August. When I was growing up, August was vacation time. School did not start until well after Labor Day and now it seems like back to school sales start before graduation ends. Of course, Christmas break was only two weeks and it was called Christmas break. I don’t remember all the Teacher’s Breaks but then again I went to a Catholic Elementary school and there were ‘47’ Saint’s Days. we took off. I remember working in the back yard, no shirt, trying to build up a tan before Tahoe so we didn’t burn. Tans now seem to be a thing of the past. I remember that while we were on vacation, once a week Dad would get a package from the office with the mail so he could stay on top of things. As I got older and was able to drive, the office would load me up on Friday afternoon with the mail. Last week when Matt and I were in Denver for the conference, we took care of business over our phones.
Change is the constant; some for the good, other changes impinging on our privacy or escape time. How do you handle change?
Matt has been with Harvest for over a year. He’s licensed, certified and helping clients with various needs. A great addition. Connie has been with us about four months and seems to be grasping some of the reins. We have been employing a new software Advanced Time Segmentation with several clients with great results. Comments like; ‘I understand where the income will come from’ and ‘That’s magic!’ confirms to us we made a right choice by adding this tool. Lastly, I have moved out of my office in order to create a conference room with various tools to Imagine, Believe and Achieve your financial future. From white boards to create and capture to technology to demonstrate, you will be hearing more in the weeks to come.
We are also working on better means to connect with clients. We began with a program called Calendly which helps us schedule meetings with clients. We can send a link that allows you to look at our calendar and choose a meeting time convenient to you without a lot of calling back and forth. For our client who live far away or simply can’t afford time to come into the office, we are using ‘Join.Me’ to connect and talk and share on screen information. We are trying to simplify the on-line access to information about your accounts. We have employed DocuSign to sign documents on line instead of having to come to the office or wait for the mail. And we continue to look for better ways to serve. We are sending account information to help you prepare for meetings. As advisors we want to know the topics you need advice on, so Calendly not only lets you choose an appointment date but asks what you want to talk about.
While in Denver, Matt and I discovered many new tools, which we will look at and hopefully introduce around the first of the year. Sure August used to be vacation time and now it is back to school. Things change and if we choose wisely, we can make it better. Meanwhile, there are plenty of sunny days remaining in our year and here’s to enjoying them!