Last Updated on July 20, 2020 by John Prendergast
The current state of the business of financial advice:
Meh…
Despite all of the advances in technology, products and tools, the current state of financial advice is just meh. We need to do better. The marketing, the compensation models, the tools – everything needs to be better. The ground is shifting under our feet and we seem to be actually making an effort to stand still.
You are better than that and your business needs to be better than that.
Dare To Be Great
Instead of being “good enough,” how about pushing to reach your potential? Why don’t we dare to be great? In our modern world, “good” just ain’t good enough anymore. It’s high time you make greatness a top priority.
Greatness comes from work as well as insight. Here are 5 ways to accelerate and grow your financial advisory business. You know what, I’ll dare to be great myself. These steps will make your life better, apply them to EVERYTHING and you’ll be amazed at the results:
- Do something – anything. A.k.a. Get off your ass. Your current marketing strategies may bring in enough business to make a living, but if you were really satisfied with the results, you wouldn’t be reading this. Instead, think like the entrepreneur you are, realize the status quo can always be better and embrace change that can take you to the next level.
- Allow time for adjustment and development. Finding the right mix of the new marketing methods – using social media and networks effectively, assessing your potential clients informational needs and wants, and creating the information to meet those needs (articles, blogs, web-based seminars, videos, etc.) – can take time and effort. Be prepared to invest in refining your marketing efforts to experience optimum impact and success.
- Learn the process of improvement. Adjustment, or finding that right mix, takes time and multiple tries. Evaluate your efforts via measurable indicators, seek ways to improve those efforts in order to more closely meet potential client needs and wants, and implement those changes. Cycle through again, evaluating, adjusting, and improving as necessary.
- Understand what matters. Some measurable data really isn’t important to your desired outcome. It doesn’t matter how many newsletter subscribers you may have, for example. What matters is the effectiveness of the newsletter, whether or not it is producing results – generating clients, income, etc.
- Document your efforts. Keep well-documented, complete records of your new marketing efforts and results. That way, you have solid data from which to craft your plans for improvement, and a record of what has been effective and to what degree, as well as what hasn’t. Some approaches are better at different phases of an operation. You may want to refer back to something that wasn’t as effective as you’d hoped in the past, but may be revamped and set to work in current conditions or in the hands of a more able staff member. At some point, with a bit of experience under your belt, you may have a better idea of how to use a particular technique more effectively and be ready to try that technique again. Good record keeping facilitates such things.
