It's been a busy period for PCE and the to do list is longer than ever as plans are put in place for 2013.
The plans are expansive, ambitious and on first glance the biggest concern is how will we get all of this done?
Clearly careful structuring and utilisation of time are required. But critically PCE just needs to get it done - to be aggressive with action and push through any inertia slowing momentum.
In the run up though as PCE reflected on each day one thing was apparent - a demeanour that was stressed - hardly a positive disposition - the impact on PCE was palpable but the message that sends to clients is equally as destructive.
For the first time in 5 months then, PCE took a time out. It was a client event, but it was designed to take time out. The format was a pleasure cruise, a swim, good food and great company.
We laughed, took of our serious hats, talked some business but with a light heartedness that not only carried through the day but was taken home by PCE. Later that evening PCE quipped "Look I've had a hard day - I spent all day on a boat - I'm really tired" - and that brought the roar of laughter it was intended to from children and adults and the mood was infectious.
The lightness of being continued and as "so you think you can dance" screened, PCE performed an impromptu contemporary routine to the opening credits - all captured on an I Phone for future blackmailing.
What's my point?
You can not run at full speed all the time and expect your internal engine both mental and physical to operate without damage.
As Coach Carter says " a little gas....a little brake".....you have to be ready but replenishment of mind, body and spirit, provides that clarity of thought that actually provides for progress.
The Energy Project and their work " The Way We're Working Isn't Working" is all about replenishment and maximising working with your rhythms.
There is no sustainable rhythm to working in a highly stressed physical and mental state.
So as you plan for 2013 - take a pause - surround yourself with those in your business world who can contribute and support and collaborate with you in 2013 - but take business of the agenda - talk, laugh, share - and watch your mood and positivity for the year ahead move to the achievement zone.
The clarity you will obtain will make those plans sharper, the solutions clearer and the road ahead will in your mind straighten, flatten and seem increasingly achievable.
Friday 30 November 2012
Thursday 22 November 2012
14 Steps to Sales Success in Financial Planning
Want the keys to sales success and achieve results such as 68% referral rate from you existing client bases and over a 90% close rate?
Want to find out how to write 80% of your future new business from your existing client base?
Follow these steps practised by the leading financial advice firms.
1) BE FOUND
Stand out in any search a prospective client makes.
Yellow pages, local business directories, online or word of mouth in a social circle.
2) CREATE CLIENT CENTRED COLLATERAL TO ENGAGE CLIENTS WITH PRE FIRST APPOINTMENT
3) HAVE A WEBSITE THAT IS ENGAGING OFFERS VALUE AND CONNECTION TO YOUR CORE PROPOSITION
4) HAVE AN OFFICE SET UP THAT TELLS A POSITIVE STORY THAT YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR NICHE CLIENTS
5) BE ABLE TO SAY WHAT IT IS THAT YOU DO AND WHY
6) BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN AND DEMONSTRATE VISUALLY YOUR PROCESS
7) EXPLAIN THE STEPS IN THE PROCESS AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
8) HAVE AN ENGAGING AND DEEP CLIENT INFORMATION COLLECTION METHOD THAT COLLECTS MORE THAN JUST FINANCIAL DATA BUT COLLECTS DATA ON VALUES AND MOTIVATION
9) CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING BEFORE MOVING FORWARD
10) FOLLOW UP POST MEETING WITH A REASSURANCE PIECE
11) BRIEF YOUR STAFF WEEKLY ON THE CLIENTS AND PROSPECTS THAT WILL VISIT YOUR OFFICE AND WHY THEY ARE COMMING IN SO THEY CAN MANAGE CLIENT PSYCHOLOGY WITH SIMPLY A WARM AND RELEVANT WELCOME
12) MAKES SURE YOUR STATEMENT OF ADVICE SPEAKS TO THE CLIENTS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS AND WANTS
13) ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE STATEMENT OF ADVICE BY USING VISUALS
14) CONNECT THE STRATEGY TO THE CLIENTS VALUES, BELIEFS, ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATIONS
Want to find out how to write 80% of your future new business from your existing client base?
Follow these steps practised by the leading financial advice firms.
1) BE FOUND
Stand out in any search a prospective client makes.
Yellow pages, local business directories, online or word of mouth in a social circle.
2) CREATE CLIENT CENTRED COLLATERAL TO ENGAGE CLIENTS WITH PRE FIRST APPOINTMENT
3) HAVE A WEBSITE THAT IS ENGAGING OFFERS VALUE AND CONNECTION TO YOUR CORE PROPOSITION
4) HAVE AN OFFICE SET UP THAT TELLS A POSITIVE STORY THAT YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR NICHE CLIENTS
5) BE ABLE TO SAY WHAT IT IS THAT YOU DO AND WHY
6) BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN AND DEMONSTRATE VISUALLY YOUR PROCESS
7) EXPLAIN THE STEPS IN THE PROCESS AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
8) HAVE AN ENGAGING AND DEEP CLIENT INFORMATION COLLECTION METHOD THAT COLLECTS MORE THAN JUST FINANCIAL DATA BUT COLLECTS DATA ON VALUES AND MOTIVATION
9) CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING BEFORE MOVING FORWARD
10) FOLLOW UP POST MEETING WITH A REASSURANCE PIECE
11) BRIEF YOUR STAFF WEEKLY ON THE CLIENTS AND PROSPECTS THAT WILL VISIT YOUR OFFICE AND WHY THEY ARE COMMING IN SO THEY CAN MANAGE CLIENT PSYCHOLOGY WITH SIMPLY A WARM AND RELEVANT WELCOME
12) MAKES SURE YOUR STATEMENT OF ADVICE SPEAKS TO THE CLIENTS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS AND WANTS
13) ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE STATEMENT OF ADVICE BY USING VISUALS
14) CONNECT THE STRATEGY TO THE CLIENTS VALUES, BELIEFS, ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATIONS
Sunday 18 November 2012
High Performance Teams
So how good a team member are you? How good is your team?
Are you as good as the 1986 Giants?
The 1986 New York Giants season was one of the most successful seasons in the professional American football franchise's history.
The 1986 Giants had been ranked as one of the greatest NFL teams of all time by fans, and members of the media.It was this Giants team that popularized the practice of the "Gatorade shower", which entailed the players dousing members of the coaching staff with Gatorade near the end of a victorious game.
When we think of what the Giants had to overcome (first Superbowl in 30 years, and had come from an abysmal record only some three years earlier), they as a team and as individuals demonstrated:
- high level of trust
- defined roles and expectations
- set plays that played to individuals strengths
- ability to honestly call a spade a spade
- positive team talk before during and after
- focus, vision, goals
- measure and positivity , game plan, calculated risk, open comms
As Individuals they were:
- intrinsically motivated
- clear on how they attributed success and they had
- clearly defined goals.....constantly reviewed
- daily self assessment
- driven by positive self talk
- mindful of daily thankfulness
How successful you are as an individual and as a team depends on how well you embody and develop some of these characteristics.
Are you as good as the 1986 Giants?
The 1986 New York Giants season was one of the most successful seasons in the professional American football franchise's history.
The 1986 Giants had been ranked as one of the greatest NFL teams of all time by fans, and members of the media.It was this Giants team that popularized the practice of the "Gatorade shower", which entailed the players dousing members of the coaching staff with Gatorade near the end of a victorious game.
When we think of what the Giants had to overcome (first Superbowl in 30 years, and had come from an abysmal record only some three years earlier), they as a team and as individuals demonstrated:
- high level of trust
- defined roles and expectations
- set plays that played to individuals strengths
- ability to honestly call a spade a spade
- positive team talk before during and after
- focus, vision, goals
- measure and positivity , game plan, calculated risk, open comms
As Individuals they were:
- intrinsically motivated
- clear on how they attributed success and they had
- clearly defined goals.....constantly reviewed
- daily self assessment
- driven by positive self talk
- mindful of daily thankfulness
How successful you are as an individual and as a team depends on how well you embody and develop some of these characteristics.
Tuesday 13 November 2012
5 Steps to Success
It's been a couple of weeks since PCEs last post. There's been a bit of travel that has been a pre-occupation, some daily life activities that have needed attending to, some personal development and well being that took priority but what has occupied PCE most,in these two weeks has been the opportunity to meet and sit down with some masters of client engagement and personal success.
What the clear message is from these meetings is that success comes from doing what you love.
Joseph Campbell offered us the phrase "follow your bliss". Or more exactly If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are—if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.
These businesses that PCE have met in the last two weeks are deliberately and methodically following and leading their clients into following their own bliss.
They have a process. They believe in it. They have developed it and honed it and adapted it to their personalities and the personalities of their client base.
At its core the process is simple:
1) Know and define what you want
2) Create a plan
3) Enlist the services of an action coach
4) Take action
5) Review and adjust
This is about being crystal clear on what it is that you want and creating a sequence and set of objectives in the form of a plan to get you where you want to be.
Having accountability and a guide is crucial.
You can apply this process to anything you do in life - anything that is important enough to you to apply considered thought and process to.
But for financial advice, wealth creation and protection businesses - building this into a client engagement process is by no means an easy proposition. What it requires is you living and experiencing your client service encounter and reflecting on how engaged you would be with your current process. Then answering the question - how would I like to be engaged.
Then follow the 5 steps above and make it a reality.
When you get to step 3 - maybe give PCE a call.
What the clear message is from these meetings is that success comes from doing what you love.
Joseph Campbell offered us the phrase "follow your bliss". Or more exactly If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are—if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.
These businesses that PCE have met in the last two weeks are deliberately and methodically following and leading their clients into following their own bliss.
They have a process. They believe in it. They have developed it and honed it and adapted it to their personalities and the personalities of their client base.
At its core the process is simple:
1) Know and define what you want
2) Create a plan
3) Enlist the services of an action coach
4) Take action
5) Review and adjust
This is about being crystal clear on what it is that you want and creating a sequence and set of objectives in the form of a plan to get you where you want to be.
Having accountability and a guide is crucial.
You can apply this process to anything you do in life - anything that is important enough to you to apply considered thought and process to.
But for financial advice, wealth creation and protection businesses - building this into a client engagement process is by no means an easy proposition. What it requires is you living and experiencing your client service encounter and reflecting on how engaged you would be with your current process. Then answering the question - how would I like to be engaged.
Then follow the 5 steps above and make it a reality.
When you get to step 3 - maybe give PCE a call.
Friday 2 November 2012
Believing in Unicorns - the power of purity of intent
The mythical unicorn. According to http://www.unicornleanmanufacturingchangemanagementservices.com/about-unicorns.htm
- unicorns are fierce yet good, a symbol of strength endurance and agility, perserverance, wisdom and playfulness, purity, love hope and majesty.
Further to find the unicorn again it is suggested we must unlearn old lessons, seek new paths, stop and listen to guidance and look deep within ourselves for the right answers.
For those in financial services, it is our role to guide our clients then to finding the unicorn meaning in their lives - to have our clients look at their journey, guide them along new paths to a desired destination and teach them to develop a vision that needs to come from deep within so that it satisfies their often unspoken needs.
Doing that ensures the connection between what a client really wants and what the design of the clients strategy to achieve needs to be. It provides our clients with the knowledge that empowers them to understand and recognise the effectiveness of the path that they choose.
Your advice in this process is then invaluable. Those advisers who connect with clients in this way are described by their clients in a way that transcends the advice piece itself. Clients of these advisers have the feeling that their advisers simply "get me" they understand them and their deep needs and motivations. These clients and the relationships they have with their advisers are ones of friendship, coach, guide, confidante.
This can't be delivered unless the adviser themselves embodies the unicorn spirit.
We talk now of "best interest" and what that means. More paperwork? A statement of intent? A promise? Best interest is a way of being.
Unicorn advisers are leaders who are fierce yet good, symbols of strength endurance and agility, perserverance, wisdom and playfulness, purity, love, hope and majesty.
These remarkable individuals have unlearnt old lessons, sought new paths, stopped and listened to guidance and have looked deep within themselves for the right answers.
They embody what it means to lead. They change people's lives for the better. And they reach far beyond their businesses into the wider community as they inspire and allow people to dream again.
- unicorns are fierce yet good, a symbol of strength endurance and agility, perserverance, wisdom and playfulness, purity, love hope and majesty.
Further to find the unicorn again it is suggested we must unlearn old lessons, seek new paths, stop and listen to guidance and look deep within ourselves for the right answers.
For those in financial services, it is our role to guide our clients then to finding the unicorn meaning in their lives - to have our clients look at their journey, guide them along new paths to a desired destination and teach them to develop a vision that needs to come from deep within so that it satisfies their often unspoken needs.
Doing that ensures the connection between what a client really wants and what the design of the clients strategy to achieve needs to be. It provides our clients with the knowledge that empowers them to understand and recognise the effectiveness of the path that they choose.
Your advice in this process is then invaluable. Those advisers who connect with clients in this way are described by their clients in a way that transcends the advice piece itself. Clients of these advisers have the feeling that their advisers simply "get me" they understand them and their deep needs and motivations. These clients and the relationships they have with their advisers are ones of friendship, coach, guide, confidante.
This can't be delivered unless the adviser themselves embodies the unicorn spirit.
We talk now of "best interest" and what that means. More paperwork? A statement of intent? A promise? Best interest is a way of being.
Unicorn advisers are leaders who are fierce yet good, symbols of strength endurance and agility, perserverance, wisdom and playfulness, purity, love, hope and majesty.
These remarkable individuals have unlearnt old lessons, sought new paths, stopped and listened to guidance and have looked deep within themselves for the right answers.
They embody what it means to lead. They change people's lives for the better. And they reach far beyond their businesses into the wider community as they inspire and allow people to dream again.
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