Having success in business is much like succeeding at dieting. We are all aware of the core disciplines that lead to weight loss. However, just as when we embrace a diet plan, too often we become distracted by the promise of finding quick success through other means. The truth is that discipline is the cornerstone of success; we must simply eat less and exercise more. Nevertheless, we are often more attracted to the new and "secret" diet than weight loss discipline.
The same is true in business. Most advisors know what they need to do to be successful, yet struggle to implement those activities effectively. If you incorporate the three core disciplines listed below, you may make 2010 the best year of your career:
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Business planning. You are a financial planner. You spend significant time writing complex financial plans for your clients. But like most advisors, you fail to draft one for your own eventual retirement. Unfortunately, too many financial professionals do not focus on how to properly run their businesses like a business. Learn to be a disciplined goal-setter. Write a business plan that describes how you will accomplish your goals and then track the metrics. What gets measured gets done.
Wealth management. A key driver for any financial services business is simply having more assets under management. Studies conducted by the Cannon Financial Institute show that advisors who offer comprehensive wealth management solutions have more assets, retain clients for a longer period of time, have deeper client relationships, and insulate their clients from competition. However, the gap between advisors who call themselves wealth managers and those who actually are wealth managers provides an opportunity for true wealth managers to amass significant assets. According to CEG Worldwide, which conducts research about the practices of elite advisors and how the affluent work with them, 80 percent of high-net-worth individuals are considering switching advisors. Those advisors who achieve mastery over wealth management concepts and gain professional competency have the potential to attain significant success.
In "Research Finds Top Advisors Join with Other Professionals: High earning wealth managers succeed when they build strategic alliances," CEG Worldwide founder John Bowen, Jr. writes that top-tier wealth managers place a high value on partnering with outside professionals such as accountants and attorneys.
"In today's challenging times, these relationships are more important than ever," he notes. "Our research shows that the best clients of top advisors tend to result from these alliances."
Whether you partner with outside professionals or with an internal team, comprehensive wealth management services are best delivered in a team environment.
According to a Capgemini/Merrill Lynch study, "Of the advisors that kept clients in 2008, 69 percent operated in a team-based model, while only 31 percent were from an individual-advisory model. Executives in several regions told us the industry is starting to embrace the team-based model as the preferred approach for serving high-net-worth individuals going forward, and this finding confirms the validity of that shift."
Branding and positioning. High-net-worth individuals, especially those nearing retirement, want to deal with specialists (think retirement). If they need a heart transplant, they demand the best heart surgeon available. The most successful financial advisors are those who have differentiated their practices by focusing on one particular market niche and becoming specialists in that area. In working with wealthy retirees, retirement planning appears to be tied to personal than to financial goals. This goal-based focus means retirement plans for these individuals and families need to focus more intently on being flexible and providing cash flow to help them pursue their interests. As a consequence, you need to identify and intimately understand the profile of the client you want to serve and brand yourself in a way that attracts that profile. Brand yourself as an expert and position yourself in that niche. You must clearly articulate your value proposition and let potential clients understand why you are passionate about what you do.
There's no secret sauce. In order to succeed, you need to embrace and implement the fundamental principles of sound business management that lead to success in any industry or venture.
Mark Dransfield is chief growth and productivity officer for First Allied Securities, Inc. and leads the Business Strategies Group. In 2007, First Allied launched the Business Strategies Group as part of an undertaking to help increase advisor production through organic growth.
