Archive for the ‘Insurance Agents’ Category

What is it about women that make us so masochistic, especially female financial advisors and other successful business women?  I woke up this morning really dragging, I felt it yesterday but just kept on going, and here it is today and I’m still feeling it.  The worst part was I wasn’t listening to my own advice.

I can’t tell you how often I am coaching female advisors about the importance of slowing down, and practicing self care. Most of these women (I include myself in this crowd) think slowing down is going to Hot Yoga (not exactly relaxing) or getting a pedicure while talking on the phone (not exactly the down time I was thinking about).  That’s not slowing down that’s just trying to fool our bodies in thinking we are rejuvenating.

The reality is some day’s life just catches up to you.  You know those days when you are just dragging, can’t find that boost of adrenaline that usually props you up all day.  You think “Why am I so tired, there must be a reason?” You reflect back on the past few days and because you can’t find a logical reason why you are tired you figure you will just work through until you start to feel better.

I did the same thing today until I had a BIG conversation with myself.  While I kept thinking about things I needed to do, wanted to get done my other brain the one that speaks from my soul said “Adri, your tired, stop doing and rest.” So for once I actually listened, I finished what I was doing and crawled back into bed in the MIDDLE of the day.

Later after resting I headed off to the movie theatre to watch a movie my husband would never want to see and eat a big bucket of popcorn that my husband would insist on sharing.  In fact after the movie in fact after the movie I went to one of our favorite restaurants and had a glass of wine all by myself, why?  Because I can.

Do something totally out of character this week, treat your self and let me know what you did, I’d LOVE to hear about it. Leave a comment below to share!

How easy it is to allow what feels good get in the way of what IS good. This tends to be particularly challenging for female financial advisors as we always have a hundred things to do on our list. How many times have you looked at your calendar, you know you need to make some follow up calls but you decide to clear some small nagging problems first. Next thing you know the day is over, you never made those calls and you leave feeling less than satisfied. I know because this happened to me. Since that day I learned that If you truly want to be successful, I mean really successful you MUST learn to overcome these distractions

One day I was headed to the Library for a Focus Friday. This is a day where I pack up my laptop and head to the library for some intensive marketing and business planning work. It was about 9:00 am I had already worked out and set the stage for a very productive day but then the gremlins hit me. On my route to the library I thought about those few errands I needed to run, the grocery, laundry maybe even a quick trip to Marshals (just to make sure I didn’t miss out on something new). The thought of completing those few simple errands made me feel good and I could already feel my mind justifying why I should do those “To do” items first, I could always go to the library AFTER.
Then my success brain kicked in, it was like there was a full on conversation going on in my head. The success brain said “No Adri, stick with the program and do what you need to do first, want to do second” I was so tempted to take that left into Starbucks instead of that right into the Library, the voices in my head were going back and forth until I finally made that Right Turn and denied myself those “feel good” errands and went directly to the Library.

Once settled into the library while getting started created some discomfort before I knew it it was noon and I headed across the street to get some lunch. I didn’t head home nor did I go do those errands why? I was on a role and wanted to go straight back to the library to complete a few more hours of productive work. When I finally left the library I thought about doing those errands and decided they could wait for another day. I was feeling too good; way to pleased with my day to cloud it up with annoying errands (even going to Marshals didn’t interest me).
This is the kind of good feeling that comes from following your schedule, doing what is truly important and not letting those FEEL GOOD items distract you from your focus. This is the behavior that determines Success.

My client is Tweeting!! She is in a pilot program with her firm and they are testing the use of Twitter. My client is the only female advisor in the group and fell into the same old trap; trying to compete with the men on their turf.

My client was posting the same old tweets about the same old research reports voluntarily adding herself to the HUGE basin of traditional financial advisors. While being female automatically makes her different she is even more unique in her views and how she approaches her clients. So why was she diminishing her uniqueness because THAT is where the value of social media kicks in.

My client’s tweets will now be focused on the female investor. All of her tweets will be engaging and compelling statements that would attract and be of interest to women. While this is not her total market this has become her most productive niche when it comes to marketing. After doing some simple Google searche she immediately recognized that within this arena there was very little competition, an “Ah Ha” moment.

By limiting her tweets to one specific market not only does the task of finding articles and comments to tweet become more manageable but it also becomes more effective and productive. NOW she is truly leveraging her unique strengths as a woman to accomplish more as a financial advisor.

As an advisor who is looking to use social media as a way to gain more leads and exposure you have a decision to make:

Do I want to throw myself into the same pool as all the traditional advisors and hope that something I say is different and stands out? Or

Do I want to focus all of my marketing efforts on a unique niche allowing myself to dominate that arena and become known as the expert in that field.

It’s your call but I know what I would do……………

Over the past two weeks I watched my daughter calling on old leads. This is her first experience prospecting after recently acquiring her insurance license. To start out other agents give her all their old leads, those that they could never reach or lacked interest in their services. While to others these leads seemed dead to her they were a goldmine of opportunity. A lead is NEVER dead.

Every lead or prospect you have had should never leave your database. What a prospect doesn’t need or want today can quickly change in our ever changing lives. While you shouldn’t keep them on your “hot prospect” list they should be receiving your emails and market updates until circumstances change creating the need for your products or services, NOW IS THAT TIME.

In most situations we must wait until something changes in the lives of the prospect in order to create the need or sense of urgency to move the relationship forward but that is NOT always the case. Today’s environment has created that change for you. While most investors were content with the status quo today the unrest in the markets has unearthed fears and concerns that need attention. A call from you RIGHT NOW may never be more timely and productive.

While many clients may not be thrilled with their advisor their discontent is not strong enough to provoke change which seems more daunting than their current situation; but when the market environment makes the “status quo” more painful the need for change increases outweighing that original resistance. This is your time, and your chance to create that change.

Make the calls today you may not get this opportunity again for many years to come (at least let’s hope not).

There is nothing more fun than watching a group of financial advisors take experiences from life and craft them into a compelling story. That’s exactly what happened this past week during my Keys to the Ladies Room presentation.

In order to connect with the female audience you must be ready to answer the question “Why do you care about me?” Most women will assume that the only reason you want her to become your client is so that you can generate more commissions. Obviously that is a component to what we do but that does not have to be the complete truth nor the primary motivator.

If you plan to enhance your relationship with existing female clients and or want to attract more female clients you must share your story that shows why you care about women. In today’s presentation we had so many fabulous stories;

• Pat had a Mother who at 36 buried her husband and delivered her 6th child all on the same day.
• Sean visited his Grandmother he loved and saw her spend her remaining years in a state run facility only to find out that with some advance planning she could have lived her remaining years in comfort and dignity.
• Lisa shared her own experience going through a divorce. As a result her desire to become more financially confident resulted in her becoming an advisor and helping other women manage life transitions.
• Carmen lost her husband at a young age and with no investment experience or financial advise she blew the insurance money on furniture, today it would have been worth $2,000,000.

As each advisor shared their story they learned how to remove all of the unnecessary information, creating a more streamlined message that made a powerful impact.

By the end of the day each advisor had an opportunity to share their final story and what we heard was amazing. The transformation in just a few hours was almost unbelievable.

They all did a fabulous job articulating why they are passionate and sincerely interested in working with the female client, now they just have to use it.