At USA Financial, we’ve found that incorporating two specific phrases - "I’m curious..." and "...fair enough?" - can instantly soften tough questions and secure client commitment.
The 3 Success Variables for Financial Practices
Our firm has the great pleasure of consulting with successful advisors across the country. While every advisor's definition of success is different - whether it’s higher personal income, a more efficient business, or more free time - there are only three ways to actually increase your level of success:
- Increase Wallet Share: This is accomplished by adding products and services into your overall mix. (It’s no surprise that our top advisors have multiple licenses and represent multiple different product lines.)
- Increase Opportunities: In baseball terms, this is simple … the more at-bats you get, the more hits you will get. In business terms, this is marketing. Get in front of more people. Frankly, this is one of the biggest things we work with advisors on – helping them create effective marketing campaigns to increase their opportunities. As much as we hate the cliché “it’s a numbers game,” guess what? It’s a numbers game.
- Increase Closing Percentage: If we want to stick with the baseball analogy, this variable is about getting in the batting cages and working on your approach at the plate in order to increase your batting average. In business terms, this means becoming a more effective rainmaker - closing more opportunities.
It’s as simple as that. These are the three variables to increased success. Unfortunately, most advisors attempt to make drastic improvements in just one of the areas, when small, incremental improvements in each drive remarkable growth.
A Hypothetical Case Study
“Joe Advisor”
Annual Revenue = $250,000 ($150k recurring and $100k “first year” sales)
Existing clients = 100
Average per client revenue = $10,000 per client in first year sales and $1,500 year in recurring revenue per client)
Product mix = Assets under management and annuity sales
Marketing = 10 seminars/year … Nets on average 100 new “at-bats”
Closing percentage = 10% of all new prospects
The above hypothetical advisor isn’t out of the norm. In many cases, the assumptions are conservative.
Most advisors attempt to solve their “success growth” problem by focusing on marketing. “If we double the marketing, we’ll double our at-bats and we’ll be in good shape.” Sure, this can have a positive effect, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you focus on. Incremental improvements with each of the three success variables can drive significant growth.
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