I know, I know, you don't have time for some complicated marketing plan. You've got clients to see, paperwork and everything else that eats up your day. But...you need new business, how are you going to fit it in?

The biggest mistake most financial advisors make in marketing is focusing on the wrong place first. When marketing, most advisors go after new people first while ignoring the diamonds they have in their own back yard. We'll talk about prospecting in another article...right now; let's talk about guaranteed new business:

Here's a simple way to generate new business fast and continually:

1. First do an assessment of your marketing -- If you do not know these numbers, I guarantee you that your marketing sucks.

a. How well are you doing?

b. How many clients do you have?

c. How many did you bring on last year

d. What was their average case size?

e. How many sources did they come from? (Referrals, seminars, lead generations, etc.)

f. How many clients did you lose last year?

2. Begin with your clients -- Marketing costs money. Your clients are your best source for finding new money quickly. Find a new product or concept that you have never shown your clients...it may be a tax saving device or a new way to generate income...whatever...schedule an appointment with all your clients and review the concept. You'll be surprised at how much it generates.

3. Retention -- Doing #2 will automatically help with your retention. Many advisors I've talked to tell me that they do not have a problem with retention. When we look closer at their practices, what we find is that many clients have not left them BUT they have brought on a different advisor to handle new money...that is one step from losing a client totally.

4. Update your Database or CRM -- Almost every advisor I see making less than $100,000 does not have a good database...and they don't realize that if not the problem, it certainly is a symptom of the problem. They are not treating their business like a business. Get a good database, whether ACT or Goldmine or whatever and USE IT! A great database is like a money machine! (We'll talk about that in future articles)...If you have a database, do you?:

a. Add notes about not just financial but personal things that you can utilize in the future to build rapport?

b. Enter all future call backs and meetings so that nothing gets dropped?

c. Have a field for employment status? This allows you to target market...retirees, pre-retirees, people that work at a particular employer, teachers, nurses, etc.

d. Update client objectives? This again allows you to target market or generate new business by adjusting portfolios to new products that match any changes in investment objectives.

e. Update the kinds of investments your clients have? Again target marketing. If there is a change in interest rates, the economy or something in the news, you can rapidly get hold of the right people to assist with their portfolio adjustments.

f. Ask about investments they hold elsewhere? Oh my gosh, the least asked question that can yield huge amounts of new money.

g. Do you send out handwritten "Call Me" notes on a regular basis to get clients that want communication to effectively raise their hand?

h. Do you monitor those special dates for you clients so that you can schedule special meetings? 70 ½...62...65...These are dates when their benefits and incomes can change drastically. Change is a catalyst for more change. Take advantage of it!

Then you can spend more time on prospecting for new clients...AFTER you get your house in order with a system to mine the diamonds that are in your backyard right now.

Get started!