When you work with a prospect and guide them towards making a financial decision and take action, you assume a leadership role. For many financial advisors, you make a commitment to lead them to and through retirement. However, many financial professionals have failed to have a scheduled maintenance process in place to review their clients’ plans and adapt them to life and lifestyle changes.

When you meet with clients, do you use any tools besides pen and paper? You and your clients can benefit from implementing new technology in your financial services office. Here are a few ways you can easily improve your office by using technology. 

If you have a slim marketing budget, workshops and seminars can seem like they cost more than they're worth. There may be ways to find prospects that cost less cash, but you end up paying more in the long run. The monetary cost of finding prospects isn't the only expense.

I have talked to many advisors in my career and I have lost count how many times I have heard “I only sell annuities” or "I only sell life insurance”. There are several things wrong with this picture. Agents that think like this are not fully helping their clients. They are leaving cracks in their financial plans and as an advisor they are leaving dollars on the table. 

Many of the financial advisors and agents we speak with who struggle with prospecting aren't willing, or able, to spend on marketing and prospecting. They think that by avoiding the high cost of prospecting programs they are saving money. Remember, you can spend time, or you can spend money, but you need to spend on marketing and prospecting. 

If you're a financial advisor and don't have anybody to see, you're basically unemployed. But not everybody you meet is a fit for you. Therefore, not all suspects are going to make great prospects and in turn, great clients. You must identify the best potential clients when prospecting so you don't waste your valuable time.

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.

A career as an independent financial professional is rewarding beyond comprehension in many ways. Effecting lives of the clients you touch in a positive way is spirit-raising. There’s nothing like standing by your clients’ side as they identify their challenges, acknowledge them, take ownership, and make a decision to take action with you as their guide. 

Financial advisors often make simple mistakes that they can correct to improve their businesses. These mistakes reduce their potential and can cause business to slow, or even worse, start to decline. Here are the top six mistakes you should avoid making in your financial services business.

Humans need a tribe. We are social animals, and most of us need to feel a part of something larger than us to feel OK. We need to know someone has our back. In return we’ll have theirs. As a unit we’ll be secure and succeed. We’ll overcome challenges and achieve great things.