Archive for September, 2010

Whether you are a male or female financial advisor the one secret to growing your business is ACTIVITY.  Activity breads activity.  In my first year of production my manager told me, “Adri, I want you in front of 5 new people every week.”  He didn’t care HOW I did it he just wanted me having 5 new meetings every week.  My monthly goal became 20 new contacts each month.  To achieve this goal I utilized a variety of methods, a little networking, more cold calling but my primary source was seminars.  I knew if I had 2 events per month with just 10 new people at each event I would be in front of 20 new contacts per month.  I focused all my energies on reaching out, talking to, networking with new individuals, this in itself kept my activity level high, as a result the accounts were opened, assets came in and business was built.

As a financial advisor you can always find a million things to do that prevent you from getting on the phones.  There will always be a reason why you can’t reach out to a new prospect or new contact but the reality is if you don’t you will not succeed.  Recently I have been working with a client who has made great strides at getting his business more organized so that he has the time for more contacts yet he continued to provide me with reason why he didn’t have time to pick up the phones and make the calls.  I finally asked this advisor how much he wanted to be a financial advisor because if he didn’t start creating more activity he would not succeed. 

Since that heart to heart conversation he has begun the process of making more contacts, he now provides me with weekly progress updates focused on the calling activity.  While he was hesitant to get on the phone for fear of rejection he is now experiencing more positive conversations than ever expected.  With each week of calls his confidence is increasing fueling his desire to continue down this path creating more consistency and routine.  His pipeline is building, new opportunities are slowly presenting themselves but more importantly he leaves the office each week knowing he is doing what is necessary to succeed.  All of this creates more positive energy to every conversation, attracting more interest and opening more doors. 

If you are struggling to grow your business or move your business to the next level ask yourself how much activity are you creating?  How many new contacts are you getting in front of on a weekly or monthly basis?  How consistent are you each day or each week with your calling?  There is no doubt that the one secret to success for every financial advisor is ACTIVITY.  It’s time to make it happen.

What makes Female Financial Advisors different is that they can Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk. As women we have a natural talent (Diffused Awareness) that allows us to capture everything going on around us.  As a result we can often relate to anyone or any client.  Whether we have experienced their particular challenges or not our sense of compassion and understanding allows us to connect with most everyone we meet. It is this set of natural characteristics that set us apart as Financial Advisors.  Unfortunately many female financial advisors have lost sight of this quality in order to approach the business in the more traditional acceptable manner.

As I coach many female advisors the first step is to help them rediscover those qualities that make them unique. We spend a great deal of time looking within to find what it is that truly drives you, motivates you but more importantly inspires you. It is when we are inspired, driven by a purpose beyond the paycheck that our value shines through. It is this same energy that attracts clients like a magnet.  When a female advisor is clear as to her purpose, recognizes her value and can articulate this to a prospective client the need to sell goes out the window.  When you truly have conviction in what you do and the value you can provide to a client, this alone sells itself.

In my coaching practice I could provide some systematic process that is all about activity, activity and activity but this success will be short lived. In fact when a business is built in this manner with no concern as to the true mission of the advisor clients become just customers with little loyalty and easily recruited away.  In today’s world where trust has become a rarity creating a compelling message that comes from your heart and soul can be that one beacon in the sea of financial services guiding clients to your practice.

Most female financial advisors consider “selling” a form of coercion, they consider prospecting as a way to force people to consider something they may or may not need and the thought of “closing” is no less than pure manipulation.  At least that is what the female advisors shared with me on my last night’s conference call.  “Selling” “Prospecting” and “Closing” are words and actions generated by men for men.  For many female advisors incorporating those same activities in their business can create tremendous internal conflict preventing success.

There are 3 simple changes you need to make in order to incorporate a more feminine approach to building a business.  These three simple steps will eliminate the conflicting feelings, enhance your natural strengths as a woman allowing you to leverage the skill sets you already have and know.  But more importantly by making these 3 simple changes your confidence will soar, you will have less call reluctance and you will become so much more effective in helping others while growing your business faster with less effort. 

The solution is simple; eliminate the words prospecting, selling and closing from your vocabulary and replace them with Relationship Building, Inspiring and Motivating.  When you can change your perception of these activities and approach the business with these new terms you will find the response from the clients becomes more receptive and trusting. 

Three shifts you need to make:

1.       Building Relationship:  Think about how you build new relationship or deepen relationships with those you already know.  In most cases we take these skill sets for granted, but in order to incorporate them into your business you must become very aware of what it is that you are actually doing.  In most cases a relationship develops when there is a connection; a connection comes from something in common.  Perhaps you have shared the same experience, job, status in life even opinions and attitudes.  This connection comes first. From there we begin to develop trust by sharing personal thoughts and experiences, this sharing must become reciprocal allowing each party to feel more and more comfortable building trust along the way.  Take this same process and now apply it to your business.

2.       Inspiring: We have all done it, when you experience something perhaps a new store, you learn about a new computer or device that adds value, whatever it is when you are excited about something (as you should be about the value you provide as a financial advisor) you want to share it with others so that they are inspired to try it out?  As in most situations regardless as to whether it is personal or business to be inspired there must usually be a need.  In some cases the need can be inspired.  I may not realize I have a problem or life could be easier until you share your personal experience and the value and benefits you received from this new gadget or service. Just yesterday I voluntarily shared with my friend that I just bought a net book, I told her how much I loved it as I thought she should consider as well.  By the end of the call my friend was “inspired” to learn more.  That is exactly what we are trying to do as we build relationships with new people, inspire them to want to learn more about what you do.

3.       Motivating:  Once I know there is a need, once I hear that my friend wants to lose weight or perhaps she realizes she too hates lugging around a big old laptop and should consider a net book, then I will try and motivate my friend  to take the next step.  With my friend and the net book, we began talking about brands; in my process of explaining I was automatically guiding her to the brands that I felt were the best, motivating her even further to buy a net book and to buy the same net book that I bought.  Financial Services is no different, once you know a client has a need and has express an interest in the value you provide your job is to motivate them to take action with you?

Female Financial Advisors continue to make sacrifices in order to succeed, sacrifices that are no longer necessary in order to build a thriving financial services practice.  Just today I was coaching a young woman who has built a great practice as an independent financial advisor.  She recently brought in a new female partner and she is beginning to recognize all that she has tolerated and suffered through for so many years.  Her philosophy and approach to the business is very different than her male counterparts thus every group decision becomes a battle or a conflict of principles.  With her new partner she is having more fun, feeling more confident, more energize and her vision of the future is changing. 

By creating her team of women, her new partner and her sales assistant she is creating the environment that is more conducive to her needs as a woman.  As she stated on the call “For years I have felt like this lone wolf doing everything by myself.”  Relying on your company or branch environment to provide what you need to build a thriving practice can limit what you can accomplish.  When a female advisor is able to create the environment that nurtures her soul success becomes unlimited.  The question then becomes how far do you want to go, both financially and with your message?

What is interesting is that women automatically are different and yet they are constantly trying to blend in losing their uniqueness.  This loss of identity can play a toll on your life, you begin sacrificing things that are important to you just to gain the approval of your peers.  You sacrifice your principles in order to apply the sales methods taught because that is all you know.  Women often sacrifice their integrity as they deny themselves the opportunity to be themselves for fear that their authentic self will upset the apple cart.  By adapting to the current environment you are denying yourself the success you deserve with fewer sacrifices.   

Perhaps years ago this was the only way women could succeed but not today.  If you feel that you are sacrificing important aspects of your life think again.  If you find yourself performing activities that make you feel less that great inside then it’s time for a change.  If you are tired of hiding who you are as a woman then it’s time to break the mold and begin to shout from the roof tops.  You are truly valuable as a woman and even more valuable as a female financial advisor, it’s time you recognized this value and begin to share it with the world. 

Even men are starting to embrace the new feminine approach to building a financial practice.  I started working with two new male financial advisors this week.  In both cases I shared with them the importance of embracing the feminine way of doing business.  They loved it.  Men are changing and evolving the problem is the industry continues to promote the “old fashioned” way of doing business.  As female advisors you have a responsibility to yourself as well as to the industry to begin recognizing and leveraging your feminine traits in order to influence the industry perception and training.

In both of my coaching sessions my first objective was to uncover who they really are.  They both had tremendous experience and backgrounds but it was clear they lacked confidence in their true value as a financial advisor.  Like most of the women I work with their desire to add value, commitment to doing what is right for the client clearly conflicted with the traditional methods they learned to grow their business.  All I had to do was release them from these methods and they both breathed a sigh of relief.  Each of them had their own unique knowledge and life experiences which they had yet to tap into. As we move forward in the coaching process these same experiences will become the root of their business model.  

There are so many fabulous financial advisors out there, both female and male advisors who truly have a desire to provide value, who are driven by a purpose with a paycheck as the bonus for doing what they love.  Unfortunately the industry has unintentionally misguided them forcing them to adapt to typical industry methods that actually prevent them from succeeding.  As an Advisor you must question every aspect of the business, evaluate every idea and method to determine does this strategy allow me to truly leverage my strengths as a person.  When you build a practice based on who you are inside you build a practice that becomes effortless.