Creating Time Within Your Day to Grow Your Practice

Is Time On Your Side?

I get great ideas from Cannon to build my practice, but I don’t have enough time to do more than one of these tasks and sometimes not even time for that.

• Prospect
• Manage and monitor training of my team members
• Give my High-Net-Worth/Ultra-High-Net-Worth (HNW/UHNW) clients the attention I should
• Master a complex new idea/or software
• Rehearse different ways to ask for referrals
• You name it

You Have Ways to Create Time In Your Day for Growing Your Practice

Squeezing time out of your current working day isn’t as difficult as you may think. How? By adopting the mantra of S.A.R.:

• Streamline
• Automate
• Routinize

I imagine you’re thinking: “I’ve done this. Why do it again?”  Because after decades in the business as a Financial Consultant, Sales Manager, and years of working with major banks and brokerage firms in the US and Canada, I have encountered few teams that function as efficiently as they could. Let’s look at your team.

 Humans thrive on routine and your practice will thrive if you and your team members carry out your work with consistency.

Over the decades, when I broached this idea, many Financial Advisors (FAs) have responded they think it’s better for their practice to be more free form. Occasionally FAs will even say something to me along the lines of, “you know the old saying ‘consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.’”

Yes, I do know it and have heard it many times. Unfortunately, it’s a misquote of American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson who actually wrote: “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” [1]

You want consistency in execution because it reduces time on task and lessens errors and omissions. Work goes quickly and smoothly. Emerson felt too many of us lived our lives in false conformity to what everyone else did instead of expressing our individualism which is the source of our creativity.

Both you and your team members should strive to perform the same tasks the same way and follow pre-established protocols so your “back office” will run smoothly and your clients will receive a consistent experience. 

What is a foolish consistency? A classic is FAs asking for referrals the same way year after year and never receiving one. Something is wrong with their pitch and needs to change. But they stick with it.

If you haven’t done it, create a list of critical tasks that must be consistently well-executed for your practice to thrive. Equally important, ensure everyone knows who is responsible for what. At Cannon, we call this SPA our acronym for “Single Point Accountability.” Then ask yourself: have you matched each person’s talents, interests, and abilities to the tasks they are performing?

Take the time to ensure your team members are doing the tasks they want to do and have the talents to accomplish. Have you asked your team members what they are best at and what they most want to do? Human beings are not “plug and play.”

If you create and follow this type of organizational system, your team will operate more smoothly. When that happens, you will free up time for you and your team members to focus on more creative activities which can grow your practice.

I’m not suggesting you “think outside the box.”  That’s exactly what we don’t want at this point. Before going outside the box, ensure the processes within the box are running smoothly.

If you slowly implement SAR where applicable, you will grow your practice without making significant changes.

• Streamline
• Automate
• Routinize

Resources:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Reliance

Contributing Writer: Subject Matter Expert Charles McCain

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