GREAT NEWS!—Marketing Session Added to The Ultimate Level Program

By popular demand, we are pleased to announce that we have added a MARKETING SESSION to both of our upcoming 2-day Ultimate Level events. We are just 4 weeks away from our Dallas program and we only have 4 spots left.  For more information about the Dallas event, click here. If you can’t make the Dallas event or prefer to attend our Orlando event in October, we still have room and you still have time to do so.  For more information about the Orlando event, click here. During this MARKETING SESSION, Phil will be providing attendees ideas and strategies for…

A Monthly Meeting You’re Not Allowed to Miss

By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law In an earlier article I talked about the importance of setting goals for the year and clearly communicating them in a motivational way to your associate attorneys and staff at an annual “kickoff” meeting in January. As a follow-up to that meeting, you should also be holding a once a month firm meeting to continue the momentum towards achieving your goals. This monthly firm meeting is a very important one that you simply cannot miss (nor can anyone else)….

More Clients, Better Clients

By Joseph J. Strazzeri, Esq. Quality referrals are the lifeblood of a growing practice. New clients tend to come from one of four sources: 1) current clients, 2) other advisors, 3) educational events, and 4) the internet. For the practitioner that does the technical work and markets the firm, it is critical to understand whether you want more clients and/or better clients, and to have a plan on how to obtain them – because there is only so much time in a month. Time management and a team-driven, repeatable process offer not only a great business solution but a quality…

The Three “D’s” of Being a Better Assistant (and More Efficient Assistant)

By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant | Volume 2, Issue 5 (May 2014) Whether you’re a busy executive or the assistant to a busy executive, you know the feeling of having far too many things to do in a day than hours available, right?  There are a lot of different tips and ways that you can handle such a workload.  One such technique of determining how to handle a heavy workload is something that Phil actually taught to us.  It’s the Three “D’s”: Do It, Delegate It, DeferIt! Start by looking at your To Do List – – which we hope all of you have, because…

How You & Your Assistant Can Work Better Together

Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant (UPDATED JULY 2015) Trust in the workplace is always a difficult, but necessary, part of running a successful practice.  A lot of estate planners, regardless of his or her professional designation, struggle with this concept.  Although just about every single one of these professionals could benefit from having some kind of assistant or other administrative support, they have difficulty in trusting others to take on important tasks.  Unfortunately, estate planners are only ever making any real money if they are either meeting with clients or doing some kind of marketing or networking…

Training Associate Attorneys & Staff

By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law | Volume 2, Issue 4 (April 2014) Over the past couple of months, we covered the importance of properly hiring and incentivizing your associate attorneys and support staff in order to build and maintain a successful estate planning practice.  Now, we will address training. As I’ve stressed in all other aspects of your practice, you must have processes, procedures, forms and systems for everything that happens in your law firm on a daily basis.  This includes your marketing, client…

Is Your Receptionist Losing You Business?

By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant | Volume 2, Issue 2 (February 2014) In a time when a lot of people utilize e-mail communication, the telephone is still, by far, one of the most common forms of communication for businesses.  In a personal service industry such as estate planning – – regardless of whether you’re an attorney, financial advisor, CPA, life insurance agent, trust officer or some other kind of advisor to clients – – telephone communication plays an even bigger role for having a successful business. So, why is that we see so many estate planning professionals have flawed systems…

8 Year-End Practice Building Tips to Implement RIGHT NOW

By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law As your business winds down near year-end (unlike 2012, when everyone was doing last-minute wealth transfer planning because of anticipated changes in the estate tax laws), it’s a good time to work on your business – – rather than in your business, as we practitioners are often trapped doing throughout the year. Hopefully, this article will serve as a brief checklist of action steps you can take now to assure a more effective, profitable and enjoyable 2014.  By the way, this…

7 Tips for Taking Better Notes & Being More Efficient!

By Kristina Schneider & Megan DeLaGarza, Executive Assistants Whether you’re an executive assistant or any other type of administrative staff member, note-taking is an inevitable and unavoidable task that you will have in your daily routine.  There are so many different details and tasks necessary to complete your job that it is impossible to keep track of them all.  If you aren’t currently in the practice of taking notes during your meetings with your boss or supervisor, we highly recommend that you start now.  It’s a great way to prevent overlooking the small items and, if there’s ever any confusion…