Paul A. Werlin

Becoming a top producer and a respected professional isn’t an endpoint, it's a process. And successful advisors, who are always thinking five years ahead, have a definite plan to get there.

There aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, and it’s easy to get distracted by all the things that come up unexpectedly during the day. But successful FAs are able to minimize distractions and focus on critical tasks.

Bond math can get complicated, but communicating and adapting to a changing world is what being a professional adviser is all about.

Using only monetary rewards as the sole means of motivation is a missed opportunity to spur advisers to greater levels of production and productivity.

A supply-demand mismatch in the adviser labor market will favor FAs who want to make a move.

The importance of FA training finds general consensus, but there is disagreement on details like the best delivery method or even what constitutes training

Technology has advanced and financial products are more complex, but the success of a program still depends on getting the right people-just don't expect perfection

There's never enough time, but multitasking only assures that you'll do a mediocre job at everything. Far better to prioritize and focus on the important tasks.

Standing out is tough when the crowd is so large-so here are some ways to make yourself unique, build your "brand" and outpace the competition

Being able to sell is still important, but in today's market it's just one of many skills that a bank advisor needs to thrive.

Structured CDs seemed to come out of nowhere. But they quickly became, arguably, the hottest products in the bank channel.