Author Archives: Maribeth Kuzmeski

Positioning for the Win

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on how one college basketball team, Kentucky, prepares for its opponents (“NCAA Tournament: Why Kentucky Hardly Bothers With Film Study”). They don’t spend much time studying game tapes of their opponents like most other basketball teams. They may have decided that their talent supersedes their preparation. And for most of the year it worked – but did it cost them? Would the outcome be any different if they focused more on preparation to position themselves for the win?

Let’s Talk: The Glue of Great Relationships

LOL, EOD, BRB, TY, and YW might be key elements of the way we communicate in a texting, emailing, social media-obsessed world, but they don’t make for high quality communication or conversation. With communication becoming more and more diluted by technology, there is a higher than ever importance of valuing great conversation—an essential element in building strong, mutually beneficial, and profitable relationships for financial professionals.

Conversations are the building blocks of relationships. Without them,

The 5 Great Myths about Referrals

It has been proven that one of the best ways to build your client base is through referrals. But is this really a sustainable strategy? If you’re like many agents and advisors, you’re not quite sure how to persuade current clients to regularly offer them up amidst the turmoil. Do you know what may be stopping you from getting the referrals you deserve? Following are a few myths that have spread in the financial industry.

Struggling to Stand Out?

If you could stand out to your prospects as THE person or firm to work with, would it change your business? Have you focused any effort on trying to stand out amongst your competitors, or have you assumed that it’s just not possible?

If you have focused on standing out (which is possible, of course!) how are you directing your efforts? Oftentimes professionals target their efforts on having an active presence on social media,

Predispositions: Will They Help or Hurt Your Business?

When prospects meet with you for the first time, they usually already feel positive, negative or neutral about doing business with you. And how they feel when they come to you will likely be a critically important factor determining whether they will eventually do business with you or not.

Our predispositions often play out the way we thought they would. It’s not really a mystery, just human nature and psychology. If people come to the table wanting to work with you,