What do Financial Advisors Want?
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November 18th, 2009 by Norm Trainor, The Covenant Group
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Every Financial Advisor {FA} wants to answer three questions:
1. What role do I play in my practice?
2. How big do I want to become?
3. What is the requisite {required} organization {RO} to enable me to answer questions 1 and 2?
Most FAs get paid for results. Their compensation is tied to the sale of products such as investments, insurance, mortgages, savings, loans etc or the sale of advice. People tend to think of the FA role as a sales function. Yet, the tasks an FA is required to perform are much more complex than simply selling. Today, the vast majority of FAs are entrepreneurs who have chosen to work in financial services. They are building a business. There are two principles that determine how big and sustainable that business will become:
1. Optimization
2. Leverage.
Optimization is defined as the ability to work at the highest level of your capability. Leverage is the ability to employ people, capital and technology to enhance your effectiveness. Let me give you an example. I coach an advisor who came to the US in the early 80s. As a new immigrant, he had difficulty finding work. After a year, he became a life insurance agent collecting premiums on a debit. His goal was to earn $100.00 a day. He sold life insurance to lower income families living in a poor area of his city. Today, he has a team of eight people, including a CPA and attorney. He has 1,000 clients, of which the top 100 have average net investable assets of $10,000,000.00+. Today, his goal is to earn $10,000.00 a day. He has increased the value of his time from $10.00 an hour to $1,250.00 an hour. In addition, he is building a business where other people contribute to the growth in revenue and profitability. Twenty years ago, his goal was to earn a six figure income. Today, it is to build an eight figure business. To achieve his goal, he has mastered the art and science of building a business.
FAs who only want to sell and make as much money as possible need to become part of an organization that facilitates the expression of the unique ability to sell. FAs who want to build their own business have to master the art and science of building a business or find partners who bring complementary capabilities and motivation to build the business together.
Norm Trainor is the Founder and CEO of The Covenant Group, a company that specializes in educating and coaching financial advisors and entrepreneurs and providing them with business tools to enhance their performance. He can be reached at norm@covenantgroup.com or 1-877-903-3878 X333.
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Originally posted 2009-09-15 22:38:55.
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Norm Trainor is the Founder and CEO of The Covenant Group, a company that specializes in educating and coaching financial advisors and entrepreneurs and providing them with business tools to enhance their performance. He can be reached at norm@covenantgroup.com or 1-877-903-3878 X333. Read more from the author/contributor here.
Tags: 80s, Art And Science, Capability, Cpa, Financial Advisors, Financial Services, Immigrant, Income Families, Insurance Mortgages, Investable Assets, Investments, Leverage, Life Insurance Agent, Loans, Norm Trainor, Optimization, Organi, Premiums, Profitability, Six Figure Income, Twenty YearsPosted in My Practice, Norm Trainor | No Comments »
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