Daily habits for high performance

While we all have a hunger to help people, it’s your daily habits that make the most significant difference in your long-term performance potential.

I sometimes forget how long I have worked in the financial advisory space because I’ve been exposed to the industry my entire life, which I am truly grateful for.

For so many people, they learn about this amazing career by chance or coincidence and often years after they should have started. I have always strongly believed that the career as a Financial Advisor is “The Best” career in the world, but that is for another article, so we won’t get into that now. But believe me when I say this – it is the best career by far for one’s self as well as for the impact it makes on the world around them; clients, friends, widows, orphans, retirees; the list goes on.

Over the past 13 years of helping people; clients and advisors alike, I’ve had the good fortune to work with many successful clients as well as champion financial advisors. During this time, I’ve seen highly-talented people have mediocre careers and I’ve seen less-promising advisors have long and fruitful careers, and everything in-between.

I’ve come to believe that an advisor’s success is largely due to the habits they create day-in and day-out.

Here are some ways to practice good habits around your career as a Financial Advisor:

Mentality

We always start with the mental aspect because it is always the most important piece of the puzzle. True success is 2 parts mental and 1 part mechanical.

You need to stay sharp and on top of your game; life has many ups and downs along the way and you need to have the mental state to ride the roller coaster of life. If you don’t have the mental aspect of the game figured out, you will be crushed in this industry. This career is simple, but it definitely isn’t easy.

All of the top Financial Advisors I have worked with have a very strong mental game. Some have taken years of constant work to build this mental muscle but it is something that they have worked on day after day.

Weeds grow automatically in any garden and they need to be cut and ripped out as soon as possible. Negativity spreads in much the same way and it needs to be removed as soon as possible. Spend enough time with a negative individual and you will start to doubt your own ability, the career choice you have made, the company you represent, maybe even the country you live in!

You have to position yourself in an environment that is conducive to growing your mental state. That means building your belief in yourself, this amazing industry, and the company that you work for.

Look for the amazing potential, it’s there!

Lean on your community

Learn, Learn, Learn…

You most certainly have to be growing and learning on a continuous basis, it is vital!

I’ve personally always loved learning because I feel like it’s the only way to grow into the person you are meant to become. The better you become as a person, the better you will become as a Financial Advisor.

In this industry, you need to learn on a daily basis. The start of your career will see the biggest learning curve because of the nature of the industry, the regulations, the legislations, products, clients and so much more.

This doesn’t mean after your first year your learning ends. Oh, no, it’s only just begun!

Million Dollar Round Table has become the ‘Mecca’ for Financial Advisors, and it’s not just for anyone; it’s for the top Financial Advisors in the world, because those that succeed, always want to learn and grow continually.

Organization

Staying on top of your practice by being organized is vital to the day-to-day running of creating a successful Financial Planning Practice.

The ‘top-of-the-top’ create systems to work for them; from how they start their day to how they run their diary. Routine tasks don’t need to require a lot of thinking and energy but it’s important for daily activities to run like clockwork.

In a highly demanding industry like ours, you’re pulled in many different directions all the time, and structures need to be implemented so that your focus is best kept where it is needed; dealing with clients.

It is easy to get distracted and bogged down by non-income producing tasks and this is where your team becomes so important.

Outsourcing certain tasks, whether that is to administrative support or para-planners, all helps with relieving stress in this highly demanding career.

Recording Performance

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I have seen financial advisors improve purely from starting to track their performance.

As humans, we have a built-in mechanism that wants to constantly improve; after all, anything in life is either growing or dying, you’re either getting healthier or unhealthier, fitter and stronger or less fit and weaker; that’s just the way it works.

Financial Advisors need to think of their practice as a Business. And it’s important to always monitor key metrics inside of a business to grow that business to be a success.

Key metrics that need to be monitored:

1. Number of Prospects (Potential Clients)

2. Conversion of Prospect into Client

3. Number of buying transactions in a given year

4. Average commission/fee

5. Margin

Communication

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More than anything, the role of a Financial Advisor is all about communicating with clients. I always say we are here to help people and make a difference in their lives, we just so happen to be helping them with their finances and at the end of the day, who doesn’t need help with their money and finances? After all, there is a reason that so few people can actually retire comfortably.

Communication is so important and top Financial Advisors are always working on their ability to communicate better and more efficiently with their clients.

I have seen all kinds of personality-types become successful in this career. I don’t believe you get extroverted or introverted people, in the usual sense of the word. If you want to be successful you have to talk to people, you have to get out there and communicate, you have to pick up a telephone and make a call, you have to sit at a table with a client and converse, whether you like it or not. When it comes to money and finances, clients deal with people they know, like and trust, and that’s why communication is so important.

Gone are the days where the fast-talking, gregarious car salesman-type succeeds in the world. Asking questions and listening to your clients is far more important than anything else.