Partnership Peril & Success

Story of the Day – Partnership Peril

Recently, I heard another sad tale of failed partnership.  I’ve heard many similar tales with poor communication, mis-matched expectations, conflicting values and lack of clarity causing the partnership demise.  It’s amazing how often people dive into business relationships without clear guidelines.  This is especially true when there’s a power difference.  A junior professional will partner with a senior professional expecting opportunities for growth, development and profit only to be greatly disappointed down the road.  In the most recent story, a team-member changed organizations only to discover after the move, the other partner is taking all the financial benefits.

Tip of the Day – Five Foundations for Good Partnerships

On the other hand, I’ve witnessed more partnership successes than failures.  These too have a common themes.  Below are five foundations for partner success.

1.  Character is King - Partner with people whose actions match your core ethics.  This seems like a “no-brainer” but people can be lured by the promise of success, throwing caution to the wind.
2. Goals Matter – Another reason for failed partnerships is mis-matched goals and direction.   What you want and where you are going need to be complimentary.  Everyone wants to be successful, but how can take many forms.
3. Respect is Key - Good partners are often very different, but they’re successful despite differences in personality and style.  The secret is a high-level of mutual respect and an appreciation for the strengths of others.
4. Get Help - It’s really hard for people to uncover all the core values, ethics and goals on their own.  There’s very little incentive to reveal your true motivations and concerns, let alone your possible faults, while courting a partner.  It’s much easier for an objective person (internal team expert or external team coach) to work confidentially with each party to ask the tough questions and get straight answers.
5. Match Un-written Rules - We all have habits and beliefs that form a sizable list of un-written rules.  People automatically assume that others will do as they do.  Discuss these default assumptions and make sure they’re compatible.  A skilled team coach can help uncover these, since most people don’t spend time unearthing their assumptions (that’s why they’re assumptions).

Resource of the Day – Insightful Assessments

Quality assessments are a great tool to use when developing partnerships and teams.  I rely on John Wiley & Sons, a major provider of assessments for individuals, teams and leaders.   The tools I use are excellent, reasonably priced and conveniently completed online.  Contact me at Barbara Kay Coaching  to request samples.

(I have no financial stake in Wiley nor receive any remuneration for promoting their tools.  There are thousands of assessments.  It’s overwhelming for most clients to pick on their own, so I try to offer a selection of good resources.  If you have a preferred tool,  please send me your suggestions.  I’m always looking for quality resources.)

Brownie Moms Deliver

Story of the Day

A friend of mine works internationally and moves around the world.  Occasionally, this family returns to the U.S. and needs short-term local housing.  On their last U.S. rotation, the mom made friends with some Girl Scout Brownie moms, so reached out to this network with their housing need.  Immediately, they received multiple recommendations and found an ideal home.  All from reaching out to the local moms who know everything.

Where would you go?  A rental agent, a real estate office, the local chamber?  All normal places but would you think of the “mom-network”?  If not, think again.

Tip of the Day

Client’s ask me all the time:

“Where do I find women prospects & clients?”

 Here’s the answer in Two Easy Steps:

1. Ask  your women clients “What are the most active groups for women locally and how can I help these women?”
2. Follow their directions.

Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.  Ask the women who know.  Remember, women ask for directions and are happy to give directions.

Resource of the Day

Prudential recently released it’s latest research on women.  Key findings include:

• More women are primary bread-winners (65% for those surveyed)
• Only 23%  women bread-winners feel well-prepared to make financial decisions
• Women who have financial advisors feel more confident
• Younger women feel more responsible for financial decisions and want help
• Women care about different things than men - hint:  think practical
• Women rely on advisor advice more than men

Prudential Study on Women Investors 2012-2012

Apps You Will Love!

I love practical helps.  Since, I get to talk to people all over the country, I hear lots and love to share.  Here’s a selection of great apps that work on multiple style phones and also i-Pads & tablets.

Tip of the Day - Great Apps   

• Bump – Share contacts with others just by touching phones together (of course, the other person needs Bump too)  Don’t ask me how they do it but contact data “jumps” into the other phone automatically.   Wow! contact data into your phone and others automatically and correctly!  Here’s the website:  Bump

• Pulse – Pulse allows you to create a 1 stop portal for all your favorite websites.  It shrinks and feeds each website page into a visual selection grid.  You touch a website image to open and then literally flip the pages on any content you want in the website.  When you’re done, close and scan the grid for your next choice.  No more going from website to website one after another for news, research and other sites you visit regularly.   It’s elegantly simple and really slick! Thanks to Tige Hoefer, of Delaware Investments for showing me this beauty and for having so many App & Productivity tips. If you don’t know Tige, get to know him!  He knows so much more than I can share in this space. Here’s the website:  Pulse

• FlipBoard  – Similar to Pulse but for social-media and magazines.  It feeds Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, LinkedIn, etc.. In addition, magazine publishers are joining FlipBoard and posting digital magazines on it too. (Thanks again to Tige, for this one).  Here’s the website:  FlipBoard

• Evernote - Lots of people know Evernote.  If you don’t, it’s a multi-functional app that captures, stores and organizes lots of things including: words, images, sounds and more.  Here’s the website:  Evernote

• DataViz - DataViz is a company that delivers 3 great business apps.  If you don’t know them,  check out DataViz for these useful apps:

Passwords Plus – stores, organizes & secures passwords

Documents to Go – Word, Excel & PowerPoint

RoadSync – MS Outlook

 

Resource of the Day

I joined Twitter for the sole purpose of sending links to useful articles, tools & tips.  I’d like to know what you’d appreciate getting.

The resource of the day is your feedback.  Tell me what kind of links to information or resources you’d like.  If you don’t have any idea, below is a list of areas I follow on your behalf.  Tell me what you prefer.  Of course, send me other suggestions if you have them.

Journals & Topic Areas:

• FS industry – US & international newsletters & journals (I suspect you get plenty of this already)
• Leading B-School & consulting newsletters & journals
• Tech news – Reviews & tips on the gadgets we all use
• Women – Investors & professionals
• Time management - Anything to help you with time-management
• Productivity/Efficiency – Anything to help you be more productive
• Marketing – Anything to help your marketing
• Behavioral Finance – All things people & money

Please send your suggestions to:  BarbaraKayCoaching

The Awesome Power of Viral Marketing

I’ve been going around the country talking to advisors about the awesome power of women advocates who do viral marketing for you.  Recently an advisor shared this story.  It’s Awesome!

Story of the Day

Advisor Howard attended one of my presentations on The $14 Trillion Opportunity – Reaching & Engaging Women Investors during a national conference.  Before the session, he told me half his clients were women so he was looking forward to hearing my talk.  Of course, I told Howard that any advisor who had developed such a significant female clientele was clearly doing all the right things.

Then during the presentation while we were discussing how to market to women, I turned to Howard and said:

“Howard half your practice is women clients, you’re clearly successful at reaching new women.  What do you do to market to women?  Please share with us”

Howard looked a bit stunned and paused.  Then he said quietly:

“Barbara, I have to confess….I never do any marketing, no marketing at all”

The room went really quiet & still.  In my mind, I was grinning and couldn’t wait to hear the answer to my next question: “Howard why is it that you don’t do any marketing at all?”

“Well, I don’t have to ever market.   I never need to market, my clients just deliver me new clients on a regular basis”

Howard confirmed the awesome power of women advocates better than all the statistics in the world.  Thank you Howard!

Later I spoke with Howard at length to learn more.  He receives regular referrals,  5-6 every month.  In addition, he is very successful at reaching next generations and has developed business across 4 generations in some families.

Tip of the Day

I asked Howard his “secret” and he confirmed the principles that I’ve been teaching.  Here’s a summary of what he said.

• I’m very conscious of treating women well
• I do my best to be very respectful
• I show them appreciation
• I let them know how valuable they are
• If the husband is the primary contact, I insist that I speak with his wife on some regular basis so we develop a relationship
• I deliver a high level of service
• I’m proactive in reaching out
• I’m holistic in my approach

Thanks Howard!  I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Resource of the Day:

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management studied their affluent households recently and discovered this:

1. 87% interviewed multiple advisors before choosing (2 or more)
2. The #1 deciding factor in choosing an advisor was the advisor’s focus on relationship building: “The advisor took the time to get to know me”
3. Women are more loyal than men – 71% of the women had a relationship of at least six years (on 43% of the men)
4. Women are the financial mentors of the household.  90% of mothers are actively teaching their children about money (vs. 76% of fathers)

“Just a Birthday Card” – Avoid a Painful Lesson

A coaching client thanked me recently for the newsletter STOP for MORE Success.  It got him focused on removing ineffective habits.  Then he shared a confirming story.  Here’s what he told me:

Story of the Day

“I was talking with a client who has funds with another advisor.  It’s important to me and beneficial to have a comprehensive knowledge of a client’s funds.  Multiple accounts scattered around prevent me from understanding the true picture and providing the best service.  So, I explained this to the client and suggested that he consolidate his accounts under one advisor, selecting the advisor who works best with him.  You’ve got to hear what he said next:  

“I’m just a birthday card to that guy.  I’d rather work with you.”

The birthday card was meaningless to the client because there was nothing else to the relationship.  Your newsletter and that conversation got me thinking.  If I’m going to send birthday cards, then they have to be meaningful and personal in some way.  Otherwise, clients will say the same thing about me.”

Tip of the Day

Make sure what you do for clients is personal, meaningful and is received that way.  Go ahead and break tradition.  If you’re doing something without meaning, consider dropping it.  It will likely not be missed and it will free you up to spend time on things that are truly meaningful for you and for clients.

Resource of the Day

Here’s the link to the article in case you missed it the first time:

STOP for MORE Success

7 Steps to Conquer the Email Monster

Harvard Business Review (HBR) just published an article on conquering email overload.  HBR did not offer any special magic but it reinforced best practices and they’re worth repeating.  Here you go:

Tip of the day – 7  Steps to Conquer the Email Monster

1. Turn off the spigot - Unsubscribe to anything you don’t absolutely need.  Also, turn off any LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook automatic update notifications that aren’t important.

2. Use “Rules” - Set your email “rules” to send certain emails straight into designated folders.  This reduces mail in your inbox and saves time spent handling every email individually.  For starters, try this with any non-essential emails, like newsletters.

3. Unglue your Eyes - Schedule short windows during the day to check email. For those who must respond quickly,  check 5 minutes hourly. For those who can check less, schedule 15 minute periods 3-4 times per day.  Minimize the email window after your time is up.

4. Stop  the “cc” Overload - Talk with your team and get everyone on board with guidelines for “cc-ing”.  Treat email as a drug, helpful under the right circumstances but toxic if overused . Only send what is needed and no more.

5. Prioritize Response Time - Respond to urgent matters during your email window. Delay all others for an end of day clean up. Then respond to the remaining and clean out  your inbox.

6. Use an Assistant - Have an assistant set up “rules” on your email account for you.  If possible, let the assistant read and sort your email in anyway that saves you from doing everything yourself.

7. Stay on Top - After you get the inbox cleaned out, stay on top of it daily or at least weekly.  If your email box is completely overflowing, move all the emails into a folder labeled “inbox”.  Go through those bit by bit during your clean-up time.  It’s likely you can quickly delete much of the old build-up.

Mostly remember you are not alone and regular simple habits keep the email monster in it’s cage!

Resource of the Day:

Harvard Business Review article online

What’s your #1 Business? It’s NOT Financial Services

Someone once shared with me that fast-food giants are successful because they know they’re not selling food.  Not selling food?  What are they selling?  

Convenience, reliability & quality at low-prices.  Food is just a vehicle to deliver the core business.

I’ve been blogging about branding for a while now and here I go again.  New research has come out that reveals how often investors are going DIY (Do It Yourself) with financial services.

• DIY Direct investing has grown more than advisor-based investing 19% vs. 14% in 2 years (despite investor confusion).
• DIY Direct investing accounts for almost $3.7 trillion in assets.
• A recent survey found that nearly 75% of investors with a financial advisor also do DIY direct investing.
• Advisors seriously underestimate this, guessing only 20% of their clients have direct investing accounts.

Those statistics and the recent flurry of investor DIY platforms (i.e. E-Trade’s 360 dashboard and Personal Capital’s free comprehensive financial management tool) make it even more imperative that advisors differentiate themselves from the increasingly sophisticated DIY financial-services providers and deliver on their primary business.  Sooo……

What is your primary business?

Here’s what I think and let me know if you disagree.  Your business includes being a:

• Therapist, by dealing with fears and helping clients feel “OK”
• Interpreter, by translating the foreign language of financial lingo
• Concierge, so clients don’t have to do all the work
• Guardian, by helping to build emotional & financial security
• Teacher, guiding clients to increased competence & literacy
• Watch-dog, keeping clients from making critical errors in judgement

Tip of the Day:  NO Dashboard can replace you!

None of the above roles can be filled by a DIY financial dashboard.  Sure, you can get information on those topics but no dashboard can replace the power of person in a real relationship caring for the client.

Now more than ever, personal relationship is king.  Your primary business is emotional –  love your client!  One of the vehicles for doing that is through quality financial services.

Resource of the Day:

Below is the link to the article about the rise in DIY investing.

DIY Investing on the Upswing