Advisor Insights

Cleveland: “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into” said Bill on a recent coaching session. He was referring to a conversation he just had with his neighbor, a prominent attorney in the area with a plethora of affluent connections.

Bill had been doing his homework. He found out that his neighbor was part of a running group that met every Tuesday. The group consisted of the attorney’s two law partners, several notable doctors and a few local businessmen – a Rainmaking goldmine.

With a little preparation, Bill was prepared to capitalize. He called his neighbor and asked to be personally introduced to some of his running group friends. He offered to treat them all to lunch or maybe cocktails after work. However, the attorney had a different path in mind.

He said, “Better yet, you used to be a runner, I’ll just steer the group by your house on Saturday morning and you can join us for a jog.” Bill quickly agreed, knowing the tremendous opportunity at hand. By the end of the call, he realized what he’d done – hence the call into our office. Bill had committed to a 15 mile run; the only problem being that he hadn’t ran in three years, much less trained for 15 miles.

Just when he had overcome the mental hurdle of asking for the introduction, a new, more physical challenge was staring him down. What’s the takeaway from this little vignette?

Simply put – comfort zones. It was uncomfortable for Bill to ask his neighbor for the introduction (he had never done this before). Yet he overcame this hurdle, asked for the introduction and now has connections to some very wealthy people.

It was just as uncomfortable, some might say stupid, for him to run 15 miles. Yet he agreed to the run, trained for it (in 3 days), and made it to the finish line so he’d have a chance to interact with everyone after the run.

It’s easy for us to conceptualize growth from a physical perspective, but not as easy from a mental perspective. If you want to become a marathoner, you research how others have done it, set very concrete goals, train regularly, and push yourself to improve.

The mental comfort zone, especially in business, rarely gets this type of attention. Lofty goals are set, robust business plans are created, but the training required is non-existent. Not much different than Bill attempting to run 15 miles without having run for three years. It’s no wonder that less and less advisors are reaching the elite levels of the business (only 1.3% were Rainmakers in 2009). The disconnect between intentions (goals) and the actual results is wider than ever, largely because the necessary actions (training) required to achieve these goals isn’t happening.

For that reason, we thought it might be helpful to offer a few tips for making 2010 the Year of Rainmaker Training:

• Set a Big Goal – This needs to be difficult enough to light your internal fires of motivation, but not so difficult that it’s unrealistic.
• Create an Activity Regimen – Fill your calendar with the activities directly linked to the big goal you’ve set. This is your training schedule.
• Deliberately Practice – Master the art of selling to the affluent by deliberately practicing specific sales skills. You need to be seamless in explaining what you do, offering second opinions on portfolios, socially networking, closing for appointments and so on.
• Push Yourself to try new prospecting activities – What you’re currently doing is likely to produce the same results. If you’re looking to raise the bar, try something new, even if it makes you feel a little uncomfortable at first.

This all boils down to good old-fashioned dedication and hard work. Today’s affluent expect nothing but the best, so make the commitment, push yourself (mentally and physically, and the future is yours!

# posted by Stephen Boswell @ 7:26 AM