Tip of the Month Newsletter August, 2007 In this issue: Get More Out of Every Day A Special Designation From ZERO to 80 Referrals in Two Months Overcoming Your Reluctance to Ask - Part One Get More Out of Every Day: The secrets to managing your energy to maximize effectiveness and productivity Have any of these ever happen to you? You're designing an important proposal that is mentally challenging, but your brain feels stuck in slow motion.... You've lined up several important prospecting calls, but you just don't have the energy to make the calls effectively.... You about to go into an important and challenging meeting, but you know you are not operating at your best... If these happen to you, you are not alone. The good news is there is an alternative to cranking yourself up with a double-espresso. You can easily learn a few key strategies that will allow you to Be at your best when you need it most Perform under pressure Get more done each and every day I have recently learned from a Ph. D. researcher about new findings on human performance. I was impressed with how a few key strategies are making such a big difference for professional athletes and how these strategies can significantly enhance an FA's personal productivity and effectiveness. Some of the findings show that Every one of us can significantly impact our personal productivity by more effectively managing our personal energy cycles. Each of us can learn simple strategies to be at our best when we need it the most I was so impressed with the potential payoff for FA's that I wanted to share these strategies with you. I have arranged for Gregg Steinberg, Ph. D. to provide a unique learning experience for you. Dr. Steinberg personally coaches professional athletes to perform at their best under pressure. He also teaches human performance at the college level. And he's a terrific golfer too. He has written several books and conducts programs that can help anyone perform better on the golf course and at work. He has just returned from helping some of his clients at the British Open. Here is some of the "HOW TO's" you will learn during this special session: Understand your personal energy cycles and how to manage them to get more of out each day. Utilize your "surge" periods for maximum payoff Manage your day so you don't end up exhausted at the end of the work day Minimize distraction and increase your concentration on the task at hand so you can handle it more quickly and effectively Develop your own "pre-shot and post-shot routines" so you quickly get into high performance states These strategies can significantly impact your personal productivity, effectiveness, and stress levels every day. You will be impressed with how easy it is to implement these strategies and the impact they can have on your personal enjoyment each day. When you participate, you will receive a workbook with the session and a follow-up implementation CD. This special learning session will be held on August 14 at 4:15 Eastern and last 90 minutes. The investment is only $49. To equip yourself with these strategies, goto:referralmastery.com or call us at 800-865-2867 or e-mail us and we will fax the sign up form to you. Join us and learn how to get more out of every day. Back to top A Special Designation and Thank You I want to express my gratitude to the 400 groups to whom I have had the privilege of speaking over the past five years. Because of your openness to hear business-building ideas, I have been able to earn the CSP Designation (Certified Speaking Professional). It is a designation that fewer than 10% of professional speakers earn. It would not have been possible without the openness of hundreds of managers and the support of sponsors such as OppenheimerFunds and Sun Life. I also owe a debt of gratitude to a mentor who recently passed away, Roger Herman. He not only encouraged me to secure the CSP designation along with the CMC designation but he led the way with his personal example. I am humbled to be among only 20 people in the world who hold both the CSP and CMC designations. Back to top From ZERO to 80 in Two Months - Update from the Trenches Rocky M. was frustrated when he called our office in May. "I built my business on seminars but the seminars don't draw like they used to and are no longer worth it. And I have just completed a massive swing to a fee-based approach and have taken a big pay cut. And I don't have a referral system." In addition, Rocky was moving his home and operation 90 miles away from his previous office and the base for most of his clients. Big challenge? You bet. Fortunately, Rocky had a handful of clients living in the new community. By progressively implementing the Referral Mastery System, Rocky has generated 80 referrals in these "slow" months of June and July. What is Rocky's secret? A clear market focus and disciplined application of the Referral Mastery System. Let me know if you want to learn more about how he did it. Back to top Overcoming Your Reluctance to Ask - Part One In the 20 years of helping advisors drive their business growth through referrals, I have witnessed many advisors overcome emotional roadblocks and shatter the glass ceilings that previously depressed their incomes and kept them from achieving performance levels commensurate with their talent. This series will highlight the roadblocks they encountered and how they successfully crafted breakthrough strategies that allowed them to flourish and achieve income levels they previously could only fantasize. After one of my Referral Mastery workshops, I received a call from John T., a 42 year old investment advisor operating in the Midwest. While John had moderate success in his 7 years in the business, he was frustrated. Despite his commitment to emulate the best client service practices in the industry, he was getting only a trickle of referrals. He knew he should ask, but he frequently hesitated or "forgot to ask" or ran out of time in the meeting. When he did raise the issue, it was a gentle suggestive approach, "Feel free to have people you care about call me if they have a question or want a second opinion." Occasionally, he would get calls and they almost always resulted in new clients. However, the number was not what he needed to create the income he wanted. As we worked together to understand what was getting in the way, John told me he wanted to avoid situations where he might "lose" or where clients might express in some way that they didn't think highly enough of him to refer him. "After all I do for people and my sincere dedication to their well-being, that would be extremely painful to hear. So I am not going to intentionally put myself in that situation several times a week. No way." John's honesty allowed us to craft a new pathway for him. It required attacking the roadblock at several levels. It is often easier to begin at the results level because the logic is obvious. "John, from a business perspective, what is the difference between asking for a referral and not getting one compared to not asking and not getting one?" There is no difference. So by not asking, you guarantee the lousy outcome you were trying to avoid. Let's compare the trade-offs of asking for feedback and getting criticized compared to not asking for feedback. If the client is unhappy with some aspect of your service, are you better off knowing this or not knowing it? Knowing their unhappiness empowers you to take action and change the situation. Your willingness to ask for feedback also demonstrates a level of caring that clients appreciate. So the combination of not asking for either feedback or for referrals is a double loser: you cut yourself off from referrals today and from the learning that will generate more referrals in the future. What a perfect strategy to lock in frustration forever. What's the probability? I asked John, "Since you have clients who are still with you, what percent of them are likely to tell you that your service is so lousy that they wouldn't think of referring you?" Let's face it. Any that ever felt that way are long gone. So at the logical level, John began to see that if he started asking for feedback and for referrals, he would only occasionally have to deal with negative feedback. And when he did, it was a blessing in disguise because it gave him useful information he could use to improve and become even more competitive. So much for the logical level. "What about my emotional vulnerability when I let down my defenses and expose my inner self to that emotional bullet?" Here are some steps: Step One: Ask yourself, "What is the worst case scenario? How mortal will the wound be? Will you be able to handle the disappointment without being crushed? How long will the pain of disappointment last?" In reality, you have already handled much greater disappointments in your life and moved on successfully. Step Two: Check your interpretation. If a client declines to give you a referral, does that mean he or she thinks your service stinks? Or are they just uncertain on how to handle the introduction in a way that the referral will welcome and reflect positively on them? In most cases, it is the client's uncertainty that is the barrier. Step Three: Develop a healthy "distance" from the daily results. My selling results improved significantly when I stopped worrying about the outcomes of individual cases and adopted the "Some will. Some won't. So what." approach. Who cares which prospects of equal quality say YES and which ones say NO? All that matters is the enough of the right ones say YES. So have enough in the pipeline so IT DOESN'T MATTER. This helped me focus on those that were the right fit and let the others go. Some clients will give referrals quickly and easily. Some need more time and multiple exposures. Some won't ever. So what! By putting a strong system in place, you will leverage those who are willing to do it. If you make your process an easy "no brain-er" for your clients, all those who are open to it will do it quickly and consistently. With advanced strategies, you can both FAST FORWARD the process and leverage relationships to dial in whatever number of referrals you want. (See from "Zero to 80 in Two Months" above.) If you have reluctance, examine the underpinnings of that reluctance. Challenge its logical foundation. Clarify the consequences of your behaviors. And check out what you are really risking by asking. As you progressively remove roadblocks, you can carve a pathway to massive success. If you want some assistance with this or feel it is time to get serious about putting a strong referral process in place, feel free to call us at 800-865-2867 or e-mail me at mike@referralmastery.com. Back to top