Your numbers do NOT tell the whole story about your business. Even an advisor with high AUM can have a business that is rotting from the inside. The only way to build a healthy, profitable, and valuable enterprise is to have ALL areas thriving.
Looking back over the last three decades, the industry has experienced dramatic change; looking forward, there is plenty more on the horizon. Are you ready for the next challenges in your business?
To stay competitive and on top of their game, financial professionals must change along with the constant evolution of the industry; high-performance teams are always seeking ways to be the best. Are you fully prepared for the following industry demands?
Some aspects of your business may be thriving, but others may be atrophying because you are only focused on the numbers. Top Producers know that the secret ingredient to their success is to not allow the chaos of daily life to hold them hostage to the reactive. They know how vital it is to step back from the daily grind of the business to work ON strategy and give oxygen to all parts of the business. As late November approaches, how much time has your team invested in analyzing 2016 results and determining a winning plan for 2017?
For years, we have talked about the importance of consistently ARTICULATING and DEMONSTRATING your service model. Whether you are an advisory team serving the investor client or a home office department serving advisory teams, articulating and demonstrating your value, your story, your service menu, and your deliverables remains THE most fundamental element of your business.
We have dedicated this newsletter to the highlights of the Annual FPA BE conference in Baltimore, Maryland including wisdom from key note speaker, Cal Ripken. As you read through these bullets, contemplate how each one relates to your team and practice. What actions can you take to drive improvement?
It has been too long since we focused our newsletter on the client service associate or sales assistant role. As many of you know, we spend much of our time helping advisors build high-performance teams, and the role of the CSA or SA is critical to the long-term success of advisory practices.
In an industry that is constantly changing, high-performance advisory practices are always looking ahead, planning, and making proactive decisions to guide their future path. Average advisory practices, on the other hand, find themselves simply reacting to the everyday chaos of life and running on that proverbial hamster wheel! In which camp do you reside?
The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) released a poll that they conducted this month asking the question, “How much do you trust the financial services industry to do what is in the best interest of its clients?” The results are not good for our industry.
Preparation for a client meeting typically involves an associate assembling a file with a number of inclusions and presenting it to the advisor in a reasonable time frame prior to the meeting. Often we find that advisors and associates spend a great deal of time going back and forth trying to decide what is needed for the meetings.
The last couple of months of tax season have probably been the usual time drain for you and your team members. Now, as tax season has become part of history for most, do you have a proactive plan for what to work on next? As you reflect on what has certainly been a challenging time for both advisors and clients, perhaps now is a good time to consider some critical components of your practice. Certainly we encourage you to get back to “FINDING” new business, but we also want to ensure that you are making time for “MINDING” or taking care of your business through proven practice management activities.