Too few financial advisors get close to their clients. I mean that literally: You should make it geographically convenient for clients to do business with you. Instead, most advisors remain locked in their offices, usually in their communities' business districts, and often isolated from the majority of their clients.

This idea was driven home recently when an advisor told me that he was opening an office in a major gas station plaza in his town. "There is already a convenience store in the plaza, as well as a restaurant," he explained. "Over the years, I've learned that most of my clients either buy their gas there, or pass the station on a regular basis. So I decided to rent an office in the plaza and move my practice there from our small business district."

Understanding that clients are busy either working or taking care of families—or in many cases unable to travel because of health—a new breed of financial advisor is using technology to move the office to locations that are convenient to clients. This creativity and resourcefulness deserves applause. These advisors are writing a new chapter in customer service that is destined to help build stronger ties of trust and confidence with their clients.

Traveling through Chicago, I noticed the office of a financial planner in an area of the city that was undergoing revitalization. When I spoke to that planner, she explained that a number of her clients were taking advantage of the real estate prices there and moving their residences and, in many cases, businesses to the area. "I wanted to be there for them when they moved in," she said.

Another advisor I knew made it a point to meet with elderly clients at their homes. "I understand how difficult it is for some of them to get out, so I always offer to come to them," he said. "They not only appreciated it, but I found it was the reason many of them sent me referrals of people who had similar problems traveling to their advisors."

In this competitive market—with gas at a record high to boot—taking your practice to your clients should be a major consideration.

Granted, many firms require all of their brokers to remain in one office under one branch manager's supervision. That often precludes the option of being physically located where the bulk of your clients live or work. But even so, there is an easy alternative. Instead of meeting clients in your office, plan on places that are convenient to them, such as their homes, offices or favorite restaurants.

And if your firm allows you to run your own office, being conveniently located for clients is an option not to be ignored. However, that requires you to have a competent staff to handle business in the office while you're gone. "That once really concerned me," one advisor said. "But now with cell phones and wireless laptops, I can be in contact with my office no matter where I am. In fact, I can pull up any client's records on my laptop and solve any problem for them."

Another advisor told me that she takes either a half day or full day off each week, in compensation for working nights with clients at their homes, leaving office responsibilities to her staff. That way, she gets to spend some quality time with her kids and still tend to business when it's convenient for clients.

As we begin to develop business plans for 2009, give some serious consideration to getting closer to your clients. Look at what other advisors are doing and ask your staff for recommendations. This is one strategy with little, if any, downside and a world of potential on the upside.

Larry Silver, director of marketing at Raymond James Financial until his retirement, writes about investment firm practices from Oldsmar, Fla. He can be reached at silvermarketing@earthlink.net.