Archive for July, 2010

Even successful women can fall into a rut. You may find yourself constantly striving to succeed but never quite feeling satisfied.  The focus is always on a goal but the bar continues to change.  You find yourself at a place where you are stuck, you can’t seem to get beyond a certain point no matter what you try. This stagnation can cause you to feel less than satisfied affecting both your business and personal life.  The solution is not what you think.

Almost a year ago I reached that point in my business and personal life, I just wasn’t progressing.  This lack of progress was making me irritable and cranky, I didn’t really like me.   In my attempt to change I went back to the same methods that had always worked in the past.  I would make a list and work hard and diligently to accomplish everything on my list. But things continued to fall back to a place that did not feel good emotionally, physically or monetarily.  I was definitely STUCK and realized I needed help.

Today things are different, I am more at peace, my business is more profitable I love life and feel great.  I hired a coach, spent time journaliing, read many books and committed to making a change.  The law of attraction is alive and well.  It wasn’t an easy journey but well worth the effort. 

I would love to hear how others have pulled themselves out of rut and turned things around???

This afternoon I had a conversation with Stephanie Sammons a social media expert with Wired Advisor.  Her practice specializes in helping financial advisors better leverage social media as a powerful prospecting tool.  In our conversation she spoke about the importance of being authentic and the impact a personal approach can have on the effectiveness of your social media sites.  Stephanie and I share a similar challenge, trying to educate financial advisors as to the importance of making their message personal. 

 As financial advisors we have been so well trained to be professional using a vocabulary that many clients and investors don’t even understand. We ask personal questions with every expectation that they will be answered yet we share little about ourselves.  We create a very professional environment that creates a more business, detached feeling within the prospective client rather than a warm personal climate.  If trust is what we are after we are certainly going about it the wrong way. 

 What is it that prevents financial advisors from becoming personal with their practice?

In the early years of my career in financial services, I worked as an assisitant to several high-producing advisors. As it turned out, most of them were shady characters.

• The Shearson broker cared more about generating commissions that serving the client.
• Grant asked me to lie to a client about profits and commissions.
• A branch manager habitually overlooked ethics violations.
• Leo at Paine Webber lost a billion-dollar institutional account and struggled under his questionable decisions.

These ethically challenged “professionals” were powerful mentors to me. Having seen the ethical challenges of the industry up close, I was determined to do things differently. When I became an advisor, I knew that my success depended on my ability build the business my way.

In the course of my career, I discovered that when women trust their instincts and take a bold, honest, authentic approach to their business, they gain the confidence to shed the ill-fitting, masculine way of doing business and discover an easier, more effective way to serve clients.

After years as an advisor, I was finally able to define the steps that helped me beat the odds and made me so successful. By assembling these steps into a process that others can learn and leverage, I have coached hundreds of female advisors in applying their natural feminine strengths to their work as financial advisors – and they achieve record levels of production, time and time again.

These ideas (and so many more!) are currently being assembled into a book. Yes, it’s true – I am writing another book. If you have any suggestions or questions that you’d like to see discussed, please reach out and let me know!

All the training and research tells us our clients are more than willing to give referrals, but they don’t.  Okay, some do but it is usually just a handful in your book of business that voluntarily provides you with referrals.  So what is it?  What prevents your clients from recommending you to their friends, colleagues, and associates?  They know hundreds of people many of whom could benefit from your help yet they send no one.   All the training tells you “ just ask” so you ask and where does it get you?  You are taught all the different ways to ask and ideal times to ask. I’m surprised you haven’t tried asking through sign language!  Yet few advisors ever receive the number of referrals they deserve and want.

The thing is, generating referrals is not just about asking.  Generating a solid flow of referrals starts with a solid marketing plan and clear message.  I cannot stress this enough. Very few financial advisors are able to describe themselves in a way that really defines what they do and who they do it for!  If you have trouble describing what you do how is your client going to describe what you do?  This is the real problem; lack of referrals is just the symptom.

To generate referrals you must have a compelling message that is repeatable and easy to remember.  To create your compelling message you must start by uncovering who you are as an advisor, what’s important to you, what you believe and most importantly who you really like to work with.  This isn’t something you will find out of a book because it must come from you.  Being able to articulate who you are, what you do and who you do it for must come from a single source, you.  Every once in a while I have a financial advisor client ask me to give him/her samples of compelling messages creating a multiple choice selection process. I won’t do it, even at the risk of losing a client.  Selecting a compelling message from external sources is a waste of time and energy.  Clearly defining your target market, clarifying your message and solidifying your value are all critical components necessary in order to increase referrals.  Consider the following questions:

•   Do your friends, clients and associates know exactly the type of client you are looking for?
•  When describing what you do does it clearly define your target market and value you provide?
•  Do all of your centers of influence know your area of specialty and expertise?

 If you answered no to any of the above questions you will continue to struggle getting referrals.  Stop trying to treat the symptoms, and start to focus on the root of the problem. It’s time to develop your compelling message.