What is a connector? What makes financial advisors good ones?

Connectors focus on reaching out to others and producing significant and measurable revenue, which comes from consistent referrals from clients and strategic alliances. If you want to be a more effective connector, begin by thinking about your client meetings. Prepare an agenda for what you are going to do. The No. 1 thing is to listen. If you can get more personal, ask more questions and listen more intently, the connection builds itself.

What marketing strategies can advisors implement?

The dentist scheduling method works: Book the next appointment with a client before he or she leaves, then mail a postcard reminder two weeks before the next meeting. This method keeps clients coming in. Make the most out of client meetings by getting referrals for new business.

Also, I'll say this to advisors: Have you asked your staff to talk about you to other referrals? Typically in big offices there is at least one person who really understands how much impact you make with your clients.

How is the way advisors market themselves changing?

Everything is changing as it relates to marketing your practice because of compliance and the lack of trust that people like Bernard Madoff have caused the industry. Clients are going to look at you 10 different ways before they come into the office. They are going to Google you and do a little bit more due diligence than they did before. You have to catch their attention because there is so much more noise in the marketplace. You've got to be able to develop trust and credibility a lot faster than you did before, and you have to spend a lot more time on it.

What surprised you most as you did research for this book?

I always thought you had to be somebody who is not afraid to go into a meeting and start shaking hands, and that makes a good connector. But there are lots of introverts out there who are good connectors. It's because they are good listeners. Some of the top advisors we work with who gross over $1 million-on average-will spend more time listening than talking in any meeting.

How can an advisor's staff help get the word out about the firm?

Some advisors are fantastic, but their staff don't know it. A lot of advisors don't bring staffers into their client meetings because they are running lean and someone has to be up front answering the phones. Bring a staff person into a review meeting with a client, where you talk about where that client was and how far he or she has come. This often enlightens the staffer as to the advisor's talents. Also, many advisors give bonuses to staff for generating referrals.