I was on the phone earlier today with a gentleman who went into financial services after a 30-year career with a steel company. It was a very enlightening conversation. When he asked me what I do, I said, “I help financial advisors who have $100 to $750 million in assets make more money and have more fun!” He replied that was nice and then asked what could I do for the “ordinary” advisor? Sometimes I forget that I deal with the elite on a daily basis. But here’s something you elite financial advisors already know: you do ordinary things “extra.” There is no magic formula or special sauce that is going to make your practice pop other than being “extra” ordinary. A simple key to extraordinariness is: STRUCTURE.
The former steelworker was hungry for knowledge on how to run a financial practice, and I gave him a quick answer, but if you could boil all my experience in coaching to one phrase, it would be: “Structure sets you free.” And if you asked for another one, it would be: “You are the sun and whatever you shall shine upon shall grow!” The key: Create structures and shine upon them or, in advanced coaching terminology, surrender to your structure no matter what!
So, what do I mean by structure? Start with the simple and then slowly ratchet your way up to the complex. For example:
- What are your business hours for the public to have access to you and when do you actually work?
- What time does your business day start? From experience, the earlier the better.
- What time does your business day end? From experience, the earlier the better. (No, that was not a typo. You will be more effective if you compress time rather than expanding it.)
- What nights of the week are appointment nights?
- How many appointments do you need in a week to feel good about yourself?
- How many contacts do you need to have in a day to feel good about yourself?
- What is your vacation schedule?
- What is your weekly production goal? (Activity goals — appointments and contacts — are more important though.)
Now to the more complex:
- What is your structure for solidifying the two most important sales-generating aspects of your business: LIKABILITY and TRUST?
- What is your structure that guarantees you will perform at an optimal level each day?
- What is your structure for getting referrals or, in my language, INTRODUCTIONS?
- What are you doing to IDENTIFY, CULTIVATE, and REPLICATE the first class cabin of your business? The first class cabin is the minority of the people in your book who give you the majority of your AUM.
- What is your client service model?
- What is your circle of competence? And what are you doing to make sure you stay within it?
- Who is your ideal client beyond age and investable dollar amount?
- What are you doing on a regular basis to maintain consistency in your team?
- What is the purpose of your company off-site (i.e., strategic thinking time)?
- What are you doing weekly or at least monthly that gets you excited about your profession? (These are A activities for the most important person to your business — YOU!)
- What is the structure of your client quarterly meetings?
- What is your client on-boarding procedure?
- What is the measurable action that tells you when a suspect turns into a prospect?
The way “extra” ordinary advisors hit huge levels of production is by doing ordinary things extra. The ordinary things I am speaking about are structure. Structure will set you free. If you want to be in good shape, you must have a structure for exercise. If you want a great financial practice, you need the help of structure to set you free. By the way, your coach is also a great structure for you to accelerate your “extra” ordinariness!
