Performance Insights

Please enjoy our blog post from the Journal of Financial Planning – The Essential Ingredient to Success: The Team Communication Plan. We are honored to be selected as thought leaders in Team Development for the new Financial Planning Association Coaches Corner. The FPA Coaches Corner, a one-stop shop for content, tools, and insights from some of the most recognized business coaches in the profession, will provide association members with a vast library of business-building content in core practice management areas. We continue our commitment to help more financial professionals reap the rewards of ROP…Return on People. It is your people who make or break the success of your business.

Last week, Pew Research determined the definition of the Millennial Generation to be those born between 1981 and 1996, and those born after this time to be, for now, defined as the Post-Millennial Generation. During recent years, our clients have asked us to work with their offspring to help these generations better understand their place in the world.

You feel the need to keep chasing new prospects – it has always worked in the past. However, the hidden secret to new revenue lies in gaining the greatest wallet share of your existing clients. The true answer to accomplishing this lies in service. The extra benefit of focusing on the Ultimate Client Experience is that your clients will do your marketing for you.

A warm body in the seat or even an excellent, dedicated employee is NOT all that you need. You need specific people to fill each distinct role in your organization to achieve its goals. You need a FINDER, GRINDER, and MINDER, or you must have the resources available to you to cover these three vital business responsibilities. With this winning formula, you can realize any size of business that you envision.

You probably think that top producers do things in a radically different way than the average advisor. But in fact, there are a few (surprisingly easy) activities that you can adopt and use to propel you to the next level of results.

Even if they are well paid, employees will NOT deliver high performance unless you give them more. Specifically, you need to help them see that their work is meaningful and valuable. When times get tough in this industry (and we all know what those days feel like), we have to be mindful of the impact on our team members.

After 20+ years in the industry, we have concluded that Advisors are attracted to the chaos and reactivity of this industry. They have the thrill of the unknown and will get bored easily if the road is too smooth.

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.