Most advisors fail to employ leverage in their business and the result is low revenue and profitability.
There are two causes of this:
- Failure to make strategic investments because you were brought into the business and told that "hard work is all you need"
- Fear that if you invest, it won’t pay off and you will lose money
When I was a full time producer at a wire house, I invested about $10,000 a month into marketing –seminars and direct mail. The other reps in the office thought this was crazy because their model for success was to get on the phone, dial lots of numbers and spend a lot of hours in the office. My model was to have a real business and ANY business needs to invest in marketing to gain clients. Of the 20 reps in the office, I was the largest producer and accounted for 23% of the office production. I will let the numbers speak to who was crazy.
Put your hand into your wallet and make investments that will bring clients. Top producers (and great businesses) always seek ways to invest because they know that you cannot save your way to greatness. Now let's deal with the second issue of those investments failing to generate a return and your fear of losing money.
If you are not in fear, you are not growing. It's a cultural weakness that we try to be comfortable. This is a bad personal objective. Fear is a good sign that you are attempting something new, learning and growing as a person. No fear means you are likely complacent and on the fast track to a boring retirement of sitting on the porch and deciding on your cemetery plot.
It's okay if you invest and fail. You will lose money. Does every investment you make for your clients make profit? The idea is that you learn from a failing investment, you adjust your tactics and try again.
The first seminar I ever did was attended by 2 people. That night was one of the most embarrassing of my life. But I learned and eventually, consistently raised over a million dollars of new money from each seminar. Of course, you can hasten your learning curve by replicating others who are successful (with seminars, direct mail, advertising, email marketing, etc.).
Please make your own marketing plan on ways you want to invest and leverage your business. The foundation of your plan should be to buy the services of others for activities that:
- Cost less than $100 an hour, such as telemarketers or a direct mail house (the value of your time is at least $100 an hour)
- Can be done by others far more efficiently than you can do yourself
Hiring, subcontracting and leveraging are all common words in the vocabulary of top producers.
