[quote=frumhere]MS is rolling out a new seminar re-imbursement
policy.  What are other Firms seminar funding policies?[/quote]



You want to have a seminar, you can fund it yourself.

After you get everything approved by compliance.

Wholesalers can reimburse up to $1000 per event.

Content is: "informal discussion at lunch".

Generally, client bring a friend is the only way to go, if you have a few clients. Wait until you have a few if you don't.

Or let the branded broker dealer pay for anonymous cattle call events.

[quote=planrcoach]

After you get everything approved by compliance.

Wholesalers can reimburse up to $1000 per event.

Content is: "informal discussion at lunch". [/quote]

I'm not a fan of getting wholesalers involved. I want to promote myself, not the tools I use. Hearing about an individual mutual fund is like attending a seminar on latex caulk.

If you have acess to Mainstay/NYLIM funds, they have good generic seminar materials.

i am just going to stop marketing!

[quote=AllREIT][quote=planrcoach]

After you get everything approved by compliance.

Wholesalers can reimburse up to $1000 per event.

Content is: "informal discussion at lunch". [/quote]

I'm not a fan of getting wholesalers involved. I want to promote myself, not the tools I use. Hearing about an individual mutual fund is like attending a seminar on latex caulk.

If you have acess to Mainstay/NYLIM funds, they have good generic seminar materials.

I'm not a fan of getting wholesalers involved. I want to promote myself, not the tools I use. Hearing about an individual mutual fund is like attending a seminar on latex caulk.

Personally, I let the wholesaler attend and write a check, but not present. We keep it very informal - group golf lesson and small lunch. A good wholesaler will engage one on one with a few of the clients or their friends.

I like to focus on four or five branded fund families. When I rebalance portfolios, I usually just do exchanges, even in wrap accounts.

The focus that comes out of this disciplined approach is pretty cool. The support money is likely the least important element. Enlisting other people, your experienced wholesalers - to help you implement your business plan (client appreciation - bring a friend) is powerful. Do even a small event, and you will get some business. Do one a month (even with five or ten people), and it will help an established practice sustain itself nicely. Do two and month, and you may have more growth than you can handle.

The focus that comes out of this disciplined approach is pretty cool.
The support money is likely the least important element. Enlisting other
people, your experienced wholesalers - to help you implement your
business plan (client appreciation - bring a friend) is powerful. Do even a
small event, and you will get some business. Do one a month (even with
five or ten people), and it will help an established practice sustain itself
nicely. Do two and month, and you may have more growth than you can
handle.

(I'm giving you the full version, for the benefit of others who may not share your level of experience.)

I think the logic would be something like this:

At some point, you have enough clients to just grow by referral. So you completely give up the idea of doing any "cold" business building. That can be hard to do, because it is what started most practices. The focus you get from making that commitment is the beginning.

Next, pretend you are one of your clients. So anything you do needs to feel good from that perspective. In terms of avoiding clients perceiving "bring your friends" from feeling like a sales pitch, try to imagine you are a client right now and how does this feel?

I look at your account online, and think about the allocation, the bank authorizations, the cash funding the systematic payouts to your bank, suggesting that we pull a little money out of stocks and put it into bonds since 2006 was such a great year, and the analysts think 2007 might just be an average year, and how much risk do you want to take to get an average return, whatever.    

I give the normal service, but instead of trying to drag my existing clients into the office this year, I decide to have a lot more phone contact. And after they feel good about getting a little service, I say:

"By the way 24, thanks for being such a great client. I'm going to be sending you some invitations in the mail- I'm doing some lunches, between March and October, once a month. At that great fish house on main street, do you like that place? We're going to have the little private room to ourselves, and have a great lunch. Really informal, just some fun time and informal discussion about the market, or whatever anyone wants to talk about. Do you want me to let you know about that?"

"Great. And if you want, you can bring a friend. I really just want to thank you - show my appreciation. So whether you bring a friend or not, I hope you'll come and have some fun. And part of the reason I am doing this, I've found that a lot of clients have friends or family that may be interested in what I do, but, you know, they want to check me out a little in an informal way, see how it feels - nobody wants to get stuck in an office with a schmuck (ha ha) - so it really is a nice way for people who might want a little help to check me out.

(Listen).

You do this with 5 to ten clients. If you have a compliance approved little market update, you might talk for about three or four minutes in a group consciousness.

Just talk a little about what is going on, like," well, I think we can all agree last year was a really good year, and this year looks good, but, of course, you have the usual suspects lurking in the background (terrorism, bird flu), so anything can happen. As I have already told a lot of you (smiles and looks around, looks everyone in the eye), we have to protect your money, and try to grow it. If we take a little money out of the market this year, and the market goes up a lot, you will all be mad at me. (ha ha). But, if the market goes sideways, those dividends from the bonds will help us get a little return. And if the market goes down, that fixed income will help us preserve some principal. I might be your hero. But, if stocks go down, we'll all still be feeling some pain! Of course, I'll be calling you to talk about that. Anyway, it's my job to worry about that, and I want everyone to be able to sleep at night! Does anyone have a question or comment about any investing concerns?

If you do it on a regular basis, a lot of clients will come by themselves the first time, and bring a qualified and interested friend the second. It really works. Also, you are taking your relationship with your trusted clients to the next level. Clients will tell each other how much they like you - it is powerful.

This year, I am doing golf lesson and lunch, and the fish house thing. Just make sure it is easy for everyone make it. Forget dinners and nights. Everyone needs to eat lunch, and daytime energy is the most focused. Also, daytime events are cheaper.

I have been doing this over several years. This is what works for me. Generally, the more informal, down to earth, and simple I do things, the better it feels, and the better the result.

[quote=Broker24]
Planr - can you expand on this a bit. I am considering starting a seminar

routine, but have not landed on what concepts/topics to use. How many

do you typically invite? How do you keep it from looking like a “come

bring your friends so I can lure them in” sales pitch?[/quote]



Planr is an AMP’er so they are big on seminars.



What I do, though is basicly the same as what he does. except I do alot
of work on client segmentation. So I have a seminar in the downtown
CBD, do another out in the burbs etc. Do not do seminars at hotels
(except for very nice 4 star types). A seminar at the local holiday inn
or marriot doesn’t cut it.



However you need to be very focused, since I unlike Jesus, I do not intend to perform the miracle of the feeding of 5000.



Since I love BBQ/Middle eastern food, I’ve had that catered in. Check
with compliance about having booze. Since lots of people don’t like
wine, try having something like a bourbon/scotch/cheese tasting.



One topic I like to do is market update and then discussion of the role of TIPS in a portfolio.

Planr is an AMP'er so they are big on seminars.

Not sure about "them", cause I started thinking for myself when I took full ownership of my own local franchise about ten years ago. 

I call events "client appreciation bring friend golf lesson and lunches".

"Seminars" sounds like a wire house cattle call.

Serving beer and wine at a licensed public place works fine. I would stay away from the hard liquor to minimize problems.

TIPS is a great idea, since it represents a less known asset class and is a little contrarian.