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Removing Your Roadblocks   |   May 2007
3390 Readers


Welcome to the May 15th, 2007 E-Newsletter. 

This edition of the E-Newsletter includes:


Financial Advisor, Monkey Or Frog – Which One Are You?

 Given that we have hundreds of new E-Newsletter Readers because we have spoken at the Independent Financial Brokers Association and Pro-Seminars Events in Vancouver, Richmond, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and London I am taking the liberty to include links into our Web Site that will add more value to our Removing Your Roadblocks To Your Success Speaking Presentation ...

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Financial Advisor, Monkey Or Frog – Which One Are You?


Most Financial Advisors Don’t Invest In Their Education

I’m reflecting on the comment made to me at a Financial Advisor Educational Event that “most Financial Advisors don’t invest in their education and will only participate in their education if it is given to them for free”.

This is very sad as there is so much value that Financial Advisors can give back to human kind as it is said that two in ten baby boomers have a Financial Advisor which brings me back to the question, Are you a Financial Advisor, a Financial Monkey or a Financial Frog?

I’ll expand on my idea of Financial Advisors, Monkeys and Frogs later on in this e-newsletter, but first I want to expand on the idea of “their education” and here in lies a conundrum.

Professional, Personal & Product Development

To be specific, when I talk about “their education”, this can mean a number of different things:

Let’s take a look at the individual meanings offered by Wikipedia,

This definition identifies a conundrum. It is no wonder that the following comment was made to me at a Financial Advisor Educational Event, “most Financial Advisors don’t invest in their education and will only participate in their education if it is given to them for free”.

Take a look at the last line of the definition of “Professional Development”

Most Financial Advisors, or Financial Monkeys, or Financial Frogs were introduced to the Financial Advisor Industry by a large corporation or institution. They were lulled into thinking that they were employees and received their training for free, when all the while they were really an entrepreneur. In essence, putting little or no value on “their education”.

This was further compounded because they received a concentrated amount of training in their first year creating a pattern of dependency on the large corporation or institution. If they were not careful, they could easily set themselves up to be victims of their own limiting beliefs when the initiation period ended along with their start up training.

When the initiation training ended, the Financial Advisor either adopted a belief of, “if it is going to be, it is up to me” and they went out and continued to invest in “their” own Professional, Personal or Product Development and they grew and became successful. Or the Financial Advisor fell victim to their own limiting beliefs of something like, “I gave the company everything and the company took and took and took from me and now they will not give me the time of day – whoa is me”. Consequently, their outcome was limited growth and mediocre success.

Let’s take a look at the definition of Personal Development courtesy of Wikipedia.

The term self-help can refer to any case or practice whereby an individual or a group attempts self-guided improvement - economically, intellectually or emotionally. The basis for self-help is often self-reliance, publicly available information, or support groups where people with similar problems join together.

It is no accident that if you search Wikipedia for “Personal Development” the definition comes up for “Self Help” which segues back to the expression of, “if it is going to be it is up to me”.

This reminds me of an expression from years ago, “great salespeople don’t wait for sales goals to be handed down from the top, they hand them up to the top”.

So when one looks at the terms Professional & Personal Development one has to consider that the “self” has a tremendous amount to do with it along with “self commitment”.

Now let’s look at the definition of Product Development.

In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. There are two parallel paths involved in the NPD process : one involves the idea generation, product design, and detail engineering ; the other involves market research and marketing analysis. Companies typically see new product development as the first stage in generating and commercializing new products within the overall strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain or grow their market share.

Step 3 of Product Life Cycle Management includes Public Awareness and this is where Financial Advisors unconsciously trick them selves into thinking that the Product Seminars that they are attending are actually Professional and Personal Development Seminars when they are not.

With respect to the companies that are offering seminars and workshops to introduce and train Financial Advisors about their products, these are Product Seminars and Financial Advisors are lulling themselves into beliefs that, “I don’t need another seminar”, when in fact, this is the furthest thing from the truth.

Why do I say this?

How many of the following questions do you answer yes to?

When is the last time that you fully participated in a Professional or Personal Development Workshop that was about yourSelf and not about a Product?

Do you even care to answer?
Again, this segues back to the comment that, “if it is going to be it is up to me”.

As so often is the case when you are on a journey of self-remembering, a teacher appears before the seeker. In this particular case, my teacher appeared in the form of Simon Reilly, a person located on the other side of the world.

Whilst I was extremely circumspect about engaging someone I had never met, the subsequent two months proved to be enlightening beyond my wildest expectations. The material, process & guidance provided by Simon facilitated a period of intense self-examination & transition.

The process, whilst challenging & emotional, provided me with tools to step through to the other side of my fears & achieve great strides in remembering my authentic self.

For this I will be eternally thankful.

Keith Wright
Director
Pateley Pty Ltd, AUSTRALIA


 10% Make Something Happen, 20% Will Have Something Happen And 70% Will Not Know Anything Happened

I am sure that you have heard:

Are you waiting for something to happen in your Financial Advisor Business or are you making something happen?

Financial Advisors often tell me that they find it difficult to get started with creating a vision and business plan, which is the first step to making something happen, that will create long lasting and sustainable change.

The reason that this is difficult is because Financial Advisors have forgotten all of the good things that they have created.

Hi Simon,

Thanks to you for taking time out of your busy seminar schedule to deliver your presentation in Regina. I really enjoyed your presentation, as I felt that you delivered material that was applicable to both new agents and seasoned agents. As for me personally, I liked that you spoke about the steps to building a foundation for your business. In addition, I enjoyed hearing your personal stories, as I try to use personal stories during my presentations to the Reps that I work with in the field. As for what I received that I did not expect, was how much information that you have gathered and the scientific research that you have done on the financial services industry. Best wishes for your continued success!

Regards,

Jeffrey M. Locke, BA, MBA, CFP, CLU, RHU
Programs and PD Days Chair, Advocis, S. Sask. (2007)
Life Marketing Specialist (Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta)
The CUMIS Group Limited
Regina, SK
e-mail: jeff.locke @ cumis.com


 The First Step To Inspiring Yourself

The first step to inspiring yourself to create a sustainable vision and business plan is to take about an hour of uninterrupted time and make a list of all of the successes that you have created over the past 12 months in all areas of both your business and personal lives.

Making a list of all of the successes will get you associated to the value that you have created and remind you of the energy and feelings that your actions created for your team, your clients, your family and yourself. This will inspire you to take the next steps for the upcoming year. Making a list of all of your successes is the first step in a series of steps that I use to help my clients to inspire themselves. This helps associate them to the compelling reasons why they became a Financial Advisor in the first place.


 Survey Results

This brings me to an ad hoc blind survey that I just introduced at the last two Financial Advisor Public Speaking Events that I had the pleasure to speak at:

I introduced the following survey questions as a next step and to help Financial Advisors become associated to the compelling reasons why they became a Financial Advisor in the first place.

Here are the numeric results of the survey. Please keep in mind that this survey is not scientific and the Pro-Seminars Presentation was 45 minutes and the minutes.

Pro-Seminars – Vancouver, BC, May 7, 2007

# Attendees 69
# Requesting Free E-Newsletter 14
Response % 20%
   
# Requesting Interest In A Conversation To Become A Client 0
Response % 0%
   
# Responded To Survey Questions 11%
Response % 16%

Advocis – S. Saskatchewan Chapter, Regina, SK, May 10, 2007

# Attendees 105
# Requesting Free E-Newsletter 6
Response % 6%
   
# Requesting Interest In A Conversation To Become A Client 5
Response % 5%
   
# Responded To Survey Questions 5%
Response % 5%

(Note: It appears that the longer the presentation, the higher percentage of the audience requesting Interest In A Conversation To Become A Client.)

What amazes me is when I look at the testimonials that we received as a result of the audiences’ experience of our presentation (and one would have to expect that the majority are receiving value) the % response to the following questions that we asked are not very high:

(You can read all of the responses to the above survey questions at the end of the E-Newsletter.)

Testimonials from Advocis Durham Chapter - Oshawa, ON – May 17, 2007
 


“Energy, edge”

“The passion – cutting to the root of the problem. Simplicity.”

“Your energy and passion. Concept of unmet needs of approval – determine your values.”

“Inspired to continue to plan and expand with business with my 3 assistants and hire a sub-agent to help. Motivated – plan more quarterly than just annual and long-term.”

“Perspective! Insight to where I can go and value – I need to build.”

“Very alive and communicative – some excellent ideas I can use immediately.”

“Reinforce what you need to do to be successful.”

“High energy – vision – passion for the business and how to take this to the client by asking tough questions.”

“Just do it. Make an appointment with yourself. Top 20 clients. Be accountable for your actions.”

“Enthusiasm, content. The concept of unmet needs and roadblocks.”

“I liked the part where you talked about self-awareness and the value you can bring to the clients. I loved your presentation.”

“Great ideas. Enjoyed your presentation – well done.”
 

Then again, the response ratio of 16 responses from 174 attendees equals 9%. This aligns with the 80/20 Rule, or what is known as the Pareto Principal. Especially if you consider that the Rule has advanced to the 10/90 Rule in the new Millennium, given that 10% of Financial Advisors likely manage 90% of the wealth.

What stands out to me are a couple of things.

A 9% Response To Our Survey Questions aligns with:

As I write this, I’m reminded that we are either living our own values, vision and plan or we are living someone else’s.

Which category do you fall into?

Hello Simon,

Thanks again for coming out to speak at our event, and for the brief conversation that we had following your presentation.

What I liked about the presentation was the amount of energy and passion you displayed. As per our conversation, I felt it really hit the nail on the head with the "road blocks" I and others encounter. A lot made sense after I heard your whole presentation.

I was very impressed with the presentation.

Thanks, and look forward to speaking with you soon.

Steven Bakouris Programs and PD Days Chair, Advocis, S. Sask. (2007)
Financial Security Advisor
Freedom 55 Financial
Regina, Saskatchewan
Steven.Bakouris @ Freedom55Financial.com


 What True Financial Advisors Are Made Of

The most important thing that stands out from the responses that we received is that 95% of those that responded are about making a difference to someone else. This is apparent in the following response,

“In the beginning it was to make money and build a practice but after my wife was stricken with a critical illness, I now still want to make money and build a successful practice but really have a passion to help people so they can be safe when uncontrollable events happen and help prepare people to spend their savings in their retirement.”

The above quotation is spoken from the heart and is about what true Financial Advisors are made of.

When Financial Advisors know what their values are, they have a vision, they have a business plan, and as a result they add value to others.

Do you know what your values are, have a vision, have a business plan, and as a result add value to others?

 Which One Are You? A Financial Advisor, Financial Monkey Or Financial Frog?

Let me give you an example of one behavior that I could call that of a Financial Monkey’s behavior along with an example of an experiment.

Please note that I do not condone animal experimentation. Then again, why would a Financial Advisor put themselves through the experience of the rigors of the same experiment due to their lack of planning?

The planning that I am referring to is operating with what I call a Budget Cash Flow Spreadsheet.

Do you have an up-to-date Budget Cash Flow Spreadsheet that will tell you what your projected monthly bank balance will be on December 31st, 2006 through to December 31st, 2007?

Why not?

Would it not stand to reason to have a document that:

Not having an up-to-date Budget Cash Flow Spreadsheet supports and fuels your dysfunctional ego mind's addiction to the unmet need of safety contributing to the limiting beliefs and perpetuated false reality that "money is tight" and this will crucify you with limiting emotions of anxiety and fear.

I had cause to write about this because of an observation of a Financial Advisor going from not knowing where they stand on a monthly cash basis with all of the ensuing limiting beliefs and limiting emotions that they attached to being excited about their future.

It's so ironic. The dysfunctional ego mind fools one into thinking that they have no time to plan and that they have to keep doing and doing and doing because they don't have enough money and time.

In fact, the anxiety and fear is so great around what the future holds related to unknown projected bank balances that the individual is convinced by the dysfunctional ego mind that that they would not be able to handle the truth of what the bottom line looks like if they were to ever look. So they don't. So they just keep working and working and working.

What is surprising is, once all of the information is installed into the Template Budget Cash Flow Spreadsheet that I provide my clients, they are more than pleasantly surprised because they finally took charge and faced the fear of their dysfunctional ego mind and once this is done, the bottom line is often times better than they expected.

How would you approach your day if your bottom line was going to be better than you expected?

 Financial Monkeys

Let’s take a look at the following experiment that is said to be a myth.

The study had monkeys divided into four groups.

The first group of monkeys received shocks at regular intervals and developed ulcers in 24 days.

The second group of monkeys received shocks at random intervals and developed ulcers in 10 days. The second group not only had the shock but they never knew when it was coming.

The third group of monkeys had shocks at regular intervals and they had a shock avoidance button and if they timed it right, they could avoid the shock. The third group not only had the shock and knowing that they could avoid the shock had them developing ulcers in 8 days.

The fourth group of monkeys got shocks at random intervals and had a shock avoidance button. This created the situation where they thought they could avoid the shock and at the same time, they didn’t know when it was coming and they developed ulcers in 3 days.

You have the opportunity to be responsible for your life, for your business, for those around you, and for your environment to eliminate shocks and for the need of a shock avoidance button.

If you are a financial advisor and you are operating without values, a vision, a business plan and a budget cash flow then which Monkey Group do you fit into?

Thinking you can avoid a shock and not knowing when it is coming is known in some circles as “a game” or “a racket” that you play that fuels your addiction to adrenaline keeping you very busy so that you can avoid the pain that you are experiencing or so that you don’t have to face reality.

Financial Frogs

I am sure you have heard about or have seen Al Gore’s movie, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’.

The movie references an experiment using a frog that is placed in cold water that is heated in 2° intervals to boiling and that the frog will never jump out and it is said that if the frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out.

Are you a Financial Advisor with values, a vision, a business plan and a budget cash flow or are you still monkeying or frogging around?

  Survey Results
 

Why are you a Financial Advisor?

Why did you become a Financial Advisor?

Why do you do it?

This E-Newsletter is an acquired taste, if you don’t like it, acquire some taste.

Given that we have hundreds of new E-Newsletter Readers because we have spoken at the Independent Financial Brokers Association and Pro-Seminars Events in Vancouver, Richmond, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and London I am taking the liberty to include links into our Web Site that will add more value to our Removing Your Roadblocks To Your Success Speaking Presentation ...

Thank you for your time.

Simon Reilly



Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
sreilly@leadingadvisor.com
1 877 248 6019

 

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Simon Reilly is a Business Coach serving Advisors & Business Owners in their desire to create more profit and more time.  His coaching programs are delivered by means of quarterly workshops, teleconference calls, email and telephone.

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