The Practice Doctor is IN

Al Depman, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH

Practice Management Consultant

Rusting, Enthusiasm, and the Lebanese Soapmaker

Two years ago a high school friend of my daughter, Jeanne, took a trip back to his family’s homeland in the Middle East. Ihab Mikati, a perceptive young man, wrote the following observations as part of a handwritten letter during that visit.

Dear Jeanne:

Lebanon is a strange country. To be sure, it is beautiful, but it’s a sad and ugly kind of beauty. Imagine a once-elegant mansion now in shambles, a mess of dust and broken glass, yet somehow still evocative of its former glory. That’s how Lebanon feels––with no one taking care of it and nobody finding pride in their old home––it’s falling apart.

Here is a little story, though: I was walking in the street market a few days ago. Everybody there just sits by their fans waiting for customers, unhappy with the states of their lives and wallets. Then I turned onto a side street where a man made and sold soap. And he was enthusiastic about it! The man knew soap. He showed me all the steps for making soap, what went into the soaps, where the different flavors came from…he wasn’t even trying to sell me anything. He was just passionate about soap.

Some people might scoff at it, but he took pride in what he did. There’s a lesson there, Jeanne: take pride in all you do––there’s dignity in even the smallest task.

As I read the piece again recently, I realized there are a number of practice management nuggets to be gleaned from Ihab’s words.

Rusting Away

I’ve been encountering a number of older advisors who have, like Lebanon, taken a once-elegant practice and allowed it to fall into a shambles. Bud (not his real name) is 76 years old and has a couple thousand clients in his contact management system. Bud’s district manager finally persuaded him to look at passing his practice along to a younger advisor. The designated younger advisor, his grandson Peter, got licensed, survived the company’s boot camp, and was turned loose to work with Bud and his clientele.

Peter gave me a call out of desperation six months into this venture. The vast majority of the people who were considered Bud’s “clients” had no idea Bud was their advisor, hadn’t received a contact in years, and had found other financial resources to turn to. Even the 30 clients who would confirm that Bud was their advisor said they were concerned about decays in his general health and mental faculties. When they did hear from Bud it was to buy something new. Peter was inheriting something of little-to-no real value…a rusted practice with hundreds of orphans. How many Buds have we allowed to decay and whose clients defect to the competition?

Enthusiasm

Excitement is a physical sensation and as such, is transitory in nature. We’ve all encountered the motivational speaker. Immediately after they’ve finished their presentation, emotions are high and members of the audience vow to change their ways and hop on board the express, buying books and DVDs in the heat of the moment. The next day, they’re cooled off, the realities of their practice dissipate the excitement of the speaker, and the books go onto shelves to collect dust.

Enthusiasm is different. Its origin is the Greek “in theus”––“God within.” Enthusiasm is what the Lebanese soap-maker exhibited to Ihab––a sincerity and passion that exist above and beyond simply making a sale. Many advisors have this enthusiasm, yet are unable to effectively communicate it. Consequently, they are thrown unwillingly into the pool of “financial advisors”––a term that is at its most charitable, a synonym for “transaction artist.” 

All of us at Advisor Insights Inc. are dedicated to putting the enthusiasm into your practice. Let us know if we can help you.

Dignity

The final analogy in Ihab’s story is the insight that even the smallest task, done well, can be full of dignity and pride. In practice management we constantly preach the value of client segmentation and putting effort into securing the “A” tier. Let us not forget the larger group of “C” clients who Bud ignored in his practice.

They are people, even if they own one product and don‘t have much perceivable potential. They each have a dignity that should be recognized on an ongoing basis. Conversely, the advisor has dignity as well. Those clients who would abuse the advisor’s dignity deserve to be orphaned. 

Ihab’s story gives us some thought-provoking material. Are you an enthusiastic, vibrant, dignified “soap making” advisor, or are you like the others in the street market: sitting by the fan, waiting for customers, and feeling unhappy with the state of your life and wallet?

It’s your choice.

The Doctor is OUT.

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 book, How to Build Your Financial Advisory Business and Sell It at a Profit, now available from McGraw Hill. 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.

© 2011 Al Depman