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PRACTICE MANAGEMENT News You Can Use
This issue's article is by Joseph J. Lukacs, Business Coach and the founder of International Performance Group LLC., a professional business coaching company delivering customized coaching and training. | | 
"Your Daily Game Plan" (part Seven)
(from Chapter three of his new book, Practice Power - 12 Steps to Take your Business to the Next Level, reprinted by permission)by Joseph Lukacs
Key Day Planning Strategies
Over the last 10 years, I’ve developed some tips for making the most of planning your day.
- Value your time, especially if you want other people to value it. You have got to guard your time. The question I always ask somebody is what is an hour of your time worth? What is a half-hour of your time worth? If you don’t value your time please don’t expect your clients or your colleagues to. It is very important.
- Work smarter, not harder. I mentioned earlier in the chapter, there is no correlation between time spent at the office and success. I have clients that work literally 5-6 hours a day and do $2-$3 million in production, and I know other professionals who work 14 hours a day and make $50,000 a year. So, I can tell you there is no correlation between the two. Consider, are you working harder not smarter? Are you disorganized? Distracted? Have you maximized your resources? Are you using your assistant? Are you really leveraging technology as best as you can? Are you really doing everything possible to effectively utilize your resources?
- Be a caller, not a callee. What do I mean? If you call out, if you initiate a call, you are in control. When you make the call, you are the one to decide how long it is going to last and when you need to hang up. If you take inbound calls, they can interrupt your day. That is why I am so adamant about making sure you call your clients on a proactive schedule. If you leave that off your “must do” list, they will start calling you and that can really interrupt your schedule and your game plan.
- Be selective about what projects and special events you choose to become involved in. Again, if you are going to do a project or special event, whether seminars, client appreciation functions, or some sort of special mailing, make sure you allocate enough time to do it successfully. Make sure it fits into your model. Remember, the worst thing you can do is start a project, invest 20 hours, and then never complete it. You never get a return on your investment when doing that.
- Manage your paper flow. This is still the business of paper. I know technology is trying to get away from that, but we still have a lot of paper. Your daily game plan should include a standard of leaving your office and your desk absolutely clear of all papers, so when you walk Many people don’t realize how important their environment is to being productive and being successful and also how that ties in to having a great day.
- Be a little selfish. Reserve blocks of time for yourself. Again, when I talk about taking this two-hour block for myself midday, am I being selfish? Yes, but for the right reason. I need to do this to be at my best. It allows me to recognize the value of what five minutes can do for me. What can you accomplish in five minutes? You can call a client, you can clean your desk, you can return a call, you can review your goals, or you can plan the next part of your day. All are examples of highly effective tasks that can be done quickly. Think about things that you can complete in five minutes and get them done. Take them as they come. It’s funny. Sometimes we stare at our screen for five minutes, or surf the web for five minutes, or maybe we just get distracted for five or ten minutes. If you reclaim those three- to five-minutes each day, it can make a big difference in getting some of the little things done.
- Plan for the unexpected. Again, we have flex-time in our blocks. Don’t let your schedule be so tight that you can’t fit anything else in. I want you to have a lot of flexible blocks in your day. Absolutely crucial.
- Don’t over schedule appointments. A lot of advisors say they are going to see a client or prospect at 9 in the morning, then one at 10:00, another client at 11:00, and a prospect at 12:00, giving themselves an hour for each appointment. What ends up happening is the client shows up 15 minutes late, the meeting goes 15 minutes over, and now you have got somebody waiting. There is no transition time.
A good rule of thumb for client meetings is, whether it is a review appointment or their initial appointment, schedule 90 minutes or maybe even two hours. What’s the worst that can happen if you finish early? You go to your daily outcome list or your must-do list and do some of those tasks. So if you are going to have two to three appointments a day, you should allocate six hours for those three appointments. If you only use four hours, you now have two hours of flexible time to do other things. ________________________________________________________________________
Author's note: Joseph J. Lukacs, Business Coach, is the founder of International Performance Group LLC., a professional business coaching company delivering customized coaching and training, by telephone, to financial and insurance professionals. International Performance Group LLC. is based in Melbourne, Florida. Joseph can be reached at 321-255-2889, by e-mail to JJL@jpginc.net, or visit our Web site: http://www.jpginc.net ________________________________________________________________________
This Month's Registered Rep Opportunity
At this B/D, they understand your needs as a business owner and as an investment professional. As a privately held, independent Broker-Dealer, Registered Investment Advisor (SEC) and Insurance Agency headquartered in the southeast, they have the privilege of serving 250 financial advisors located in 34 states. They build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with our investment professionals based on a solid understanding of their business needs. There are many key factors that set them apart from other broker-dealers, including:
For many firms with a parent company, the broker-dealer is often an insignificant part of its overall business model. Moreover, in their model reps are considered part of a distribution channel (not an entrepreneur or business owner) and are often required to sell in-house products. At this B/D, the opposite is true. They are a privately held firm devoting 100% of our time and attention to their advisors. They have no proprietary products, they make decisions quickly and consider their advisors long-term business partners and friends. And in the unlikely event that you decide to leave, they will facilitate your transition whenever possible, including by granting block transfers requests.
They have enjoyed solid, consistent revenue growth and profitability since inception. They have virtually no turnover in advisors or home office staff.
They have no recruiting goals for numbers of new advisors; they selectively add new advisors who mutually desire a long term relationship and have complementary business models.
They dont just talk about quality customer service, they live and breathe it every day. Their entire home office staff is in one location and all calls are answered by an experienced (and many times licensed) member of their staff not voice mail.
They believe in giving clients/advisors choices regarding compensation and fully support both Fee and Commission based structures.
They believe in helping their advisors build a one-stop-shop for financial advice and implementation. This is why they offer a comprehensive menu of wealth management resources.
Their compliance department does not operate as a deterrent to doing business. Rather, they take the time to find out what the advisor is trying to accomplish and guide them through the regulatory requirements. | If you know anyone who would be interested in this or other rep opportunities, please have them contact Jason at 727-725-8876! | |
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Turning Point, Inc.
405 2nd Street South
Suite A
Safety Harbor, FL 34695
(727) 725-8876
(727) 669-8263 (fx)
www.TPISearch.com
tpi@TPISearch.com |
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Here are some additional opportunities from Turning Point, Inc.:
Consider membership in the Wealth Advisor Institute, www.wealthai.com. Educational opportunities, professionalism, research, networking and GROUP BENEFIT PROGRAMS are all part of your membership in this organization catering to the advisor with a focus on the high net worth marketplace and collaborating with other professionals.
TURNING POINT in the MEDIA!Turning Point's President, Mitch Vigeveno, was recently quoted in Sydney LeBlanc's new article for Broker Dealer Magazine, "One Recruiter's Rules for Hiring and Retaining." Click here to see the article. TURNING POINT PARTNERS:
Are you getting the most out of your business? Are you operating at peak efficiency? How about your marketing, your compliance, or your HR? We have some friends who can help you out. Just visit our Partners section in our website for links to a variety of services that are helpful to building your business! Quote of the Day:
"The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit."
Moliere (1622 - 1673)
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