Good for you.  I’ve got a buddy in our business who came to a similar realization early last year.  He, too, had gotten complacent & realized he was just “tending” his clients, and had not really been proactively generating sales opportunities with them for years.  He said his gross is up about 35% and his assets up 25%, almost all of that attributed to his current client base!

Ricky & Duke; good stuff, thanks for posting it.

Good stuff right there...

Ricky, do you have any method to hold yourself accountable to this? There is an FA in our office doing about 600K the past 4 years with flat growth. About 8 months ago he came to a similar realization and began to proactively mine his client base and gather new assets. Last week he told me that due to his relatively short term efforts he has brought in about 6MM in net new assets and is on pace to gross about 750K this calendar year....

He basically had a goal of 40-50 proactive 'touches' of his client base each week- whether it was pitching new ideas, asking for outside money, or asking for referrals. If he didnt have the 40 contacts he forced himself to come in on Saturdays to get the number ( this is a guy with about 11 years in the biz)...

It seems like it always comes back to fundamentals.  When I started out (wirehouse w/ a desk and a phone) I was extremely aware of my daily activities.  Because the days were so blurred/busy and often it felt like I was accomplishing nothing (still feels that way sometimes!) I kept a daily scorecard.  My point system was the following: 1 point for a new contact; 2 points for a callback; 1 point for client call; appointments were 10 points/hour; 1 point for each hour worked; 5 points for a new account; 5 points for getting in before the market open (6:30 am West Coast).  In addition, my goal was to find/uncover 500k per day. I had to score 100 points/day or 500 points for the week (I worked every Saturday).

The scorecard was invaluable, as it let me know specifically what I had done for the day.  It held me accountable. Notice that my efforts/achievements only focused on activities I could control, such as outgoing calls, hours worked, etc. While I tracked gross production, I didn't focus on it cause it made me feel frustrated when I compared my gross to the veterans.  And as I was trying to build a fee-based business from Day 1, it took a heck of a lot longer. Better to focus on the day-to-day activities and I figured over time the production would come. It did.

[quote=Ricky Roma]

It seems like it always comes back to fundamentals.  When I started out (wirehouse w/ a desk and a phone) I was extremely aware of my daily activities.  Because the days were so blurred/busy and often it felt like I was accomplishing nothing (still feels that way sometimes!) I kept a daily scorecard.  My point system was the following: 1 point for a new contact; 2 points for a callback; 1 point for client call; appointments were 10 points/hour; 1 point for each hour worked; 5 points for a new account; 5 points for getting in before the market open (6:30 am West Coast).  In addition, my goal was to find/uncover 500k per day. I had to score 100 points/day or 500 points for the week (I worked every Saturday).

The scorecard was invaluable, as it let me know specifically what I had done for the day.  It held me accountable. Notice that my efforts/achievements only focused on activities I could control, such as outgoing calls, hours worked, etc. While I tracked gross production, I didn't focus on it cause it made me feel frustrated when I compared my gross to the veterans.  And as I was trying to build a fee-based business from Day 1, it took a heck of a lot longer. Better to focus on the day-to-day activities and I figured over time the production would come. It did.

[/quote]

Good stuff!!!!! The numbers don't lie.

I like your decision to come to your clients with new ideas for new money only. I too have gotten out of the groove of doing campaigns, product positioning.

What products/ideas did you decide to "Pitch" your clients?

“One thing that makes a big difference is what you do when no one is looking”…coach Bobby Knight

"It seems like it always comes back to fundamentals.  When I started out (wirehouse w/ a desk and a phone) I was extremely aware of my daily activities.  Because the days were so blurred/busy and often it felt like I was accomplishing nothing (still feels that way sometimes!) I kept a daily scorecard.  My point system was the following: 1 point for a new contact; 2 points for a callback; 1 point for client call; appointments were 10 points/hour; 1 point for each hour worked; 5 points for a new account; 5 points for getting in before the market open (6:30 am West Coast).  In addition, my goal was to find/uncover 500k per day. I had to score 100 points/day or 500 points for the week (I worked every Saturday).

The scorecard was invaluable, as it let me know specifically what I had done for the day.  It held me accountable. Notice that my efforts/achievements only focused on activities I could control, such as outgoing calls, hours worked, etc. While I tracked gross production, I didn't focus on it cause it made me feel frustrated when I compared my gross to the veterans.  And as I was trying to build a fee-based business from Day 1, it took a heck of a lot longer. Better to focus on the day-to-day activities and I figured over time the production would come. It did."

That was a great post, I cant believe I missed that a few weeks ago. I have a college buddy who is in Western NY with ML. He uses a similar 'point system' to keep track/ account for his daily activities. He is LOS 4 and was featured on our internal FA broadcast a few weeks ago. He is KILLING it right now because he has a disciplined way of contacting prospcets/clients and daily activity. The guy has about 70MM and is doing about 450K in gross in only his 4th year. Also, he has positioned himself as a retirement rollover specialist for one of the largest employers in the country- referrals are streaming in.....

Ricky how have things progressed?

I am glad this post was revived. One of the better topics in recent months… Does anybody else have a system that they use to track and monitor their daily/weekly activities???

Thought I'd bring this post back to life; I was "Ricky Roma" before I lost the password info! Besides, I was The Judge back in 1997 when I started posting on this board.

I'll try and quantify just how much production was accomplished from this effort.  It was significant, though not earthshaking.  That said, it put me in the right frame of mind: to get me out of my comfort zone.  To begin doing (once again) the things that allowed me to survive and eventually become successful.  Ask the tough questions; put yourself out there.  Go home bruised, battered, beaten...and with a lot more $ coming in. I'm bringing in about 2 million/month in new "wrap" assets on average. March will be huge (for my standards) with the ACAT's already signed.

Make the calls.  Service the client.  Do right by them. Always.  I spoke with a client yesterday that started with 125k four years ago.  Now it's 300k due to some additions; with recent changes in their "situation", 6 million is coming in.  All a result of taking care of them with 125k and being proactive.  Something else to mention- I've never met them personally.  They live overseas and the account was landed on a cold call.  Still, the $ is coming my way.