The "Amazon Effect" is essentially the results of how a digital world has changed business models regarding consumer expectations, interaction, choices, and options. This phenomenon started back in 1994. Since that time, it has changed society as well as many business models in various industries and markets. 

Spring has sprung and summer is on its way! This time of year makes many want to get their golf clubs out and hit the golf course. As you may know, golf can become addicting no matter how great or how “not so great” your game may be. As a financial professional you probably find little time to enjoy a golf game, and would love the opportunity to be on the course a little more often. Have you thought of using golf as a client appreciation event? The truth is that if you don’t appreciate your clients, someone else will. 

I’ve been writing about improving the design of your marketing materials for over six months. I’ve covered everything from designing your logo to creating a website. I would like to take a moment and briefly review the topics I’ve covered and the importance of why financial advisors should work with a graphics designer.

When conducting prospecting events, location selection is a vital piece of the marketing puzzle and can have a great influence on its success as well as failure. With that said, we know that the entire outcome of the event is not solely based on the location as other factors such as presentation, topic, demographics etc. are vital as well. But the location selection should not be taken lightly or discounted.

The purpose for PowerPoints has been lost on many financial professionals because of those presenters’ own shortcomings at presenting. For many that do presentations wrong, the idea of putting together a long deck of beautiful slides that are extremely wordy automatically makes them think the presentation will be well received. The amount of time preparing for what is really important— practicing the words you use and how you use them—has gone by the wayside.

Almost any business would benefit from their clients singing their praises in a public place. Imagine if you could create walking billboards for your company, spreading your message when you are not around to do it yourself. They could infiltrate social groups that you may have been cut out from entering.

One way to make a bad first impression is by misusing fonts and typefaces. This is especially true when it comes to the financial and insurance world. If you come off as unprofessional, the client will not trust you. Trust is key for financial advisors.

Let’s say you have brochures, flyers, letterhead and business cards for your business. You’re very proud that you created these pieces…but you have a problem. They don’t look as professional as they should and you can’t quite figure out why.

The independent industry doesn't do a really good job of surveying it's field force regarding what they look for in an Independent Marketing Organization (IMO). Having been around the business for more than 20 years, and having talked with thousands of insurance agents regarding their wishes and wants, I thought I'd put together a listing of the top field requests I've heard over the past few years.

Over the course of the past 10 to 15 years many designations have come and gone. Many were merely alphabet soup behind the person’s name and had little to no value or legitimacy. Several financial advisors have tried to recreate themselves with self-appointed designations that would somehow differentiate them from the rest of the industry or their local competition. Unfortunately, that tactic doesn’t work.