Here are some tips from Cheryl Vardon, of Hicks Financial Solutions in Halifax, and Lou Caci, of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. in Winnipeg, to help make RRSP time, or any time of the year, a bit smoother:

• Don’t wait until the rush of RRSP season before contacting clients. Start at the close of income tax filing and encourage clients to contribute early or begin a monthly contribution program. As the year unwinds, clients who have not been encouraged enough to respond will require a personal call — not to chat but to set up a meeting.

• Meet with outside specialists. Accountants, CGAs and tax specialists are all allies in the quest to conquer new clients and keep existing clients. Their expertise, coupled with your own, is a powerful incentive for a client or would-be client to get in touch.

• Offer a discount, a financial saving or an added bonus. Incentives work. They don’t need to be expensive to be effective. The more closely connected to your role as a financial planner, the more reinforcement of your expertise. Free ballpoint pens, for example, are not likely to be as effective an incentive as offering to complete a client’s income tax return.

• Make life easy for clients. If their contribution plan is straightforward, dot the Is and cross the Ts for them. For complicated plans, gather all pertinent information in advance of meeting with the client. Once together, lay out the options and recommend a course of action.

• Make life easy for yourself. Hire a helping hand; relieve a little stress at the gym or the bowling alley or the ski hill. You’re no good to your clients if you’re stressed out.

• No matter how long you’ve been in the business, consider yourself a rookie. That way, you won’t get complacent with your clients and your own performance.

• Listen to motivational tapes by best performers in the industry. Reading industry publications and the daily papers to keep up with the latest information.

• As your book grows, make sure there is a managed-money component for many clients. “Managed money is becoming so important to leverage an investment advisor’s time. You can’t manage all that money by yourself,” Caci says.

• Keep your clients informed. The more they know, the more it will pay off in the end, even if the initial returns aren’t favourable. Caci recommends books such as The Roaring 2000s, by Harry S. Dent Jr., and Boom Bust & Echo, by David K. Foot.