You have carefully designed the client experience. You have written thorough procedures. Your staff is on board. So, how can you be sure you are doing the best job for the clients and delivering on your promises? One critical element is often overlooked: practice.

This post was inspired by an article from Chris Lema (thanks for alerting me Josh Patrick). In it, he reveals the error in trying to Book Yourself Solid. If you and your team are busy working all the time, you are almost certainly doing it wrong. You need time to step through your processes, make sure they work, and make sure that everyone on the team understands their role and has developed skill at carrying it out. Navy SEALs do it. Racing pit crews do it. And so should you.

My wife is a professional musician. She has been playing double bass for close to 30 years and performs with one of the best orchestras in the country. And still, several times a week, what I hear from down the hall is scales. Etudes. The basics. Because, she explains, stop doing that for even a few days at a time and you will not be in peak condition.

Providing clients a consistent excellent experience will drive client loyalty. Take a little time with the team and have each member demonstrate how they carry out their role in the process. Confirm that everyone's skills are current. Solicit ideas for improvements.

When was the last time you sat down with your team to discuss how a plan gets put together? How often do you run through the process of getting ready for a client appointment? Or how you get the client ready for that appointment? (Do you send a reminder card or making a reminder phone call? Do you send preparatory materials in advance?) Consider getting the team together and stepping through your client onboarding process.

Make sure there is a little time each month for you and your staff to work on those skills. To review the basics. Confirm that what you are doing is what your manual says gets done.

After all, there is a reason for calling what you do a practice.

Steve will be the guest on the Accelus Partners Expert Series Interview teleconference “The Art of Referrals.” The conference will be on April 30 at 5:00pm EDT.  Click here to register.

Our interview will address the following topics:

1. The challenge of asking for referrals
2. Understanding what prompts a client to refer
3. What you need to do to encourage more referrals
4. The referral conversation
5. Developing a referral marketing strategy

Join us for 30 minutes of discussion followed by an open Question and Answer session. Those registering for the live event will be provided a replay of the call, even if you cannot attend.

Register for this teleconference here.

Please join me for a free webinar on niche marketing Wednesday, March 20 at 3:00PM Eastern. You can register here: 

When you meet an ideal prospect, what do you tell them is the reason they should hire you rather than any of the other advisors they meet? Trust, good service, great employees, and experience won’t do it – all advisors say that. “Because I am a fiduciary” doesn’t work because it just confuses people. So what will work?

You need a special service or skill tailored to something your ideal clients are looking for. It means you need a niche.

You have probably heard this before, but how do you find a niche and create a compelling offering around it? The answer is what is missing from so much of what has been written about in courses and articles.

By the end of this webinar you will know:

• ·        
• ·         Defining your niche (hint: it’s not demographics, profession or level of wealth)
• ·         Connecting with your niche
• ·         Developing a niche marketing strategy

My webinar on referral marketing was voted in the top 5 of all webinars on Bright Talk last year. This program is just as valuable and interesting.  I hope you will join me!

I am compiling success stories of advisors who have been particularly effective at defining a niche market and building a practice around it. Who are the advisors who, in your mind, have:

• Carved out a specific group and identified a special need to fulfill
• Built a practice with a clear and distinct specialty
• Developed an expertise most advisors do not have
• Networked unusually effectively within a target market

Who stands out in your mind as a practitioner or a firm that has become known for something specific and communicates their special skill or value particularly well?  Please suggest people or firms in the comments below or by email. I would love to recognize them for their sucessful strategy!

Over the next month or so, I will be in Boston, Philadelphia, and Orlando. I have other trips coming up this year. But I am happy to talk to your nominees wherever they are!