I’ve talked with a number of Financial Advisors who could best be described as “marketing junkies.” They’ve read all of the stuff, attended seminars, and in many cases are doing a bunch of stuff. Now those various activities each may be useful stuff…may be going in the right direction. And they may create a long marketing “to do” list.
The missing link tends to fall into one of two categories:
- Learning stuff for its own sake. I run into advisors who just “love marketing.” In and of itself, that’s fine. It’s certainly better than ignorance. However, many of these advisors keep learning, attending seminars, watching webinars, reading books before just TAKING MASSIVE ACTION in an organized and focused way.
- Addicted to “Doing Stuff.” You probably have friends like this who have 22 unfinished projects ongoing. A great idea of few months ago, not finished yet, and 5 more in various stages of development. Addicted to activity. Rather than Stephen Covey’s “Begin with the End in Mind,” it’s an endless barrage of activity, often with little measurement and no clear definition of what a successful outcome looks like.
In my setting, with financial advisors that I work with personally, my value and that of my team includes:
1st Clarity of Target Outcome – FIRST. Always, beginning with the end in mind. Never confusing activity with accomplishment.
2nd IMPLEMENTATION. We create an IMPLEMENTATION environment that ensures that things GET DONE. In most cases the advisors that I work with already KNOW A BUNCH OF STUFF that they should be doing. They don’t need a bunch more books, webinars, training programs, online videos (or CD’s, DVD’s, etc.). What they need is to get the important things done: IMPLEMENTATION.
3rd A 3 or 4 point TO DO List of things to get done right now. No more 45 or 50 item To Do lists that never get done. It’s about simplifying. It’s about prioritizing. It’s about focusing on the items that are most likely to immediately “Create or Keep a Client.” It’s about the stuff that’s going to QUICKLY Add to the Bottom LINE. Get new clients. Improve Revenue. And Improve Bottom Line Profit (OBVIOUSLY, the most important aspect.)
4th “Knowing the Numbers.” We always make sure we are tracking actual results at each stage. We are all excellent at rationalizing our own results. But “unshakable data” – real numbers don’t lie. Starting with real numbers let’s us improve each and every step.
A final note:
There are many “Guru’s” running around. Some excellent. Speakers and coaches such as my long-time mentor and friend Dan Kennedy have great material. Those such as Jay Abraham, Joe Polish, etc., and all of the sales trainers ranging from Tom Hopkins to Brian Tracy to Grant Cordone and others have great stuff.
However, with all of their material it requires translation into our specific industry. It requires constant testing and experimentation. And it requires aggressive implementation. We have organized others LIKE YOU (although many may be considerable more successful financially) where there is shared experience and shared training in businesses JUST LIKE YOURS.
Others, MANY, MANY others fall into the “Bozo Explosion.” The explosion of pretend experts. Of those with limited experience and limited knowledge who wax on eloquently about how to run businesses that they really don’t understand very well. It’s been said that the most expensive advice is free. I’d expand it to the most expensive advice is bad advice–whether free or premium priced – anything in between.
I invite you to set a time for us to review your Marketing Plan for the year. There’s no cost or obligation. We can get started on making your to-do list more productive. Click here to learn more.
