Twitter to the rescue of my colleague with a RFP dilemma

Twitter can be mighty handy in a pinch. Especially when used in combination with other social media. That's what I learned from the response to my colleague's RFP dilemma.

My colleague asked me to post his dilemma on my blog, so I wrote it up as "RFP dilemma: What should my colleague do?" I figured that a blog post alone wouldn't draw helpful responses, so I tweeted--and emailed some colleagues on LinkedIn--for help. 

Within an hour, I received five constructive comments on my blog post plus some tweets.The exchange raised some issues that I'd never thought of before. For example, the fact that an RFP may be considered part of a contract.

This illustrates social media at its best. 

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the conversation!

____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Private equity job hunting tips from four professionals

"Don't bring me a resume. Bring me a deal," said Daniel Meader, founder and managing partner, Trinity Advisory Group. Meader offered his advice during the Q&A following "The State of Private Equity: Opportunity through Crisis," a sold out presentation to the Boston Security Analysts Society on November 5.

Other advice from panelists:

• In New England, the best job prospects are in venture. The corporate growth and buyout styles of private equity are stagnant locally, said Martin Grasso, CEO, Pearl Street Capital Group.
• It's good to have consulting experience as well as investment expertise, according to Scott Stewart, MS in Investment Management Faculty Director, Boston University School of Management.
• Get operating experience in turning around a distressed company, suggested Norman Rice, partner, ConsensusCapital Group.

Do you have more tips for private equity job hunters? Please add them in the comments.
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Poll: Which brings you the most new business--email or U.S. mail marketing?

Contact via email and U.S. mail can spur referrals and turn prospects into clients. Accordingly, this month's poll asks which brings you the most new business--email or U.S. mail marketing? Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of this blog. Thank you! 

Also, if you have time, leave your comments about why you prefer one form of communication to the other. In addition, I'd enjoy hearing about what kind of communications you send. Newsletters? Sales letters? White papers? Invitations to in-person or virtual gatherings? It would be great to get a conversation going.

My monthly e-newsletter has brought me new clients. Sometimes new clients have called me within 24 hours of publication. Other times, they've sent an email inquiry as a reply to my newsletter. Perhaps U.S. mail marketing would work for me, but I haven't done much with it because of the costs and additional steps required when compared to email.
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

May vs. might: It may matter, but it might not

I thought I might have absorbed the difference between "may" and "might" after reading "I Wish I May, I Wish I Might" in Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips (a similar explanation is on the Grammar Girl blog). Grammar Girl, AKA Mignon Fogarty, wrote "If something is likely to happen, use may." Might is for cases when the thing is "a mighty stretch."

But the next day I read "Mighty Likely" by Jan Freeman in the Boston Globe. Freeman uncovered disagreement among usage mavens about which word is more optimistic. In her opinion, this distinction doesn't matter much. It may be much ado about nothing. 

However, cautioned Freeman, it is important to use "might" rather than "may" when discussing past events.

For another perspective on this dispute, read "May, Might, Muddle" on The New York Times' "Times Topics" blog. It may help. Then again, it might not.
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

The LinkedIn status update is your friend, whether you're looking for clients or a job

LinkedIn status updates are a low-key way of reminding your contacts that you exist. My status updates have directly resulted in an editor asking me to write an article and new subscribers signing up for my newsletter. 

A brief positive message 
A status update is a brief update on your activities. It's designed to show off something positive about you. For example, an asset manager might say "Peter Portfoliomanager is sharing his latest Economic Update." A job hunter who wants to show that she's not moping around might post "Joan Jobhunter just completed a marketing plan for Her Favorite Charity."

Include link to maximize your impact
Peter Portfoliomanager should provide a link to his Economic Update. This makes it easy for a reader to engage more deeply with him. He can use a site like TinyURL.com to shorten the link to his Economic Update. This is worth doing because long links are cumbersome and LinkedIn limits the length of status updates. Here's one of my status updates as an example: "Susanblogged: Statistics to calm nervous investors: Research on dollar cost averaging http://bit.ly/qKf3p" 

Everything you need is on your LinkedIn home page 
When you go to your LinkedIn home page, you'll see below your Inbox the Network Updates section. First comes the box where you can update your status. Below that, you'll see status updates from your connections. Status updates are also emailed to your connections as part of their Network Updates. By the way, LinkedIn lets you exercise some control over who sees your updates.

LinkedIn provides instructions for how to update your status.

Have YOU benefited from LinkedIn status updates? I'd love to hear your story.

Related posts
* My top tips for LinkedIn newbies who want to attract financial clients, referrals, and jobs 
* "Exploring the Social Media Networking and Media Landscape" for financial advisors
* Useful LinkedIn groups for investment and wealth management job hunters
* Compliance makes social networking tougher for registered reps than for RIAs


____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

"Exploring the Social Media Networking and Media Landscape"

Financial advisors should learn about social media, whether or not they participate. 

"Exploring the Social Media Networking and Media Landscape," a presentation by John Stone of Revenue Architects, got advisors talking at the Schwab Impact conference. Stone looks at social media with an eye to how they can help grow revenues. You can view Stone's slide show below.

Social  Media for Schwab Advisors

View more presentations from John Stone.

Thanks to Kristen Luke for suggesting John as a speaker and Bill Winterberg for sending me to the Impact 2009 slides, where I initially discovered John.

____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

How to make one quarterly letter fit clients at different levels of sophistication

You have clients with different levels of financial sophistication. But you probably don't have the time to write separate letters tailored to each client's understanding of investment jargon. To help you manage your time--and keep your clients happy--here are my top five tips for a one-size-fits-all client letter.

I'd like to thank the Maine CFA Society for suggesting this blog post topic when I presented to them in October on "How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read."   


1. Keep it simple 
If you use plain language, all of your readers will understand you.

Follow the example of Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, who says, "When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters…. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them." Despite Buffett's easy-to-understand style, plenty of financial sophisticates read his firm's annual report. 

2. Explain briefly 
The Wall Street Journal has mastered the art of explaining technical terms with phrases set off by commas. For example, a reporter might write about "the carry trade, where investors borrow in currencies with low interest rates to invest in those with high interest rates.

Savvy investors skim over the explanations, while the less knowledgeable gain a quick understanding.  

3. Use a sidebar
A sidebar, which is a text box that's set off from the main body of your article, can help you to accommodate different levels of knowledge among your readers.

Let's consider my example in Tip #2. You could use a sidebar to explain the carry trade in more depth. Your goal could be to educate less sophisticated investors. Or, you may convey details to more educated investors that wouldn't interest the rest of your readers. 

4. Provide a glossary
A glossary at the end of your printed communication can help when you can't squeeze all of the necessary explanations into the body of your text. 

If you send electronic communications, you can provide click-through links to definitions on your website or elsewhere. 

If you're willing to link to third-party glossaries, you've got a variety of choices. I've found some good definitions on the following sites:
* Investopedia.com
* InvestorWords.com
* Morningstar.com
* Wikipedia.org 

5. Provide a newsletter with articles for different audiences
If you have the luxury of writing a multi-article newsletter for your clients, consider including articles aimed at different levels of sophistication. 

However, don't vary your level willy nilly. I'd suggest aiming your newsletter at a general audience and then consistently including one column targeting better educated readers. 

How do YOU handle this challenge?
I'm interested in hearing from you. Please leave comments below.

Related posts:
* If you MUST use "secular" in your investment commentary
* "Quantitative easing" is a weasel word
* Advice from SEC's expert on plain English
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Grab readers with an anecdotal lead

Starting your article or blog post with with a real-life story can draw in readers who'd otherwise ignore you. 

"The anecdotal approach, by framing [your topic] in personal terms, becomes instantly accessible and—more important—readable," as Mark Ragan says in "How to write an anecdotal lead."

To write good anecdotal leads, Ragan suggests that you 
1. Find some good stories.
2. Write your explanation of what the story is about before you write out the story. This will help you to pick the right story and focus it.
3. Start your article with a short anecdote, followed by a colorful quote, and then your explanation of the story's main points. After that, you can dive into the body of your story.


Have you seen any examples of financial advisors making good use of anecdotal leads? I'd like to see them.


____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Tune up your writing skills on Nov. 10 or Nov. 19--or hire me to help you

Could your writing skills use a tune-up? If you work with investments, you'll get useful tips from my November 10 lunchtime presentation to Boston Women in Finance (BWF) on "How to Write What People Will Read About Investments." Lunch is included in the program cost.

This program sold out the first time I presented it to BWF, so register early. 

It would be great to meet you at this program. Please introduce yourself as one of my readers.

If you're a NAPFA member who lives in the Boston area, you can see me present on "How to Write Effective Emails and Letters to Your Financial Planning Clients" at your November 19 study group. 

If you can't attend either presentation, consider hiring me to train people at your company. I've presented across the U.S. and Canada on "How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read." I can develop presentations tailored to you. 

Note: I updated this blog post on Oct. 21 with the BWF registration link and NAPFA information.

____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

3Q09 vs. Q3 09 --which is better?

You probably know that Q is the abbreviation for quarter. But what's the proper way to abbreviate "third quarter of 2009"?

I prefer 3Q09 to Q3 09. It seems cleaner to separate the 3 of third quarter from the 09 of 2009. I worry that readers will get confused if the numbers in Q3 09 run together, as in Q309.

Looking for evidence to back up my opinion, I did a Google search. I found about 121,000 instances of 3Q09 vs. 10.9 million for Q3 09.

Wow--that's quite a disparity! Q3 09 is the format that @BillWinterberg sees in regulatory filings. Perhaps that explains it. I wonder if the SEC requires the Q3 09 format. 

Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of my blog. I'll track your answers with interest and will report on them in my November e-newsletter. Thank you!
____________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright 2009 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved