“Coach’s Forum” is a place in which you can ask your questions, tell your stories or give your opinions on any aspect of practice management. For each column, George selects the most interesting and relevant comments from readers and offers his advice. Our objective is to build a community of people with a common interest in making their financial advisory practices as effective as possible.



> To Write, Or Not To Write
Advisor: Over the years, I have developed some pretty specific ideas about things I believe are essential for every client to know and understand, and I am thinking of writing a book about them for my current and prospective clients. I’ve heard that having your own book adds credibility in the marketplace. Since you have authored several books, I am curious to know if you think writing a book is a good thing for an advisor to do and if you have any tips.

Coach says: This is one of those questions to which the answer is an enthusiastic: “It all depends!”

On the positive side of the argument, my personal experience as an author has been wonderful. Writing my books has given me opportunities in the industry that I doubt I would have achieved without doing so. I have been to places and in the company of people I would not likely have met otherwise.

Publishing books has allowed me to engage in debate with very well-informed and thoughtful folks and, as a result, I have learned a great deal more about the topics I thought I knew well. Most important — and forgive me if this sounds boastful — even today, I meet advisors who tell me that my books had some influence on the way they have built their practices. That is truly an honour and a privilege.

Then there is the other side — again, from personal experience. Writing a book is very hard work. It takes much longer than you can imagine. And you probably aren’t as good at it as you think you are.

Not everyone who reads your book will think you are brilliant; in fact, someone will publicly declare that you don’t know what you are talking about. And, immediately after publication, you’ll see all the places where you could have been wittier or more articulate, have shown more insight or stated something profound — and you’ll wish you could pull it all back for a “do over.”

With that all said, overall, the rewards significantly outweigh the psychological costs. I would encourage you, or almost any advi-sor, to produce a book — provided you:

> Know Your Topic. If you are going to set yourself up as an expert in any subject, make sure you are, in fact, an expert. Read as much as you can on the topic, research online, attend conferences and engage in dialogue with others who address the same area of knowledge — particularly if their views are different from yours.

> Feel Passionate About Your Message. The depth of your emotional commitment to the topic must come through in the writing to make your message credible and believable. You will also need that passion as fuel when the going gets tough.

> Understand Your Intended Audience. Think about the people you hope will read your book. What would motivate them to choose it over another? What writing style is most likely to appeal to them — academic, biographical, storytelling or humorous?

> Make Sure There Is A Need For Your Story To Be Told. You might have strong views on your subject, but does anyone else really care? If your topic has been well addressed by others, you risk being a “me too” author. If the topic hasn’t been covered, ask why; perhaps it just isn’t important to others.

> Express Yourself Articulately. Good writing is both an art and a science, and not everyone is well equipped to communicate effectively. If you have great ideas but are not a good wordsmith, consider hiring a “ghost writer,” or co-writing with someone who has the skill required.

> Know How You Intend To Distribute Your Book. Do you envision handing out your book only to clients, prospective clients and a few centres of influence, or are you hoping for widespread distribution within the financial services industry? If you are looking for retailers to carry your book, understand that it is challenging for an unknown au-thor to get shelf space. And, unless you’ve had a previous mega-bestseller, all books in bookstores are there on consignment; if they don’t sell, they are returned to the publisher or end up in the 99¢ bin.

> Are Willing To Make An Ade-quate Investment. It takes money to publish a book, although “print-on-demand” companies have substantially lowered the costs of small production runs of self-published books. If you are fortunate enough to capture the attention of a publisher, they will look after all the details for you. However, your share of sales revenue will, of course, be much lower than if you self-publish.
@page_break@This difference should, hopefully, be made up by the marketing and distribution clout of the publisher.

One final piece of advice: hire a good editor. Regardless of how well you think you can express yourself, there is no better investment in your book than having someone skilled look at it critically. Good editing is far more than correcting spelling and punctuation. It is looking for flow, consistency, comprehension and relevance — among other things. It is a humbling experience, but well worth the emotional pain.



> School’s Out?
Advisor: We have become known in our community for the quality of the financial education seminars we conduct for clients, prospective clients and centres of influence throughout the year. We don’t plan any seminars for the summer months of June, July and August because we feel it is challenging enough to get people to attend without competing with the warm weather and vacation plans.

However, that leaves us with a three-month gap in our marketing program. Any suggestions for things we could do to keep our profile up during those times?

Coach says: As I have stated in this column previously, a good marketing program includes a series of promotional activities that are applied consistently throughout the year.

Forgoing the seminars that appear to work so well for you for three (or more) months seems counterintuitive. The truth is that while people generally tend to be less inclined to attend educational events at certain times of the year, such as Christmas, the world does not stop for the summer.

Most people can only arrange two to three weeks vacation at a time and, increasingly, even some of that time is spent at home. So, although the number of prospects for your events may be down, there is still likely to be a large enough pool of potential attendees to justify the effort.

You could, however, lighten up on the financial educational aspects and make the events more “fun” and, consequently, more inviting. The objective of these summertime events should be to build relationships, not demonstrate your technical knowledge.

Here are a few intriguing seminar ideas I know other advisors have used successfully:

> Advanced Barbecue Techniques. The advisor teams up with a local retailer of high-end barbecues for Saturday morning workshops on how to take their barbecuing skills beyond hamburgers and steak.

The retailer sets up three or four barbecues in a parklike setting and provides the instructors. The food is prepared and eaten by the participants. Attendance is limited and the event is “sold out” every year. The advisor pays for the food and the retailer is happy because he typically sells one or more of his expensive units.

> 10 “Great Value” Winter Vacations. Another collaborative effort, this time with a travel agent who conducts a “show and tell” of unique winter vacations that are off the beaten path or just unusual in some way, yet not overly expensive.

The advisor always gets a number of repeat attendees, some of whom had booked one of the highlighted holidays from prior years and have great stories to tell.

> Progressive Yard Makeover. This event generates a lot of interaction because the advisor asks, in her newsletter and in conversations with clients, for nominations for a yard that needs a makeover. Nominations can be for a front or backyard belonging to the nominating client or someone he or she knows.

The winner has to agree to have 25 or 30 people show up in their yard on a Saturday morning. Representatives from the local garden centre, who have scouted the location earlier, talk about and then demonstrate landscaping ideas.

The garden centre people then progressively add plants, containers and other products, first to a total cost of $250; then $500 and finally $1,000 — paid for by the advisor, who insists the expense is less than the cost of a traditional seminar and well worth the publicity, particularly from the winner.

> Identity Theft Seminar And Paper-Shredding Party. This one is a little more serious but timely and popular. The advisor retains a police officer who specializes in fraud and identity theft to conduct a seminar on the topic. Attendees are asked to bring along any papers they have lying around the house that should be shredded.

After the seminar, the group moves out to the parking lot, where a large paper-shredding truck the advisor has hired is waiting, so participants can confidently destroy personal documents they shouldn’t be keeping around.

The bottom line is that summertime doesn’t have to mean abandoning good marketing activities. It just means changing your approach, which can further set your business apart. IE

George Hartman is president and CEO of Market Logics Inc. and a senior coach and facilitator with the Covenant Group. His latest book, Blunder, Wonder, Thunder: Powering Your Practice to New Heights (www.marketlogics.ca) was published in January. Send questions, comments and opinions on any aspect of practice management to george@marketlogics.ca.