Tips From the Top

The road to success is taken one step at a time.

By Steven Drozdeck

While interviewing numerous producers who manage over $1 billion in assets for my books, we discovered that they have certain habits and attitudes that push them onward when everyone else is bemoaning a lack of business.

They are propelled forward by the way they’ve structured their businesses, their vision of the future, a strong belief in what they do and their commitment to current and future clients.

However, like other financial professionals, they have their ups and downs. Yet, there are some important differences between them and “average” advisors. Their productive times seem to last longer, and their down times are less severe. They are able to separate their daily issues from the immediate tasks at hand and know how to deal with the stresses of business. Here are some ideas that have worked for them.

A good alternative is to define your job as helping clients identify and achieve financial goals.

The 2 percent differential
Staying motivated and focused is a primary ingredient for success. Yet, it is easier said than done. Day-to-day hassles take their toll on all of us, but if you want to make it to the top, you cannot let anyone or anything get you down or slow you down.

Top producers don’t become top producers by accident. Even though they produce 16 times more than the average producers at their firms, they aren’t 16 times smarter, better looking, more deserving, more efficient or even more knowledgeable. Yet they consistently do certain things slightly better, and the cumulative effect is massive.

While motivation is one of the key ingredients for success, top producers also constantly refine their capabilities in the following areas:

• Communication skills. By increasing their proficiency in financial and psychological profiling, making persuasive presentations, knowing how to make people more comfortable with their confidence, listening carefully, etc., it becomes easier for them to do their jobs effectively with greater numbers of people.
• Practice management. By making their businesses more efficient through delegation, effective processes and use of technology, they have more time to do the things they do best—working with people, making things happen and being the rainmaker.
• Professional knowledge. By going beyond mere knowledge of features and benefits of various products and services, top producers learn strategies to more effectively deal with various markets and employ the approaches most suited to their personal, long-term vision of the future.

Why talk about communication skills, practice management and professional knowledge in an article on motivation? It stands to reason that people who have poor communication skills will have a harder time working with their prospects and clients. Similarly, inefficient business practices put more demands on your time, thereby increasing your stress level and decreasing your ability to deliver quality service, and failure to upgrade professional knowledge relegates your knowledge to that of a commodity.

Your vision of success
People with a clear vision tend to be more motivated and successful than those without goals. They know what they “want to do” and what they “have to do” and have created a game plan to attain their objectives.

A good definition of success is, “the progressive realization of predetermined, worthwhile, personal goals.” Note that progressive implies that success is something that we can attain on a daily basis. Too often advisors lose their motivation by identifying success with becoming a million-dollar producer, and until they reach that million, they don’t think of themselves as being successful. Going from $100,000 to $200,000 should also be valued as a success.

Realization means that we have attained certain benchmarks, such as opening at least one new account or getting five referrals. Hence, by meeting or exceeding your daily goals, you can feel proud and uplifted.

Predetermined means you’ve established what you wanted to achieve. It eliminates luck from the equation. And lastly, success is personal, based on what you deem important and the commitment you make to succeed.

While the top producers’ definition of success may vary, most have mission and value statements to keep them on track. They acknowledge their daily accomplishments, knowing that the road to success is taken one step at a time.

Your business philosophy
Answer the following question: Why are you in business? If you mentally identify yourself as being in sales and needing to generate commissions to meet your obligations, you will run a sales-oriented business and probably be under more stress. If your purpose is to make a sale and earn a commission, you’ve decided, maybe unconsciously, to get someone to buy. You then have to overcome objections and push, promote, etc. If the prospect says no, you’re out of a commission and have to try harder the next time. Toward the end of the day, your anxiety level will be higher, and your prospects will hear the desperation in your voice. The next day is the same, and the stress continues to build.

People with a clear vision tend to be more motivated and successful than those without goals.

A good alternative is to define your job as helping clients identify, set and achieve their financial goals. Think of yourself as a professional who can help clients who want to be helped. Realize that by helping them accomplish their goals, you will be compensated, both emotionally and financially. Instead of feeling stressed, you feel good about yourself and your job which, in turn, fuels your motivation. Your daily rewards are increased. Interestingly, most clients can tell the difference if you are concerned about the commission or if you truly care about them.

A second aspect of a business philosophy is the feeling of ownership and pride that comes from thinking of the business as belonging to you, rather than to your firm. What you’re creating and managing is an important component of your life and legacy. Realize that your clients deal with you because of the trust they have in you.

Dealing with challenges
Here are additional challenges most advisors face, with insights on how top producers deal with them:

1. Are you overworked—working too hard, too long or both? Symptoms include feeling burned out, procrastination, exhaustion and not caring. The solution is to decide where you want to be in five and 10 years, and possibly limiting yourself to an eight-hour day. You can teach yourself to work more efficiently through technology or by delegating to others.

Decide what is really important to you. You should be working to live rather than living to work—a distinction that helps maintain balance in your life. When balancing your life, take into consideration the following factors: social, mental, physical, spiritual, moral, etc. At the end of their lives people don’t wish they had worked harder; they often wish that they had contributed more to others and enjoyed themselves more. Remember this while you have a chance to make changes.

2. Overwhelmed with so many things that you can’t see the forest because of the trees? Trying to do everything yourself is overwhelming and will ensure inefficiency. Get a sales associate to help.

3. Juggling too many things is similar to being overwhelmed. It’s easy to drop one or more balls when you’re juggling. Delegate some responsibilities. Top producers know they cannot do it alone. Reduce the number of promises you make to a realistic level.

4. Ineffective business practices certainly contribute to inefficiency and stress. Employ technology to make your life as simple as possible. Yes, there is a learning curve and there are start-up costs, but the long-term results are worth it. Define and prioritize your responsibilities. Do the same with each member of your staff or team. This will help you stay focused and will prevent you from duplicating the efforts of others.

5. Boredom can become a major problem in flat markets. However, slow times are the best time to prospect because your competitors are not calling their clients. This is when clients feel unappreciated and are most willing to switch advisors. Flat and bear markets are a wonderful time to initiate and strengthen relationships.

6. Stress, whether caused by a sales mentality or any of the above, can be a major cause of illness. Stress can be reduced by leveraging your time and efforts more effectively, having good balance in all areas of your life, meditating and getting physical exercise. Asking yourself if you are winning can determine whether the stress you are experiencing is a help or hindrance. If you are winning, you are better able to mentally deal with day-to-day responsibilities. If you feel you are not winning, change your strategy.

7. Lack of accountability to yourself and to others. If you have a “My Business Inc.” attitude, then you hold yourself more accountable than if you think of yourself as an employee.

Ten things to do now

1. Answer the question: Where do I want to be 10 years from now? Create an ideal that you would like to move toward and incorporate each area of your life—physical, mental, spiritual, moral, family, social and professional—into your game plan. The goals in one area of your life can interact with other goals. If you dramatically change one, such as working extra hours, you can positively affect some areas and negatively affect others.

2. Develop a mission statement that incorporates your vision of the future. This helps define who you and your values are. It helps focus your attention, keeps you on the right track and assists in maintaining your motivation to succeed. It will help you refine your personal definition of success.

3. Develop or refine your value-added and unique value proposition statements. They help further define who you are and what you bring to the table in all areas of your life.

SEVEN STEPS TO SUCCESS Have a mission as well as a value statement. Polish your communication skills. Use technology to enhance business processes. Know what you “want” to do and what you “have” to do. Have procedures in place to ensure you can deliver what you promise. Think of yourself as a professional who can help clients who want to be helped. Work to live rather than live to work.

4. Analyze (or reanalyze) your business to determine which client relationships are worth pursuing and whether your current business model matches your long-term view. When analyzing clients, use a rigorous, objective and systematic process to take into account such variables as revenue generated, assets under management, activity within the account, service requirements, referral potential and enjoyment factors.

5. Identify the top-tier clients who represent the bulk of your business. Ask yourself these questions:

• Am I giving first-class clients first-class or coach service? If it’s coach service, expect some competitor to take those clients away. After all, your best clients are someone else’s best prospects.
• Is this type of business consistent with where I want to be in five or 10 years?

6. Identify the bottom-tier clients who may represent your loss leaders. Determine if you are possibly over-servicing them and spending your time, energy and expertise away from your ideal clients.

7. Identify your ideal clients and do a comprehensive study of their common characteristics. Go beyond a demographic study of age, occupation, club memberships, etc., to also include charitable or community interests, educational plans for the grandchildren, political affiliations, membership on boards, etc.

8. Have procedures in place to ensure that you are able to deliver the type of quality advice and service that you promise. Make sure that the value you add will actually be provided, even if changes occur within your current business structure, e.g., your assistant leaves.

9. Develop a marketing campaign to clone your ideal clients. Begin a systematic, measurable campaign to build your business, including getting referrals.

10. Reassess what you’ve accomplished and ask yourself the question again: Am I winning? If yes, then continue with what you’ve been doing. If no, discover what’s going wrong and modify your approach.

Steven Drozdeck has authored numerous books and courses, has trained over 60,000 financial professionals and offers speaking and coaching services. Visit his website at www.TheProgressCenter.com or call him at 435-753-8848.