February 22, 2021

The best value add you can deliver to your ideal clients as a financial advisor

Let’s face it, in today's world time is more critical than ever to successful wealth professionals. How can you deliver more value and spend more time with your ideal clients? How do you find more time to deliver more value?

Experience is everything

When I sold my financial advisory practice, my wife and I decided to look for a second opinion on our finances locally. After all, I work with financial advisors all day and I see many practices. The advisor we went to see, was not ready. After waiting an additional 15 minutes the advisor apologized for being late. He then proceeded to go into his pitch, while being completely unprepared and rushed, he finally got his technology to work properly. He talked most of the time and asked me and my wife very few questions. Needless to say, it was not a great experience.

What was the value?

I asked my wife after the appointment, “what was the value you got out of today’s meeting?’ She asked me, do all advisors work this way because there was nothing valuable about that meeting at all. Nothing I said, nothing, I feel worse about our finances. He talked about products and markets and how will that help us achieve our goals? I don’t think he knows our goals and you always talk about the probability of success, and if he does not know with clarity about what we want, then the probability of success is low or unknown. They did not help us get clarity, understand our values and goals, and connect with us at any level. It seemed like going back 20 years and sitting in a sales presentation. They started with what they called a discovery meeting. Who is the discovery for, them or us? Then they went into a fact finder. Again a painful experience. 

It was a great lesson for me

It taught me the biggest value a financial advisor or wealth manager can give to their best clients. Undivided attention that they deserve and a process to deliver the optimum client experience. Not being rushed or feeling the time constraints of another appointment or meeting, being well prepared and have a proven process, and well-rested and happy to spend the time with us. Well-rested is the key. If you are stressed and tired and have difficulty managing capacity, your ideal clients will feel it. If you are not well-rested and focused, and rolling through another meeting, this is your chance, while reading this article to do something about it. Not tomorrow or next month or after you get caught up, recognize you need to do something now to manage the overwhelming capacity that is killing you and your business.

What is the next step?

You cannot change the fact there are only 168 hours in a week. You need to find hours, hundreds of them. Hours for you, your family, and your best clients. It is not a simple fix. You cannot manage 300-500 relationships either.

The typical wealth manager or financial advisor I work with figures out they need to find 200-300 hours in a year to be more successful, both personally and professionally. What are you going to do to find 200-300 hours in 2021? I will give you four ideas but stay tuned for my next blog. Segment, technology, people, and processes, four ways to find the time.

How about your goals for your practice in 2021? Our Practice management checklist or fee audit checklist  

While each financial advisor's practice may have a different approach, advisors need to understand where their practice needs help, and will they get the right help for the right part of their practice. What areas does your practice need help with? Get a copy of our updated 21-page “Comprehensive Practice Management Strategies checklist” by going to our
website https://www.advisorpracticemanagement.com/about-us or clicking
here https://practicemanagement.getresponsepages.com/
Fee audit checklist for ideal prospects, click here https://feeaudit.getresponsepages.com/

Call me

Contact us to help get clarity around your goals on paper, and having the goals conversation by contacting grant at grant@ghicks.com or click on the link to set up a no-obligation 20-minute
discussion https://my.timetrade.com/book/JMTNJ regardless if we work together, let’s have a chat and listen to your biggest practice management concerns to help you get clarity around your future business. Grant Hicks, CIM, is President of Advisor Practice Management and co-author of “Guerrilla Marketing For Financial Advisors” 1st and 2nd edition. www.advisorpracticemanagement.com for speaking, workshops or coaching, contact Grant at grant@ghicks.com  Grants combined financial advisor clients manage over 4 billion AUM , and earn over $40 million dollars combined!

Enthusiastically yours,

Grant Hicks, CIM, President
Advisor Practice Management
www.advisorpracticemanagement.com

Suite 1625-246 Stewart Green, SW
Calgary, Alberta  T3H 3C8
Cell 403 970 8895
Email grant@ghicks.com   

PS Where do you want to be in 3 years?

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