As a financial advisor, what's your “perfect wave?” The plansponsor who will understand the value you provide, the individualwho desperately needs your advice or the business owner trying tocreate a succession plan? And just as important, how do you catchyour perfect wave?

Your pipeline is most likely built through referrals,networking, internal business partners and possibly some good,old-fashioned cold calling. But once you've created your pipeline,how do you turn those prospects into clients?

Here are two easy steps you can take today.

Step 1: Create a simple marketingcalendar. I know this sounds obvious, but do you haveone? Most advisors I meet admit they don't but realize theydesperately need it.

A marketing calendar allows all the players on your team tounderstand what should happen and when. Here are a few tips to getstarted:

• Don't get hung up on the details. Just get your feet wet bystarting a simple calendar. Brainstorm some marketing touches youcan make weekly, monthly, annually, etc., to stay in front ofprospects.

• Assign someone on your team to oversee the execution of yourmarketing plan. This accountability will ensure communication isdone accurately and on time.

Step 2: Determine content. Fill inyour marketing calendar with specifics. Here are two ideas forreaching existing and prospective clients:

• Quarterly webcast. This may sound scary at first because youmight not have subject matter experts on staff to create content.Tip: leverage your service providers andinvestment options providers. There's an abundance of content outthere. Just ask for pieces you can brand as your own!

• Drip email campaign. This is great way to stay in front ofclients, but again, it's time consuming to create and sharerelevant, timely and quality content. Tip:take a look at this prospecting microsite for topical content youcan start using immediately.

Follow these two easy steps, and you'll be surfing your pipelinelike a pro in no time–hopefully catching some new prospects to feedinto your pipeline while turning others into loyal, long-termclients.

You can read more from Julie on blog.principal.com.

The subject matter in this communication is provided withthe understanding that The Principal® is not rendering legal,accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with appropriatecounsel or other advisors on all matters pertaining to legal, tax,or accounting obligations and requirements.

Insurance products and plan administrative services areprovided by Principal Life Insurance Company. Securities areoffered through Princor Financial Services Corporation,1-800-547-7754, member SIPC and/or independent brokerdealers. Securities sold by a Princor® RegisteredRepresentative are offered through Princor. Princor andPrincipal Life are members of the Principal Financial Group® (ThePrincipal®), Des Moines, IA 50392.