In order to "envision the perfect day," we must talk a little bit about practice management, because you need to understand how to run your business to see your perfect day clearly.
I can't tell you how many times agents or financial planners have said to me that they are great at sales, but really stink at running their businesses. They stink at practice management.
The whole concept of practice management revolves around a simple notion from an old industry statistic that says an advisor's time is worth $500 to $1,000 an hour when he is face-to-face, elbow-to-elbow, and knee-to-knee with a qualified prospect. Based on that idea, a little math shows that if you spend 40 hours a week with qualified prospects you will make between $1 million and $2 million a year in commissions.
Now, if you are like I was in the first half of my career, you hear that statistic and think it's preposterous. It is simply not possible that our time is worth that much -- there aren't that many people in our industry earning more than a million dollars a year. Now, in the second half of my career, I believe that statistic with all my heart -- and the reason, of course, is I am living proof.
In case you didn't notice, being in front of qualified prospects in client meetings 40 hours a week leaves very little time for anything else.
Setting goals
About three years into my career, I decided to do some goal-setting, so I went to Nantucket Island in the middle of summer and rode my bicycle to the end of a very long private beach. I sat there with a notebook and proceeded to write down my goals. One of the things I did at that point was to envision what would be my "perfect day" in the financial services industry.
That perfect day really involved me walking into the office at 9 a.m. and leaving at 5 p.m. It did not have me seeing clients in the evening or for that matter, on the weekend. I worked with average folks, not the wealthy, simply because I thought that hanging your career and practice on the wealthy is too high of a risk. And, I felt I was really doing more good for average folks, as opposed to wealthy individuals who could use my help, but would do fine if they never met me.
I also envisioned a practice where everyone would drive to my office -- I would not do meetings on the road. And, a practice where literally for those eight hours from nine to five, all I did was see clients -- I had eight meetings, one every hour on the hour and as soon as I was done, I went home.
Therefore, I envisioned from that point on that every other thing in my office was delegated. I wasn't doing my own paperwork, and I was not taking my incoming client service calls because I had someone full-time who was licensed to do that. I was not making my outgoing prospecting calls. I was not doing my own marketing or lead generation; I was having someone do that for me, too. All I was doing was seeing clients eight hours a day, five days a week.
Eliminate limiting beliefs
Now some of you might think the way I did when I was first putting this together: That it's impossible. I thought it was impossible for many years, too, but now I believe it is 100% possible. Why? Because that's exactly how my practice is run today. Sometimes we have limiting beliefs that tell us that something cannot be done. Most of us believe that we can delegate paperwork. But a lot of us might have the mindset that when clients call and want service, that they want us. I'm here to tell you that is a limiting belief.
When you call your doctor's office, do you get your doctor on the telephone? I know I don't get mine; I get the receptionist and she schedules the appointment. If you have lab work done, most often the nurse calls with the results, not the doctor. Now I don't know about you, but I've never thrown my hands up in disgust and threatened to switch doctors because I couldn't get the doctor on the phone. I've come to expect that.
The same is true with my clientele over the years. My clients expect that when they call with a client service issue, they will get one of my licensed client service representatives; they actually prefer that since they have developed relationships with each other. They would be caught off guard if they came to my office and actually spoke to me without an appointment. So I have put myself in the situation where fewer than 1% of incoming client service calls come directly to me. Only when there is a complicated financial planning issue that my reps aren't qualified to answer does the call come to me and that is very infrequent.
One of the toughest transitions is letting go. If you cling to the limiting belief that no one can handle these issues as well as you can, you will slowly choke on the daily minutia. The choice is yours: continue doing $15-$20 work or endure some growing pains during the transition. Which would you rather have? More clients, less work, less stress, more income. Believe me, it works!
Perfecting practice management is more like a rheostat than a light switch. It cannot happen overnight. In addition, you should strive for progress vs. perfection. I couldn't be happier with my practice, but it's far from perfect. If you're looking for perfection, you will always be frustrated. Rome wasn't built in a day -- but it burnt in a day -- so be careful.
Build the support team
If you don't have any staff, try searching resumes through monster.com or careerbuilder.com. Initially you may want the "jack of all trades" person. Eventually, responsibilities will be isolated to people who are well-suited to those specific tasks. We have used psychological profile testing to assist us in matching people with skill sets. My practice has grown from one part-time employee to six full-time employees in less than 10 years. The six employees work as a team but have isolated responsibilities in marketing, appointment setting, new business development, compliance and licensing, bookkeeping and reports and two specifically in client services.
As Napoleon Hill said, "Thoughts are things." That is exactly how I started almost 20 years ago when I transformed my thoughts into writing and then into action. Any financial advisor can have a perfect day every day. Effective practice management starts with delegation. Start now, today, and your vision will become your reality.
David J. Scranton, CLU, CFP, CFA, is president of Scranton Financial Group and The Advisors' Academy in Westbrook, Conn. He received his Bachelors in Mathematics at Trinity College and went on to receive a Masters Degree in the Science of Financial Services. Scranton is an industry veteran with more than 20 years in the financial services industry. For the last nine years his commissions have been in excess of a $1 million and more than $3 million in each of the last three years.
