Planning your annual Business Plan is a key activity for successful investment advisors and an essential task for your firm to improve and grow year to year. A firm’s growth is contingent upon conscious and strategic expansion. This article is all about the key elements needed in your Business Plan.
Short and snappy
Unless your plan is for a large organization, you need not write a lengthy document to get the benefits of strategic planning. I find that my clients prefer to write a plan that is concise and to the point – one that contains the sections necessary to take conscious action. Two pages are generally all that is needed. I suggest writing optional pages to go along with your two page plan if you would like a more thorough plan. Plans that are too long are not used. Additions to your mini plan could be a mission statement and a target client description -these are important but not as essential as planning out the firm’s strategies and marketing activities – the key elements to success.
How to grow?
How do you want to grow your firm in the coming year? There are basically two ways to grow a firm. One is by prospecting to clients and centers of influence and the other is prospecting to a group of people and organizations you have never met before.
Your own clients
First, investment advisors would be wise to leverage the relationships they have with their own clients by targeting their marketing to existing clients through an excellent service model. By creating a client service matrix and linking key activities to the matrix, you can improve the relationship you have with clients. You can do this through client appreciation events, frequent phone calls, and mailers to your clients.
Prospecting
Second, decide what markets you would like to target to open your firm for new clients. A great market to consider is companies that offer employer sponsored retirement plans to their employees. This market works well for advisors because there are four ways you can help business owners: provide investment guidance for the funds offered in the plan; help educate participants with regards to the options in the plan; help the executives and owners invest the business profits and create non qualified plans for their salary deferrals; and finally help the key owners with their personal investments.
Schedule
Third, schedule your activities on an annual basis by using a marketing calendar template. Planning out your entire year’s efforts on a calendar helps you to ensure you are carrying out your activities.
Conclusion
The most successful advisors I have worked with understand the importance of writing an annual plan. I suggest you create a folder for your Business Plan. Each year create a new plan labeling the plan for the year. Each year, look back and review your strategies and tactics. What worked? What was lackluster? How can you improve this year? Determine your return on investment for each marketing tactic. Take the first step and write your plan today!