I have noticed that some of the advisors we coach get "wrapped around the axle" when a prospect doesn't respond the way they hoped or a client doesn't behave the way they would like. Does this ever happen to you? This is not productive and decreases future productivity because it can cause you to be tentative the next time you approach a prospect or a client.

This mistake is akin to the tennis player or golfer who can't get over a bad shot. You've seen this scenario unfold before: player hits bad shot, player smacks club or racket on the ground, player stews over it and carries negative emotions to next shot, and player proceeds to hit several more bad shots, thereby making a bad situation worse; sometimes resulting in a really bad outcome. The best professional tennis players and golfers learn to quickly put their bad shots behind them. They learn to let it go. What about you? Can you let it go?

The key lesson here is that your success or failure NEVER hinges on the decision of one potential or existing client of any kind or any size. Your success or failure hinges on your daily habits. Take a look at your habits for Client Acquisition activities, for example. So... how many referral conversations did you have today? How many self-referral conversations did you have today? How many follow-up calls did you make today? How many phone or face-to-face appointments did you conduct today? How many phone or face-to-face appointments did you schedule today for the future? Imagine what will happen to your skill and confidence when you like the answers to all of these questions!

What would happen if most work days you engaged in the right amount of client acquisition activity? What if you did this on the days when people are responding positively to you and on the days when they aren't? What if you didn't let the inevitable negative responses deter you from doing what will lead to getting your next Ideal Client?

You can't eliminate bad outcomes, but you can learn to let it go. The best way to let it go is to take the next action that moves you in the direction of your goals. This is what mature professionals learn to do.

If you want to be in control of your own destiny and not at the mercy of whether or not a few individuals struggle to make decisions about hiring you or referring you, learn to let it go.

Make it a great year!









Bill Bachrach, CSP, CPAE (Speaker Hall of Fame)
Chairman & CEO; Bachrach & Associates, Inc.
Author: Values-Based Financial Planning & High Trust Leadership

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Contact Anne Bachrach at the Financial Services Speakers Network at anne@fsspeakers.net to schedule Bill Bachrach to speak at your next meeting or conference.

What keeps you up at night? Is it worrying about bills, money, how to grow your business and where to get new clients? Or, do you worry about your clients' lives and whether they are making consistent and regular progress toward each of their life and financial goals?

The irony of focusing on your financial problems and goals is that by focusing on your goals rather than your clients' goals, you are creating your own financial problems. By simply shifting your focus to put your clients' needs first, you will solve all of your own financial issues.

Clients know when you are putting their needs first. They know when you are fully present with them and concerned only about them and their issues. They perceive on an unconscious level what your priorities are. They can see your values in action. They can feel whether you genuinely care.

The cure for self-focus disease is very simple. Every day, select a client from your Ideal Client list and ask yourself what you could do today to move their personal or financial goals forward. What could you do that would be above and beyond their expectations? What could you do today to ensure that your client will be one step closer to their Ideal Life by the end of the day?

Next schedule time in your calendar to do what you need to do to make sure they will make significant progress on one of their goals. It may be something you can do on your own or it may be something requiring collaboration with your Ideal Client. If so, be sure to allow ample time for your conversation to ensure that they get the full benefit of your best efforts. Be fully present and think only about them and what you can do to help them achieve their Ideal Life.

Do this each day for your Ideal Clients and you will soon discover three things. First, your Ideal Clients will achieve their goals faster which will make them and you feel very satisfied and fulfilled. Second, they will refer others to you, not just because they like you, but because you helped them accomplish their goals, which makes for a MUCH MORE POWERFUL REFERRAL! Third, you will discover that your financial concerns are disappearing as your business grows ever more rapidly with new Ideal Clients. By putting your clients first, you will have accomplished all of YOUR personal and financial goals.

Being truly client focused really shouldn't be considered a secret, but apparently it is, because most financial services clients report feeling that their advisor doesn't really put their needs first and that they really don't trust their financial advisor as much as they wish they could. Of course, those are other advisors clients, right? None of your clients would ever say that about you, would they? Right now, you can take action to ensure that none of your Ideal Clients ever will. The question of the moment is which client will you focus on first?

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In addition to being on the faculty for the Values-Based Financial Planning™ Turn-Key Business Model, Rick Barrera is a nationally acclaimed marketing consultant and author, known throughout the Fortune 500 for his extraordinary speaking ability and his unique approach to brand building.

His consulting focuses on helping companies design unique client experiences that drive high levels of referrals. Rick's research on the strategies used by breakthrough brands like Apple, American Girl, Starbucks, Chico's, Lexus, Tivo, and Google will change your thinking about marketing forever.

His financial services client list includes Ameriprise, Charles Schwab, Financial Planning Association, First Data, First Global, Fisher Investments, Financial Times, H&R Block, ING, J.D. Edwards & Company, John Hancock, Raymond James, Smith Barney and Wells Fargo. His book, Overpromise and Overdeliver: How to Design and Deliver Extraordinary Customer Experiences is both a Wall Street Journal and Business Week bestseller. He works with BAI advisors to accelerate the pace at which they achieve their Ideal Lives.

You don't need anyone to tell you that the world is undergoing many changes right now, that's pretty obvious. What may not be so obvious is your ability to adapt to the changes that are necessary for your business to survive and thrive in this changing market. How do you set yourself up for success when global changes are affecting the future of your business? You find out where the change is headed and adapt to meet the coming demand.

Hypothetically, you could resist changes in the market and stand stubbornly in your comfort zone. The major drawback to that option would be that you would probably be sinking in quicksand – and taking your business with you.

It is important for everyone to embrace change. The ability to adapt to change, and even welcome it, is absolutely essential to the success of your business and life. What happens when you fight change? That's pretty simple; instead of embracing change and adapting to it, you spent hours of energy resisting it – only to have to surrender to it in the end. The fight didn't make it any easier, nor did it prevent the change from occurring. So why waste all the time and emotional energy to fight something that is inevitable?

Let's take a look at what happens when you embrace change.

1. You may uncover a problem you didn't know existed

It's easy to become complacent when things seem to be going well, and put the blinders on when everything around you is stuck in a rut. When you deal with the same pattern, over and over again, you lose perspective of what is working and what isn't working. Continually having a healthy perspective and a finger on the pulse of your business is very valuable and important.

As an Advisor, it is essential that you are running your business with the greatest efficiency and profit. If you don't know what your big money maker is or if you're marketing plan doesn't have a successful ROI, you've got a problem. Research is what drives other successful businesses and helps you accomplish the goals you have in sight. Identify what works and then copy that model to your own business. Change and improve what isn't working and you'll be setting your business up for success. In addition, take a forward-thinking approach to your industry to anticipate changes that can affect you, and be willing to modify and adjust quickly if needed.

2. The easy part is integration and adaptation

Many Advisors resist change for the simple reason they are fearful of pain or the outcome. The truth is that once you get past the resistance, integration and adaptation are easy. As humans, we are inherently creative and that allows us to adapt much more easily than we presume upon first perception. Remind yourself that you will have a much tougher go at change if you choose to fight it. Embracing it merely employs your inherent ability to adapt to a changing environment. Apply that creativity to your business, and you'll find that it is much more flexible than you initially thought.

As an Advisor, you have an enormous advantage over larger organizations in your industry, simply because it is more difficult for them to change or adapt quickly. While large organizations are struggling to adjust quickly to meet unexpected change, you can use their lag time to your advantage, and make changes quickly, to increase revenue and gain positive exposure.

3. Make room for more success

Your success only expands as far as you expand. Change allows you to grow and expand your perceptions, beliefs and performance – and that's what you want because your success will come in direct proportion. In order to make room for the new, you must do away with the old. Look at embracing change as your opportunity to embrace the success you have always desired.

Of course, you could also look at it another way. For every piece of resistance that you put up against change, you are also resisting a piece of your success. Don't let limiting beliefs hold you back for fear of the unknown. Think – what's the worst that can happen? More times than not change will have a very positive outcome in your business. Now what do you think about embracing change?

4. You may get more of what you want and release what you don't want

Here's a popular quote that sums it all up, "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." - W.L. Bateman

If you want different results, you are going to have to do things differently - even if they're a little uncomfortable. If you don't like what you've been getting, then change what you're doing. Living this principle is one of the greatest opportunities to learn what happens when you embrace change by welcoming what you want and releasing what you don't want.

Change can sometimes be scary, but it really is the key to ultimate success both in life and in business. What are you really afraid of anyway? It may not always feel comfortable, but the more willing you are to embrace change, the less painful it usually is and the more success you will experience. There is no single key to overcoming the anxiety you may feel when embracing change. The important thing to remember is that there are very exciting results waiting for you on the other side, you just need to embrace change with a welcome mat. In the words of one of my clients, "Put your big girl/boy pants on, suck it up and deal with it."

© Anne M. Bachrach. All rights reserved.

In addition to being on the faculty for the Values-Based Financial Planning™ Turn-Key Business Model, Anne M. Bachrach is the author of Excuses Don't Count; Results Rule, and recently published book Live Life with No Regrets: How the Choices We Make Impact Our Lives. She has 23 years of experience training and coaching. Anne helps financial professionals keep and get more clients while maintaining balance in their life. Through her proven systems, she inspires Advisors to stay focused and take action on the highest pay-off activities that lead to their ultimate professional and personal success. Take advantage of the many complimentary resources on her website: www.accountabilitycoach.com, or go to: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/landing/ and immediately receive 3 free gifts. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you're looking for a cost-effective way to help you stay focused and gain a competitive advantage to achieving your goals in any economy, Click Here to learn more about joining Anne Bachrach's 90-Day Goal Achievement Group.

For years our research has shown that the vast majority of Ideal Clients select their Trusted Advisors by referral from other clients who are happy. A far distant second are those Ideal Clients who select their Trusted Advisor through a referral from professionals, such as accountants or attorneys. Your Client Acquisition Activity, high-payoff time is best invested on the phone or face-to-face- with your current Ideal Clients for the purpose of being introduced to others who meet your Ideal Client Profile, rather than spending time cultivating relationships with accountants, attorneys, and other financial professionals. Without wasting space here expounding on the obvious, let's just agree that the research backs up the notion that the vast majority of your future Ideal Clients will find you through a referral from another individual, whom they respect, and who is currently working with you.

As such, your Potential Ideal Clients will often want to speak with a few of your existing Ideal Clients seeking their endorsement of you and the value you provide, a reference list. So here's the question; what's the state of your current Ideal Client Reference List?

Let's back up and think about when this list of Ideal Client references is most likely to be requested. The stronger the referral, the less important speaking to Ideal Client references becomes. In other words, let's say, for example, a small business owner is told by a much larger business owner friend & long-time mentor, "You should call my Trusted Advisor and see about working together". In such a case it would not be surprising for that small business owner to feel a list of additional references is unnecessary given the fact that a person they respect tremendously, who has a larger and more complicated financial situation, is insisting that their own advisor should be hired. Let's say, however, that same small business owner is recommended to you, as Trusted Advisor, by a neighbor they met recently at a backyard barbeque. None of us would be shocked if this Potential Ideal Client, after having an initial meeting with you, might ask to speak with a few of your clients.

Before inviting an Ideal Client onto your list of references, be certain what they will say. The following exercise will help your overall referral process and may, itself, increase the number of referrals you receive. During the next client progress meeting with every Ideal Client, ask each the following;"What value do you feel this relationship is adding to your life, both personally and professionally?" For some clients, the words will come easily and for others you may have to re-state, clarify, or otherwise help them articulate what they are feeling in response to that question. For those clients who can communicate your value and who seem enthusiastic about their relationship with you, invite them onto your list of Ideal Client References and encourage them to restate what they just described for you. You should document the value they express and also ask, "May I quote you on that?"

Let's talk about the list itself. Consider offering no more than three names to Potential Ideal Clients at a time, but be prepared to provide more if you have them, so that your Potential Ideal Client has several to choose from, but isn't overwhelmed by the number of folks to call. Limit the list to Ideal Clients, if you have them, and only add Non-Ideal Clients if you have no other alternative. Always ask permission before adding an Ideal Client to your list of references and rotate the list so that you're not over-burdening the same Ideal Clients with these calls from Potential Ideal Clients. Have the reference list of three Ideal Clients in the file the very first time you meet with any Potential Ideal Client; your preparedness will impress and will also showcase your confidence.

Call your existing Ideal Client every time their name is provided as a reference. Remind them that they agreed to be on the list and that you just gave their name out. Let them know the name of the person who may be calling and provide a very brief background. Share nothing confidential, but rather describe how you feel your client can help this person come to a decision, one way or the other. Assuming it's true, make it clear why you feel this Potential Ideal Client would be a good-fit and a nice addition to the Ideal Client Community but that you are not asking for a sales pitch from your Ideal Clients; rather, you are wanting your Ideal Clients to accurately describe the value of the relationship so that this Potential Ideal Client can make the best decision. Finally, review with your Ideal Client how they might describe the value they are experiencing from the relationship with you. If necessary, review your past notes and remind them of what they've articulated before regarding the value they feel they are receiving from you and your team.

Remember that to receive more referrals you need to become more referable. By having an organized and systematic process for establishing and maintaining your list of Ideal Client References you will improve your referral efforts and become even more referable than you are right now.
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In addition to being on the faculty for the Values-Based Financial Planning™ Turn-Key Business Model, Mark McKenna Little has served his clients as a financial advisor since 1987 and, since 2002, has helped other advisors to deliver comprehensive financial services at the highest levels.

Sign-up at http://trustedadvisortoolkit.com/ for The Kate Wilson Full Case-study at no charge to learn what a successful advisor did the first 30 days after making the decision to deliver comprehensive financial services through a team of experts..

According to the February 2011 issue of TIME Magazine, a group of accomplished scientists and futurists are predicting that mankind is rushing toward an event horizon called The Singularity. By this time, they claim, the human species will have the technological capacity to somehow merge with computers to literally become "immortal".

Lunacy? Maybe, but it looks as though many of us will be around to see whether it all pans out, since Singularity experts say it'll be a done deal by about 2045. Says Verner Vinge, author of the book The Coming Technological Singularity, "Within 30 years we will have the means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended."

Typical reactions to this type of pronouncement range from disbelief to visceral sensations of alarm. Who do these people think they are? Mad scientists run amuck? Super-sized egos playing God? Are they actively working to make humanity irrelevant, by replacing us with machines they believe are superior?

In my view, science is proceeding not because it should, but because it can. Researchers flatly declare that technology cannot be stopped; if they don't advance these concepts on behalf of humanity, others with less benevolent intentions will. The thought of this kind of capability, in the hands of Ego, is quite frightening; the creation of Cylons, Terminators, Borgs and our worst nightmares could be just around the corner.

I would argue that a better approach to finally unleashing the full potential of humankind is not by using artificial means, but rather, through raising the consciousness of humanity itself and helping us to achieve our natural potential. To help human beings mature and gain the wisdom necessary to meet the great challenges of our time, we'll need to not only survive, but to thrive and prosper. To succeed, it means that we must consciously decide, individually, as well as collectively, what we truly want for our lives, our children, and our future. And then stay true to our word.

Sound easy? Then what stops us?

In my work with Financial Advisors, I've observed that, by far, the biggest obstacle to individuals and organizations achieving their goals is their inability to stay focused and follow through on what they declare they want. Ironic, isn't it, that the goals we say we want to reach, the dreams we dearly yearn to attain, are what we tend to self-sabotage the most.

Energy always follows focus. This is a universal truth. Yet individually and collectively, we human beings allow our energy to be dissipated by external and internal distractions to the point where we become ineffective in our lives, our relationships and our endeavors.

Think about it. As a Financial Advisor, what is your #1 goal, your heartfelt dream? Then consider. How much "noise" do you have in your life that distracts, delays and slowly, insidiously wiggles its way between what you hope to achieve and what you actually complete each day? How many shifting priorities come at you from all sides? Massive distractions like war, politics and economic instability cause disruption on a global scale. Lesser distractions derail us just as easily from within our immediate spheres, like workplace politics, interpersonal conflict, traffic delays or simply getting hooked by the next e-mail, text message, phone call or news broadcast. But the things that really paralyze us come from inside our own psyche, like feelings of overwhelm, fear, anger, depression, inadequacy and stress.

Experts say that the level of harmful stress that the average person lives with is growing exponentially; our fight or flight responses are now triggered primarily by imagined or internalized threats rather than genuine peril from our environment. In ages past, our ancestors had to run from dangerous predators. But today we are unconsciously running from intangibles every moment of every day, while supplements like caffeine help keep the adrenaline flowing constantly – interrupted briefly by inadequate periods of sleep.

Of course, lack of focus and follow-through is a stumbling block for all of humanity, not just Financial Advisors. Our species, through its curious mix of politics, economics and greed, has led us to focus on the symptom rather than the cure. (After all, how much more economically viable do you think it is to treat a symptom than a cure? You get the picture.) So when faced with an issue, people are well conditioned to pile on more activities and layers of distraction in a futile attempt to make the symptoms go away. In this example, stress is a symptom – so why not sign up for classes and activities designed to provide stress relief? A calendar of unfulfilled commitments is a symptom, so let's add a workshop and some audio CDs on time management. A life or career that is unfulfilling is a symptom, so let's start looking into the next big network marketing idea that's supposed to put us on the road to multiple streams of income.

Now, I don't have anything against relaxation, time management or multiple streams of income — IF they are an integral part of you fulfilling your true Destiny and playing your Game Worth Playing.

So let's just skip the symptoms and start working on the cure. What is your Purpose? Your Passion? Your Game Worth Playing? Articulate that, clearly and succinctly, and all other priorities and decisions fall much more easily into place. If you already have clarity on this foundational step, congratulations! You can advance to the next stage and focus on gaining personal Mastery, which will be my topic next month.

Very few of us are likely to change the course of human events by pioneering a breakthrough in artificial intelligence. But all of us can work toward unleashing humanity's true potential the natural way, beginning with ourselves. We have the tools, the technology, the experience and the teachers to help us uncover and unleash our own Purpose and Passion in life.

So how many of you want to come along with me in ushering a kind of Singularity of our own? I believe, through clarity of Purpose and Self-Mastery, we can truly experience ourselves as powerful, effective, loving Humans Being fulfilled, not just Humans Doing the same things over and over again expecting a different outcome.

And a planet filled with humans Being their potential, my friends, is a future that machines can only dream of.

In addition to being on the faculty for the Values-Based Financial Planning™ Turn-Key Business Model, Tom Voccola is an Entrepreneur, speaker, author and CEO Guide, and the CEO of CEO2, a Chief Executive Consulting Firm specializing in the rapid transformation of corporate and organizational cultures. Tom is the author of "The Accidental CEO – A Leader’s Journey from Ego to Purpose". His life's work is to inspire a new generation of leaders who transcend ego and its fear based agenda. His work gives executives immediate and authentic access to new levels of power, influence, and freedom within their organizations.

The Trusted Financial Advisor (tm)
ISSN 1543-432X
A monthly publication dedicated to helping transform the financial services industry from salespeople to Trusted Advisors. Bachrach and Associates, Inc.

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