Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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Dear Bev,
We are being asked to go through sales training. I don’t see the benefit of being away from clients and prospects for a couple of days to learn things we know how to do (even if we don’t always do them). How can I spend this time effectively? I have to travel, so it is actually four days out of the office.
Tal M.
Dear Tal,
It seems to me that most employees resist training. I don’t think they resist learning, but they definitely resist being taken away from their jobs for a long time and shut up in a room with other colleagues!
Training could be made more interesting by being presented in bite-sized pieces, using different media approaches. “Death by Powerpoint” isn’t appealing to most of us!
That said, you probably don’t control the way the training is structured, so let me answer your specific question. How can you make it more valuable for you?
Keep your attention focused on just one area in which you could use some improvement. Two-day training generally encompasses so much that it’s not possible to take it all in. Instead, set a goal for yourself to learn skills in one area that could be of value.
Next, look for the chance to network and engage. Not all of the value is in front of the room with the trainer. Much of it is in collaborating and learning from colleagues. Meet new people and take the chance to strengthen connections.
Lastly, be prepared. I also travel a great deal, and I used to find the time to be wasted. Then I started preparing more for my trips. Make a list of things you need to do, magazines and books you have not had the time to read or information you need to gather. Spend the down time in the airport, on the plane or train getting caught up on all the things there is rarely time for in the office.
I know it can seem like it is time wasted, but have a positive attitude. Try to go in with an open mind and gain as much as you can from this. The company is investing in you, and you are being given a chance to learn new skills. Grab it – the skills you learn will likely be of value somewhere down the road.
Dear Bev,
We are redoing our website. Any tips on how to attract prospects?
Matt B.
Dear Matt,
I have a lot of skills, but search-engine optimization is not one of them! I strongly suggest you engage a web developer with this capability or work with an inbound marketing firm to learn how to increase traffic. From a pure marketing perspective, here are some things to consider:
Make your website visually appealing and different. If you are a financial advisor, try and stay away from pictures of happy grandparents on the beach or in a sailboat. These are such overused images that I’m not sure prospects even notice them. Instead, find ways to portray what you do in a way that is eye-catching and different. Use imagery that is both powerful and memorable.
Be sure to have your three “platform points.” Determine three themes about what you do that makes you stand out and weave these throughout the copy on your site. If you know words that your clients have searched on in the past, be sure to use these.
Hire a proofreader and an editor. Make sure you have a skilled person edit your final copy and comb through the site for any errors. People reading the site will be drawn to what’s wrong and what needs to be fixed, so don’t give them anything to find!
Keep the site current. Make sure you are posting new material such as articles, newsletters and updated information so that search engines see this as an active site.
Include smiling faces of your team or pictures of your office. This is a people business, and prospects like to see who they would be doing business with. A welcoming face is very appealing.
Have free information someone can download – something like, “Five Tips to Invest in Today’s Market.” People love free stuff, and they’ll often give you their name and email to get it. It’s a great way to capture who has visited the site.
Be sure to keep these emails and periodically send content to those that have registered with you.
Be sure to have your “Contact Us” information easy to find and use. I’m always amazed at how long I have to search around on some sites to find a location or a phone number. Make it easy for someone to reach out.
As always, I welcome other input from web vendors or search-engine optimization experts who might be able to add to this list, but hopefully this will give you a good place to start.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995; in 2008 she co-founded Advisors Trusted Advisor to offer dedicated practice management resources to advisors, planners and wealth managers. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Leadership & Social Responsibility. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
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