There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. —Niccolo Machiavelli
This book is designed for financial advisors (FAs) who want to grow their business by bringing organization and structure to their practices. We will discuss tools and techniques that can be used by advisors to service and expand their books of business. These tools and techniques are ones that have been used in coaching practice since 2001 to help advisors gather necessary data, interpret the meaning of findings, draw conclusions, and take the proper actions for improving client service and driving business growth. It is through continuing contact and holding FAs accountable for using the tools and implementing the processes that we bring about the benefits of a new model for doing business.
Coaching includes:
• Discussing and explaining how each tool and technique applies to financial advisors and their practice
• Interpreting the data and helping advisors actually apply the tools and techniques to improve their business
• Holding advisors accountable for implementing the tools, techniques, and approaches
Each coaching engagement is specific to each FA and her or his book of business. Advisors must take on these roles themselves or with a partner, whether a coach or another advisor, who serves as an accountability partner. There are costs and benefits to both approaches.
The first goal of this book is to help advisors define and implement a set of processes that will save them time and energy while “ensuring” their clients are very well serviced, so little if anything falls through the cracks throughout the life of the client-advisor relationship. With a structured and organized set of processes the advisor can have the time to devote to the second goal of this book, which is helping to grow their advisory practice in terms of AUM and/or production. The top methods to acquire new clients will be discussed so that advisors can be successful in fulfilling their growth objectives.
There is much written about the mental aspects of improving an advisory practice. Little of that material will be addressed in these pages. Discussions of philosophy, psychology, the mental game, visualization, affirmations, mantras, motivation, and leadership principles will be limited. This book is about the tools and techniques you need to structure, organize, and grow your business. As Stephen Covey has said, “Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” Rather, we will describe a pragmatic approach to practice management.
This approach to practice management is described as “coachulting,” a combination of coaching and consulting. The structure and methodologies of coaching are numerous but are predominantly facilitating. A coach mainly asks questions and challenges the coachee. Coaching also involves a teaching, training, and/or a development process so individuals and/or teams can achieve their desired results.
Consulting provides advice in a particular area of expertise. It helps organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing organizational issues and the development of plans for their improvement. Consultants provide external objective advice and access to the consultants’ specialized expertise. Because of their exposure to and relationships with numerous organizations, consultants are also aware of “best practices.”
Consulting is an understand (the situation), tell, and do methodology. Coaching is more of an ask, guide, and monitor methodology. Consulting is a more time-consuming process because of the need for data collection through interviews, data and interview analysis, information synthesis, development of conclusions and recommendations, and reporting. Consulting has end points such as “Here are the action recommendations or here is the process,” or “We have completed system implementation or the users are trained.”
Coaching may or may not have an end point. The end point can be a specific amount of time to get the coachees to a specific point or to a point where they believe they have enough knowledge and consistency to continue on by themselves. In some cases coaching engagements can go on indefinitely. In these cases, the coach may be constantly monitoring execution by the coachee and being an accountability coach and a “brainstorming” partner. The coachee may want a part-time “partner” with whom to check progress and continue to bounce off ideas. As some advisors and teams do not have anyone with whom they can regularly discuss their business, brainstorm with, and be accountable to, a coach can be a valuable resource. The right coach will care about your practice as much as you do.
It’s important to decide what the engagement is: coaching or consulting or a combination of both. With financial advisors, a blended methodology is best (i.e., “coachulting”). The coach understands the business issues, provides advice, shares best practices, questions decisions, offers alternatives, and partners with the financial advisor, in this case, to help develop the structure and organization that their practices need to grow their businesses.
The tools and techniques discussed in this book tend toward consulting because they tend toward advice. The coaching part of an engagement helps financial advisors define those areas they and the coach believe can best serve the advisor, and the coach then works with them on how best to approach implementation. While many of the areas addressed in coaching engagements with advisors are included here, engagements are uniquely designed for each FA based on the advisor’s current situation, their wants and needs, and where they want to be at some future point in time. There are additional areas for coaching (e.g., team development) that are not discussed in this book.
While we will not focus on the mental discipline that is an important aspect of being a financial advisor, there is a story from the 2016 Olympic Games that is instructive. Like many, we were incredibly impressed with one of the world’s best athletes in her sport, Katie Ledecky. The following is from a profile of Ledecky at ESPN.com:
“What I’ve done over the past couple years has been pretty great, but even that doesn’t define my swimming,” she said. “Working hard and doing everything I can to be successful should be my identity.”
That self-portrait captures much of the big picture of a now 19-year-old who can blend intellectual curiosity with the tunnel vision to train in an unchanging environment that has little visual or aural stimulation. Pools are different, but in all of them a swimmer sees gallons of water divided by lane lines. Strength, stroke efficiency, and aerobic capacity all help make champions, but none of those is what separates Ledecky from her rivals.
“It’s not physical, it’s between the ears,” said her coach, Bruce Gemmell. “It’s the absolute, burning desire to get better, and the not being afraid of failure.”1
You can hear these themes in other amazing Olympic athletes, too. It’s how you must be an Olympic-level financial advisor.