I don't know if you caught my previous edition of The RARE Advisor, but I was excited to announce that we have a new, free report called the 'Advisor's 12-Step Reset for Predictable Growth, Value & Lifestyle'. It's a smooth, 12-step process that I've uncovered and discovered over my 35+ year journey in this industry. And it's designed to generate a predictable practice with automated revenue and lifetime rewards.
We also talked on the previous edition of The RARE Advisor about adding tangibility to your intangible practice. One of the ways to do that is through systems and processes; to list them out and name them as if they're on a menu. And then to have something that an investor or consumer or prospect can kind of wrap their mind around, and create a tangible environment inside of this intangible industry. One of the most important spots to do this is with your appointment process.
You should have a true process for appointments. Don't just slap backs, shake hands, and smile and hope that eventually somebody is going to do business with you. Walk them through a process. And most importantly, that process needs to have some form of call to action. Specifically, what I would call a fork in the road. Yogi Berra very famously said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." We want to create a fork in the road, and here we do that on the second appointment. Now, you need to determine what's going to work best for you. This just happens to be how we like to run appointments: we have a pre-appointment, first appointment, second, third, fourth, and then literally bring them in with a new client welcome process. And that kicks off a whole other process for onboarding. But, by having this process, I now can create agendas based on the appointment. The clients know that in the first appointment there is an agenda of things that we're going to hit during that meeting. And in the second appointment there is an agenda.
Now, as I mentioned, I'm going to create a fork in the road at the end of the second appointment. I know that these clients are either going to become a client of the firm (because they will benefit from the systems, the processes, and what what it is that we do), or they're going to walk away and talk nicely about me. But if they walk, I'm not going to waste any more time with them. I'm not going to have marathon sets of appointments with someone who's never going to become a client of the firm. We take care of that right there at the second appointment. That's huge. And then from there, we start getting into design. We're not selling products and performance, we're selling the philosophies and the planning because if they adhere to my planning process, I can weather any kind of performance storm that might come at me. If I sell performance, I'm going to die by the same sword - I'm going to die by performance. So, it's very important to have workflows built all over your business and this is a primary one because it is how you bring clients into your firm.
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The RARE Advisor is a business model supercharged by Recurring And Repeatable Events. With more than thirty years of working with and coaching successful advisors, host Mike Walters (along with other leaders in the industry), discusses what it takes to grow a successful practice. With the aim of helping financial professionals and financial advisors take their business to the next level, Mike Walters shares insights and success stories that make a real impact. Regardless of the stage of your practice, The RARE Advisor will provide thoughtful guidance, suggestions for developing systems and processes that work, and ideas for creating an authentic experience for your clients.
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