Most financial advisors and insurance professionals begin a new year excited by possibilities that are tempered with uncertainty. To counter this thinking, I will share with you strategies and tools you can use throughout the year to guarantee that each January from now on will be a very strong month for you.
The first thing you need to do is close the book on the previous year. Get out your journal and write down everything you believe you did not do well last year. Once you have your list completed, determine how items on your list were self-imposed vs. how many were caused by external factors? In other words, how many items on your list did you have control over? How many did you not have control over? Many people get frustrated by things they can’t control. Things like the economy and world events. Take a look at your list and see what you come up with.
For the next part of this exercise, write down everything you did well in the past year. List your accomplishments, things you are most proud of. Once you have your second list completed, quickly go through it and ask yourself a few questions:
1. What on the list are you definitely responsible for?
2. What on the list benefited from external factors? Maybe you got lucky, which is okay, but don’t pat yourself on the back too much if you just happened to be in the right place at the right time. A lot of times in this business we make our own luck, which is why it’s important for you to determine where your success comes from.
3. What kind of key numbers and ratios are represented on your list? For example, how many referrals did you drive in?
4. What was your closing ratio on those referrals?
5. How many new clients did you bring in? Carefully examining your numbers is crucial to determining where your business came from.
But, before you can close the book on the previous year, you have to put the past behind you. Often, when December rolls around, I’ll hear how advisors can’t wait to put the year behind them, how they can’t wait for January. All well and good, but there’s no guarantee the new year is going to be any better unless you absolutely commit to it.
Don’t dwell on the past. If last year was great for you, congratulations! If last year was not up to your standards or expectations, then congratulations to you, too! How come? Because you get a whole new year to prove to yourself that you can achieve at a high level. Think about it. Having reviewed what did and did not work for you last year, the coming new year is a blank sheet of paper, a future ripe with possibility.
The reason I suggested you write down the things that didn’t go well for you last year is so you won’t keep making the same mistakes over and over. It has been said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Use the lessons learned from your past to create a better future.
Many people approach the new year with an abundance of resolutions, lots of enthusiasm and a completed business plan. Don’t worry if by January 1st you don’t have a plan. It is still not too late to put a business plan together. If by the second or third week in January you are thinking, “I didn’t put a plan together, I am lost, I don’t know what I am going to do this year,” then, what you need to do is take a break for a couple of days to write out some goals and start a business plan. It is never too late to do some planning.
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