Javelin Marketing Blog

Most producers get referrals by asking their clients for the names of any acquaintances who may need their services. But when you get referrals this way, you call the acquaintance and:
• They don’t know who you are.
• They don’t know what you do.
• They don’t know why you’re calling.
• They don’t know how you got their [...]

“I’m dong the same seminar I’ve been doing for years and the attendance is really off,” complained the rep.  Implicit in his compliant was the expectation that if you keep doing the same things it keeps working.  Allow me to offer this definition of insanity:
“When  you keep doing the same things over and over expecting [...]

So many mutual funds have problems with poor performance, high fees, excessive tax impact; it is simple to show a prospect why the funds or managed account you offer is better. However, realize that your prospect has some allegiance to their existing holdings even if those holdings have been poor performers. The inertia to do [...]

What do you really provide clients—a hope that maybe the mutual funds you help them select will reach their retirement goals, that maybe the UL policy you sell them will earn enough to sustain itself, that maybe the LTC company wont raise its rate? When you think about it, you offer prospects nothing firm and [...]

Fees vs. Commission vs. Hourly.
Each compensation system has its champions and foes. The proponents of each option treat the options as mutually exclusive and posit that their favorite method is better than the others. These assertions are incorrect, and all of these compensation methods have their merit in different circumstances. Let’s consider the different client [...]

If you have not heard, the SEC, FINRA and some State insurance departments are after seminar promoters that target seniors. Could your whole marketing approach disappear?   While the regulators cannot ban freedom  of speech, they can make your disclosures so onerous that you will not be able to attract attendees.  For example, the State of [...]

Planners use the wrong numbers for life expectancy and it means that much of the planning that’s been done needs to be revised.  Planners typically consult life expectancy tables published by the IRS and most are well aware that these are the average life expectancies, in appropriate for senior citizen retirement planning.  A person reaching [...]

People who like to spout opinions as facts plague our industry and so we hear so much about the activities of CPAs as financial advisors. Well the truth is it ain’t happening.
In three conversations with major financial institutions that recruit CPAs to be financial advisors, approximately 90% of those CPAs do less then $50,000 [...]