BachrachBlog

As with the Rule of 168, there are Natural Laws and Universal Truths about what is necessary to be a successful Financial Advisor. I did not invent these truths any more than I had input into how many hours there are in a day or week. I have just been a diligent observer taking good notes. This may not be a complete list, but I doubt you will disagree with anything on it. What you do with this information is your choice. Remember, don’t shoot the messenger.

- Must have the skill and confidence to engage people in conversations that could lead to the next step of them potentially doing business with you. These can be with people you already know, people you meet in the course of your everyday life, or referrals. The result of these conversations must be enough appointments on your calendar to yield enough clients to make your business successful.
- Must have the skill and confidence to conduct an initial client interview where you establish a bond of trust and the outcome is that a high enough percentage of these people hire you so your business is successful.
- Must have the skill and confidence to answer any question any prospect, or client, could ever ask at any time.
- Must have the skill, confidence, and resources to create a plan of action that gives your clients the highest probability to achieve their goals.
- Must have the skill and confidence to articulate how much you charge, what they get, and that it’s a good value for them.
- Must have the skill and confidence to set the right price for your services so your business is successful and your life works.
- Must have the skill and confidence to give advice to clients about the necessary action required for them to achieve their financial goals in a way that inspires them to act.
- Must have the skill and confidence to conduct regular, productive progress meetings with your clients so they stay on track to achieving their goals.
- Must have the skill and confidence to have crucial conversations with your clients when they become “their own worst enemy” and want to do things that are not consistent with them achieving their goals.
- Must have the skill and confidence to build and lead your team of the Technical and Administrative Subject Matter Experts necessary to deliver on your promise to your clients. (The Rule of 168 mandates that there is not enough time to do it all yourself.)
- Must have the skill and confidence to conduct referral conversations that generate referrals.
- Must have the skill and confidence to make follow-up phone calls and engage the people, to whom you have been referred, in constructive conversations that could lead to the next step of them potentially doing business with you.
- Must develop the skill and confidence to recognize high pay-off activities, fill your calendar with high pay-off activities, do the high pay-off activities, and delegate or drop lower pay-off activities.
- Must develop the emotional fortitude and discipline to develop these skills and confidence.
- Must be willing to learn these skills from others if you were not born with them.
- Must develop the emotional fortitude and discipline to consistently and repeatedly implement the skills and confidence that produce results both on the days when you feel like it and the days when you don’t feel like it, regardless of events out of your control such as what’s happening in the market, the economy, or the world.
- Must document the processes and systems that will be repeatedly used to acquire clients, serve clients, and lead the business.
- Must generate enough business revenue, so after paying your business expenses and taxes, there is enough money left to pay for you to live a good lifestyle now and enough money for you to fund your future goals, such as your own financial independence. In other words, you have enough money to get and keep your own financial house in order.
- Must develop the ability to produce these business results in a reasonable amount of time per day, week, month, and year in order for other important aspects of your life to get the attention they need and to be enjoyed. Ie: family and friends, health and fitness, fun and recreation, spiritual growth, mental health, philanthropy, etc.

Perhaps you can think of a few other “musts” in order to have a successful financial services business. This list truths will at least get you started.

You have probably heard the saying that success leaves clues. These “clues” are Universal Truths or Laws of Nature that we observe successful people following that provide a good example of what to do if we would like to be successful also. These are things we accept as being true and unchangeable. Some of the more obvious Universal Truths or Natural Laws are that humans need to breathe air to survive, gravity, and that water is wet.

Another such Natural Law is what I call The Rule of 168. There are only 168 hours in the week and your success and happiness in life are determined by how you choose to invest your 168 hours. This was not my idea. God did not confer with me when he or she decided how long it would take the Earth to make a complete spin on its axis or the time required for the Earth to revolve around the sun. It is what it is. Resistance is futile. Please don’t shoot the messenger.

Jack Nicholson’s character (Colonel Nathan R. Jessep) in the movie A Few Good Men delivered one of the most famous lines in the modern movie era, “The Truth! You can’t handle the truth!” I propose that life is better when you choose to handle the truth. Success is leaving clues about the truths required to be successful. Are you listening? Do you see them? Will you choose to handle the truth?

In her soon to be released book, “Living Life with No Regrets,” my wife, Anne, interviewed Denis Collier. Denis is a registered dietician and certified exercise physiologist. One of the questions she asked Denis is, “What is the impact of choosing not to lead a healthy lifestyle over the short-term and long-term?” His answer can have a profound positive impact on your business health and fitness also. He said, “This question really gets to the root of the cause of why people often choose NOT to do the healthy things. The key is this – there are minimal short-term consequences to making the unhealthy choice. In fact, quite often it is just the opposite: the unhealthy choice is the one that is most pleasurable. This applies to many things in life, not just health and fitness.”

In another part of the interview Denis continues, “Few individuals can honestly say that eating a spinach salad generates the same immediate pleasurable sensation as eating an ice cream sundae. On most nights, it is immediately easier to go home and curl up on the couch instead of going for a workout in the gym. It is only in the long-term, after a lifetime of such choices, do the negative consequences rear their ugly head. My friend, who has lost a great deal of weight, said it best when asked how he, an intelligent, successful man, could have allowed himself to go through life so obese for so long, ‘I knew that it was probably going to kill me, but I also knew that it probably wasn’t going to kill me tomorrow!’”

Denis continues, “The key term we could all benefit from exploring is that of delayed gratification. We need to shift our focus from the pleasure that we will immediately get from the unhealthy choice, to the more fulfilling life of abundant health and energy that will surely come to us if we choose to make the healthy choice.”

And the same is true for making good business decisions, isn’t it? It’s easier to read an article about the market or the economy. It’s easier to do research about the next great technology tool. It’s easier to help your assistant do an administrative task. If you don’t ask for referrals today it isn’t going to kill your business. If you don’t make follow calls today it isn’t going to kill your business. If you don’t improve the value you deliver for your clients today it isn’t going to kill your business. If you don’t get more organized today it isn’t going to kill your business. If you don’t hire a great assistant today it isn’t going to kill your business. Etc, etc, etc. String those days together, however, and after a few years you find yourself smack, dab in the middle of mediocre-land. Mediocre production. Mediocre qualify of life. Mediocre clientele. Mediocre value proposition. My guess is that you didn’t enter this business intending to put down permanent roots in the heart of mediocre land.

So, what can you do about it? Take it one day at a time. The beauty of it being easy not to ask for referrals today is that it’s also easy to start asking for referrals today. Today you can make follow-up calls. Today you can improve your value delivery. Today you can get more organized. Pick one or two things and do them today. Today you can also stop doing one or more of the many things that do not move you toward your goals. And then you can do what you know moves you towards your goals again tomorrow.

And while you’re at it, feel free to do the same with your health and fitness. Make it a great day… today.

3. Tell the Hard Truth

If your clients don’t defer to your authority and expertise, there’s a good reason, and it’s not them. Chances are, it’s because you’re behaving like a salesperson. Instead of communicating with conviction and earning your clients’ respect, you’re following the old “customer is always right” mentality. Even though your clients may have little or no financial expertise, you defer to them rather than take the chance of upsetting them and jeopardizing your insurance or mutual fund sale.

I spend a lot of time coaching my Trusted Advisors to tell the truth and be direct. At first, many argue, “I’m afraid of how clients will respond if I tell the truth.” I understand that. However, if you want to be a Trusted Advisor, you have to tell the truth—even when the consequences are less than desirable. Think about it this way: If you tell people the truth and they respond poorly, do you really want them as clients? Most people appreciate and respond positively to the truth; honest communication is a cornerstone for building trust.

2. Ask Better Questions

Have you ever noticed that most people would rather talk about themselves than listen to you talk about yourself? If you want to build a high-trust relationship, shallow chitchat or talking about your credentials won’t do it. You need to talk about what’s meaningful, important, significant, and compelling to that person. One of the best things you can do to prepare for that kind of conversation is to gather information in advance. Anytime someone refers a potential new client to you, ask the referring person questions that will lead to meaningful, important, significant, and compelling information. Find out as much as you can about your prospects: What are their values, interests, passions, and goals? What do they do for fun? Who do they care about most? When clients or prospects see the connection between the value you bring and what’s most important to them, they tend to respond positively. In the process, you lay the foundation for a long-lasting, high-trust relationship with the people you truly want as clients.