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Financial advisors struggle with
massive interruptions. How can you minimize the distractions and focus on
getting your work done when you have an inbox that keeps growing every
single day with more and more emails more and more webinars more and more
interruptions? Here are some strategies to help manage your time and
inbox.
Templates
In your inbox, you can have certain folders. The one folder that I use
every single day is my templates folder. Rewriting similar emails over and
over is a complete waste of time. Why not build and use templates each and
every day and build a collection of templates, so that you can respond to
emails by using a templated response, cutting the hours of your time. For
example, meeting email templates, prospect follow-up templates, and client
service templates.
Scripts
The next folder you should always have is a script folder. When you call
clients for appointments, open the script folder. When you call prospects
for appointments or when you talk to centers of influence, having your
scripts handy in your inbox makes it easier. It will get rid of call
reluctance and get out of your own way. I'm either writing scripts or
collecting scripts and editing scripts all the time for different functions
for myself and for financial advisors. The most common script used is when
I call prospects or when I am doing webinars.
Prospects
As a financial advisor, connecting and following up with prospects is part
of your contact management system. I usually recommend a PRM and CRM
prospect relationship marketing and client relationship marketing as two
completely different tools https://www.advisorpracticemanagement.com/crm-and-prm
Having them in your inbox folder makes it simpler and easier to do the
follow-up. Having a folder where you can consistently look on a weekly
basis at the prospects you're working on, and the prospects you're
following up on will help you manage prospects better. Do you have a solid
follow-up process for prospects or are you winging it and letting things
slip through the cracks?
Other key folders
What other folders will help you to minimize your inbox better quicker or
faster? Here are a few ideas. Have one for staff so you can prepare for
staff issues. Have one for marketing, so you collect marketing ideas and
open the folder when you time block to work on your business. Have one for
practice management and business or practice planning. Consider one for
planning ideas including the 7 areas, tax, estate, risk, insurance,
investments, debts, and cash flow. It's like building a filing cabinet for
all of the paper on your desk so eventually, you have more and more filing
cabinets and you keep filing more information. PS do you time block 2 hours
per week to work on your business? The advisors that do work 80-100 hours
on their business and processes, and the advisors that have MORE processes
are MORE successful.
Nothing urgent in financial services
My mentor Bill Bachrach taught me this years ago and I never forgot it.
Bill said, "there is nothing urgent in financial services ever".
Why do we feel like we have to look at our inbox all of the time and check on
our phone all of the time and respond to people all of the time? I get it
you want to give people a high level of service. You want to be available,
and you want to be able to communicate. But it must be in a timely fashion
that builds and manages their expectations. Your ideal clients you can get
back to right away as they are paying you the most. Your non-ideal clients
do not need to be communicated at the same speed. I used to fly a lot. I
have priority status for priority calls at certain airlines because I was
one of their best customers. Everyone else is on hold. That is a perk or a
benefit that most people understand. Do you treat everyone the same? That
is not fair for your high-paying clients, is it? Most advisors have a
massive sense of urgency towards their inbox and they can't get off that
email treadmill. It's time that financial advisors created new habits
towards email responses and expectations. The secret bill gave me is having
a mindset around email and that mindset is that there is nothing urgent in
financial services. Stop acting like there is everything urgent in
financial services. Once you change your mindset around "there is
nothing urgent financial services" you will start to manage your inbox
and your client's expectations for your team and staff better. Thanks, Bill
Bachrach (www.billbachrach.com)
for your sage advice on managing my inbox.
The perfect week
One of the best time management strategies I ever learned as a financial
advisor, is the perfect week concept. What does the perfect week look like
for you? Plan on paper or an excel spreadsheet when you would time block
certain key meetings including ideal client prep and meetings, non-ideal
client meetings, ideal prospects, and COI's. Also, time blocked is time to
work on the practice each week, staff communications, exercise, and other
key elements of a successful practice. Start with how many meetings you
want to have with clients, then with prospects, and then add COI's. It
should be a formula like 6 ideal clients, 1-2 ideal prospects, and one COI
meeting each week. Then keep track of your weekly numbers on your
spreadsheet. The activity tracking will help you know if you are planning
the right time with the right people and tracking your weekly 6-1-1
cadence.
Where do I start with time
management?
As Jim Rohn said " Learn to
work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your
job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you'll make a
fortune.” https://www.success.com/jim-rohn-on-working-harder-on-yourself-than-your-job/
Start by time blocking two hours per week to work on you and your
practice!
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