Last week, I led a workshop for a group of high-performing financial advisors on the topic of How to Get More Done in Less Time. One of the participants commented that it was “the best 90 minutes she’s spent on her business in a long, long time”.
I am always amazed by the popularity of this workshop topic and the dramatic (and sometimes immediate) effect it has on advisors who put the ideas to work. It also reminds me a of a book I read a couple years ago, The 4-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss.
I think it’s a must read.
Whether you’re one of my coaching clients, a member of my website or just a reader of this blog; get a copy of this book and don’t put it down until you’ve finished.
You’ll learn a lot from this author’s sometimes outrageous but most times simple rules for cutting the clutter out of your life. Even if you don’t get your workweek down to 4 hours, you’ll end up spending more time on the things that matter the most to you.
Let me explain…
Tim Ferriss is a self-described “ultra vagabond and serial entrepreneur.” He travels the world pursuing his passions while at the same time running a big company from wireless hotspots. To some this may sound pretty cool while to others it may sound perfectly ridiculous.
I’m sure the author could care less how his lifestyle is viewed.
He does care about dispelling myths that get us stuck in ruts – 14 hour workdays, skipping vacations and putting our passions on hold. The author does this by taking the time to question common assumptions about work, play and life in general.
In some cases his examples are extreme. Do you want to be a kickboxing champion? In other cases his examples hit more close to home. Would you like to learn how to interrupt your daily interruptions? The entire book is filled with real-life stories and anecdotes that make the dreaded topic of “time management” pleasurable.
The 4-Hour Workweek goes through a 4 step strategy called “DEAL-making”:
D is for definition – This part of the process is all about creating a mental picture of your future success and putting actions into place to make them happen. No more daydreaming and putting things off for another day. In my coaching work, this is one of the most difficult subjects to teach. Procrastination and excuse-making are powerful elixirs. Turning the world off so you can spend quiet time with yourself to dream and plan actions can be tough.
E is for Elimination – It’s easy to confuse recurring routines with vital tasks. And these bad habits can be tough to break. But when you have a plan for eliminating the clutter that can take up hours in your day, you’ll spend more time on the important stuff. To get started you have to be willing to look at each of your routines in a different light.
A is for Automation – You don’t have to do it all yourself. The more time you spend doing the stuff you do best, the happier and more productive you will become both personally and professionally. Automation is finding the right person, service or technology that will allow you offload routine tasks. There may be things you do better than anybody else, but you don’t do EVERYTHING better than ANYBODY else.
L is for Liberation – Once you’ve established your definition of success, eliminated clutter and automated your routines, you’ll have more time to enjoy yourself. No more putting that month long vacation off indefinitely into the future. No more telling your kids you don’t have time. No more putting off working on good causes until you find the “right time.” No more saving all the fun stuff you’ve planned for your retirement until you’re too old to actually do it.
If you read “The 4-Hour Workweek”, let me know what you think! (If you’ve already read it, post your comments below.)
A couple weeks ago, Duncan MacPherson, co-CEO of Pareto Systems, and I hosted conference call. We discussed some timely advice on how to build your business. We also covered marketing strategies that are working in today’s environment.
Here’s a link to the complete call:
http://www.EncoreAdvisor.com/snip/206.htm
Have you ever played a game of “telephone tag”?
We all “play” from time to time. In addition to being an annoyance, it can be a major obstacle to productivity. A single call to a client, prospect, vendor or even a personal contact can sometimes trigger a game of tag that lasts for days.
Telephone tag isn’t too bad when the nature of your initial call is straightforward and doesn’t require advance preparation, but the majority of financial advisor calls are not spontaneous. From investment updates to service calls to sales ideas, as a financial professional you plan most of your phone calls in advance.
Time adds up
Stop to consider the time you might invest in a serious game of “telephone tag”. Let’s say your goal is to have a 5 minute conversation with a client to make a recommendation. The call requires 10 additional minutes of advance planning. But the interruptions of repeatedly leaving and receiving messages, along with refreshing your research, can easily consume an extra 30 to 60 minutes of precious time.
Before all is said and done, your initial 15 minutes may be doubled, tripled or multiplied even more. And this example is just one client call. Now, multiply just 30 extra minutes by the number of games of tag you play on a daily basis. Leaving 2 messages could eat up an hour, 5 might equal a couple hours and 10 could be half of your day. No wonder your days seem to get shorter and shorter.
What if you scheduled telephone appointments?
Telephone appointments are simply pre-scheduled phone calls. They can be one of the best ways to recoup hours in your days. If they are not part of your practice and don’t sound familiar, consider calls you may already be having with other professionals.
- You’re helping a client update their trusts documents; the client’s attorney has his assistant call your office to schedule 15 minutes on the phone to for a quick review prior to a more formal client meeting.
- Your doctor recommends a blood test, after getting the results his scheduler calls for a convenient time for the doctor to call you back to review the results.
In both cases, the randomness of leaving messages and waiting for return calls is eliminated by the telephone appointment. When you put this idea to work in your practice and you’ll save hours each week. Members of EncoreAdvisor.com can click here to read my “10 Steps for Using Telephone Appointments to Regain Lost Time.”
Editor’s Note: This blog post was written by Duncan MacPherson, co-CEO of Pareto Systems. Duncan and I will be hosting a conference call on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT. We will provide timely advice on how to build your business and discuss marketing strategies that are working in today’s environment. Please go to this link to reserve your complimentary conference call seat: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/477038272.
Take a moment to think back to the last time you stumbled upon a fabulous idea. Maybe this new concept was about your financial practice or maybe it had more of a domestic spin to it. Regardless of the idea, the all-important question is whether you followed through with your plan. I would bet that you achieved some of your initial goal but that your progress stalled somewhere down the line.
What happened? Was it that you were too busy to get your idea off the ground? Perhaps there was a major change in your life that had you side-tracked. Regardless of the specific details causing you to leave your plan unfinished, your inactivity can be attributed to the “Law of Diminishing Intent.”
In simple terms, the Law of Diminishing Intent states that when it comes to finishing a task that seems absolutely crucial at one moment, our motivation wanes at about the same rate as the task’s significance in relation to other aspects of our life and business. This is largely due to the fact that the emotion associated with the action dwindles, causing the motivation required to finish the project to fade.
A classic example of the Law of Diminishing Intent unfolds every year on New Year’s Day. January 1st is a time of new beginnings. On this day, we are highly motivated to put negative thoughts, habits, or character flaws behind us. We commit to change and dutifully begin to follow our resolutions. Perhaps we start a new exercise regime, decide to establish a new work ethic or to implement an organizational plan. Despite these good ideas, the rest of our lives eventually get in the way and we fall back into our old routine a few months (or weeks or even days!) later. When it’s all said and done, we chalk it up to a good try and resume our old ways.
What does it take to move forward with a new plan — to make sure nothing stands in the way of our success? When you decide you want to start something new, be sure to ask yourself whether you really want to accomplish your goal in the first place. It is possible that, subconsciously, you are sabotaging your success even before you start? It could be that in the back of your mind, you might already know that you don’t have the infrastructure in place to maintain your success once the task is completed. The first thing you must determine is whether you have what it takes to finish such a task. You also need to identify whether the result will ultimately improve your situation.
Consider, for example, that you decide it’s time to take the bull by the horns and do everything you can to grow your business. You resolve that the easiest way to increase your assets under management is to multiply your number of introductions. However, in the back of your mind you are not sure how to handle an influx of business. You’re already running at maximum and are a little nervous about the outcome of more business. Chances are that because you are a little wary of the outcome of your plan, you are not going to give this new resolution the energy it requires for completion.
Once you have decided that your goal is indeed one you want to achieve, it is imperative that you take action right away. You need to get the ball rolling while you are still excited and motivated; before your attention is drawn to different areas. The sooner you put your plan into action, the more likely you are to achieve your goals.
It also makes sense to start your quest in logical order to make sure everything runs smoothly every step of the way. In the example above, before increasing your number of clients, it would be wise to implement ways to handle the new business.
So to avoid the losses associated with the Law of Diminishing Intent, make sure to take action right away. Decide that the goal is one you want to achieve. Then look at your plan logically and confirm that you are pursuing your goals in the best order. Remember to establish milestones so that you can mark your progress and remain motivated to reach your goal.
One of the most popular topics on my member-only website is Delivering the Ultimate Client Experience. It’s a powerful and cost-effective strategy for capturing more assets, increasing referrability and growing your fees and commissions. Each month I post new ideas with this theme. For example, today I posted a few simple client appreciation tips including two downloadable letters.
I also offer a free email course on this topic. You can sign-up by filling in the blanks below.
During the email course, I cover five crucial client care questions:
- How do you define an “Ideal Client” relationship? Top advisors are successful because they do business the way they enjoy doing business. And it all starts by having a clear picture of your ideal client relationship.
- What is your “Unique Client Proposition”? When you can clearly articulate the key reasons your ideal clients are so loyal, your business becomes more fun and less time-consuming.
- Are your clients referral-giving advocates? By helping your clients understand how important they are to your practice, you’ll put yourself in a position to receive a steady stream of high-quality referrals.
- What is the best way to quickly capture new assets? Implementing my Ultimate Client Experience techniques creates an immediate opportunity for you to uncover new business opportunities.
- How do you turn new clients into lifelong relationships? Landing new clients can be expensive and time-consuming. By “wowing” your new clients, you’ll ensure lasting relationships.
When you can confidently answer each of these questions for your practice, you will capture more assets, increase your referrability and grow your fees and commissions.
If you need help with these questions, sign-up for my free Ultimate Client Experience email course. The first installment starts right away.