Simple Math

"It's simple math," my business partner told me, "I have a thousand meetings a year to raise a billion dollars. So every meeting, I need to raise a million dollars."

Simple, for sure, but not easy.

I had a wonderful chat with a client of mine this afternoon who asked me to participate in a training session for him and several of his colleagues over a year. As I prepared my outline, I realized I wasn't bringing any new information to the table, just an action plan to get it done and some motivation and accountability to get started and keep going.

I broke it down into five points.

I. Holding a duel role of both serving your clients and owning your business.

You must plan your strategy for business profitability by defining your goals clearly and in a measurable way, whether it's growth in assets, revenue streams, percentage growth or some other measure. Setting a clear expectation (along with a daily checklist) will allow you to decide whether a specific action will move that goal forward or distract you from it. I find checklists particularly helpful, if for no other reason than that they can give you a sense of pointed purpose.

Time blocking is crucial, as is identifying the "energy vampires," those activities which are enjoyable but not relevant to your success. We're tempted to cloak the energy vampires under the guise that we're actually doing something productive, such as a leisurely chat with an assistant, excessive amounts of research online, scanning social networks and playing fantasy football against coworkers are all examples of things that are only good as a caveat that they're not a substitute for heavy lifting. Eight hours in an office filled with distractions isn't necessarily a full workday, especially when we're always "too busy."

As yourself, "Who is my ideal client?" If profiling feels a bit weird, fantastic or unobtainable, start with the terms you can measure. How much business can this client bring to the table, either their own or as a great source of referrals? Do they appreciate my talents as a professional? Does this relationship deliver the appropriate amount of revenue for the effort allotted?

Identifying the ideal client includes identifying who is NOT the ideal client, and in some cases would even be inappropriate to take on. I often hear financial advisers (especially those earlier in their careers) say "I'll take anybody with money!" However, I strongly caution against this blanket approach as the relationship then becomes all about you as opposed to you strategically which people your services are most appropriate for and going after them. If you offer advice, make sure your clients are committed to meeting or phoning with you periodically and aren't going to insist they know how to do your job better than you do. Few things are more annoying than somebody constantly cross-checking your advice with the latest they read in a magazine or saw on TV. Alternatively, some clients want far too much of your time relative to both their needs and the expectation they should have based on the size of their account. Finally, anybody mean or rude to your staff, partners, or anybody else you have witnessed must immediately be dismissed. Nothing is worth the harmony you share with your team.

Identifying your clients’ biggest current need can be a huge win, whether it's a spouse (or friend or child) who needs a new job, children's schools or programs that need to be financed through fundraising, or a friend or client of yours who would be a good introduction to them are all strategic ways you can place your clients' needs ahead of your own. For those who aren't naturally "connectors," leverage your most social friends or spouses. Virtually everyone has a connector in their life, and for more information about how these relationships work, I strongly recommend Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. Introductions done strategically and without a payoff in mind are worth more than about anything else you can offer. Nothing makes you come to the top of somebody's mind or conversation than by being the person who allowed them to gain entry into a new relationship with a company, significant other, or friend.

Targeted leads groups are a great example of this. While many are hosted by the Chamber of Commerce or related groups, the basic idea of a leads group is any strategic group of people who get together specifically to share introductions, generate business for one another, engage fully, show up and be present with their full suite of ideas. Members are usually limited one per industry, and members who don't show up or take the group seriously are asked to leave so another professional may have their spot. If there isn't a good local leads group, I highly recommend starting one. If you know a group of successful people, start by having a coffee round table once a week in your conference room and see how it goes. Be sure to have an agenda and start and end on time. This hint of professionalism will go a long way.

Another great opportunity is around The Cause. Fill in the blank on the thing your clients are passionate about (religion, politics, any number of worthwhile charities) and start circling around them. I had a fantastic opportunity to connect with a woman who I knew socially (we taught Sunday school together) and I helped raise some money for a foundation she was the chair of. Later, she happened to run for US Senate and I was swept into a whirlwind of the political and philanthropic who's who. While her bid was ultimately unsuccessful, I was thoroughly impressed at how small the circles become and the relatively low barrier to entry if you're just willing to show up.

II. Identifying emotional issues that go into being a small business owner

“If you can stop doing it, you should.” This is actually a great quote from David Cohen's and Brad Feld's Do More Faster, a book about tech startups. They make the case that if you don't get out of bed energized about your business, you should probably find an easier way to make money. They're certainly out there. However, the idea that when you can't NOT do something, when it's so much a part of what you're all about, you're in the best position to win because you want it enough and more than the other guy.

Everybody who's ever been in any role, but particularly in sales, faces the temptation to be busy but not productive. Jobs that can be delegated, relegated, outsourced or not done at all should be. As you define who you are (and aren't) and what you do (and don't), your clients will have a better idea of your brand. Ironically, the number one reason clients don't give referrals is because they don't know what the appropriate way, time and reason to give one is. The number two reason is because they're not asked. Number two is by far the more discussed reason, and I believe it's because it's emotionally easier. Leaving on your office voicemail (as so many do) "if you're a referral, please leave the name of the professional who referred you so I can thank them appropriately" is a subtle hint that you're expecting clients to magically pick up the ball and run with it. However, making a point to tell your clients "I specialize in helping people with their 401(k), life insurance and designing strategies to make sure they don't run out of money. If you're ever talking to your friends about the economy and you're not sure you're on track, or you get a financial statement in the mail that you don't understand, I'd love to talk to you about it. My specialty is working with people ages 45-60; however I'm happy to meet the friends of my current clients and would appreciate you keeping a couple of my cards on you" is a much different option because now your client can make the abstract more concrete.

I'm still not entirely sure what my brother does for a living- I know his title (Director of IT) and a few keywords that might trigger something. However, I'm trying to learn more about it so I can be on the lookout for who might be a good potential connection for him, and so I can speak more intelligently to people in that world. Nothing makes people feel more important than when you go out of your way to learn something unique so you can relate to them better.

What specific solutions do you offer? More importantly, which ones do you not offer? In the convoluted world of finance, someone with the title financial advisor may offer comprehensive written financial plans or not. He may trades stocks and options, sell various kinds of insurance or specialize in 401(k) plans. Perhaps he only works with retirees or women or families or executives. Maybe he's been in the business for two years or twenty, and if he's two years in, does it make a difference if he's entering finance for the first time at 25 or 45?

Professional Partnerships are an important source of marketing support and customer loyalty. Working with specific vendors will enable to know your products better, get more support from the companies, and create long term partnerships. Likewise, establish a black book of preferred businesses you've vetted will help not only promote loyalty but establish a cross-pollination of ideas and resources. Having a financial advisor who can also recommend a trustworthy realtor, mortgage broker, plumber, electrician, chiropractor and dentist is a gold mine. Having your events in the same location repeatedly will give you more standing and negotiating power and may enable you to pick up new clients.

Last, defining your exit strategy is quite empowering. Reaching a level of success where your business runs itself, it's saleable or you can work in it a few days a week are all inspirations for you to keep going. Perhaps you don't want to retire at all, but if you do leave, it will be on your terms.

III. Emotional issues that go into being a financial advisor

We all suffer from occasional call reluctance, especially if the markets are shaky, we had a bad appointment or we just can't through to anyone. I know this better than most, having made well over 300,000 phone calls in the last ten years. A better solution than switching activities before you should is to decide intentionally "my calls today aren't going the way I want them to to, therefore I will..." and fill in the blank. Staring at your phone, reading the news, checking social media, talking to your colleagues, taking a walk or an early/long lunch are all temptations, but if you start your calling session with "I have to raise $200,000 to stay on goal. I will keep dialing down a list I have prepared until I find it, or for two hours, whichever comes first" is a much more impactful decision because it puts you in the driver's seat.

From time to time, we must fire clients. Perhaps they have changed, but more likely, you have. Your business has grown, you're more profitable and more in demand with less time and more clients who still expect you to treat them like the royalty they were in your business however long ago you picked them up. This is painful. Advisers often tell me "yeah, but he's been with me for so long..." or "she should probably go, but is such a nice lady..." I don't advocate cutting people out of your life because they're not appropriate to do business with anymore, but I do advocate putting a price on your business time. If a client with a $5,000 IRA requires one hour-long check in a year, it's probably not a big deal if you want to keep him. However, if you have lots of those clients and each one requires prep work, it's going to start cannibalizing large amounts of time. Further, if your relationship is that brittle, a better use of your time would probably be to find a $50,000 client who wants that same hour, or better still a $500,000 client who wants two one-hour meetings/year. As you can see, the scalability of the dollars doesn't necessarily mean the strategy should be exponentially more complicated or require significant amounts more work. If your business is standardized, you work with preferred vendors and you keep your variations to a minimum, you can easily stay on top of everything. When you spread yourself too thin, you get in trouble for having too much research time and not enough client time. Only one of those two things is going to make you any money.

Cloning your top clients is critical, not only because it means you've identified who they are and what you like about them, it will enable you to have a vast number of resources to draw from and to feed into. Think of yourself as having a stable of thoroughbreds. Asking for referrals will feel much more natural but may be unnecessary as you continue to connect people and constantly show them you're out for their good.

Leveraging social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook are the most common but there are almost 4,000 social networking sites and that number keeps growing) is a great way to connect with your clients, find relevant articles to share with them, develop an online brand and have an organized, strategic way to stay on top of your contacts.

"Goals are dreams with deadlines" is a helpful way to think about your clients. Nobody wants to own an IRA or a life insurance policy- it's simply a tool to accomplish the things you do want. By focusing on the big dream and making into an end goal with an action plan, you're likely to close bigger sales as people feel more connected to you.

The joy of anonymous NO is the phenomenon a response to my finding that most salespeople truly want people to like them as much as they want them to buy their product. (I know I do.) It's validation that your ideas are good and you've made an impact on them that moves your clients to action. In some ways, it's easier to cold call than to ask someone you know and trust to give you a referral because they might say no and NO is personal. However, if you've build the relationship correctly and allowed your client to win first, NO is almost an unacceptable answer (for you or for them).

IV. Reading

I could go on for a thousand pages about all the great business and personal books I've read, but if I had to narrow it down to just a few, I'd start with the The E-Myth. This is a resource for why so many small businesses fail and the particular pitfalls associated with them. Next, John Maxwell's The 360* Leader is a reminder that all of your clients can be a leader in their companies, their churches, and their charitable or political work. Leadership isn't about a title, it's about a mindset that commands influence. In every market, the most strategic people make money. In The Upside of the Downturn, we examine how that looks today, and what it might look like the next time we have a major correction. Michael Lewis' The Big Short is a great education on the bond market and an interesting story. It's a reminder that before the markets are anything else, they are people making decisions. It can also be a great tool to talk to your clients about why risk is good, but only in the appropriate doses. Do More Faster (which I mentioned earlier in this post) is inspiring because it talks about how to go for it (and, sometimes, you're going to fall on your face) but it makes you realize everything is possible. Job security is a thing of the past and technology is moving at lightning speed, so why not dream big and think about your own business? And Penelope Burk's Donor Centered Fundraising is a wonderful resource for anybody interested in philanthropy. So much can be gained by focusing on a cause you love, not only for the good you're doing, but all the people you'll meet and opportunities you'll have.

V. Work Life Balance

Finally, work life balance is critical. Go to the movies, take your kids for ice cream, read a book just for fun. Work shouldn't be something you either need to escape from or that you let consume you, but should be a complement to the life you're designing.

Coffee with Coffman

Tonight, from 7 pm to 8:30, I had a unique opportunity in the world. I got to sit in a circle of chairs with my representative to the United States Congress, Mike Coffman (CD-6), and listen as we was peppered with questions from young people, a handful not even old enough to vote. There were business owners there, soccer moms, people concerned about the economy and national security and the debt. We asked him about his thoughts on everything from radical Islam to gay marriage. He was straight forward, and unapologetic. He listened. A few people took notes.

I thought about what was going on in the rest of the world at that moment. No country but ours has equal access to their leaders. Far t0o many of them still have women in chains, a formal or informal caste system that locks people into a tiny number of choices, and a lack of the most basic tools they need to function. But mostly what I am profoundly grateful for about our great nation is accountability, flexibility and the willingness to change.

I often hear gripes about the same leaders promising the same things with no discernible difference between Republicans and Democrats. I find this astounding. Surely there was a difference George Washington and Richard Nixon. Or between Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. If John F. Kennedy were alive today, he would probably be a Republican (based on his stances and voting record) and the hero of the Republican party, Abraham Lincoln, actually looked more like a Democrat. Society is finally starting to understand that the founding fathers wanted restrictions on activist judges and wanted our lawmakers to disclose and discuss their plans.

Budgets aren't made by Presidents (although he gets to set part of the agenda and will take almost all the blame from everybody who doesn't like what is and isn't getting funded). I got to check off all kinds of names on my ballot- state and county officials as well as federal, issues, mandates, tax and legal rights issues. We have a State Secretary of State (who guarantees free and fair elections, although I did have to convince one woman his role was indeed NOT to handle Colorado's numerous foreign relationships) and a State Treasurer (who will decide a few little things like where we're going to invest the 19 billion dollars passing through the coffers this year.

I get a voice in all kinds of things like whether I want to pay more taxes for the programs they're going to fund. Congressman Coffman made an interesting point that raising taxes and cutting crucial benefits aren't mutually exclusive, and told a story that when he was the State Treasurer he made an emergency loan to a failing school on the condition that he be allowed to take control of their books until the loan was repaid. According to him, without cutting a single teacher or changing teacher/student ratios, he was able to axe out 45% of their administrative and overhead costs and get their budget back in line.

The two congressional candidates in the districts next door have similar plans. In CD-7, small business owner and city councilman Ryan Frazier talks about a different kind of stimulus package. The Fed is paying above market interest rates for banks keeping deposits over and above their required legal minimums, which means that money is doing nothing for the economy and costing the government even more interest as we pay them to hold it. He proposes we lower the rate to zero, to encourage them to earn a superior return on it through loans or by investing in businesses. In CD-1, Dr. Mike Fallon talks about bringing both his medical and business expertise to the issue of health care, particularly what the transfer of patients who appropriately belong in an Urgent Care facility not a fully staffed emergency room and the elimination of fraud in Medicare and other government programs would do to the costs.

A small business owner is in the best position to talk about how to "reopen Colorado for business" and a practicing emergency room physician may just be "the cure for Congress."

One thing for sure, your leaders want to meet you. I've heard many excuses from people who yell at their TV's but won't get off the couch, everything from "they don't care unless you have a check in hand" (not true) to "I'm just way too busy" (also something I have a hard time believing).

So today, this week, get to it- go to a rally, call, email, find them on Facebook. Learn what your leaders are doing, saying and thinking about. Find out how they actually voted, don't take the word of a friend or a commercial.

To quote the rallying cry of patriots everywhere: "Freedom isn't free. Just ask any soldier."