Advisors Must Reflect on 2017 Results to Experience Greater Success in 2018!

The definition of insanity is alive and well in many of your goals and strategies for 2018.

My clients are primarily independent financial advisors and, generally, they are a data driven sort of professional. Not quite CPA/Engineers, but, more analytical than your stereotypical sales professional.

The one thing I have learned in my 20+ years of coaching these high performers is this: You have to own HOW you got to where you are right now if you ever want to GO to your next level . By own I mean that you must reflect upon the decisions, behaviors and tools that created your results from 2017.

What worked?

What didn’t?

What do you need to change/remove?

What do you need to improve/add?

Too often I have seen financial professionals (and to be honest almost all salespeople and sales organizations) try to, through sheer willpower and denial, forget what went wrong and focus on what they hope to do better. This is a killer trap.

You won’t be able to truly change if you don’t drag the mistakes out into the light and let them die like a vampire in a horror film.

When answering the questions above you need to break them down by the following categories:

Decisions — How and why did you make the decisions that affected your results in 2017? Do you need to change your decision making process?

Behaviors — Are you consistent? Disciplined behaviors are the bedrock of continual performance improvement year over year. What needs to be enhanced (maybe your prayer life?) and what needs to be minimized?

Habits — You are what you eat. Your behaviors become your habits. One of the ways to behave better is to decide what habits you want to develop, maintain and let go.

Tools — Did you have what you needed to perform at a high level? This isn't, by the way, an excuse to go out and buy that really cool 12.5" iPad Pro (talking to myself here). Seriously, what tools (physical and mental) can you add in order to perform better in 2018?

Systems — Systems, ahh systems. The true abode of high performance. Systems drive behaviors that become habits that lead to better decisions. Your calendar is one system (driven by decisions and habits) that can immediately increase performance for you. What/how can you better use your calendar?

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A ruthless introspection of those 5 above will result in pain and, more importantly, a strong foundation for capturing more of your potential top end performance. As I say to all my clients, you can get to the next level. The key is to have a plan and then execute on that plan.

If this was of value I ask that you share it with any and all business professionals that you feel could benefit from it. I am always open to a conversation about high performance, coaching referrals, culture, and the quest for innovation within the independent financial advisor space, or, other players in the SMB space.