The Power of Discipline in Driving Results!

When I work with clients to help ramp up their business, I often see the same trend: They start out being extremely excited and involved for the first few weeks, and then something else comes up, and they begin losing focus. Being able to focus on the end result for months at a time is a product of more than just motivation or aspiration: It’s discipline. Read on for tips on how to build this discipline and make it work for you!

Set Incremental Goals

One of the biggest problems in setting a long-term goal is that it can take a long time to earn that feeling of accomplishment. By setting smaller goals along the way—and celebrating those wins—you can hold onto that motivation as you sprint to the finish line. In the business world, some good examples of small goals include a target number of leads, new clients, smaller content projects, and increasing overall traffic to your website. By creating these goals and working towards them, you can grow your business while still finding joy in your day-to-day work.

Celebrate the Unexpected

When working towards long-term goals, while an unexpected obstacle can suddenly come from nowhere and hijack your plans, it’s essential to keep on track and not let anything derail them altogether. And If your plans fail altogether, keep in mind the upside of your focus on your plans, you’ve tried something new and learned from the experience—both worth their weight in gold in the business world!

Don’t Get Discouraged

One of the biggest problems with lofty goals is that it can take too long to see results. Anyone who has started working out can attest to the fact that improvements at the gym can take months to attain, even if you’re going constantly. The same is true when it comes to the discipline of building your business, and it’s essential to adhere to the same schedules even if results aren’t immediate.

Change Your Perceptions

Ultimately, building discipline is about changing your frame of mind. Don’t think of your long-term goals as something to reach for, but rather as something that needs to be completed to give you and your family the lives they deserve. By making these goals one of your central focuses in life, you’ll be able to maintain your motivation regardless of what obstacles appear as if they are standing in your way.

As you work towards your business goals, it’s essential to bolster your motivation so you don’t lose sight of what’s important. By building attainable goals, changing your perception, and celebrating smaller wins, you’ll be able to create long-term discipline that will serve you throughout your career.

Critical Pieces to Have in Place to Sell Your Financial Advisory Practice

Expect to see significant mergers and acquisitions in the Financial Services industry in the next few years. We have an aging advisor population who are looking for exit strategies and need to do serious succession planning. Financial Advisory C-Suite decision-makers gathered recently at The Deal and Dealmakers Summit by Echelon Partners to meet mergers and acquisition experts, design strategy, and optimize their deal-making. They stressed that to sell a financial practice, you need to have your business act together. This article discusses the critical areas to focus on to create high value and make the best deal.

To sell your financial advisory firm, you need to have the following critical pieces in place to get a deal that truly inspires you.

Organic growth for at least a 3-year period
A detailed and proven prospect enrollment process
Client onboarding and ongoing servicing system that yields happy long-term clients
Documentation of your repeatable processes
A marketing plan, tracking system, and accountability structure (for ensuring implementation)
Positive team culture
Simple buyout deal/plan

1. Organic Growth

Businesses that have the most organic growth are the most valuable. A firm is most appealing when it has a track record of attracting a consistent increase of AUM year over year. You’ll need to show the numbers both in AUM and of clients.

Organic growth is often one of the least planned elements of an advisor’s business. You can create organic growth when you have a system in place that identifies and targets your ideal prospect, several channels, and consistent marketing activities to attract and close those prospects. Focus on creating a positive prospect and client experience. Tough market times offer advisors a great opportunity to stand out when they have a proven track record of weathering these markets and continuing to serve clients at the highest level.

2. Prospect Enrollment Process

You could be great at meeting new prospects, but to sell your business you need a track record of consistently converting prospects into clients. The Financial Advisor Success Training offers a template that increases closing ratios. With a great reputation for bringing on new clients, your firm will be attractive to investors.

3. Client onboarding and ongoing servicing system that yields happy long-term clients

How do you stand out and instill confidence in your clients? Having a seamless onboarding process and ongoing servicing practices remind them how valuable you are. Having these pieces in place will improve retention and make your business more saleable.

4. Documentation of your repeatable processes

Every business needs to have documented Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). Even if you’re a small firm with one assistant, everything that your assistant does should be written down in a step-by-step procedure guide. They can be a series of MS Word or Google docs. Having procedures documented ensures that your staff knows their responsibilities and should someone suddenly leave the practice, someone else could easily step in and take over the job. This also means that every person currently working in your practice needs to keep their SOPs up to date.

5. A marketing plan, tracking system, and accountability structure (for ensuring implementation)

According to Milton Berlinski, co-founder and managing partner at Reverence Capital Partners, “If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.” To move forward, have a strategy.

Professionalizing the firm with systems is your best strategy.

If you fail to plan how you’re going to grow your business, you are headed for a slow decline. Mapping out a marketing plan, and ensuring it gets implemented with a tracking system and accountability structure will give you the best odds of success over the next year. Don’t fall into the trap of not having enough time to market. Otherwise, your business growth will stagnate. Stagnation is never good if you want to strike a good deal for your business.

Marketing never happens in a vacuum. If you don’t know how to create a marketing plan, learn from a professional business development expert.

6. Positive team culture

The most common way to incentivize is to take great care of your people. Pay them well. Appreciate them. Provide perks and most of all, listen to them.

Take stock of your team culture. Do you and your team get along well? Frequently, advisors keep team members because they’ve been there a long time. If they are the source of poor morale among other team members or clients, they need to be retrained or let go. You cannot afford to have a team that doesn’t work well together.

7. Simple buyout deal/plan

When structuring a buyout deal or plan, make it simple. The more complicated the earnout program, the more demotivating the deal is.

Keep in mind the following drivers that are taken into account to come up with the buyout number.

Valuation Drivers for Sale, Mergers, and Tuck-Ins

Growth and Scale
Employee Management
Client Management
Firm Management
Financial Management
Business Model
Transferability
Marketing
Productivity
Economics

Why Invest In Your Business Before Making A Deal

The bottom line to draw the most profitable price for your business, you must show that you have invested in your business. Furthermore, showing results from what you’ve invested in the form of the number of clients you have, the longevity of your clients, systems that create a positive team environment, and lots of satisfied clients who refer more people to you.

How To Land A Great Deal

Whether you want to merge your business into a larger firm or exit, you need a healthy growing business and a plan. Growing firms are looking to expand rapidly as the population of financial advisors who are approaching retirement is significant. They are actively recruiting new advisors and looking to buy businesses from experienced planners. Put in place the seven critical pieces above and you’ll be positioned for success.

Attract Ideal Clients with Authenticity

All financial advisors want to know how to connect with their ideal clients online. There are countless strategies and technologies to help them with their marketing, some useful, and some not so much. But there is one technique that has always worked: authentic marketing. Be genuine with your ideal prospects, and they will soon be your ideal clients.

Financial advisors can authentically market themselves by:

Defining brand benefits and values.
Demonstrating expertise.
Authentically engaging their audience.

Define Your Brand Benefits, Express Your Values

As an investigator begins to look around for a financial solution, they will try to find an advisor that provides the services they need. They also want to find someone who aligns with their deeper values. As people scroll through articles, posts, and tweets, they continuously compare the values presented against their own. When the benefits you offer match a prospect’s needs and your values mirror theirs, the chance of engagement is very high.

Allow people to get to know you and your company, the REAL you and your company. One way to establish your values is to identify experiences where you felt your company succeeded; what were the values that made that success possible? Identifying these values can take time and is an ever-evolving process. It is, however, the first and most crucial step in achieving authenticity.

Virgin CEO Richard Branson said,

“Too many companies want their brands to reflect the idealized, perfected image of themselves. As a consequence, their brands acquire no texture, no character.”

It is essential to make sure that the language you use to express your value attracts the ideal searcher. Think about what a potential client would type into a search engine. What words would they use? What topic would be most important to them? Or even better, imagine what they would ask a digital assistant like Siri or Alexa. How would they phrase their questions and concerns?

Demonstrate Your Expertise

One of the main benefits of authentic marketing is how it helps financial advisors establish relationships of trust. When you use your online engagement to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, your audience will come to see you as a thought leader in your field, and you will become an influencer to those most interested in what you have to offer.

Research company, Edelman, reported,

“53 percent of respondents say ‘whether you trust the company that owns the brand or brand that makes the product’ is the second most crucial factor when purchasing a new brand. Trust is second only to price (64 percent)”

The secret to becoming an authentic thought leader in your marketing is consistently delivering valuable insights. Giving away useful advice can sometimes be a challenging exercise for an advisor whose primary product is advice. It feels a little bit like giving away the milk for free.

In deciding what level of insight to use in your marketing, it can be tempting to hold back the good stuff. This is generally a mistake. There will always be proprietary information you only share with clients, but try and provide as much as possible.

On top of the reputation-enhancing benefits of such content, valuable insights delivered through your marketing material can also have an incredible effect on your search engine optimization or SEO. Over the last decade, Google has worked hard to hone its algorithms to reward copy that provides a rich user experience.

Authentically Engage Your Audience

Possibly the best thing about authentic marketing is it makes your job more meaningful. By capturing why you do what you do and sharing that with your audience, you reconnect with your own reasons for becoming a financial advisor in the process.

As you interact with your audience and develop deeper connections, the lines between your job and life might start to blur.

Marketing guru, Gary Vaynerchuck, said of authentic marketing,

“True success lies in telling your story. In authenticity, hustle, and patience. In caring fiercely. In valuing legacy over currency. There no longer has to be a difference between who you are and what you do.”

Your authentic marketing must extend across all aspects of your ideal prospect and client interactions. Once you have established yourself as an expert who shares significant value with your audience, it is essential that you then live up to those standards. If your advisory behavior is not consistent with your marketing, you will soon feel a backlash.

—

Authenticity is not a static concept. By focusing on your brand value and demonstrating your expertise, you can continue to attract your ideal clients through authentic marketing.

4 Strategies for Marketing During Volatile Markets

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has forced everyone to re-evaluate how they do business, and financial advisors should take the time to consider how to attract new clients moving forward.

Referrals and brand recognition are more important than ever, and they provide the opportunity to bring in new clients despite the changing economic landscape.

Here are 4 strategies financial advisors can use for marketing during COVID-19:

Continue regular communication with clients
Create an email newsletter
Don’t stop your marketing
Bring in an expert

These strategies will help you to continue to grow your AUM during “the new normal.”

1. Continue Regular Communications with Clients

While face-to-face meetings may be impossible, it’s essential to keep up the face time with your current clients. Offer Zoom calls with clients who you used to meet in the office, even if it’s just to ask how they’re holding up and assuage their anxieties.

To make the best impression, find either a solid background or a bookshelf to use as a backdrop for Zoom meetings, and minimize the noise in your house, however possible.

2. Create an Email Newsletter

In addition to meeting with your clients remotely, an email newsletter is another great way to stay top-of-mind. Write a few sections of financial tips and market news with links to your website, and perhaps add in a “just for fun” section recommending new recipes or quarantine activities. Of course, remember to keep compliance in mind and always get approval before you send anything out.

Thank your clients for their loyalty at the end of the email and mention that you appreciate referrals. For best results, include a link to your calendar so clients can easily set up appointments for their friends and family to video chat with you for the first time.

3. Don’t Stop Your Marketing

It can be tempting to put your marketing on hold in the current climate, but the advisors I coach are experiencing tremendous success by keeping their campaigns running. One has taken on 56 new ideal clients! She attributes her success to staying in contact, sending thank you cards, and her quarterly email newsletters.

As your clients are stuck at home, they have more time to read your marketing materials and think about their friends’ and family’s needs, so this is the perfect time to ramp up your marketing campaigns.

4. Bring in an Expert

Given the changing climate, you may want to evaluate the competition and what you can do to succeed. To support financial advisors in this changing market, I’ve created a new Financial Advisor Success Quiz, which asks you questions and gauges where you are in your branding and marketing development.

You can answer a few questions about your business and see exactly where you need to focus your efforts!

To take the quiz, visit www.financialadvisorsuccessquiz.com and then reach out to me if you have any questions about the results!

While it is a stressful time in the business world, financial advisors are in a unique position to market through their current clients.

Taking the time to send out emailed newsletters, start a referral campaign, and build out your marketing plan can help ensure your success over the coming year!

Creating the Perfect Marketing Plan for 2022

As your year winds down, it’s essential to look back on your marketing success over the past year, as well as to consider what can be refined for further growth. Especially with the changing nature of the business world due to COVID-19, you will want to evaluate each aspect of your strategic marketing plan and decide where to focus your efforts starting in January 2021!

Calculate Your ROI

Take a look back at your marketing channels over the past year, how much you have spent within each channel, and how many new clients you’ve obtained. If you aren’t already keeping a running spreadsheet of your expenditures and the results for each campaign, make that your first task as you start planning for 2021.

If there are any channels that have not returned the ROI you expected, take some time to consider why this might be the case. Before writing the channel off completely, ask yourself whether you fully explored all options for being effective within that channel. If you feel there’s more you can do to improve your results, attempt another campaign following marketing best practices. Perhaps experiment with a different audience in your social media campaigns? Did you properly test to ensure tracking was successful? If you treat clients to lunch or rounds of golf, are you getting enough referrals to justify those expenses? Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your campaigns before writing off a channel completely, but don’t be afraid to completely toss a channel aside if it’s not working. For example, if you have run three different LinkedIn campaigns without receiving a single lead, spend time exploring other advertisements on that platform. If your ads look similar to what is being shared by other financial advisors, you are following best practices and still not getting results, it may be best to focus your efforts elsewhere.

Reevaluate Your Ideal Client

Every year take the time to reevaluate your ideal client and ensure you want to continue catering to the same demographic. Ask yourself this question: “How would I describe my ideal clients?” Are they CEOs within companies of 100-500 employees? Engineers? Doctors? A broader group like “business professionals” or “small business owners?” Depending on your location, you can even narrow it down further to a specific industry, age group, or life stage. Are they Google employees between the ages of 25-40 who like to golf on the weekends? Are they doctors nearing retirement?

Though you have likely defined your ideal client, make it a yearly practice to ensure you should use the same mold. The best place to start is to comb through the newest clients in your book of business. Are there any major changes in who you served this year? Did you connect with them through a similar marketing channel? Is there a similar level of affluence, geographic profile, or primary concern between them? Look at what has worked for your business this past year in order to revise your marketing plan going forward.

Consider Your Strengths

Given the various avenues available for marketing, it’s best to take the time to consider your strengths. If you are more of an in-person networker, avenues like trade shows and industry associations may be more your speed. Given the COVID-19 situation, however, you may want to explore video chat options so your personality can shine in initial meetings. If you are analytical and like to test different theories, pay-per-click advertising may be your wheelhouse. If you are persistent and willing to put in ongoing work or delegate to a social media specialist, social media may be the right answer. Ultimately, the most successful avenues tend to be what you enjoy, as you’re unlikely to continue exerting the effort if you hate every moment.

Ensure Your Branding Is Consistent

One of the benefits of an ongoing marketing strategy is that it does not need to provide immediate leads to be successful. While a prospect might not need your services immediately, they’ll be more likely to contact you in the future if they’ve seen your ad before. Building this brand recognition is only possible when you create consistent branding across all of your marketing channels. By using the same logo, color scheme, fonts, and marketing messages, you ensure that prospects will recognize your ad when they see it again. And when they are ready, they will reach out to your business.

An easy way to understand brand awareness is to compare it to a baseball game. Though we all love a home run, it’s much more likely that your marketing will work in smaller base hits. Each communication you have with a prospect leads them closer to home base, so it’s well worth the time to make these smaller sprints.

Try Something New

As you continue to test your marketing, challenge yourself to try something new this year. You may be surprised at what ends up working, especially if you can carve out a channel that is ignored by others in your industry. Above all, try to imagine where your ideal client spends their time, so you can place yourself in front of them.

The budget for experimentation does not have to be high, so place $1,000 towards a channel you have never tried before. If you get a few leads, some interesting engagement, or an increase in traffic to your website, you will know it’s worth trying this avenue again. If not, chalk it up to a learning experience and pat yourself on the back for trying something outside the box!

Be Cognizant of the Current Situation

Let’s face it…2020 has been unusual. It might be difficult to create a valid marketing strategy based on the data you received this year, so keep an open mind as you look at marketing channels for the future. Given the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent concerns, consumers behaved differently than normal and responded to different messaging. While you should not write off all the data you captured in 2020, it’s best to place your results within this larger context.

Conclusion

As a marketer, the best way to improve is to measure the results you have gathered and make informed decisions on your next steps. As you look back at your marketing success this past year, use this actionable data to provide an outline for 2021.

Summer Strategies for Staying Centered During COVID

Like many financial advisors, you may have been feeling restless and unfocused due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shelter-in-place orders in many regions. Experiencing so many changes in our day-to-day life makes it difficult to run your business, so here are some tips to help you refocus your energy to make an impact.

Organize Your Life

With so many things “out of order” right now in the world, it’s essential for your mental health to control what you can. This means it’s the perfect time to physically reorder your space and find new organizational systems that work for you. Order new filing cabinets, sort through your old papers and recycle what you don’t need, and get your workspace in perfect order!

Take Up a New Hobby

It’s more important than ever to find something you enjoy, so explore options for new hobbies. I personally have taken up mountain biking again after a short hiatus, and I find that I’m super energized and refreshed after each ride! Being able to spend a few hours every week doing what you love creates a work-life balance, so I encourage you to find a socially distanced and safe hobby to pursue this summer.

Ask for an Outside Opinion

Being a financial advisor can be challenging right now, as you’ve suddenly reduced the amount of contact you have with the outside world. You’ve likely gone from interacting face-to-face with dozens of people every day to seeing only your close family. To help provide some outside perspective and grounding, it’s the perfect time to book a breakthrough session with a business development coach. To help support your business during this time, I’m providing free 30-minute breakthrough sessions to provide guidance on your strategic planning. The first ten people to email me at susan@susandanzig.com will receive a free 30-minute consultation.

Keep a Physical Planner

One of the challenges of the COVID-19 quarantine is that all of the days seem to blend together. An easy way to combat this in the working world is to keep a physical planner filled with your tasks and objectives for each week. Manually crossing off both what you’ve accomplished, and each day of the week helps to ground yourself during these unusual times, as well as keep you on top of your goals for each workday. You should also physically block off time in your calendar to pursue either your hobbies or relaxation, and this will also give you something to look forward to as you glance at your planner throughout the week.

Maximize Natural Sunlight and Grow Plants

There have been hundreds of studies that prove the positive impact of both natural sunlight and having houseplants, so maximize both throughout your day. Move your workspace as close to a window as possible and find some succulents or other low-maintenance plants to decorate your desk. Take the time to look up from your work and enjoy the natural beauty during your lunch hours and breaks!

Conclusion

Though this is a challenging time for everyone, taking these small steps can help improve your mood and keep you focused throughout the workday. For more personalized support during these unusual times, please reach out to me to book a call! The first ten people to email me at susan@susandanzig.com will receive a free 30-minute consultation.

How to Conduct Self-Care During COVID-19

Like everyone across the world, financial services professionals have been inundated with stress, restrictions, and a flood of grim news thanks to the COVID-19 situation. It’s more important than ever to focus on caring for your personal needs, so here are some tips to conduct self-care during COVID!

Take Up a Safe New Hobby

Though we have to be more careful when leaving home, there are still plenty of hobbies that can be conducted safely. This is the perfect time to take up a new hobby that you’ve been eyeing, or to invest more time in the things you enjoy. Physically active hobbies that are conducted outside are a great way to boost your mental and physical health while limiting contact with people, which is why I’ve started mountain biking a couple of times a week!

Be Patient with Yourself

Like most people, you’ve likely been feeling run down, isolated, and lacked your usual motivation, and that’s okay! Be patient with yourself and allocate more time to complete your essential tasks. Remember that everyone across the globe is experiencing the same anxiety, so don’t beat yourself up if you need to take more breaks or slow your pace throughout your workday.

Focus on What’s Working

Throughout the pandemic, you may have found some coping strategies that help get you through the day. Whether it’s working on your laptop on your patio, going for a run in the morning, or bribing yourself with some homemade baked goods, indulge in what helps keep you motivated throughout the day.

Find Ways to Socialize

The lack of socialization is the largest challenge during COVID-19, so set up weekly video calls with friends and family. This will support a huge boost on your mental health, as well as remind you that everyone else is facing the same challenges. For added fun, plan out a theme, trivia game, or special event that everyone can participate in from afar!

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a challenge for everyone, so it’s important to indulge in self-care. Remembering to be patient with yourself, take breaks, and squeeze in some fun to help you remain productive and happy!

Tips to Support Your Mindset This Summer

Maintaining your motivation throughout the year is always a challenge, and the COVID-19 situation can enhance the already existing challenge to losing focus. To ensure you’re bringing your best work to the table, you should take a few hours a week to focus on your mindset and encourage positivity. Here are a few tips to help keep you motivated!

Break Tasks into Manageable Chunks

When the weather outside is perfect, it can be difficult to stay inside staring at your computer. Rather than take a personal day, instead break your work into manageable chunks. By following a two hours on, mini break pattern, you can maximize your focus while still taking advantage of the beautiful weather. You can also follow a more task-based approach, completing two or three items on your to-do list before enjoying your well-earned break. Brew up some iced tea and sit on your porch to reward yourself for your hard work!

Express Gratitude

There have been a lot of doom and gloom stories that have arisen from the pandemic, so it’s more important than ever to focus on the positive. Though a lot is going wrong, there’s also quite a bit that has worked out for humanity and helped us unite to tackle this problem. For example, we live in an extremely connected time, which has made it easier for people to work remotely and entertain themselves without leaving the house. To distract from the negativity in this challenging time, take a few minutes every morning and write down 10 things that you’re grateful for!

Take Control of Your Business

One of the central stressors for business owners this year is feeling the lack of control, so it’s the perfect time to work towards optimizing your strategy. Take the time to evaluate where you’re at, build a strategic plan, and adjust what hasn’t been working. By taking a few minutes to build out your plan, you’ll feel more in control and help minimize this stressful situation.

Build New Partnerships

Another helpful strategy to make you feel more in control is to reach out to experts in the business field who can help guide you through these complicated times. If you’re unsure about your next steps, consider reaching out to a professional coach. We are focused on supporting financial services professionals who are looking to grow their business during these tense times by offering free Breakthrough Coaching sessions. If you’re interested in transforming your results, I invite you to schedule a meeting with one of my coaches today! Email me at susan@susandanzig.com to set yourself up to win. Taking the time to talk to an expert can help restore confidence in your business plan and provide clarity for next steps to optimize your business!

Self-Care

Being stuck inside can feel like a punishment although treating yourself to something special can help minimize constricted feelings. Splurge on yourself a little and order something you’ve wanted for a while, or something that will help entertain you during the months inside. Whether you opt for a new skincare routine, a stationary bicycle, or something new to support your favorite hobby, it’s the perfect time to treat yourself to something nice.

Conclusion

This is a difficult time for everyone including financial services professionals. By committing to self-care, optimizing your business plan, and expanding your professional network, you can help relieve the frustrations of the last few months and restore a sense of balance.

Use Neuro-Linguistic Programming to Find the Right Client

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a field of study that encompasses the three most influential components involved in producing human experience: neurology, language and programming. The neurological system regulates how our bodies function, language determines how we interface and communicate with other people, and our programming determines the kinds of models of the world we create. Ultimately, the Neuro-Linguistic Programming model outlined by Richard Bandler and John Grinder describes the fundamental dynamics between mind and language and how their interplay affects our body and behavior

What’s the First Step to Incorporating NLP into My Business?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming helps you examine the behavior of both yourself and those around you to find compatibility…and know when something just isn’t a right fit. The best place to start when incorporating NLP into your business evaluations is to look inwardly. Is their something standing in the way of your absolute confidence in your abilities? When working with new clients, I find that there is typically at least one mindset roadblock to being able to achieve their desired results, whether it relates to sales, partnerships, or achieving long-term goals. I use NLP techniques to help clients dispel their disempowering beliefs so they’re able to work towards their goals without mental interferance. NLP helps break through self-doubt and limiting behaviors to build your best self!

How Do I Use NLP to Find the Right Clients?

NLP tools can help you establish your ideal client and understand your business’ needs right from the get-go. In order to develop the right criteria for targeting clients, you need to have your eye on the end game, starting with basic demographics. You need to creae a general model of who you want to serve, what services you want to provide, and your desired business model. You should also consider the hours you want to work and how you want to communicate with clients (i.e., in person, on Zoom, email, texting, or phone calls).

Once you have these basic demographics in place, NLP processes can help you take a closer look at the psychographics. When you understand what personalities you work best with, you’re in a stronger position to determine what clients will be an asset to your business, and which ones will drain you. Once you have these considerations in place, you can decide which clients not to pursue.

When Should I Begin Implementing NLP?

NLP perspective can help you avoid major pitfalls in your book of business, so it’s essential to quickly implement these techniques within your business model. However, firms that have been in business for a long time should still take the time to revisit their criteria. Evaluate any internal complaints that you’ve been having and what successes you’ve had. By looking at what works, you’ll be able to say “yes” to the right clients and “no” to ones that just aren’t the right fit. This will ultimately lead you to a happier experience in your business!

What Are Red Flags To Avoid with Clients?

By having clear boundaries and criteria for your clients, you can decline to work with clients that present red flags early in the process. Examples of these red flags are disrespectiful communication with you and your staff, not honoring your office hours, being slow to respond to what you ask of them, and questioning the value of your services and fees.

The stronger your boundaries, the fewer problems you’ll have in your lifelong client relationships. You need to honor your own boundaries with regard to the hours you are available to clients, how they should treat your staff, and what you expect from their communications. Compare the client interview process to a first date: While you want to show your best self, you also want to interview your prospects and make sure that they meet your criteria for a positive business relationship. Honor your intuition and your gut instincts: if they look like a good prospect but your instinct is to run in the other direction, those instincts are always worth listening to.

Conclusion

If you want to attract more of the right clients and avoid the pain of “red flag” clients, please reach out to me at Susan@susandanzig.com. My deep understanding of Neuro-Linguistic Programming combined with my business development expertise can help you position your business for success by attracting more of the right clients and focusing your energy where it will make the most impact!

How to Keep a Healthy Mindset Throughout COVID-19

It’s essential to maintain a healthy mindset during COVID-19, especially for financial advisors striving to normalize their operations. Prioritizing your own health and wellness will help to keep your mindset positive despite all the changes occurring worldwide and help you stay in the right frame of mind to continually serve your clients. Here are some tips to help keep a healthy mindset under the current circumstances:

Break Up Your Work into Manageable Chunks

One of the most challenging aspects of COVID-19 is keeping yourself motivated when so many external challenges keep popping up. While you can’t neglect your business, it’s important to be empathetic with yourself and understand that you may need more time to accomplish tasks during this challenging situation. To keep yourself motivated, break your workday into short, manageable chunks and take small breaks in between. By interspersing work with relaxation, you can keep your work on track while still taking time for self-care.

Express Gratitude

A lot is going sideways right now across the world, so it’s essential to take a step back and remember what truly matters in your life. Focusing on the gratitude you feel for your family, friends, and passions will help you remember what you’re working for, allowing you to stay motivated throughout the coming weeks. To remind yourself of all the things you might be grateful for, make a long list and keep it next to your workstation. If you haven’t already, I recommend you surround your workstation with photos of your friends and family to brighten your workday. Whenever you feel stressed or helpless, look at this list and the photos to remind yourself of your motivations.

Try to Establish Routine

One of the biggest challenges of this stay-at-home order has been the interruption of the daily routine. People have been conditioned to drive to work in the morning and follow a strict schedule, and this routine provides a sense of stability and comfort. Though you may have to adjust your usual routine, it’s important to schedule your day to create a sense of normalcy. Having a set time for making coffee, exercise, meditation, answering emails and scheduling regular meetings can help you adjust more easily to the new normal.

Remember You’re Not Alone

All across the world, people are experiencing the same dilemmas that face us every day. While this may not make the immediate situation better, it does help to maintain compassion for everyone you cross paths with. Take the time to support your friends, neighbors, and those in your network from afar, and let them know that they aren’t alone. By working together and maintaining compassion, our communities will make it through this unprecedented situation.

Take a Breather

The one downside to remote work is that it blurs the lines between your office and home. While it can be tempting to sneak in some emails on the weekends, be sure to create distinct chunks of time off to maintain your mental health. Dedicate at least one day and ideally two days a week where you “unplug” and don’t check your work email. To further improve your mental health, I challenge you to take a complete break from the news and social media during your day(s) off. By separating yourself from the demands of the modern world, you’ll actually rejuvenate yourself and be more energized throughout the rest of the week.

Conclusion

Since COVID-19 presents a new set of challenges for financial advisors, it’s essential to commit more time to self-care. By setting boundaries throughout your work week, taking time off, and focusing on what you’re grateful for, you’ll be in a better space to efficiently run your business!

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The Power of Discipline in Driving Results!

Critical Pieces to Have in Place to Sell Your Financial Advisory Practice

1. Organic Growth

2. Prospect Enrollment Process

3. Client onboarding and ongoing servicing system that yields happy long-term clients

4. Documentation of your repeatable processes

5. A marketing plan, tracking system, and accountability structure (for ensuring implementation)

6. Positive team culture

7. Simple buyout deal/plan

Valuation Drivers for Sale, Mergers, and Tuck-Ins

Why Invest In Your Business Before Making A Deal

How To Land A Great Deal

Attract Ideal Clients with Authenticity