Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

We have less than 90 days to go in this year. Now is the time to introduce one more structural component into your business.
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Two weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking to 150 advisors, and it was fun to sit down with several of them after I spoke and hear their plans and learn about what they wanted to implement into their businesses.

The troubling aspect was that many of them were listing four or five items, and they were pretty big-ticket items that were going to take a bit of time to introduce to their business. Then several of them would then say, “There are so many big things I need to do, where do I start?”

That’s the point of this video: you need to select one item. Now, as I mentioned, we have less than 90 days before year-end, but you still have enough time to at least start something significant that you really want to fine-tune and definitely want to integrate into your business by January 1, 2020.

I spoke to these advisors about several activities. For instance, some wanted to document workflows. Some of the advisors would list this as one item of five. So, let’s just pick that to focus on.

Document workflows simply by opening up an Excel spreadsheet, saving it to your hard drive, listing the major pieces of your business, and then under each, starting to build out a list of steps that need to happen. So, for instance, as part of an IRA, when we had our quarterly review process coming up, we knew it was coming to quarter-end and there was billing to be done, there was a report to be written. We had set aside a meeting time ten days prior to go through that task list of exactly what needed to be done. That meeting was a line item in our to-do list in our documented workflow. We followed the same process with on-boarding a new client, and the same with ACATing procedures.

Workflows are a work-in-progress all the time, but what if you started now and really got the lion’s share of that structure bedded down by the end of this year? It would be a great way to start 2020.

Another activity is to construct investment models. I’ve been talking with advisors who are trying to keep tabs on so many satellite investments, be it mutual funds, ETFs, or using third-party asset managers – a whole array of investments. You need to build a succinct investment structure and talk with people about how you go about building those models. Is that something you want to start getting in place now?

Another one is a prospect spread-sheet, so you’re tracking prospects. You want to track everybody you speak with. You’re tracking when they come back to you. You’re tracking who might have been the referral source. Are you then acknowledging that referral source?

These are just three ideas, and, frankly, major components, that you want to have dialed into your business. Don’t try all three of these at once! Take on one, and progress that through between now and December 31st.

So,

1. As you guessed, select one topic you’re going to integrate into your business.
2. Ask around. Call other advisors. You can call me if one of these ideas I’ve mentioned to you is something you want to implement. I’ll help you with the various steps we went through in our practice.
3. Write down those steps and then start crossing them off one by one by one, as you achieve them.

Don’t get discouraged. Don’t get overwhelmed. Just tackle one project and progress that as best you can by December 31. That will ensure that come January 2020, next year, you’re going to start off on a much firmer footing than what you have right now.

I look forward to bringing you another Distraction-Proof Advisor Idea next week.