74. What is your objective every time you make a presentation?

 

As a newly coded advisor in August of 2019, I went to market with fervor and enthusiasm doing "great" presentations to each and every prospect that gave me an opportunity

To me, a "great" presentation is one that is full of financial insights, economic indicators and a hundred and one way on how to create a market responsive financial portfolio - one that is designed to take advantage of what I believe is the evolving market trend

I see every presentation as an opportunity to demonstrate to prospects how knowledgeable I am in the field of financial advisory and expects them to give me their business on this basis

How wrong am I !!!, in my first month as a newly minted advisor, I got a big fat "ZERO" production result

Prospects don't care how much you know! they would only start listening if we, as financial advisors start "caring" about them! their current financial situation, things that matter to them, their financial goals and aspirations

a financial presentation is not an opportunity to showcase what we know, but an opportunity to get to know the prospect better and finding the most appropriate financial solutions given this understanding

a great presentation should be "client centric"!

I made the big switch in September, instead on focusing on various ways to plan for retirement, I spend most of the time talking to prospects, asking questions to understand their expectations of what constitute a comfortable retirement

instead of talking about how great my medical insurance is, I asked about their fears and concerns with regards to the rising cost of critical illness treatments and how ready are they to address this

in just a month I was able to produce the necessary quarterly business requirements to qualify for a gold medal, graduating to platinum in the succeeding quarter and MDRT by early December 

This is the first lesson I learned being in the field as a financial advisor

its not about what we know, its all about what we know about the prospect! this is how we earn the privilege to give financial advice 

all the best my friends!

73. This "savings" mindset may be what is keeping you poor

 

You decided to save 10,000, and just like before, you deposited the money to your savings account

the question now is, did you "save" or "invest"?

the decision to save money and where you decided to keep it are two different issues

if you retained "possession", its your savings

as soon as you transfer "possession", you are effectively entrusting that money to another party, in effect, you are already investing, so the act of depositing it to your savings account means you are no longer in possession so there now exist a possibility, albeit minimal of the chance of not being able to get in back

the main benefit proposition of a savings account - "liquidity" (the ability to withdraw it anytime, 24/7) creates an illusion of possession

understanding this difference would be vital in wealth building  

first is that once you realized that every time you make a deposit - you are already in fact investing, this would changed your expectations in terms of the returns that you are getting  

sure we need the liquidity, but keeping most of our savings in a savings account is counter productive, as the returns we are getting is not enough to offset the eroding effects of inflation

the "advice" is just to keep an amount equal to three to six months of your average monthly expenses and invests the excess in other forms of investments - investments that have the potential of beating inflation

all the best my friends!

#acgadvice

72. Celebrate the small wins! it will bring you closer to the "BIG" one!

 

As financial advisors, what are the "small wins" that will motivate us to go further?

it could be a meaningful conversation with a prospect, sharing financial insights that can help in widening his understanding of the pros and cons of acting/not acting in starting to prepare for his important life goals

• will accomplishing more of these "encounters" bring you closer to your goals?
• does this give you a sense of satisfaction of a job well done?
• celebrate this as a small step that leads to a bigger one!

then it could be that prospect that decides to be a client by getting his first insurance policy even if he is starting with the "minimum" premium

• your hard work is paying off
• you have just helped one family take their first step to financial security
• celebrate this small step that gives meaning to our financial advisory practice!

the client turned to a satisfied client and started referring you to his friends because he found so much value in your advice, he is especially very appreciative that you took time to explain to him that the current market volatility brought about by the Russian conflict is just a small blip and the market usually resume its upward bias in time

the three most important events in our practice that we should celebrate are:

• A meaningful financial conversation with a prospect
• the prospect that turns into a client
• the satisfied client who refers you to his friends and associates

celebrate these three and it will keep you motivated to achieve your much bigger goal of finally qualifying to the MDRT!

All the best my friends!