Six tips for your clients to create new habits in 2014

Creating new positive habits can make a significant difference in one’s life and provide the skills to turn the impossible into the possible. But it’s not always easy to change our behaviour as Tony Schwartz of the Energy Project(1) reveals with the statistics below…

· 25% of people abandon their New Years’ resolution(s) after just one week
· 95% of people who lose weight on a diet regain it
· Most alarming is that after surviving a heart attack only 1 in 7 people make any enduring life changes around eating or exercise.


So you can see we are indeed creatures of habit and some behaviors become so ingrained, such as smoking or biting our nails that we can’t stop even if we want to. In fact, Massachusetts Institute of Technology research has identified two regions in the brain that are responsible for crystallising habits so it’s no wonder we find it so hard to break them.

Making positive choices to start the pattern of change

In order to break habits, we must start our own patterns of change which according to Chris Gardner (the man on whom the film ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ was based), centers around our ability to embrace the best within and make positive choices for ourselves. (2)

In his retelling of his battle to come out of poverty and homelessness, he suggested four key choices to begin this process of change:


1) Choose to let go of judgment and accept who you are at your best
2) Choose to break generational cycles
3) Choose to accept that you are allowed to be happy and have abundance; and
4) Choose to learn from the past.


Now it isn’t easy to act on this advice, but by simply sharing these choices with your clients, you will be helping them start on their own path to making better decisions for themselves and their families.
Why your expert help is critical in this process

With the stress of daily life upon your clients, applying these choices and making time for what’s important can be extremely difficult. This is where you and your expertise fit into the picture.

When sharing these tips with your clients your role is two-fold. Firstly, you can help your clients understand the importance of freeing up their time as much as possible to focus on the important choices they have to make. Secondly, you can help your clients understand the areas where they can enlist your expert help so they have more time to focus on what’s important to them and what will add value to their lives.

Take John for example. I’m sure we could all relate to him…
John is a small business owner married to Kate a teacher and they have two children 13 and 10. John is trying to: Run the business; be a good husband; be a good father, keep a handle on the finances, keep fit, maintain his friendships, mentor his staff, fit in a family holiday at some point and maintain the condition of his home…..Something has got to give!!

With his energy focused on so many activities, where would John find the time to make better choices and start making changes to his lifestyle?

Today we call it outsourcing, the Babylonians(3) called it “…one of the cures for a lean purse” – either way, the message is clear – John needs to outsource the things that he is no good at or not qualified to do so that he can have more time to focus on what’s important to him and what adds value to his life.

So for John this meant joining a small business peer group, hiring a trainer for his staff, seeing a financial adviser and matching exercise with his friendship group. By doing this he freed up time for what was really important to him - being a good husband and father.

Six tips for your clients to create new habits
John was able to free up his time to focus on making change and you can help your clients implement positive changes in their lives too. But it’s important to remember that change takes time and there will be some resistance along the way.

Try these six tips to help your clients on their journey:


1) Don’t change everything at once: One or two things at a time
2) It takes about a month to lock in a new behavior

3) Be precise about what you want to change

4) Focus on a positive outcome rather than the negatives

5) Expect resistance (especially from yourself)

6) Enlist the support of others


Whether it’s finances in 2014 that are a priority, the estate plan, getting the right insurance cover or even talking about the no sugar diet (and that’s a tough one, I know from personal experience), it’s important your clients know they can talk to you and understand how you can help.
Ultimately for clients and advisers alike, by enlisting the help of others through outsourcing (as you would know), you can free up your time to make better choices and to start the journey towards creating new positive habits that will have a great impact on our lives.


1) “The Energy Project” www.theenergyproject.com
2) “The Pursuit of Happiness” Chris Gardner 2006
3) “The Richest Man in Babylon” George S. Clason 1926.

3 things that need to be in your 2014 business plan

So if you are like us at PCE, you are already well into planning for 2014.

And part of that planning process invariably asks what is it that we do best and secondly what do we need to improve?

This is however where most business plans and therefore most businesses fail. What occurs thereafter are brainstorming sessions, that generate a plethora of ideas, of initiatives to deliver to go from "good to great" by innovating, coming up with the competitive edge that will blitz the competition.

Often the ability to deliver such growth is overstated and what ends up happening is that the business forgets to deliver the answer to the very first question : what is it that we do best?

Focussing on weaknesses highlights and delivers just that : weaknesses or at best improved weaknesses.

Paul Leinward and Cesare Mainardi (Harvard Business Review June 2010, pp 86-92) posed the question as to whether you business had the courage and discipline to focus intensely on what it does best.

Rather than chase business in markets where the company does not have capabilities to sustain success, "coherent" companies align what they do best with the right market positioning.

In other words they position their offer to their ideal clients in a way that resonates.

Every decision then is focussed on being able to answer 3 questions (the 3 that need to be in your business plan).

According to Leinward and Mainardi these are :

How are we going to face the market? In oner words : what is our value proposition? Understanding the value you create for the customer and being able to articulate it in a replicable/repeatable phrase is key here.

What capabilities do we need? In other word : To deliver on our value proposition what 3-6 capabilities to we need to display / deliver?

What are we going to sell and to whom? In other words: the product and services that make up the product mix are the ones that are key to your value proposition and highlight the capabilities that your business has, are delivered to the right customers in the right communication mix.

So the key is:

- figure our what you are really good at, develop the capabilities you have to deliver that so that they are best of breed, align this with the market place opportunities and be rewarded with sustained superior returns.

Ask these 3 questions in your business planning process : which by the way should include all team members (it's a great way to assess if you actually need to reassess whether the capabilities you have in your team are actually the right ones for you!!)

How well do you look after your most important client?

It's an interesting question.

PCE found themselves needing to ponder this recently. We had neglected our most important client. The impact was dramatic. The realisation that was had taken them for granted was shattering.

We had lost the connection to our most important clients:

- current state of affairs
- mood
- concerns
- dreams
- level of satisfaction

We had not checked in.

And it forced us to ask the question how many of us, financial services professionals have really looked after our most important client, or is that client subsidising the time we spend on everything and everyone else.

From a financial planning and risk perspective are we really certain that our most important client has in place:

- well defined and executed succession planning both personal and business
- has a map of financial and personal milestones and we are up to date with the progression as well as actively planning for the next checkpoint on that map
- that the safety net of insurances is presently well structured and offering the best coverages with features suited to what is actually important for the nuances that the client possesses
- that we have and continue to engage our client on an emotional dynamic in that we are aware of how simply they are feeling about life, about daily issues, about the dreams long terms and more immediate for example the next twelve months
- and have we taken the time to plan out what those dreams actually are, how they will be fulfilled and what the plan is to work towards them

Simply : have we sat down and engaged, truly engaged our most important client, ticked of the basics and continued the journey.

PCE would argue that as we get caught up in the daily routine, as we battle with FOFA, FOFA implementation and the volume of information and work in our day that we do not deliver to our most important client anywhere close to what is desirable.

And the evidence is all around PCE when we visit advisers.

The most important clients do not have:

- buy sell agreements in place
- inadequate contingency plans for family in the event of business interruption
- other risk management measures adequately catered for
- balance between work and home
- a set plan for the year
- any set goals for the family that are being actively worked upon
- a set time that has been put aside to articulate how they are progressing on life goals : personally, family, business

And here's the worst part.

Exactly who is your most important client?

It's you. And it's your family.

6 Steps to Running a Networking Event

So in our last post we looked at how you can get refferals of the ideal client from an ideal referral source.

The idea at it's core was a meet and greet to determine which businesses have a similar raison d'etre to yours: that is a great client experience and true value and partnership and collaboration with clients. (stop reading now if you don't want that as an outcome!).

So who do you invite and how do you structure it?

Here are 6 steps that work!



1) Who to invite:

- existing referral contacts

- ask them to bring a peer

- ask them to bring key staff

Next layer of invitation:

- your local business networking group contacts : ask them to refer to the event their accountant / solicitor/ mortgage / general insurance broker

Next layer of invitation:

- any business contact who could add value in engaging on the night ie: they have a service that the attendees could utilise

Next layer of invitation:

- local businesses that you think could refer to you : check out websites to see if they offer in house services like yours

- then call them and see if they do lets say you make a discrete inquiry as if you were a potential client

Next layer of invitation:

- existing clients : who are their accountants etc? : ring your best 10 client and ask


2) Speaker: who are you going to get that will be free!!??

- local politician

- travel / lifestyle sourced from local business

Remember you are positioning yourself as a facilitator so getting a local memberof parliment is a great coup.

3) Invitation

- as per our previous post ......the key aim is "meet local businesses who face similar issues/challenges"......and secondary "our special guest(s)......."

4) Format

- no business pitch
- know who is coming
- strategically introduce people on the night
- let the evening flow

5) Location

- room / side room / adjoining area of bar/ local hotel - somewhere with atmosphere and sight and sound that does not drown you out but layers the senses


6) Follow up

- we can discuss that later in our next post

Plan for 2013 - taking time out, to move ahead - power of mental replenishment

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.

The Ultimate Guide to Re-creating your business for Opt In success

For most financial planning businesses "opt in" means you will need to change systems, processes, methodologies and the philosophy of how you do business. To do that you need to bring the people in your business along the journey and you need to have something to implement that maximises the possibility of opt in success.

This is an organisational change process. And it is a process that needs to be specific to financial planning where the critical factor affecting success is relationships.

Rather than approaching this traditionally with problem - solving change management protocols an approach of appreciative inquiry seems to dove tail into financial planning businesses.

This approach reframes relationships around what is positive and what is possible.

It is representative of positive organisational behaviour - where the people in the business focus on positive aspects and in so doing improve business and personal success and subjectve well being as a consequence.

The beauty of this for financial planning businesses contemplating an opt in world is that the process you can use to re-create your business can also be directly applied (with the help of tools from Positive Client Engagement) when working with your clients.

There is a "four D" model for this process.

Discovery, dreaming, designing, delivering.

Discovery

- identify positive elements of your business
- document and create stories about positive client outcomes you have created
- interview your staff about what drives them in serving clients
- interview successful businesses that you know of - perhaps in the same AFSL as you and discover the strengths of these businesses
- look to sources of research on businesses - eg: The groundbreaking Asteron Life 2 year study on the 7 best practices adopted by businesses who have successfully tapped into the intergenerational opportunity

Dreaming

- gather your staff and have a vision coaching session where you imagine the possibilities and what you would deliver to clients in the ideal business
- remember it's a hypothetical business so feel free to fearlessly design a cutting edge business without barriers

Designing

- also involves your staff and now you shape the dream into what becomes a common and shared image of what can be for your business - and it shifts focus back to the day to day roles and how such a model would be implemented

Delivering

- set specific tasks, objectives, directions, time frames, resources for the agreed upon model


What does the ideal business look like? And how do you apply the same model to clients?

The ideal business discovers what a client sees as positive elements of their life and in so doing provides motivations to overcome the negative aspects of their financial world.

The ideal business tells stories about success they have had with similar clients and uses the concept of social proof to de-mystify the process of financial planning.

The ideal business writes white papers that research the areas of the businesses expertise that are a demonstration of ability, empathy and experience to your clients and prospects.

The ideal business has a process for assisting a client to dream what is possible in their financial world and imagine possibilities unlimited by past experiences or current circumstances.

The ideal business takes a palpable stake in the clients vision and designs the success plan as a shared image of what is possible clearly identifying the role the business plays in the outcomes and the journey.

The ideal business delivers the direction, objectives and plan in a way that is meaningful and relevant for the client and is achieveable, measurable and timely.

The ideal business engages it's clients positively, uses tools such as a Positive Client Engagement Lifestyle Questionnaire (c) and the Positive Client Engagement Wealth Management Index (c).

So let go of your structured norms and change your mindset. Investigate the positive possibilities and have queues of advocates opting in to your financial planning business.