Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas
Business-building ideas and advice to move you forward faster.
Do More of What Works
AdvisorBlast – Quick Tips to Accelerate Your Practice
In this issue: Create momentum now to keep you moving strongly into the New Year.
The holiday season is officially here. It can be tempting to start relaxing at work and focus on upcoming festivities and year-end plans. Whether you are looking forward to celebrating a successful year or putting a more challenging time behind you, don’t discount what you can accomplish in the last two months of 2012. Now is the time to create momentum to keep you moving strongly into 2013.
Set yourself up for a strong finish this year by making time to assess what happened in 2012.
Book an appointment for a 2012 internal audit
Set a specific time and block out a half-day or two on your calendar. Don’t just plan on doing it and assume you will find time “sometime” before year-end. If you were planning a meeting with a significant prospect, you would take quality time to thoroughly plan and prepare for the meeting. You deserve as much attention as you would give a prospect.
What to review
Identify what activities and focus worked well in 2012 and lead to the results you wanted. Consider both professional and personal aspects – because they both affect your business and your well-being.
Items to review include:
- Prospecting efforts, such as
- Lunch’n’learn seminars for business owners in your area.
- Your method for requesting and getting referrals (see my “Say This, Not That” March 2012 newsletter for more ideas).
- Building client relationships, such as
- Systems to alert you to clients who need timely attention (eg. those turning 70 ½ who need to take required minimum distributions before year- end).
- Notes or gifts on special holidays or to recognize personal milestones. (Veteran’s Day is this weekend – got any vets in your client base?)
- Workflow processes, such as
- A consistent, replicable on-boarding process.
- Regular, specific issues to review at quarterly review meetings with clients (eg. durable power of attorney, current medical directive, life insurance).
- Your daily routine – identify what activities get the best of your focus and energy.
- Time to “have a life” – regular dates with your spouse and kids, time to work out, time to volunteer in your community, etc.
Identify good ideas that you never quite got to
What activities would be profitable if you gave them a bit more focus and planning? Schedule dates for these into your 2013 calendar now. Items may include:
- Brief, high value information webinars
- Client appreciation events
- Monthly newsletters
- Sending top clients timely articles, specific to their interests (not necessarily focused on the industry)
Once you know where you’ve been and what has worked, you know where to focus your efforts for 2013. You can create a plan now to allow you to hit the ground running in January. Next month we’ll talk about specific activity programming to make sure your grand plans for the New Year become reality.
To an insightful review,
Paul
© Paul Kingsman, Rights Reserved.
