There was one common factor amongst all the finalists of the Practice of the Year competition in both 2007 and 2008. At each practice, all members of staff are familiar with the business plan and the practice's objectives. Their own objectives and, in many cases, performance measurement criteria are linked to the business objectives. 

Have you been a participant in your practice's business plan or are you at least aware of the key objectives reflected in the plan for 2009? Chat to your management team about sharing the business objectives at your next team meeting and then align your activities and priorities in order to enhance your value to the practice.

An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage - Jack Welch

If your practice has been receiving the benefits of best practice coaching then your competitive potential in the industry will have been increased simply through the insight that this consulting affords you. As an key influence in the business, your ability to turn that potential into measurable success is directly proportional to the degree that you act upon the knowledge you have acquired.

Spend some time revisiting the best practice principles shared by your business coach - how much of this insight has truly translated into meaningful action on your part? Perhaps it is time to re-examine some of the concepts and their benefits with your business coach at your next meeting.    

Ask employees of a financial planning practice what it is that their clients are buying from them and "insurance and investment policies" will be the most likely response. Ask the client the same question and their response may be quite different. People don't buy insurance, they buy peace of mind. They don't buy risk policies, they protect their families. They don't buy investment, they secure their futures.

Understanding the emotional triggers that cause people to seek out and retain the services of a financial planning practice will guide the manner in which you support the client-advisor relationship. If the culture of managing the client's lifestyle and risk goals is evident at every level within the practice, then you are truly delivering on that which the client has 'bought'.

Creating expectation - The very nature of our industry means that we are dealing with people either to prepare them for  various emotional stages of their lives or because a stage has been reached i.e. the purchase of a new home, the death of a loved one, retrenchment etc.  To us, these may translate into servicing activities, but to our clients, these are lifetime milestones that can cause immense stress and pressure.  Either way, we are in a very personal space when we deal with clients and must accept that our role comes with great responsibility.

When commencing a servicing activity, guide the process with compassion and structure. At the outset, give the client a realistic picture of the timelines, the activities involved, the requirements of both the practice and the client and the expected outcome.  This in itself will remove the further burden of the 'nknown' or a client but most important, will allow you to honour the service in a realistic timeframe whilst meeting the expectation of the client who may otherwise translate this turnaround-time into 'oor service'.

Remember, we are an extension of the Financial Planning process and can influence the practice's ability to retain clients and ensure business continuity.

Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business - Zig Ziglar

We all love receiving positive feedback from our clients; it reinforces our sense of contribution to the business and ensures we repeat the practices that earned us the accolade. It is conversely important to know what we need to develop and how better to do that than to ask our client's what they want to see improved in our delivery to them?

A formal and anonymous survey is highly effective and can reveal wonderful opportunities for your business to advance the service offering, but often times it is a phone call to the client directly after an advisory or servicing consultation that not only reveals the immediate client experience (both good and bad), but inspires the client perception of being a valued contributor to the practice's pursuit of excellence. Make it a routine practice to contact A-profile clients who have recently enjoyed service from your practice, ask them how they felt about the experience. Share the results in your management and team meetings and commit to taking action where needed.

So the first quarter is behind us and with the fast pace at which we are implementing change in our offices and in our value, a well deserved coffee break is on the cards. 

Why not make this break a refreshing yet productive 'time-out'. Contact one or two of your key-relationship resources (a claims administrator or branch secretary within your product provider office) and invite them to join you for a cappuccino and a chat. 

Don't talk 'shop'; just enjoy getting to know one another personally. This will certainly strengthen the working relationship and allow both parties to put a person behind the voice.  Who knows, you may very well find improved service from this resource  now that you have shared a little more of your personal selves with one another. 

Better yet, try to do this once a quarter - it provides for the break you need whilst achieving a more productive and enjoyable working environment going forward.

You pride yourself on your processes and you have enjoyed successful results with your client servicing, so you don't need to change what you're doing right?  Wrong! Consumer education means that clients are becoming more sophisticated; they have higher expectations and are more involved in their financial planning partnerships with the practice. 

The result is that support staff need to be more focused, more accountable and continually progressive in their approach to the new business and servicing support role. Your Celestis Business Coach has insight into a vast array of businesses and can share a wealth of information based on successes and failures within those businesses. 

Next time your advisor is unable to attend the Business Coaching session, don't cancel - meet with the coach and discuss ideas and methods to further improve your effectiveness. Remember, whilst you may feel that improvement is not necessary... your competitor might. Worst still, your client might!

It is great to see so many practices harnessing the value of regular client communication.  Keeping your practice 'Front of Mind' for your clients maximises client retention and ensures that clients are always abreast of lifestyle planning or practice news. 

If you are using e-mail as a medium to send bulk communication to clients (preferably utilising functions that personalise each e-mail), you may want to remember that most of your clients have experienced the frustration that comes with spam mail.  For this reason, they do not want their contact details being exposed and violated by opportunists. 

Put their minds at ease. Use a mail merge that allows you to send the identical message, personalised, to as many recipients as you wish - one message at a time. Alternatively, ensure that all bulk e-mail communication issued by your practice hides any contact details or recipient names. When inserting e-mail addresses into your e-mails, utilise the 'Bcc' line in the address section of your e-mail (Just below the 'To' and 'Cc' icons).

If the Practice Principal asked you to contact his/her A-clients to set up review appointments for the balance of the first quarter, would you know who to call?

Make Segmentation the agenda for your next staff meeting and establish if the following has been formalised within the practice:

1. The criteria for each segment of client on the database. 
2. The service offerings associated with each segment.
3. The recording of this information on your CRM system.

If not, schedule an appointment between your Practice Consultant and management team and ensure the results are communicated to all staff.

Many practices together with their business coaches will have developed a segmentation model and segmented their client base over the last 48 months. 

It is important to remember that the selection criteria will need to be revisited and adapted to accommodate changing dynamics of both the business and its clients. 

Make a point of re-examine the criteria and parameters of your segmentation model at your next business meeting, then adjust the rating of clients to ensure appropriate and cost effective service levels for the current year.

Having recently discussed Client Segmentation and Service Differentiation, businesses who have begun implementing these practices will have seen the immediate benefits of segment-appropriate services. 

In fact, many will have experienced a further dimension of this approach; the realisation of the negative financial impact of 'the undesired client'.  There's a rule-of-thumb in the business environment that the bottom 20% of clients account for 80% of all resource spend and in a recession, this can spell the end for a Financial Planning Practice.  Although most practices are reluctant to begin 'firing' clients, the fact remains; the best way to increase profitability, especially in times like these, is to fire clients fitting this profile.  

So where do you fit in? As a support staff member to the Advisory Practice, your regular contact with clients is most valuable in identifying clients that may need to be reviewed for suitability. 

The best way to start is to list clients that you are exceedingly committed to and make a note of the following:

Are you servicing these clients beyond the scope of their Service Level Agreements?
Are these clients demanding unnecessary and costly time and service on a consistent basis?
Is the overall financial gain greater than the loss in the instance of termination?

If the results indicate that the client's demands exceed the partnership benefits, perhaps it's  time to meet with your Management Team and Business Coach to determine the best way in which to identify undesirable clients, terminate advisory contracts or divert relationship management to resources such as Old Mutual Activate.

If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I would spend 6 hours sharpening my axe -Famous quote

The administration processes to be followed in order to ensure compliance in today's practice is laborious, time consuming and often quite complicated - but it has to be done. They say "if you can't beat them, join them" so why not meet with your Compliance Officer, Practice Manager and management team to draft efficient and effective processes tied to each client activity? Take your time, focus on the detail, build and document solid processes and then begin making a habit of following each step. Eventually you will find that in consistently adhering to quality procedures, you will spend less time achieving the desired outcome and you will be fielding fewer client queries and complaints. 

Spend 80% of your time sharpening your skills and you will need only 20% to produce the desired results.

If you were asked right now to provide a list of ongoing new business and servicing tasks including the progress and status of each case, could you? Effective task and time management is largely influenced by an efficient, automated processes and regular, concise record-keeping.Tracking all servicing cases on your CRM system allows you to manage your time, your activities and your efficiency. Using three basic guidelines, create the habit of process automation and task management in your office: 

Create - Log every servicing activity against the name of the client on your CRM system with a title indicating the nature of the activity. i.e. In Spotlight, create an activity by highlighting the client name and selecting Client Activity.

Capture - Update every contact or action performed on the case including discussions between yourself and the client, i.e. In Spotlight, use the Notes icon to update the case status. The system will automatically capture the date and time.

Close - Finalise the case by updating confirmation of conclusion.  i.e. in Spotlight, select File and the system will store the history for record keeping and reference.

The advantages of automating processes includes the ability to print off a report reflecting all open activities within the practice at any given time (including the status of each) with the press of a button. Chat to your Management team about enrolling for a training course on the practice CRM system.

"My Boss frequently gets lost in thought. That's because it's unfamiliar territory." - Anonymous

So, by now you know that a Manager or Financial Advisor is only as effective as the person who manages him/her - and this seemingly impossible task falls squarely on your desk.  How are you supposed to manage yourself, your time, your development, your advisors, your clients, your processes, your Product Providers and your management team and still maintain a calm and balanced office? The good news is that there are tools that exist all around you to ensure that you not only remain on top of these responsibilities, but that you create continuity at your desk when you finally need some time off for a well deserved recharge. 

Microsoft Outlook is most often exclusively used as an e-mail communication tool in many offices and the benefits of much of its functionality is overlooked, ignored or unknown. From managing synchronised diaries, scheduling and facilitating meetings, project managing small medium or large activities, record-keeping and general communication, Microsoft Outlook has been designed to be a secretary to the office executive.  

Speak to your management team about a short course or set aside time to explore the many facets of this 'office organiser'. After all, why should you have to do all the thinking and remembering on your own?

The service and administration environment is often a thankless one because what we 'sell' is intangible - it cannot be touched, felt, tried on and measured. Our value lies at the mercy of the client perception and given that finances are such an emotional issue, often we are forced to deal with unsettling client feedback which can be unrelated to the quality of our service.

The secret to remaining motivated in a challenging and often negatively charged environment is to redirect your energy from being reactive to being responsive. When you react to negative feedback, you give power to the problem at hand and immediately deny yourself the ability to overcome - the client attaches you to the predicament. When you respond to negative feedback, you empower yourself to calmly assess the obstacle and determine alternative solutions - the client associates you with the solution.

The difference between the two requires a matter of moments to reflect.

If you feel that you really need PowerPoint presentation just to explain what you do for a living, it's time to start calling in your strategic business partners.

The support staff role can be a complicated one when continual client, management and industry demands are placed upon you - and with the financial planning industry in a constant state of change, this is increasingly the case.

Yet outside your practice lies a vast knowledge base: Product Provider Consultants, Compliance Officers, Business Coaches and fellow support staff. In a varied role, undoubtedly you will find that these valuable resources will have ideas and advice that may simplify your processes, make your office more productive and give you a fresh perspective on meeting your objectives - so reach out to one another and share ideas over coffee or at industry events.

It is dangerous to assume that providing good service equates to giving 'five star' treatment. Good service means providing efficient service appropriate to the reasonable needs and requirements of clients. 'Five star' treatment should be reserved for clients who require significantly higher levels of service and are prepared to pay 'five star prices'.

Often support staff believe that Performance Appraisals are the only way to receive feedback about their performance. Although this function is important for professional development, there are many sources from whom we can draw qualified guidance. Ask for feedback about your performance from your clients, your BC's and your business partners. If it is not forthcoming, let those parties know what you plan to do with their input. If people see you using their feedback as a stimulus to try doing things differently, they are likely to give you more and you are better equipped to enhance your value within your working environment.

Strategic partners - Their contribution is designed to benefit everyone in the practice, including you.

You have many consultants and external practice partners who consult to your practice on a regular basis to discuss areas of development or opportunity within the business. In many cases, these consultants will work very closely with the advisory or management team and your role is limited to managing their welcome and refreshments.

Chat to management and these partners and arrange for a meeting to discuss how your participation in these consults can have a positive impact on the business objectives. Clarify the roles and responsibilities of all attendees (yours, your management and the consultant), the frequency of meetings, the general and specific content to be covered over the next 6 months and the required input and action from your side - pre and post meetings.

This will not only further structure business consulting partnerships , but will also create productive collaborations that include every contributing member of the team and allow for the continual measurement of team progress and effectiveness.

Is your team preparing or reviewing the practice's Succession Plan soon?  If so, here are three questions you might want to consider:

Do you know what the succession plan is for the practice in the event that the principal for any reason exits the practice (death, disability, retirement)?   

Do you know what your responsibility is in communicating with clients at the point of the principal's exit? 

Do you know if and how your role may be affected in the event of this exit? Schedule this as an item for discussion during the practice's Succession Planning meeting.

A crises is usually just a problem throwing a tantrum because it's been ignored  - Anonymous 

Support staff will often agree that at least 20% of their day is dedicated to 'crisis managing' the demands of those around them - whether it be an over commitment made by an advisors to a client on your behalf or an unforeseen underwriting delay on a new business case. The first step is to acknowledge that a crisis is only a problem that has been ignored or overlooked and that one should deal with it decisively and promptly by following the steps below:

1.       Assess the problem clearly.

2.       Isolate the cause and identify possible solutions.

3.       Implement the most sensible and relevant solution.

4.       Learn from the experience.

5.       Be alert and recognise the possibility of recurrence and then tackle the problem before it becomes a crisis again.

Do you have a clear idea of what constitutes productive activities in relation to your support role to the practice? Start by looking at the Financial Planning process. How many of your daily activities enhance the advisor's value to the client throughout the steps in this process?  How many of these activities have no bearing on the process?  Now compile a list of the latter and ask yourself how many of these activities are absolutely necessary and what impact are they having on your ability to provide effective support to your advisor.

There are a number of scheduling tools available on the market that include electronic diaries, calendars, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant), MS Outlook (Microsoft software that incorporates integrated calendar, e-mail, contacts etc.). By scheduling your own time and that of your employer, you will:

Avoid over-committing yourself and your employer

Build in time to handle any unforeseen events

Build in time to perform the day-to-day business functions as required Get a better understanding of what you are able to achieve in the time available to you

Make optimal use of your time

MS Outlook allows for you to schedule client appointments simultaneously in yours, your advisors' and your clients? diaries with one action. Your clients will appreciate the reminder and any documentation requirements (on the part of the advisor and client) can be listed, attached and updated in the electronic schedule. This is a great way to enhance your record-keeping and cross reference your 'last review' reports!

It is time to reclaim our time and energy by properly managing the volumes of correspondence pouring into our already stressed lives. Using the four D's of decision-making, start working through your inbox and immediately categorise every e-mail waiting for your attention:

Delete: At least 50% of all the emails you receive require no action.  These can be read and deleted immediately. If you need to hang onto the information, create a sub folder titled: File.

Do: If the email is urgent or can be completed quickly, act immediately.  Delaying a response only compounds the 'to-do' list floating around in your head.

Delegate: If the email can be better dealt with by someone else, forward it on immediately. Copy the sender so that they are aware of the delegated task.  If you believe it may be necessary to keep an eye on progress, create a sub folder titled: Follow up.      

Defer: Set aside time at a later date to spend on emails that require longer action.  Perhaps create a sub folder titled: Action

Time management begins with small steps that produce great results.