September 08, 2025

The Relentless Math of Success: How Many Conversations Does

It Take to Win as a Financial Advisor?

The Relentless Math of Success: How Many Conversations Does It Take to Win as a Financial Advisor?

Let’s stop sugarcoating it.

Success as a financial advisor isn’t about your brand colors, your logo, or how poetic your LinkedIn headline sounds. It’s not about your IQ, your CFP®, or how many acronyms trail behind your name. It’s about ambition and hard work. Ambition and hard work are directly related to connections, which, translate into business.

Let’s cut the fluff—logos don’t build practices, conversations do. If you're not having bold, client-centered discussions every day, you're not building a business—you're playing dress-up. Discover what every top advisor has learned and knows about ambition, activity, and the real work that drives success.

It's these real, courageous, client-centered conversations that will pave your path to success.
And the truth is: if you’re not having enough of them, you’re not going to make it. Every top advisor knows this: your future is determined by your activity. Activity that you are making vs. the numbers that you’re posting.

The Brutal Beauty of the Numbers

So, how many approaches, contacts, meetings booked, and meetings completed does a new advisor need to succeed in the shortest time possible?

Here’s your answer:

Monthly Targets (for rapid, sustainable growth)

These numbers aren’t magic—they are the rule. They represent what you need to succeed. Do this right, and you’ll win. Success isn’t a mystery. It’s anchored in math. It’s a math I’ve lived.

Why These Numbers Work

Think of it this way:

• Out of 75 approaches, 30–40 may become contacts.
• Of those contacts, 8–18 may book a first meeting.
• From those, 4-15 will show up for a first meeting.
• From that group, 2-5 will advance toward becoming a client.

Do that every month? You’ll have 30–50 active prospects within 90 days. Do this every month? You could have a six-figure recurring revenue base in 12–18 months.

At Advisor Practice Management, we talk about our “Formula of Fortune: Approaches → Conversations → Conversions”

Let’s define terms:

• Approach = A first outreach. Email, LinkedIn message, outbound call, referral call, networking follow-up.
• Meaningful Contact = A real-time conversation about a financial topic or their goals.
• Meeting Booked = A scheduled appointment with intent.
• Meeting Completed = A discovery, review, or strategy session that happened.

This is your funnel. This is your business. Ignore it, and no amount of branding, software, or clever taglines will save you.

What Makes This Work? Conviction + Consistency

This isn’t about robotic cold calls or transactional tactics. It’s about showing up like a professional every single day, ready to serve, connect, and lead. Top advisors don’t chase numbers—they use experience to sharpen their focus.

• They know every “no” gets them closer to a “yes.”
• They understand rejection is feedback, not failure.
• They treat their calendar like a sacred battlefield.

How to Make It Happen (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Design Your Daily Power Block

• 90 minutes of outbound every morning. No distractions. No excuses.
• This is your revenue ritual. Everything else waits.

Step 2: Track the Right Metrics

• Use a simple spreadsheet or CRM dashboard.
• Every day, record:
• # of new approaches
• # of conversations
• #of meetings booked
• # of meetings completed

Step 3: Make It a Game

• Set weekly goals.
• Celebrate small wins.
• Compete with yourself. Can you beat last week?

Step 4: Sharpen the Scripts

• Your approach message matters. Test, tweak, refine.
• Focus on curiosity, clarity, and care. Example: “I specialize in helping professionals who feel successful but aren’t sure if their money is working as hard as they are. If that ever sounds like you, I’d be happy to share what I do.”
• Play with different openings based on who you are calling

Step 5: Review Weekly. Adjust Relentlessly.

• What’s working?
• Where are people dropping off?
• What do you need to say or show differently?

The Mindset Behind the Metrics

Remember: this is a person-to-person business. Behind every person is a story. Your role is not to sell. It’s to serve—at scale, to the ideal client, with structure, and with unstoppable conviction. The advisors who break through early aren’t necessarily the best talkers. They’re the most intentional doers. The most mentally resilient. The most willing to repeat what works.

Final Word: The Success Math Never Lies

If you hit these numbers for 90 straight days, your confidence will skyrocket. Your calendar will overflow. Your pipeline will build. You’ll stop chasing and start choosing who you want to work with.

Our industry rewards the advisor who plays the long game with short-term urgency. You don’t need to be perfect. You need to be prolific, consistent, and relentlessly committed to showing up.

Your Next 3 Moves:

1. Print this article and post it next to your desk. Let the numbers guide your day.
2. Block 90 minutes every morning. Call it your Power Hour and a Half. Make it sacred.
3. Track every outreach starting tomorrow. Success is closer than you think—it’s hiding in your effort.

If this article inspired you, I’d be honored to send you our "Weekly Activity Tracker" and our Power Prospecting Toolkit to bring these numbers to life in your practice. Just ask.

Thank you for reading! This is what we help advisors do every day!

To book a no-obligation appointment with Jeff to discuss practice management or coaching, click https://calendly.com/jeffthorsteinson/30-minute-q-a-explore-apm

Jeff Thorsteinson is a partner in Advisor Practice Management, an organization that helps financial advisors build world-class practices through innovative concepts, tools, and systems. Jeff works with individual advisors, investment dealers, insurance firms, and fund companies. For more information about Advisor Practice Management, contact jeff@jeffthorsteinson.com or 1-800-223-9332, or visit the website at www.apm.coach

Would you like a copy of our Comprehensive Practice Management Checklist for financial advisors?

How About Your Goals for Your Practice in 2025?

 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?

Free Resources:

21 Page Technology Checklist to Become a Future-Ready Advisor

Fee Audit Checklist for Ideal Prospects

Updated Comprehensive PracticeManagement Guides

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Contact us to help get clarity around your goals on paper, and have the goals conversation by contacting Jeff at jeff@jeffthorsteinson.com  

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.

To book a NO obligation conversation with me to discuss practice management or coaching click the following link https://calendly.com/jeffthorsteinson/30-minute-q-a-explore-apm  and let’s talk.

Jeff Thorsteinson, Grant Hicks and  Advisor Practice Management's combined financial advisor clients manage over 8 billion AUM, and earn over $80 million dollars combined!

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