Working harder and harder, putting in longer and longer hours but only yielding slightly better results. Sound familiar? You’ve hit maximum capacity. You’ve reached the point of diminishing returns. The answer is not to work harder or to work longer; you no longer can. Longer days aren’t paying off and may even be having the opposite effect – you’re tired, burned out and now prone to mistakes… and unhappiness. Donna was at that point.
Getting Results says there are two killers of a business – boredom and frustration. Donna was experiencing both. “I was no longer successful at anything,” she recalls. “Not just in my business but in my personal life as well. I felt I was not succeeding in any one area at all – not my own self-satisfaction, spiritually or physically.” The two killers were taking their toll.
She saw a change in both the behavior and demeanor of a trusted colleague who was working with GR. He was no longer living in the calamity and chaos that typically surrounds the financial industry. Donna saw that he had become peaceful and structured. More importantly, he was more productive. She researched a number of coaches and programs before contacting Ken but found them to be too “sales-y” as she describes them.
“I used to dread coming into work,” Donna continues, “because I simply hated it. I was tired going into the office every day and even more tired coming home.” It seemed like there was no way out… but there was.
Through coaching, Donna learned that clients have a certain DNA-like quality, and That can be replicated to not only grow her business but to grow it into something she loves rather than something she hates. She explains, “In a coaching session, I had to do this exercise that I felt was ridiculous, and I really thought it was destined to crash and burn. I had to call my top client and say: ‘I have a ridiculous request. Who would you have me meet who is like you?’ And the answer I got from my client was: ‘I’ll get you a list.’ All I had to do was ask!”
Sure enough, Donna’s great clients have been the path to generating similar great clients, the type of people with whom she truly enjoys working. The more she asks, the more she receives. The results have all been positive.
Donna is now able to be very engaged with her clients. The interactions with them are now relational rather than transactional. Donna now focuses on how she can serve them rather than on what she can sell them. Her clients know they are important to her. “I choose my clients now,” Donna says, “and that’s not taught in this industry. I now understand that I don’t have to take every client who walks through my door. I’m not Wal-Mart. A lot of advisers reach More Enjoyment burn-out and hit a wall. That’s when real frustration sets in, and I was reaching that point.”
After working with a coach for only eight months, today her life is 180-degrees different. Donna is enjoying the relationships with her clients rather than hating to walk through the office door. When she hosts events, she asks her clients to each bring a friend, and they do.
At a recent informational session that she offered, only 30 percent of the attendees were existing clients; the rest were friends of clients or referrals… good referrals and the type of people that match the DNA she wants in her clients.
Her reduced hours give her more time with her family, and they’ve noticed. There’s harmony at home again. “My daughter definitely noticed,” explains Donna. “She tells me, ‘You’re so happy, Mom and I see you more. Thank you for picking me up early. You never used to do that.’ Plus I have more time to spend with my husband.”
Donna hears the phrase “Aha, grasshopper, you are learning” from her coach quite a bit. It’s a sign of forward progress. So is her increasing income as well as her steadily increasing client service score, a score calculated based on positive feedback from her clients. It has risen in each of the eight months in which she has been working with her coach.
Good coaching respects the learning process. Having done her research, Donna knows there are coaches and programs that she would not recommend. Good coaching is more than production or time-management coaching. It helps open your eyes and expand your understanding of your life as a whole while honoring your own values. It builds on the foundation you’ve already created. A good coach understands your own DNA and helps you leverage that to pave the way to the life you want to live.
“All I had to do was ask! My coach gave me the courage (and effective language) I needed to get over the discomfort my mind created. It made all the difference” ~ Donna
