10 Reasons more advisors don’t achieve greater success. And how to overcome them.

Posted by Kirk Lowe in Business Planning on February 10th, 2009 | 2 responses

1. They have good intentions but poor execution.

Write down your goals and look at them everyday.
Share your goals with a peer or mentor to keep you accountable to your plan.
Limit or eliminate distractions from your environment.
Maximize your strengths and manage your weaknesses.
Find a certified coach to facilitate gaining momentum and achieving balance in building your dream business.

2. They try lots of strategies but follow through with few.

Success is half strategy and half execution. But without the execution, strategy is useless.
Identify and align your strategy so it supports the achievement of your specific goals.
A great strategy is one that is sustainable, compelling and simple. Complexity thwarts progress.
Seek an outside perspective from a proven business coach on what strategies you should be focusing on

3. They focus on short term successes but most often at the expense of long term success.

See the value in what the short term will bring in the long term.
Adopt a “what’s next” attitude. e.g.. Don’t just take the application, get (earn) referrals. Don’t just sell the product, write the plan.
Stay committed to a strategy for consistency and continuity, don’t jump from idea to idea.
Align your expectations and purpose of action to fit the strategy. e.g. Don’t decide on advertising then run two ads and stop because you didn’t get a new clients right away.

4. They have ideas and a vision of where they want to be but they haven’t articulated it in a written business plan.

A vision is only as good as it’s clarity. “If you are clear about what you want, it will appear in your life, but only to the extent that you are clear.”
Dream as if you had no limits to what you can do. By the way, there are no limits to what you can do. Dream big.

5. They have goals but they haven’t written them as SMART goals.

SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound.
Write down your goals so they are clear, so you can share them and so you know when you’ve successfully achieved them.

6. They show up every day wanting to do the right things but they get distracted easily from their vision.

Set up your environments to limit distractions.
Get clear on what specific goals will help you carry out your vision and stay committed to your goals.
A qualified coach will know the nine environments you’ll need to identify and work on.

7. They focus on perfection when progress is what truly builds momentum for success.

Perfection is not achievable so why would you aim for that? Get it done well and get it out, that’s what builds momentum in your business.
When you see the synergy of all you have to do in your plan, your interest will shift from getting it perfect to getting it done.

8. They have a brand (everyone does) but they don’t take the time to clearly articulate it.

If you do not take the time to clearly articulate your brand, your clients and prospects will have varied stories to tell about what you do for them. Branding is like teaching your clients what to say about you that properly positions you in your minds of your target audiences
Branding is typically quite simple and powerful. Keep it simple.
The smaller the niche, the more likely you’ll be remembered.

9. They have aggressive tendencies to invest in tools and resources but they have no way to sustain it in its entirety.

Did you ever hear the term slow and steady wins the race. It’s good to be aggressive but not at the expense of overwhelming and staggering your progress.
With a thoughtful plan in place you are more likely to invest in tools that can and will be implemented, you tendencies will be maximized by having a plan and a focus.

10. They continue to try and do things they aren’t good at when they should be delegating/outsourcing these tasks to focus on what they do best.

We are taught and conditioned to work on our weaknesses but a paradigm shift is required to engrain us to work to our strengths, not waste time on our weaknesses.
Talk a certified coach about understanding your sweet spot – where your purpose, passion and profit are maximized.

Connie Kadansky says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:16 am

These are excellent intellectual strategies! However, let’s go beyond intellect — a major reason why FAs experience mediocre success — they have toxic levels of Sales Call Reluctance. They have not developed the emotional skills to prospect consistently. They don’t know that there are solutions for Sales Call Reluctance!!!
Kirk Lowe says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:55 am

I agree! Activity is critical to success, especially picking up the phone. Focused activity is even better; knowing who to call, why and most importantly how it aligns with your overall strategy/vision – priceless.

Sounds like what we’re talking about is peanut butter and chocolate – together they make a great end game.