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"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." -- Michael Jordan  The complexities and challenges of operating a Financial Advisory practice for retail investors should not be understated. They include:
It’s simple to define but much more complex to manage all these variables. Therefore, if we can identify ways to simplify some of the individual tasks of operating a Financial Advisory practice, we must jump on it. The successful advisory practice has three essential elements:
Develop potential investors through LinkedIn. According to Business of Apps, “LinkedIn is the world’s preeminent social network for professionals. Members create online résumés, listing their current and previous job roles, their skills, and their education.” Of its 660 million+ in over 200 countries (11/19), the United States is the biggest market with 165 million users, 90 million who were senior-level influencers, and 63 million who were in decision-making positions (2019). “If you’re looking to rub shoulders with the cream of the business world, LinkedIn is the place to do it – online at least. Executives from every Fortune 500 company use the social network, LinkedIn claims. There are even claims that four out of 10 millionaires use LinkedIn.”[1] In addition, there are 3 million United States jobs posted every month, 9 billion content impressions take place on LinkedIn weekly, 280 billion feed updates viewed annually, and 130,000 articles are published on LinkedIn weekly. If you want a list of quality prospects, LinkedIn can provide:
All you have to do is to boil information down to wisdom and possibilities using a structured process. The power of LinkedIn for advisors lies in the connections of your connections (your second-degree connections). Use LinkedIn as a prospecting tool to get to know more people. The more first-degree connections you have, the more second-degree connections you will likely have in your network. Six quick tips to prospecting on LinkedIn from experience:
Here’s a simple process to follow for productive prospecting:
LinkedIn is a powerful and productive platform to market and sell your services. David I. Leo, Using LinkedIn for Client Acquisition Snippet 16 David Leo is Founder of Street Smart Research Group LLC. He is an author, speaker, coach, consultant, and trainer to financial professionals. David is an experienced business manager who works solely with Financial Advisors, Planners and firms who want to organize, structure & grow their businesses by attracting, servicing, and retaining affluent clients. If you have questions or would like assistance in personalizing and implementing approaches from The Financial Advisor’s Success Manual, schedule a free 45 Minute Strategy Session at https://calendly.com/davidileo or contact me at [email protected] or visit my website at www.CoachDavidLeo.com My book is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Advisors-Success-Manual-Structure/dp/0814439136. [1] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/linkedin-statistics/ “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou  Acquiring introductions from clients is best done in person and after getting positive client feedback. Include this as part of your client face-to-face planning and review meetings using an approach I call “aided recall”. It can also be of great value to meet in the client’s environment. Harvey Mackay is quoted as saying, “The most important reading you can do is on the walls of your client’s office or home.” For your very best clients, think about client home visits which can be convenient for spouses and older clients.
Best Practices For Acquiring Introductions If you have effectively implemented the “Six Core Client Facing Process,” and are delivering the outcomes that client’s value, then you are in a solid position to seek introductions from clients. More importantly, your client must:
Seek Feedback From Current Clients The best time to get introductions come after your client has experienced the value you deliver and the positive outcomes they achieved which can be part of your annual or semi-annual review meeting. Every review meeting needs a formal written agenda and includes a set of feedback questions such as:
Seek Introductions Using Aided Recall Assuming you receive positive feedback, you can move into the introduction process using the principle of “aided recall.” “Aided recall” means prompting your clients by inducing an association of ideas (or people) to help them recall other individuals who are the same or like them. It narrows the question, so people’s names and faces easily come to mind. For example, an employee of Exxon should more easily be able to identify others they know who are also employees of Exxon. Saying, “George, I enjoy working with you and am pleased you see so much value in our work together. Perhaps there are other Exxon Petroleum Engineers that could also benefit from the work we’ve done together.” After a pause, you can add, “Would you be willing to introduce me to them?” Knowing your clients, who they work for, what they do, what their interest and hobbies are, who they are related to, to what organizations they belong, etc. will help you in seeking introductions as you can be more specific. I have had clients that built family trees of their clients to identify potential prospects! Focus Introductions Around Life Changes That You Best Serve One example of where you might focus can be regarding life changes that create “money in motion” opportunities. There are at least four basic money in motion categories:
These are situations you can discuss with your clients. Some examples include:
David I. Leo, Client Acquisition Through Introductions Snippet 15 David Leo is Founder of Street Smart Research Group LLC. He is an author, speaker, coach, consultant, and trainer to financial professionals. David is an experienced business manager who works solely with Financial Advisors, Planners and firms who want to organize, structure & grow their businesses by attracting, servicing, and retaining affluent clients. If you have questions or would like assistance in personalizing and implementing approaches from The Financial Advisor’s Success Manual, schedule a free 45 Minute Strategy Session at https://calendly.com/davidileo or contact me at [email protected] or visit my website at www.CoachDavidLeo.com My book is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Advisors-Success-Manual-Structure/dp/0814439136. “Plan your execution. Execute your plan.” Anonymous  Business Development entails both marketing AND sales.
Marketing is about getting a potential client to know who you are, in part by building a brand. A potential client may get to “know” you through email content marketing, social media, advertising, writing, or public educational events. The intent of marketing is to begin to get people to know, like, and trust you. At some point you have hopefully “earned the right” to move towards a business relationship and seek an initial business meeting. A “suspect” is a potentially qualified client based on buying authority, financial capacity, and willingness to buy. If that “suspect” is willing to meet with you, or has met with you, and is qualified, you now have what we define as a “prospect” and you can move to the sales process. The sales process begins with establishing a rapport to develop your relationship and moves into a “discovery” meeting. There are at least 20 business development approaches that can be used by financial advisors to acquire new clients and their assets. However, there are only a few key approaches that experience, and data show need to be part of your client acquisition strategy. Introduction to Business Development The objective for business development is not growing the number of clients but growing your number of profitable clients. You need to balance the cost of the services to be delivered in support of client retention and loyalty with the value of the client to the business. How do financial advisors acquire those profitable clients? Most advisors see this as one of their top challenges. Every advisor seems to have said, “If I can get them into my office, I can close them.” Business Development is about how you can get potential clients into your office. Start by segmenting your clients with your 80/20 analysis, then ask, “How do you create another 10 of the top ~20% of your clients that provide ~80% of your revenue and profitability?” Look at replicating your top tier clients. As you acquire more “top” clients, eventually growth will hit a critical mass and then start building on itself. Malcolm Gladwell refers to this as a “tipping point” - which is like a snowball rolling downhill to build momentum. A solid client base and “top client” growth can eventually hit a “tipping point,” so it’s important that the growth momentum has you focus on that top part of your book; the clients you want to replicate. In part, you are creating your “ideal client” profile. What can you do to acquire a new number-one client every year? Also ask:
Grow your business by starting with your top tier - the clients who highly value you and your services and fully accept your business model (including your fee structure!). David I. Leo, Business Development Overview Snippet 14 David Leo is Founder of Street Smart Research Group LLC. He is an author, speaker, coach, consultant, and trainer to financial professionals. David is an experienced business manager who works solely with Financial Advisors, Planners and firms who want to organize, structure & grow their businesses by attracting, servicing, and retaining affluent clients. If you have questions or would like assistance in personalizing and implementing approaches from The Financial Advisor’s Success Manual, schedule a free 45 Minute Strategy Session at https://calendly.com/davidileo or contact me at [email protected] or visit my website at www.CoachDavidLeo.com My book is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Advisors-Success-Manual-Structure/dp/0814439136. “Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it. —H. James Harrington  The right actions lead to the right results. The Daily Game Plan consists of metrics against which to measure your daily or weekly actions and results, and has four elements:
The Quantitative Approach William Penn said, “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” How do we spend our limited time wisely? Too many of us do not plan how to use our time well in advance of the spending of it. This can result in a feeling of uncertainty about your productivity. Too many people seem to walk out of their offices at night, looking back at their day and wondering “what happened?” A way to avoid that is to have an action plan and stick to it throughout the day. In fact, successful advisors start each day with an excellent daily game plan and a set of daily outcomes. We need to come to the office every day with clarity about what we want to accomplish. This is possible when you have a Daily-Weekly Game Plan as a cornerstone. Your Daily/Weekly Game Plan A successful Daily-Weekly Game Plan needs specifics to make it work for you. The plan should address:
If needed, you can keep a daily time log to determine the amount of time you spend on each major task you work on during the day. The most challenging part of your plan is just doing it, every day, consistently and you will never say again, “I wonder what I did today?” The Qualitative Approach: Develop a mindset for success Advisors can develop an appropriate “mindset” for success with:
Start your day with focus and energy using Jesse Lyn Stoner’s three questions:
Your day will take on greater meaning and will end on a better note if you take a few moments at the end of each day to answer these questions:
The Six Most Important Things The day is won or lost in the first hour! Make it a habit to do the most productive thing you can at every given moment. To do this, at the end of each day, write down the six most important things you must do the next day, in order of priority, and then follow your list in order. Note what else you work on, including nonwork-related items. Your goal with metrics is to create actions and then convert actions to results. David I. Leo, Your Metrics – Daily Game Plan Snippet 13 David Leo is Founder of Street Smart Research Group LLC. He is an author, speaker, coach, consultant, and trainer to financial professionals. David is an experienced business manager who works solely with Financial Advisors, Planners and firms who want to organize, structure & grow their businesses by attracting, servicing, and retaining affluent clients. If you have questions or would like assistance in personalizing and implementing approaches from The Financial Advisor’s Success Manual, schedule a free 45 Minute Strategy Session at https://calendly.com/davidileo or contact me at [email protected] or visit my website at www.CoachDavidLeo.com My book is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Advisors-Success-Manual-Structure/dp/0814439136 “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” —Alan Lakein “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else. —Yogi Berra  Your business plan defines where you want to go and how to get there. You can use the plan to monitor your progress, hold yourself accountable, and control your business’s fate. A written business plan forces you to review everything at once: your value proposition, marketing assumptions and plans, operations plan, financial plan, and staffing plan. A well-executed plan can deliver the results you promise yourself. Developing a business plan is an imperative!
Structure Your Wealth Management Team The structuring of a wealth management team and business presents both challenges and opportunities. A well-run team will be:
Turn Your Team From Managed Chaos to Calm and Effective By studying many teams’ practices over the years, they fall into one of two categories: managed chaos or calm. With managed chaos, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. These teams have lots of meetings and lots of administrative work, the team leader is frequently traveling or in new client meetings, there is little scale in asset management, there is lots of trading and customization, and the feeling one gets is just overload. When a team is calm, tasks and meetings are done much more deliberately because they are planned, efficient, and effective. These teams make time for strategizing, the quality of work is high, they have a proactive service model, clients are engaged, and each team member has a defined role. What does your practice look like? Is it managed chaos or calm and effective? Calmer teams are able to manage their time more effectively and efficiently because of 5 key factors. They have:
Controlling the key variables of their desired target market(s), the number of clients, and their service commitments are critical. These teams do not have too many clients, they do not need to be over-reactive, disrupting their plans, and they don’t try to be all things to all clients. Healthy business growth expectations begin with the business planning process. A planned and well-run practice should be growing at 15 percent per year as measured by new clients, new assets, and new revenue. A normal practice will leak about 5 percent per year, with clients and assets leaving, so bringing in 15 percent per year of new business will help ensure that your practice is growing at 10 percent net per year. Using the rule of 72, the business should then double in size in seven years, assuming flat capital market returns. To achieve this level of growth a practice should have 20 percent of manpower focused on growth. Naturally, you can establish a higher growth goal for your business, which will impact your plans and your resource requirements. Reach Your Goals With A Simplified Business Plan A business plan is a tool for understanding how your business is put together and how to take it from where it currently is to where you want it to be in the next X years and how you plan to accomplish that. If you Google “business plan,” you will get tens of millions of hits. A base business marketing and sales plan should include the following sections:
There is no question that without a plan for your business the odds are high that you will wind up somewhere, but it’s less likely that it will be where you had hoped! David I. Leo, Your Business Plan Snippet 12 David Leo is Founder of Street Smart Research Group LLC. He is an author, speaker, coach, consultant, and trainer to financial professionals. David is an experienced business manager who works solely with Financial Advisors, Planners and firms who want to organize, structure & grow their businesses by attracting, servicing, and retaining affluent clients. If you have questions or would like assistance in personalizing and implementing approaches from The Financial Advisor’s Success Manual, schedule a free 45 Minute Strategy Session at https://calendly.com/davidileo or contact me at [email protected] or visit my website at www.CoachDavidLeo.com My book is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Advisors-Success-Manual-Structure/dp/0814439136 |
