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The Practice Doctor is IN
The Characteristics of a Prime Performer Throughout my career both within and outside of financial services, the more data I collected, the stronger the evidence grew for identifying success and failure patterns in salespeople and financial advisors. When I finally moved into private consulting, I gained access to an even broader world of independent advisors (fee based, commission based, and some combination of the two). The success and failure patterns continued to morph, and, eventually, they solidified.
As my number of interviews continued to grow into the thousands, a consolidated list of best practices emerged. So what are these best practices? 1. A team of advocates in both marketing and administrative areas has been created, developed, and empowered. All team members have a stake in the success of the practice. While they are positioned in their areas of expertise, team members are cross trained in critical practice functions to minimize disruptions in the event of a health or relationship emergency. 2. The practice has a unique value proposition that creates a compelling reason to be sought out or recommended by others. 3. Practice leadership has established strong accountability resources, such as a board of directors or a client advisory board. 4. The practice has a deep referral and marketing process that filters throughout the organization. There is continuous growth by sifting and winnowing prospects to identify those within the practice’s target profile. 5. Thorough sales and case development systems have been developed that don’t leave money on the table. These systems also set up ongoing asset-gathering opportunities. 6. There is a best practices operations manual that covers the routine back-office functions (the science) as well as the higher-level processes (the art). 7. The practice has deep, legacy relationships with top-tier clients capturing multiple generations. 8. Team members provide superior, proactive service to all client tiers. Client segmentation has been done, and those that survive the cut have been promised a clear, ongoing level of service appropriate to their tier. 9. The practice has achieved a superior professional recognition standard and aspires to continuously improve. 10. The practice has embraced new technology, especially in the following areas:
11. The practice’s team members give back to the community and to the profession through sponsorships, charitable concerns, board memberships, and the like. 12. There is a succession plan in place for the principals to benefit from maximizing the practice’s financial value. This succession plan also assures top clients that there will be continuity in how the practice operates and that the next generation will be working under a similar philosophy.
These characteristics form the end game for practice management in the financial services world.
In order to achieve this goal and develop a practice that has value and is transferable, you need to develop tangible, incremental action steps. You also need to surround yourself with people who will hold you accountable for taking these actions.
Excerpted from How to Build Your Financial Advisory Business and Sell It at a Profit by Al Depman. ©2009 Al Depman and Advisor Insights Inc. Published by McGraw-Hill Inc.
Al Depman, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH, a.k.a. “The Practice Doctor”, is MitchAnthony.com’s Business Practice Consultant. He is the creator of “The Practice Management Assessment” tool and materials and has authored numerous articles in professional publications on practice management, and author of the forthcoming book, How to Build Your Financial Advisory Business, to be published by McGraw Hill in 2009. Al combined his Liberal Arts studies with 10 years of management experience with McDonald’s Corporation to enter the financial services world 25 years ago. Since then, Al has evolved from an MDRT-level sales rep into a full-time consultant specializing in helping others engineer their business practices to the next level. Contact him at al@mitchanthony.com. © 2008 Al Depman |
  Purchase a copy of Al Depman’s new book, How to Build Your Financial Advisory Business and Sell It at a Profit at your local or online bookseller, and get a 10 percent discount off The Business Practice Checkup. Just send your receipt to bookoffer@mitchanthony.com. In his new book, Al shows readers what it takes to develop, manage, and grow a profitable financial services practice that will allow advisors to reap the rewards of their hard work when it's time to sell. The book includes expert advice on enhancing the value of a financial services practice including creating a best-practices manual, building a sophisticated referral process, developing a team of advocates in marketing and administration, maximizing new technology to streamline operations, and putting a succession plan in place. |
Al Depman, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH
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