There are a plethora of ever-changing external challenges that make it difficult for financial advisors to develop a marketing plan capable of breaking through the noise, including the economy, geopolitical turmoil, inflation and recession—you get my point.

If you struggle with developing a marketing plan that speaks louder than the headlines, these questions will help you identify areas in need of improvement:

1. What are the workplace challenges that you think about on your drive home every evening?
2. What is one objective from your business plan that you haven’t achieved yet? What is standing in the way?
3. What is the most successful initiative of your marketing plan? How do you know?
4. How many new accounts have you brought in?
5. What percent came from referrals?
6. How many client relationships have you lost within the past year? Why?
7. Are there any clients that you haven’t spoken to in the past six months? What are you doing to prevent them from finding a new advisor?
8. Who are your raving fans? What is your strategy to prioritize these clients?
9. What has been the most positive change you’ve made to your business this year? How can you communicate this to clients?
10. What level of service do you expect in your own partnerships? How can you deliver the same experience to your clients?
11. How do you engage clients’ spouses? What is your strategy for connecting with female clients?
12. What aspects of your plan can be simplified? Are there initiatives that aren’t showing returns? If so, how can you reallocate this budget to be more effective?

By answering a few of these questions, you’ll easily identify areas that need improvement so you can then develop a plan that is effective for building new relationships and strengthening your existing partnerships.