Every month in my email, I receive a well-written two-page newsletter from an advisor I know. You can tell the advisor puts a lot of time into writing for the firm's 2,000 clients and contacts because he's always thoughtful and on point. But the newsletter could be a lot easier to read. It comes in a clunky PDF file, usually slightly crooked with a faint line running down the middle. It looks like the advisor is printing the newsletter onto a sheet of paper and then saving it back to a PDF before scanning and sending it.
I was thinking to myself the other day, "I don't know if anybody's ever told them this, but they could make the newsletter look a lot nicer and more reader-friendly." So, after the last issue, I contacted the advisor's assistant who sends out the newsletter and told her: "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that if you save it directly to a PDF rather than printing it out and scanning it, it would come out a lot cleaner."
To her credit, the assistant responded immediately and said: "Yeah, you know, we thought about that, and it won't work."
So, I asked her if the advisor taps out his commentary on a typewriter first, because I couldn't understand why my suggestion wouldn't work. Her response: "We do it this way because he wants to put the newsletter on our letterhead." I responded: "Great. You know, you can create an electronic version of your letterhead and copy/paste it into the newsletter document. It's a simple logo. I'm happy to give you a call and walk you through how it's done."
She replied: "No thanks. We've done it this way for a very long time. I don't think anybody notices or cares."
Everything's not OK just because you aren't hearing complaints
If we're talking about emailing an individual client or a single prospect (like me), then it might not be worth the time to reformat the digital letterhead to provide a better reader experience. But we're talking about a monthly newsletter for roughly 2,000 clients and prospects. That's 24,000 touch points a year — i.e., 24,000 opportunities to make an impression on people.
Let's say they took my suggestion and improved the aesthetics of the newsletter by only 10%. That may not sound like a lot to you, but making a 10% improvement on something that touches clients 24,000 times over a year can be a massive change for the better.
It comes down to knowing the right "levers" to pull. Identifying the right levers helps you prioritize where to devote your time (and where not to). The bigger levers are the ones that generate the more significant return on your time and effort. For more on getting the maximum return on your time, see my column "
The newsletter story is an example of a minimal change with a really big lever. You build momentum with big levers because it takes very little time to replicate your success after you've made the change once. For instance, by using my suggestion, the firm wouldn't have to scan the logo again. By saving time and creating a better reader experience, engagement with the newsletter would improve, and it would be easier for readers to forward it to friends and colleagues. That momentum that builds on itself is an example of
What are other examples of levers you can pull to make a big difference from a small change? Your website. Your email footer. Your client portal. Your tax organizers. These are things clients see frequently. How about spending five minutes sprucing up your social media with the 800 people who follow you? That might have a pretty significant impact, too.
It's crazy that the advisor who worked so hard to write an excellent client newsletter was unaware his staff member had been making a conscious decision to ignore potential improvements. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is pervasive in our industry. But eventually that mindset catches up with you. You can keep telling yourself, "Everything's OK because no one is complaining." Folks notice the crooked formatting, typos and lack of reader-friendliness month after month.
1% better every day
You don't have to make wholesale changes all at once. You just need to get 1% better at a time. If you keep doing it, you'll be doing 300% to 500% better over the year with compounding. For more about making continuous 1% improvement part of your firm's culture (what the Japanese call "kaizen"), see my article "
Start with areas of your business where you can get marginally better — areas that will have the highest or most frequent impact. For example, suppose you have a clunky footer at the bottom of all of your client communications, including your emails, newsletter and tax organizers. How hard would it be to make it your best possible footer? I know that sounds ridiculous, but making a minor change with such a big impact takes very little time and money. Are you hiring? Make sure the application link is clearly visible in your footer. The same goes for the link to your portal so clients can easily upload their tax returns and other documents.
Leverage your touch points as much as you can. People are paying more attention than you think. I'd
