I often talk to teams that are bringing on a younger advisor, to fill a role and increase productivity. More often than not, these protégés are very talented, but mentors often leave them to their own devices to figure out their own process and role. In this short video I highlight how you, as a team leader, can play to your strengths as well as your protégé’s, to chart their path to success and make them an indispensable member of the team.

Narrowcast instead of broadcast. Set a goal to become the specialist, not a generalist; the specialist for business owners. There are business owners within your client. These clients are going to have continuity and succession and family investment legacy issues – so engineer a process to become indispensable to these clients. From a pure organic target marketing perspective, simply start calling business owners in your town, especially family enterprises and smaller blue collar first generation businesses that are self-made. Don't call them up asking for business - ask them for advice. There's an old saying: "If you ask someone for money, you often get advice. If you ask someone for advice, you often get money."

At Focus with Daniella Sucato, Tim Daniel, Ryan Bradley and Daniel Radosevich, of First Trust - visit the crew at their booth if you'd like a copy of The Advisor Playbook!

When transitioning to a new firm or taking on a new advisor, ensure the rules of engagement are defined, fair, reasonable and reciprocal. Remove the mystery on incentive and compensation, make everything transparent and client-facing, because how you start a relationship will have a profound impact on how it will unfold.

In San Diego with Len Fox, Rob Jacobsen, Melissa Taylor, Roger Starr and Brad Shaffer of First Trust presenting to a great group at Focus.

The circumstances don't make the man; they reveal him. It's not about the glass being half full or half empty – the question is this: Is the glass growing? A mentor shared this with me a long time ago, he said, “If you fill a cup with water and you leave it there, when you come back, it will have evaporated. You’ve got to top it back up - but that's as big as the cup gets. When you top up with experience and take some risks, you keep personally and professionally developing your skills and refining your process. The Cup gets bigger even as you keep topping it up.”

Clients don't just buy something, they buy into something. Moving customers who are just “buying something” into a client role can reveal a vein of gold, and that shift can come about when you go back and treat your existing customers as prospective clients. Reintroduce yourself, your process and your value to gain that empowerment.

If you would like to learn more about converting customers into fully empowering clients, join Duncan at a Pareto Systems Mastermind event in beautiful Palm Springs, CA. or Kelowna, BC. Limited seats remain for dates this fall, visit our website to learn more: www.paretosystems.com/mastermind-total-client-engagement

Invest some time and effort, and a little bit of money, to help you and your team define your branding strategy as an enterprise and increase the level of service to the clients that deserve you most.

In La Jolla, CA with Mike McKeating, Tom Pearse and Tom Hacker with First Trust outlining our philosophy and process for Total Client Engagement to a great group of fee-for-service professionals.

You need a process to sift real prospects from the mass of suspects. Your advocates will do that for you. Your most valuable prospective clients are the friends and family members of your existing clients. Your existing clients have more persuasive impact on them than you ever will, so don't go out there and try to convince new people - work better with the people who are already convinced. Show them how to convince people and you'll create client acquisition.