The 5 Pillars of Advisor Success

My colleague, business coach Tom Kavanaugh, talks about the 4 Pillars of a Successful Business. I’ve adapted his general message to apply it to insurance and and financial professionals, adding what I believe is one additional extremely important pillar:

1. Leads. If you don’t have people to reach out to, you can’t grow your business. The best way to get leads depends on who your ideal client is. You’ll reach doctors differently than you reach families with young children. Having a niche or a specific service will make it easier to find the leads you want.

2. Conversions. Once you connect with a lead you’ve targeted and you get to speak to them, if they need your help, you need to be able to get them to commit to working with you.

3. Fulfillment. Then, you need to deliver. Whether it’s a financial plan, moving assets, an insurance or annuity product, or a combination of these, clients are looking to you to do what you say you will do in a timely and efficient way.

4. Retention. Once someone becomes a client, you can’t just move on and forget about him. Before I came into the financial services world, back when I was a lawyer, I bought life insurance five times—from five different agents. The reason was simple; once the policy was delivered, I never heard from them again. I forgot who sold me the policies and they certainly forgot me. Retention requires, at a minimum, staying in touch.

5. Engagement. When you ‘engage’ your retained clients, you are likely to receive more business from them and, more importantly, introductions to people like them, to add to the first pillar, Leads. Engagement comes from outstanding service and a willingness to surprise and delight them.

The magic that brings you growth is in the execution of each pillar. Nailing these 5 pillars consistently gets you clients, and turns them into raving fans. And, fans are what makes any business—especially an advisory or insurance business—truly successful.

Are you getting enough qualified leads?

Is your conversion rate what you want it to be, along with the size of your cases?

Is your fulfillment process timely and efficient?

Do you have a solid plan for retention that you take regular action on?

Are you providing sufficient outstanding service and client astonishment?

Answers to these questions are what separates great advisors from the mediocre. And when one or more is lacking, there’s usually a way of thinking or seeing your world that’s to blame.

If you’ve had some success in this business but want to do even more and believe you could with some improvements in any of these areas, get on my calendar and let’s talk.

In the meantime, keep REACHING…

P.S. Grab a copy of my two-page guide, 30 Client Appreciation Events and Gifts For Your Best Clients here.

Shopping Cart

16 Disciplines

I suppose it would have been more fun if I called them 16 “hot tubs” for advisors, or less intimidating if I called them “practices,” but after 17 years of working with and observing how the most successful advisors, it's clear that there are branches of knowledge involved. 

 

Practice these simple 16 disciplines daily and watch how quickly and easily your practice grows.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Scroll to Top