The idea that seven good habits can make you more effective has become a mainstay in North American business culture ever since the late Stephen R. Covey published The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in 1989.
According to April-Lynn Levitt, a business coach with the Personal Coach in Toronto, top financial advisors have their own seven habits that contribute to successful practices.
Here are four of those habits that directly relate to maintaining an efficient practice:
1. Have a written vision
The most successful advisors write down their “big picture” ideal for their businesses, and the goals they must achieve in order to realize that vision. Having your vision on paper gives you something tangible to refer to throughout the year.
Ask yourself what you are working toward and what steps will lead to accomplishing your goal. For example, you may be an older, established advisor who wants to work less. If that is the case, you would identify smaller steps that would lead to your target, such as networking to meet junior advisors and training your support staff to handle more responsibility.
Such habits can set the tone for the year. In fact, Levitt says, many advisors take time away from the office to brainstorm these ideas once a year.
2. Measure your progress
Writing down your goals won’t mean much unless you keep track of what you are doing toward fulfilling them. This does not have to be a complicated system, Levitt says.
“I had one advisor who would try to get five checkmarks a day, [signifying that] he’d talked to five clients a day,” Levitt says. “He just had a piece of paper by his desk.”
3. Plan an “ideal week”
Levitt calls this one of the most successful habits advisors can implement.
How would an ideal week look on your schedule? How many hours would be set aside for administrative tasks, client communication, review meetings, staff discussions and other activities?
Treat this exercise more as a guideline than a rigid schedule. Unanticipated interruptions inevitably will alter your plan, but this exercise can improve your productivity.
“A lot of times, advisors are at work and they’re not really working,” Levitt says. “They’re wasting so much time doing other things because they don’t have that structure set up.”
4. Maintain a consistent marketing plan
During the hectic times of the year, it is easy to let marketing fall by the wayside while you deal with urgent tasks. But remember that marketing is not an option. It is an integral part of your business that must be built into your year-round schedule.
For example, if you produce a quarterly newsletter, you should not only schedule when it is delivered but also designate deadlines for completion of content and design. This way, you will be continually working on it as part of your routine and it will be ready for the delivery date.
The goal is to maintain an ongoing marketing program that will produce consistent results throughout the year.
This is the first installment in a two-part series on the habits of successful advisors.
Next: Looking after yourself and your clients.