week” sheet each Monday (for further information on My Ideal Week, please listen to my Podcast episode FEE002 as I do a full review of how to use the “My Ideal Week” (Click here to download a copy of the “My Ideal Week Worksheet“)

The bottom line is that you need to track your progress.  You need to look at your V2MOM each week to keep you focused on what is important.  But the amazing thing is that simply by putting your attention to working “on” your business as opposed to “in” your business all the time, you will accomplish some amazing results.

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
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If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

In this episode, I’ll share how to automate your lead generation process using social media.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

]]> http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/fee001-how-to-automate-your-lead-generation-process-using-social-media/feed 3 How To Automate Your Lead Generation Process Using Social Media - Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast! To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below: Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes How To Automate Your Lead Generation Process Using Social Media Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery Podcast! To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below: Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it! Enjoy the show! In This Episode In this episode, I'll share how to automate your lead generation process using social media. This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what's working (and more importantly, what's not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released. Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.        Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™ no 47:49 PODCAST http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/fee000 http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/fee000#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:28:56 +0000 Scott_CFP http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/?p=262 Introduction Episode – Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™

Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™ Podcast!

To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

• Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
• Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it! Enjoy the show!

In This Episode

Welcome to episode 000!  That’s right, the episode before the first episode.

In this episode, I’ll share with you all of the reasons why if you’re working in the financial planning industry, you need to subscribe to this podcast.  You see, I’m a lot like you, working in the trenches each and every day.  So, I know your pains.  I know your pleasures.  I know the challenges.

This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what’s working (and more importantly, what’s not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released.

Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.

]]> http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/fee000/feed 4 podcast Introduction Episode - Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™ Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™ Podcast!   - To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below: Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes Introduction Episode - Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™ Welcome to The Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™ Podcast!   To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below: Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it! Enjoy the show! In This Episode Welcome to episode 000!  That's right, the episode before the first episode. In this episode, I'll share with you all of the reasons why if you're working in the financial planning industry, you need to subscribe to this podcast.  You see, I'm a lot like you, working in the trenches each and every day.  So, I know your pains.  I know your pleasures.  I know the challenges. This podcast is my way of bringing together like-minded financial professionals so that we can communicate and share what's working (and more importantly, what's not) in the world of financial planning.  So, Subscribe for Free Now!  My plan is to record a new episode on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Subscribing today will deliver these episodes to you as soon as they are released. Visit us online at www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com.        Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery™ no 42:35 http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/recommended-reading http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/recommended-reading#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:36:28 +0000 Scott_CFP http://www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/?p=236 Below are some of the books that have made an impact on me.  Each book had at least one (and in most cases, there were many, many more) gem(s) of information that I instantly applied to my business and saw an immediate impact in my profitability.  I would encourage you to read this entire list (I read most of them on my Kindle app on my iPad).

The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy To Grow A Remarkable Business In Any Field (By: Mike Michalowicz)

ABUNDANCE: The Future Is Brighter Than You Think (By: Peter Diamondis & Steven Kolter)

Ultimate Guide To Google AdWords: How To Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes! (by: Perry Marshall)

Built To Sell – Turn Your Business Into One You Can Sell (by: John Warillow)

The Rational Optimist – How prosperity evolves (by: Matt Ridley)

Eat People (by: Andy Kessler)

Crush It! (by: Gary Vaynerchuck)

The Millionaire Fastlane – Crack the code to wealth and live rich for a lifetime! (by: M.J. Demarco)

You Can’t Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar – The Sandler Sales Institutes 7 Step System for Successful Selling (by: David H. Sandler)

Chicken Soup For The Soul – 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit (by: Jack Canfield)

This is the original Chicken Soup For The Soul book and it is a gem.  Clients love that this is part of their New Client Welcome Kit!

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

The Referral Engine

1. Vision
2. Values
3. Methods
4. Obstacles
5. Measurement

This list is what is widely becoming known as a V2MOM (pronounced VeeTooMom).

Now, I wish I could take credit for coming up with this.  But, I can’t.

However, when I created my own V2MOM.  I was blown away.

You may know Marc Benioff as the founder of Salesforce.com.  (The most powerful Customer Relationship Managment program I have ever used… and I have used them all).  He directed the massive growth of Salesforce.com by creating – what he has now coined as – a V2MOM.  Marc Benioff was listed as one of The Forbes 400 Richest Americans as a result of the creation of Salesforce.com.

In my opinion, this tool is the only tool that allows you to clearly layout your entire vision.  And by using the V2MOM in your practice, you will be able to clearly articulate to your team everything they need to know about what is in your head so that they can really get behind your vision.

All too often, we as entrepreneurs, have such a clear idea but have no way of communicating that idea to our team.  Leaving us frustrated and rudderless with our growth.

Here is the process for creating your own V2MOM:

VISION: Define what you want to do.

I have found it helpful to address the following items:

• Your top line revenue goal.
• How you want to be viewed in the industry

VALUES: What’s important about the vision – to you.

Prioritize and list what is important to you about the vision.  It ‘s your vision.  But, what is important about the vision to you?

Take 5 minutes.  Set a timer.  Do a brain dump and write down in any format you can all the things that are important to you about your vision.  Write and write and write.

Then, once the 5 minutes is up, circle the top 5 things you wrote down.  Prioritize them 1 – 5.  These are now the values that are driving your vision.  Remember, be selfish here.  It’s all about you, you and you at this point.

METHODS: How are you going to get it done?

What do you need to do to deliver on the vision?  List the top 3-5 things that you need to be doing to accomplish the vision.  Do another brain dump if you have to.  These are all of the things that you will need to do (new capabilities, delegations, etc…) in order to get’r'done.

OBSTACLES: Challenges, problems and issues to overcome.

What is standing in your way of accomplishing your vision.

This one should be easy and should take you no time.  Do a brain dump and highlight everything that is standing in your way of getting to where you want to be.  The great thing about this list is that once you solve each problem in the list, you have no more obstacles.

MEASUREMENT: How will you know when you’ve met your goals?

By clearly stating the metrics you are going to use to monitor your progress toward your goals, you will have a very clear understanding of what’s working and what’s not and be able to make adjustments throughout the year.  Unless you outline what it is that is important for you to measure, you won’t know how to tell when you have arrived.

If you would like further information relating to properly setting up your own V2MOM, please let me know.  This one document changed my business life.  It gave me on one sheet of paper everything I needed to know and everything that I needed to share with my staff about how we were going to make this year the best ever.  I am considering putting together a very detailed program which will show you exactly how I run my practice, all driven from the V2MOM.  I’m considering “opening my kimono” and letting you take a look at all of my processes, scripts, how to staff training videos, etc…  Everything you have ever wanted to know about how I run a very successful fee based financial planning practice – and take over 200 days off while doing so (like I did in 2009).

If you are interested in finding out more, simply join the mailing list on the website and this will put you on an advanced notification list should I decide to put this program together.  But first, let me know you’re interested by commenting below.

Best,

Scott

When you dig into it, the answer really is YES.

If you are constantly working in your business, you may never ever have to make the often times difficult decisions necessary to solve this problem.  If you’re working in your business all the time, you may not even know this is a problem.  But, as soon as you begin to work ON your business, this problem becomes very evident.

So let’s work on your business in this post.

I get it.  When you first began in this business, you worked with anyone who could “fog a mirror”.  You would drive to the ends of the earth for a new client.  The focus was volume.  This is what paid the bills.  This is what mattered.

But then, one day, you woke up exhausted (and a little frustrated).  You weren’t growing.  You were plateauing.  So, then you began to segment your business.  A clients, B clients, C clients, etc…  And if you really dug into the numbers, you realized that every time you met with a non- A or B client, you lost money on that meeting.  The only way you were still profitable was because your A and B clients were funding your C and D clients.

Now, imaging this.  What would happen if you didn’t have to worry about the C and D clients and were able to free up some capacity in your business to take on more A and B clients.  What a wonderful life this would be.

So, what do you do?

Well, as I see it (and I welcome comments on this topic), you have two choices.

1. Bring on a junior advisor to assist in managing these C and D client relationships to help in making them profitable again, or
2. Sell this portion of your practice to another advisor who has the time and capacity to properly service these clients.

So, let’s analyze the pro’s and con’s to each choice.

Bring On A Junior Advisor

This really is the same business model that the Dental world has embraced.  Here is what I mean.  When was the last time your dentist cleaned your teeth?  Exactly.  Never.  It was the dental hygienist.  Isn’t this what the junior advisor is?  A financial hygienist?

The logic behind this business model can be quite sound.  The senior advisor brings on new clients, gets them set up with a proper financial plan, assists the client in implementing all of the recommendations and then, the client’s plan is now on “auto-pilot”.

So, what is required during the review meetings is to make sure that the clients plan is on track and that there are no major life events that need to be dealt with.  In essence, the “financial hygienist” can review the clients plan, identify if there are any needs and if there aren’t, this means that the clients plan is on track and they are good for another six-months.  And, the financial hygienist tells the client that if anything changes, that they are to call so you can assist them with the change.  If not, they can look forward to their next review meeting.

In the event that there is a need identified, then the “financial hygienist” can book a meeting with the senior planner to make sure this need is properly analyzed and proper solutions are presented.

The net result is that the planner is only working on higher revenue generating activities and the client is always properly serviced.  This may be a wonderful business model.

Now let’s analyze solution 2.

Sell A Portion Of Your Practice

The logic behind this solution is to sell the clients who don’t meet your “ideal client profile” to another advisor where they are the “ideal client”.  The new advisor pays for the right to service these clients and the old advisor get’s compensated up front and instantly creates capacity in their own practice to be able to take on new A and B clients.

The clients are then better serviced by an advisor who’s business model supports these clients and everyone is happy.

Both solutions accomplish the following key points:

• Client is better serviced
• Practice capacity is created

So, which one do is right for you?  The answer becomes revealed through the cost of implementation.

Let’s take a look at the costs associated with option 1.

For this solution to work, you need to bring on a capable junior advisor who is motivated to work with your clients and has no aspirations on opening up their own business.  Someone who is truly looking to to be part of a team as opposed to creating their own.

My experience has been this.  To find someone who is qualified, they are very expensive.  This added expense can only be seen as an investment if you are able to translate the extra time (capacity) into new A and B clients.  If not, you have added a major expense to your practice.  If this person is reasonably priced, they usually don’t have the experience required to properly manage these clients and will not represent you well during the client meetings and take up a lot of your extra time (which goes against your ability to properly utilize the extra capacity).  At the end of the day, you have added to your problems, added to your payroll, added to your liability and your clients begin to resent working with the new advisor and want to keep working with you.

Now, option 2 allows you to “partner” with another qualified advisor who will actually bring some value to the table when working with your old clients.  These clients will quickly understand that you are no longer available but will also feel comfortable working with the new advisor.

You will have received some revenue up front and truly created capacity in your practice to bring on the new A and B clients.  You have extra cash available to put towards marketing for those new A and B clients and at the end of the day, everyone is happy.

So, as a business owner, what are we really trying to create?  The answer is a profitable business which we are passionate about that allows us the freedom to do what we want, how we want with whom we want.  Which of these options provide you with this?  That is for you to decide.  However, I’m sure you can see where my bias lies.  I’ve done them both.  I speak from experience.

Let me know your thoughts.  Have you ever had to solve this problem?  If so, what and how did you do it?  Please comment below.

Ouch, that hurts.  I know the feeling.  You need to show up each day, otherwise your business revenue will suffer.  It’s that harsh reality that opens most financial planners eyes to the difference between creating a business and creating a job.

I would say that 99% (if not more) of the financial advisory businesses in the world today who’s revenues are less than $1M a year fall victim to the same harsh reality.  If the key business owner stopped showing up, the business would quickly run into the red – and then die.  They created a business that is so reliant on them, that any event that requires the key planner to step away from the business for over a month, causes a huge negative impact on their profitability.

And, the longer you stay in business, the worse the problem gets.  I know, I’ve been there.

Then, you hit what a mentor of mine (Dan Sullivan) calls “the ceiling of complexity” or as John Warrillow calls it “the ceiling of control”.  Two terms that mean essentially the same thing.  You can’t grow.

It is a very frustrating place to be.  And, it can last for years.  You begin to exist in a place of “going nowhere”.

Fatigue begins to set in.  Your zest for what you do begins to wane.  The new and exciting cases you used to look forward to become an extra burden because the more work you get, the more work there is for you to do and the less time you’re going to have for other, really important things.  Like your family and friends.

It seems illogical, but is very real.

Growth has always been possible through a process of  adding new products and services to your practice.  If you were a mutual fund salesperson, you got insurance licensed.  If you were on the insurance side of the business, you got your investment license.  If you were already dual-licensed, you got your Certified Financial Planner license.  All in an effort to build your business.  But, in actual fact, you just made things more complicated.

You added more compliance problems.  You had to learn about the ever changing new products that came with your new license.  You have just trapped yourself.  You have hit the invisible ceiling.

So, what’s the answer?

Although you sometimes feel like locking the doors to your business at night and just walking away from the challenges, it is worth the effort to make it right again.  Making it right will make it fun again.

The answer is simple, yet complex at the same time.  The answer is to move to a fee-based financial planning model and outsource what you don’t absolutely love to do.

Here is a brief listing of the specialists I outsource to:

• life insurance
• living benefits insurance
• group benefits
• mortgages
• investment counseling / portfolio management
• executive compensation arrangements
• private health service plans
• financial plan review meetings

What this does is it allows you to offer everything and more of what you used to offer but not overburden yourself with the extra time and effort it takes to properly deal with each specialty.

I charge an annual fee to a new client to work with my firm and my team of specialists.  They can’t find this team anywhere else.  My overhead is kept to a minimum as I’m not adding to my payroll.  My revenue goes up and is more diversified as a result of the revenue generated from my team of specialists.

Put this into practice and you will find you will blast through your invisible ceiling, your revenues will increase and your passion will be reignited.  And, you’ll be able to command a much higher multiple for you business, should you ever wish to sell it.

The content on most websites doesn’t change very much.  And, for those sites that do have regularly updated content, they haven’t set their websites up to “feed” the information to their readers.  In essence, they may update some of the content on the site and nobody ever finds out about it unless they happen to wonder by or find it through a Google search.

This has all changed.

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Try it out now!  Just google “Google Reader” and set up your own free account.  And, once you’ve set it up, simply go to www.feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com and click on the RSS Feed Icon (see below) and follow us in your reader.  Then, whenever we add a new post to our site, you will be notified of this.

There must be one thing.  One niggly thing that is holding you back.

Here are some examples:

• Can’t afford a dip in my income…
• Existing clients won’t want to pay a fee for what they have been getting for free…
• Don’t know what to charge…
• Don’t know how to charge clients…
• Dealer won’t allow it…
• Afraid clients will go somewhere else…
• I really want to migrate to a fee based practice but I have no idea how to do it…

So, let me know what’s holding you back and I’ll make sure I answer your questions and tell you exactly how I did it.

Those exact words went through my head as my eyes opened larger and larger in disbelief.

It was very clear to me that I had been hit with a virus.

Don’t know where it came from.  Don’t really care.  Just get it out of my computer.

It is amazing the pace at which things run through your head when this happens.  You run through a mental checklist of what is critical on your computer and what is replaceable.  Music files, well OK, I can do without and I didn’t listen to all of them that much anyway.  Photo’s, well, that would suck…

OMG, my new Podcast recordings.  I haven’t yet finished editing the recorded files.  That was live stuff.  I spent hours on that.  I could never replace those.  This is serious.

You scan your brain, hoping you remember that there is a copy somewhere else.  There isn’t. It actually hurts.  I mean you are in physical pain.  What to do.  What to do. Well, here is what I learned this weekend after I got hit with a major computer virus:

1. You need a go to guy.  Someone who knows exactly how to fix this type of thing.  When it comes to the inner workings of a computer and the technology that is below my fingers when I type on my notebook, I am clueless.  You always hope your “anti-virus” software works.  You always hope that your “firewall” works.  But, when it doesn’t work as you would like, you need a go to guy.
2. You need good anti-virus software.  There are a few on the market (we only use one).  This is critical as it can protect you against a tone of those little nasty’s that can make their way into your computer.
3. You need to re-think your backup plan.  This has been a real eye opener for me.  The biggest question running through my head as I was trying to get this nasty virus out of my computer was “In a worst case scenario where my computer is toast, how quickly can I get back up and running again?”

So, here is how it went down. I was working away at my computer when it just wasn’t responding properly.  I figured a reboot was in order.  This usually fixes everything. As soon as it rebooted, I began to get pop up balloon after pop up balloon saying “program abc, can’t load”, “program xyz, can’t load”.  There was a problem.  Then, a major message showed up saying that it is critical to protect your computer and I needed to update my anti-virus software.   It said that my computer was infected and I had no virus software running.  It said that for me to fix the problem, I needed to complete the registration for the software that could fix the problem and go through the check-out online to buy a 1 year, 2 year or lifetime subscription for the anti-virus software. It all looked very Windows like.  Very professional.  But, I knew that there was a problem.

So, my first call was to my guy.  I have 24/7 access to an amazing team.  They logged on to my machine, told me that “yes, this was bad”.  Then he said the most amazing thing.  “But, I can fix it.”

OK.  Do as you say, I thought.  He said that it would take him an hour or so but that he would call me back when it was fixed. In less than an hour, I was back on the phone with him and he said, “OK, it’s fixed.  Also, I noticed a few other things and I fixed them also.  Your machine should run quicker now.”  I loved this guy on the other end of the phone.  I wanted to hug him (in a manly kind of way). I had great anti-virus software.  It did it’s job.  My guy did the rest.

So, who was the voice on the other end of the phone who I was able to contact late on a Sunday afternoon?

Let me share with you how I met him first. It was 2009 and I was at a financial planning conference with my partner.  We were frustrated with the amount of time it was taking me to deal with a lot of the computer technology issues and we needed to hire someone to do this for us.  We had a guy who we had worked with in the past but when I approached him, he said he had a program that he could set us up on where he would manage all of our computers technology issues going forward.  The problem was, it was expensive.

Then, we attended a session from a company who seemed to have things dialed in.  They were focusing on professionals who wanted to spend more time doing what they do best and less time worrying about their computers. We signed up.  Why?  Because their offering was phenomenal. New computer every three years.  All software licenses (Office, Anti-Virus, etc…).  Offsite backup, daily.  Finger print sign-on.  Automated updates.  All for the same price as buying a new computer.  The list went on and on.

They delivered a handful of business class HP notebook computers to our office the next week.  They computers were fast.

We opened the box to the new computer, plugged it in and we were up and running.

Every day, our whole hard drive is backed up offline.  We can access this backup whenever we need to.  If someone steals my computer, I can send a “destroy” message through the internet so as soon as the computer goes online, it is wiped clean.  I can get a replacement within hours with my hard drive re-installed from the backup. This makes me feel very confident.

The company is called No Panic Computing.  They are great.  Now, whenever my staff asks me to help with a computer problem, I say “call No Panic”.  They do and they get things fixed.

Also, I have learned that taking things to the clouds is the way to go.  What this means is that we have taken our software to the clouds and haven’t looked back.  Our email is virtual (Google Apps), our contact management system is virtual (Salesforce.com) our calendar is virtual (Google Calendar).  So, when I was thinking how long it would take me to get back up and running – for me, it would be minutes.  All I need now is an internet connection and I’m good to go.  Everything is up in the clouds. I’ll speak further on our cloud based solutions and teach you exactly how I use them to run our business. But, in the meantime, do yourself a favour.  When it comes time to upgrade your computer, visit www.nopaniccomputing.com and find out why they are awesome.  I am a customer for life.

So, I decided to pull the trigger and migrate my business to a fee-based model.  But, I did so with a very well thought out systematic approach to doing so.  Or so I thought…

I did the math.  I knew in the long-run things would be better, both for me and my clients.

So, my plan looked something like this:

1. All new clients were charged a financial planning fee for the writing of a comprehensive financial plan.  I would not work with a client who did not want a comprehensive financial plan and who was not interested in paying a fee for this advice.  My motto was “you can go down the street and be sold a product or you can work with me to help you buy into a plan for you to accomplish your financial goals.
2. When it comes time to “implementing” a financial plan, I would do so on a no-load basis and my fee for the investment oversight would be charged to the clients investment account.  Thus, full transparency was accomplished.
3. I would meet with all of my clients and explain to them that our business model was focusing on comprehensive financial planning and for this advice (as any other professional would) we were going to be charging for our services.  However, because they were existing clients, we would grandfather them into our fee schedule at a reduced rate.

A simple and straight forward plan… I thought.

The day of my first meeting with a new prospect who was interested in my services was horrible.  I was nervous.  I was actually quite sick to my stomach.

The meeting began like all others.  I asked them to bring copies of their statements with them.  We reviewed their statements.  I explained how we could make things better for them by allowing us to “properly” select their mutual funds based on our expert analysis and how it would make for a better investment plan.  Then, came the part of the meeting where I had to explain to them our financial planning fee structure.  This is where the wheels fell off…

They had over $100,000 of investments they were looking for some assistance with.  They were unhappy with their current advisor.  Should have been a slam dunk!  They knew their investments were not setup properly and wanted a change.  I knew that once they became a client, we would be able to help them with all of their insurance needs.  It was going to be great.

However, when I began explaining the financial planning fees, they began to act funny.   The tone of the meeting changed – and for the worse.

The husband asked, “So, what was it that they got for the fee?”

I told them, my financial planning advice.

They told me that they weren’t paying for that now.

It seemed to me that the financial planning fee was getting in the way.

I told them that because we only implemented their investments through “no-load” investments that didn’t have any up front fees or any back end fees that they only paid for the advice and were never locked in to any fees should they decide that they needed to make an adjustment to their portfolio.  That this was better for them.

They never became a client.

Can you say I was frustrated!  Yes.  Part 1 and 2 of my conversion plan wasn’t working so hot.

Then, I had a meeting later that day with an existing client (a “B” client) who I was going to be converting to our new fee-based model.

The meeting went something like this:

Client: “So, what your telling me is that I am going to be billed for the advice I was getting for free up until now?”

Planner: “Well, yes and no.  Yes you are going to be billed for the advice but no, you weren’t getting it for free up until now.”

Client: “How was I paying for it?”

Planner: “Through the fees on your mutual fund accounts.”

Client: “What fees?  I haven’t seen any fees charged to my account”

And you can imaging how this conversation went.  And, it finally ended with the client saying: “Well, let me think about it and I’ll get back to you.”

And, guess what happened.

That’s right.  We got a transfer notice in the mail.  They were transferring their account to another advisor.

So, my first foray into fee-based financial planning was a crash and burn.

What went wrong?

Well, here is what I changed.

1. The original system I put in place was for me, not for the client.  So, I changed my focus and created a financial planning system.  This system clearly showed prospects how I was different than the typical commission based advisor because my financial planning system analyzed not only their investments but also their Retirement Plan, Insurance Plan, Tax Plan, Estate Plan, Education Plan, Business Plan, etc…  They saw value in that and very quickly realized how I differed from their current advisor relationship.
2. Specific investments with new clients were never discussed until their plan was finished.  Which makes sense because you can’t know what you need the investments to do until you have analyzed what needs to be done.  What I found was that by placing little importance on the investments up front, and placing my total focus on the planning, that I was in a class all to myself.  One that didn’t carry with it a “salesmen” stigma.  This was very refreshing.

Here is a true story:

During one of the very next meetings with an existing client who I was planing to migrate to our fee-based model, they looked at me and said “Thank you!”  I said, “I don’t think you heard me correctly.  I said I was going to start charging you a financial planning fee each year”.  They said, “Yes, I understand”.  I asked them why they thanked me.  And, do you know what they said?  They told me that they were always concerned that I would go out of business because they never saw any money coming out of their accounts to pay me for my services.

I didn’t see that one coming…

So, what’s the moral of the story?  Create a systematic financial planning approach to your business and promote that.  Emphasize the importance of regular review meetings and put a system in place to ensure all clients are invited back in for a full-year and mid-year review meeting.  And always remember, the product your selling is your service.

However, the following tools are critical to ALL fee based financial planning practices, no matter what their business focus, location or mandate is.

These tools are:

1. Website
2. Email capture system
3. Phone system
4. Contact Management System
5. Financial Planning Software
6. Bookkeeping/Billing System

So, let’s get into why these seven tools are absolutely necessary to run any successful financial planning practice.

1.  Website

Like it or not, everyone will check you out on the web first, before deciding to work with you.  Your website is what will instantly differentiate you from your competition.

What you put on the website is important.  There are a few key components to making your site shine.

First, you need to make sure that it doesn’t promote products.  What you do what it to promote is your process.  To a prospect, your process is your product.  So, be sure to promote your service as a product.  The best way of doing this is to outline what you do in the form of a step-by-step process and then name your process.  As soon as you name your process, you have instantly differentiated yourself from your competition.

The second thing you want to do is to put content on your website that is directly relevant to your client niche and keep it current.  If you don’t have a niche, you need one.  I understand that this is the most difficult question to answer but it must be done.

The easiest way of choosing your niche is to ask yourself the question: “Who do I feel can benefit the most from the type of financial planning I do?”.  Once you have this answered, tailor your message to this niche.  You will be amazed at how quickly your business will grow when you publicly state who you do the best work for.  In this business, you don’t need a lot of new clients every year.  Just a handful of key clients whom you can build a business around.

So, do you need to go out and hire someone to build a website for you?  Absolutely not.  Not these days.  You will be amazed how easy it is to launch a website on your own, for a few hundred dollars.  If you go to www.wordpress.org, you will find the most powerful software to run your website on.  It runs some of the most powerful websites in the world and it is totally free.  WordPress is out of the box configured to work with all of the search engines so as soon as you launch your site, you will begin to see traffic because the search engines are automatically notified of your existence.

If you need to hire someone to help you, you will be amazed at how inexpensive it is to build a fantastic looking site using WordPress.  Why, because if you hire someone, since the software is so easy to use and customize, you will not be paying for development and creative time, just a bit of fine tuning time.  When I built my first website, it cost me over $15,000.  So far at the time of writing this post, my cost to date for this website is $159, which includes my annual hosting fee and a premium theme that makes this site look as it does.

So, don’t do what I did and blow your brains out on a website that looks good to your mom but doesn’t attract new leads to you.

2.  Email Capture System

This one should actually be number 1 but most people want to get going on their website first so I put it as number 2.  But, without a list of prospects to market to and to build a relationship with, you will leave a tremendous amount of money on the table.

The system I recommend is AWeber.  The reason it is so great is twofold.  First, it is soooo easy to use and set up.  Second is that it integrates with WordPress in a simple point and click fashion.  You will notice on this website the email capture form.  This is AWeber.  When you register to receive our eNewsletter, AWeber is taking care of the administration to make sure you are who you say you are.

In your financial planning practice, you will be able to set up automated email correspondence that will help you to build a relationship with your prospects.  What you write in this email correspondence is a topic for another post but let’s just say that when a prospect has Opted-In to your list, they are giving you permission to communicate with them.  So, find valuable information and communicate with them.  To see what I mean, just register here, on the right of this post, to our email list.  The automation will take over and you will see how it works.

3.  Phone System

I assume you have a phone.  But, do you have a system for using your phone.

Nothing screams “I’m a one man show!” louder than a voice message that says, “You have reached the personal voice mail box of (insert your name here).  I am currently away from my desk.  Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I am available.”  What’s missing here?  Their ability to speak with a live person.

Keep in mind I do encourage you to not answer your phone, ever.  (I will speak to this further on a future post dealing with Time Management) but let’s just say that we do appreciate that a client or prospect will want to speak with someone.  So, find a live call answer service so that you can add the following text to your voice message: “For immediate assistance, please press “zero” now to be connected to my assistant”.

These services are very inexpensive and will allow you to craft the responses for them to use to properly service the prospect or client and then you will be notified of any important items that come in.  You can then call the important inquires back immediately and look like a hero.

4.  Contact Management System

We all need to keep track of our Leads and Clients.  And, there are a lot of systems out there that can do this for you.  However, there is only one that you should use.  And the reasons for using it are numerous.

That system is Salesforce.com.  This cloud based system is awesome.  I have used Goldmine, Outlook, Maximizer and a few others and Salesforce.com will do so much more for you.

The first thing it will do for you is allow you to work on your business instead of work with some IT guy to fix a software glitch.  Salesforce.com is cloud based which means all you need is a working internet browser.  They take care of the rest.  Cloud based solutions work better for one reason.  They are cloud based.  It doesn’t matter what virus software you are using on your computer, it doesn’t matter what other software you have running on your computer that may conflict with a software based contact management solution.  None of this matters.

There is no need to run a server in your office to make sure all others in the office can communicate with you and your software.  All I need right now is an internet connection.  The way Salesforce.com can be customized (by me) is amazing.  It is a simple drag and drop approach.  In other words, if I don’t like where something shows up on my screen, I drag it to where I want it to be.  Simple.  I never have to worry about a software upgrade screwing up my system and then having to hire some tech guy to fix it (a total waste of money).  The system just works.

It also allows you to automate your business to the finest detail.  In our practice, everything is automated.  This is why we are able to run such a profitable business.  We don’t need to hire very many people because I have programmed Salesforce.com to do most things for me.

Check it out.

Oh, and did I tell you that it works out of the box with WordPress?  Very slick.

5.  Financial Planning Software

This one is more of a personal choice.  There are a variety of good programs on the market.  I use NaviPlan.  I use both NaviPlan Standard (a goals based planning system) and NaviPlan Extended (a cash flow based system).  I have tried them all.  The bottom line is that you need to learn the program.  They will all generate a financial plan for you.  However, can you easily explain the numbers and can you easily generate a plan and model various planning scenarios.

NaviPlan is great on both fronts.

When I present a financial plan to a client, we usually only look at a few pages together.  Their net worth, their ability to accomplish their goal page and how these pages look when the recommendations I have are implemented.  All of the pages that the system generates are put into a binder for the client to take with them for their records.  We always have this because there are some instances where you need to be able to explain things in further detail and you will need to draw on the details contained within the plan to answer these questions.

The plan presentation process needs to be structured.  I will speak further on this in another post.

Bottom line with financial planning software is to learn the software as well as you can so you can properly model your clients “what-if” questions to prove to them the logic behind all of your recommendations.

6.  Bookkeeping/Billing System

As a fee based financial planner, you will be charging clients for your financial planning services.  We charge their credit cards each year.  Managing this is important.  If you don’t have the systems in place to properly manage this, you will lose credibility in your clients eyes.

First of all, get a merchant account.  We use Moneris.

Second of all, have y0ur clients sign a letter of engagement for the financial planning services you are providing them.  Contained within the document is an outline as to your fees and an authorization for them to allow you to bill their financial planning fee to their credit card.

This information should be documented in your Contact Management System.  Your contact management system should automatically generate for you on a monthly basis the list of clients who need to be billed their annual financial planning fee.  You should also have a way of keeping track of a clients credit card expiry dates so that you can contact them in advance of their credit card expiring so that when it comes time to charge their annual financial planning fee, you don’t have an expired credit card to deal with.  The goal here is to streamline the whole process.

You will need to have proper work flows for all of the documents that need to be sent out to a client notifying them of the renewal of their financial planning services.

All of these tools will allow you to run your business like a business and clients will appreciate the efficiency as to how your business is run.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we use these tools in our own practice, please as some more detailed question in the comments section below and we’ll get back to you with further details.

Always keep in mind that as a fee based financial planner, you will do things differently.  Using the above points as a guideline will make you look and sound different than your competition.  And that is a good thing.

Charging fees will put you in a class on your own.  You will differentiate yourself from pure product salespeople.  When you provide financial planning and advisory services and charge for them, people will perceive you as a professional and are more likely to take your advice.

Your income will increase in two ways.  First, you receive fees for the work performed which in itself is going to increase your revenue.  No more giving away your advice for free.  Second, because of the added value in your services (and I’ll touch on where that added value comes from in another post) your implementation rates will increase.  Clients will implement more of your ideas and recommendations.  Why will they implement more of your ideas?  Because the recommendations are based on the clients objectives, not yours.  Doing the planning first (and charging for it) will automatically make your recommendations more in line with exactly what the client needs to do to accomplish their goals and objectives.  In other words, you as the planner will do a better job.

Can you imaging what your plan would look like if you actually charged a fee for it?  I tell you one thing, it will look a lot different that what it does right now.

When we first started charging fees, we worried that people would bock at the idea of paying for the financial planning advice because there were so many advisor’s giving away a “free” financial plan.  However, I am here to tell you that what you and I know about the “free” financial plans is also known by most consumers.  You get what you pay for.  Our experience was that once we started charging for the plans, our implementation rates went through the roof, our referrals from clients increased and the respect we got from other professionals was huge.

But, here is the big problem.  In order to achieve success in selling fees to your clients, you must have a true system.  Without a true system, you are dead in the water.  This system will provide you with the freedom and peace of mind to know that you won’t accidentally charge two friends two different fees (and risk them finding out about it).  This system will provide you and your office a track to run on for developing proper office work flow procedures to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Developing a predetermined fee schedule, with supporting documentation, will eliminate the “off the cuff” approach that most advisors seem to be using.  This “off the cuff” approach will simply motivate clients to try to negotiate their fee with you.  NEVER do this.  We never stray from our fee schedule.  If clients don’t like the fee, they can try to obtain the same level of service and strategy from some other firm.  We are professionals, not car salespeople!

This brings me to a very important point.  Quite often I will see financial planners use an “offset” method for charging fees if clients implement the plan with the planner.  NEVER EVER DO THIS!  Think about it.  Could you imagine if a surgeon said to you that they would reimburse you their diagnosis fee if you let them perform the surgery?  Can you say “Second Opinion…”.

These are simply two separate issues.  The fees are for the work.  Not the implementation.  The implementation has to be done somewhere and they can either elect to a) do it themselves, b) use someone else to implement the recommendations for them or c) use the person who already knows everything about their situation who they already have trust and faith in to implement the plan.  Which do you think they will choose?

If you are not charging fees, you need to start – today!  Develop a fee schedule and stick to it.  What’s the worse thing that can happen?

Please note that these are all things that I have first hand experience with.  I am recommending them because they have made a difference in my practice.  They are companies that I trust and use currently.  In some cases, I have created an affiliate relationship with these companies because I feel so strongly about their products/services.

Blogging

• WordPress: The #1 Blog Publishing Platform. Free and easily customizable with wonderful support. All of my blogs use WordPress.

• WordPress Plugins: Download any plugins, widgets, or customizable elements for your WordPress blog.

WordPress Premium Themes

• Profits Theme: The really, really, really easy way to create an amazing looking, easy to navigate website in a few hours.  (This whole site was made using this premium theme – it is amazingly easy – and totally worth the small fee!)
• Woo Themes: The ultimate resource for premium looking WordPress themes.
• Headway Themes: When I was first introduced to Headway, I was blown away.  I am not website tech savvy.  This premium theme makes you look and feel like a pro.  Headway’s not just a WordPress theme.  It’s a total website design tool.  You’re not stuck with someone else’s design, so create anything you want!  Websites, blogs, landing pages, online magazines, Headway does it all.

Web Hosting

• Bluehost: 99% of my websites are hosted on Bluehost. Easy to use, 1-click automatic WordPress installation, and excellent customer service. Highly recommended for your first site.

Landing Page / Squeeze Page Design Templates

• OptimizePress: Choose from over 10 tested and proven designs for your squeeze pages or landing pages to increase your optin rate and build your list fast.  These templates are awesome.  Watch the free video.

Product Distribution & Shopping Carts

• Paypal.com: Paypal is just ok for selling your own products through them, but you’ll need an account anyways to configure with and accept payments from the above shopping carts.

Keyword Research

• Google Adwords Tool: A tool to help you decide what keywords to use for your Adwords campaigns. You can also check to see the popularity of certain keywords and the competition for ads for those keywords as well.
• HitTail: An awesome long tail keyword tool that states that they guarantee it will increase your organic search traffic.  There’s a free trial and the results are instant.  Check it out…

Advertising Stuff

• Google Adsense: Make money by placing relevant ads on your website that are generated from advertisers using Google Adwords. This is free to use, but you have to register for an account.
• Google Adwords: If you want to begin advertising on Google, you can select keywords and locations and you pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement.

Email Subscriptions & Marketing

• Aweber: The internet’s most powerful email opt-in service and email marketing/broadcasting tool. This is what I use to build my email list.

Testing Results

• Google Analytics: Google’s free website tracking and analytical tool. A must have for anyone with any type of website.
• Google Optimizer: This is another free tool from google where you can test different webpages of the same content, only changing one or two things, so you can see which one works/converts best. It’s basically a website optimizer testing tool.

Capturing Video and Screencasts

• Camtasia for Mac - for screen captures
• Camtasia for PC (Camtasia Studio) – for screen captures

 Virtual Assistants (VA’s) – Outsourcing Work

• Virtual Staff Finder: I hired my last virtual assistant using Chris Ducker’s service. What a great experience. I interviewed three candidates via Skype and couldn’t decide between two of them. A good problem to have. We have had a great experience with this company from day one.
• Replacemyself.com: All the tools, tricks and procedures for finding and working with a Virtual Assistant from the Philippines.  I used this service to hire my first full-time VA.  He’s still working for me today.  This is a great place to quickly filter through thousands of resumes on the web to find high quality VAs for anything you want done by someone else for your business.

Contact Management System

• Salesforce.com: We’ve tried them all.  And the hands down this is the industry leader in cloud-based CRM. (Get rid of those nasty, expensive servers)

Online Storage

• Dropbox: Use this link to get a free dropbox account and an extra 1GB of Free online storage space.

Financial Planning Software

• The Razor: I have recently migrated over to The Razor for a few reasons.  First, its retirement planning results are better than any of the solutions I have used in the past (NaviPlan, FP Solutions, etc…) but more importantly, clients are getting more from the output than ever before.  If you purchase this software, let Dave Faulkner know that you found out about it from me.

MindMapping

• MindMeister: Not only is this one of the most amazing pieces of software I have ever used, it is also cloud based so I can access it from anywhere.  It has an iPad app, iPhone app and it works seemlessly with my Google Apps account.  Whenever I run through a mind map with someone, they always ask, “Where did you get this amazing software from?”

Social Media Management

• SocialOomph: This program is one of the few that actually “does it all”.  You can use it from anywhere so it passes my “cloud based” test.  TRY IT FOR FREE!
• HootSuite: The leading Free Social Media Dashboard to manage and measure your social networks.
• MarketMeSuite: A Completely Free Social Media Dashboard, Packed with Amazing Features.

Logo Design

• www.99designs.com: The fastest growing design marketplace in the world

Telecommunications

• Ring Central: I have spent years being frustrated with my office phone system solution. I bought a huge system from Avaya, I then migrated over to a VOIP system and HATED it! I had so many problems. It was crazy (and expensive). But, then I was turned on to RingCentral. I am blown away. A) the system works like a charm, b) the system costs half as much as my old system did and c) the entire thing works with ALL of my devices (iPhone, Android, computer). It is the most robust system I have ever come across and I totally love it. If you’re hoping to become more virtual like I have, you will love this system. Heck, any company who uses the phone will benefit from their service. They truly are the best of the best.