Chicago—“I listened to the audio of that Rainmaker Focus Group you’ve got posted on your website. It was awesome,” William gushed as he buttered me up for a skeptical followup question. “Do you have any current data on what these elite rainmakers are doing today?”
William is a coach in his firm’s training department, so his skepticism is warranted. Few advisors are bringing in new clients, much less new affluent clients. But he was in luck, since our 2011 Q1 advisor research project addressed this issue. We uncovered exactly what elite advisors were doing to bring in new $1 million or greater clients. The chart below illustrates the answer to William’s question.
As an advisor, there are two key takeaways from the above chart: 1) The specific marketing activities that are bringing in the bulk of new $1 million or greater clients. (We refer to them as the high-impact marketing activities.) 2) The disparity between rainmakers and the general population of advisors in results.
As I discussed this chart with William, I explained how these findings have provided us with a roadmap for coaching rainmakers, and how all of our role-playing and skill coaching at our rainmaker retreats are built around these high-impact activities. I then suggested that his firm should also use this information as a roadmap for training advisors. He agreed, but his body language displayed a level of discomfort. He admitted that he wasn’t certain his firm was staffed properly for this type of advanced training.
Not that I’m surprised; it’s no wonder so few advisors are having much success in acquiring new affluent clients. But I digress. A fundamental success truism is this…
A person desirous of success must model success.
This modeling involves mindset and habits as well as attitude and behavior. For advisors interested in serious growth, our research has struck a veritable gold mine. For the purposes of this piece, I’ve focused on activity (marketing habits). The following chart explains much of the disparity that was illustrated in the previous graph. These high-impact activities that garner results are also core activities—habits—of elite advisors. In other words, elite advisors are far more active in executing these marketing activities than their general population counterparts.
All of the gaps in the top four marketing activities have statistical significance. There is no question as to “why” elite advisors are brining in far more new assets than everyone else. They are doing the right activities, and they are doing them with a high level of consistency, which means that their skill level continues to improve.
If elite advisors are spending their time and energy to make these high-impact activities the core of their marketing efforts, every advisor who is serious about growth should become immersed in executing these activities. As I concluded my conversation with William, I left him with words of encouragement, both for himself and the advisors he was coaching. I made it clear that the vast majority of advisors are capable of mastering these activities if they make it a priority. Such mastery involves a combination of deliberate practice through role-playing and actual execution—going live. So there you have it, a roadmap for all of you future elite advisors.
We have just completed our “2011 Rainmaker Best Practices” report. If you would like a FREE advanced copy, please visit our download center by clicking here. This includes excerpts from our recent Rainmaker Focus Group. Enjoy!
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