Summer is a great time to work “on” the business, usually client activity is a little quieter and the quietness can help you move towards your goal of growing your business. I’ve spent over 15 years of my career working with advisors and helping them grow their business. I posted about strategic planning over a year and half ago and advisors kept requesting and downloading it, so this is my latest framework of strategic planning for financial advisors. I’ve updated it to reflect the current landscape of financial advisor’s practices.
When I first started working with financial advisors on strategic planning during my MGA days I didn’t think much about it but then seeing the results changed my mind. The results were awesome. The results included increased sales (in some cases, the “best year ever”), more efficient business processes, completed designations, new business relationships and fresh marketing initiatives. Although I don’t formally do any strategic coaching with financial advisors anymore, these topics always come up in our conversations when I’m building a website or developing a content/marketing strategy for our advisors.
I’ve chosen to keep this simple and why? Because I’m a person that if it feels too overwhelming I won’t get started…. If it’s simple, then I can do on small step at a time and then boom before I know it, it’s done.
- Your overarching business goal- you need to be specific and it needs to be measurable and have a deadline. You need an accountability partner- don’t just rely on yourself, cause that’s when things will start sliding.
- Areas that will contribute to business goal are:
- Marketing
- Ideal Clients
- Operations
- Servicing of Existing clients
- Learning
At the end, you should have one page with a summary of your goal and areas that will help you achieve your financial goals. Prioritize your top 3 and work on those ones.
Now remember, you get what you put into it- therefore if you put the effort in, you’ll start seeing results and if you’re doing this on your own- make sure you find an accountability partner (Did I already mention that?)
All the best in growing your business.