Every institution wants their advisors to step-up their business development efforts. Whether measured by a percentage increase in assets under management, transactional revenue or clients by investment level... the edicts issued every fall as a pre-cursor to the coming year's planning/ budgeting cycle are nothing new. Unfortunately, neither is the level of support provided to assist advisors in realizing those objectives. No, we're not talking new and improved CRM systems, an expanded roster of financial product providers, secure document sharing or account aggregation software. Certainly, these tools can improve a firm's efficiency and have some appeal to clients. However, they are not differentiating strategies which weigh heavily with a prospect considering a firm or a loyal client considering passing on a referral.

The pattern remains unbroken. Most institutions are primarily focused on providing operational tools which allow advisors to serve their clients, not on providing practice development support that will assist an advisor in acquiring "new" clients to assist in the attainment of the institutions financial goals. Enlightened institutions that are truly interested in driving financial results, developing the practice development skills of their advisor base and recruiting top-notch advisors to their firms understand the need to invest in the success of their advisors sales and marketing efforts. Clients don't grow on trees, practice development skills are not innate and the marketing resources required for client acquisition success are often not represented in the advisor's practice development arsenal. Success in the financial services sector requires more than productivity based edicts.

Creating a marketing plan which identifies key target audience segments, crafts a value proposition for each of those targets, relates the advisors offering in a clear and differentiated manner and establishes a "voice" that resonates with a firm's prospects and clients alike is the best place to start. With a marketing plan in place, advisors can then set about allocating practice development resources to those strategies and tactics which will allow them to share their message in the most effective and efficient manner. Fortunately, we operate in a web-enabled world where marketing and communications tools exist that allow advisors, regardless of size, to tap into a broad array of tactical support applications to build their position, their prospect pipelines and to acquire new clients. The costs to access these tools and or for outsourcing select advisor marketing functions can range from as little as $3 per day, up to $100 per day.

While not an obligatory part of their agreement with their advisor base, institutions that are truly interested in driving superior financial performance from a stable advisor base can make a modest investment in the following areas: advisor training, providing advisors access to on-demand marketing platforms and applications, building out a network of professional marketing service providers to assist the advisor base and creating a forum for sharing successes across the advisor base. There is clearly wisdom in the Chinese proverb; "Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand." Involving advisors in the process of establishing goals and, importantly, charting the path toward attaining those objectives can have a long reaching impact on firm success.