Little Changes Make Major Differences to Your Practice

Have you hit a plateau in your business? Do you feel like you need to make some changes to your advisory practice, but the idea of making those changes to your business totally overwhelms you?

The truth is that you do not have to completely overhaul your advisory business to make a significant impact on the bottom line. In fact, even the slightest changes done consistently can make a major difference in your business.

The key is to simply make subtle adjustments in how you operate your business. If you make one minor tweak followed by another consistently, over and over, these series of small adjustments will produce tremendous results.

What kinds of actions or changes should you make? You might be unsure of where to begin. You need to decide what changes are most important to you and your business. One of the easiest ways to decide what changes to make is to carefully think about what part of your business might not be working the way you want it to.

Your options truly are infinite, but the following are 10 quick suggestions to get you started on thinking about small adjustments.

1. Send thank you notes. When was the last time you received a thank you note? Think about the impact of a handwritten thank you note. They are so simple, yet so powerful. Carve out time once a week to send two or three thank you notes to your clients and prospects.

2. Present at a local event. Community organizations, charities and local clubs are a great way to get exposure for your business. Look for an opportunity to speak at an event in your market once a quarter.

3. Host a webinar for your current clients and prospects. Webinar marketing is a new, cost-effective trend that many advisors are using to stay in front of clients and prospects. They are manageable, as well as scalable. Commit to hosting one every other month.

4. Actively engage on LinkedIn. Is your profile up to date? Have you moved beyond just reading content on LinkedIn or are you actively engaging? Write posts, share blogs and like posts you read on your LinkedIn wall. Find new connections and connect with your clients’ family members. Consider routinely spending 15 minutes a day on LinkedIn.
5. Listen to a new financial podcast. Educating yourself is important. What are your competitors doing? Find a new industry podcast to listen to once a week to stay relevant and sharp.

6. Create a blog and regularly write posts. Do you have a blog for your business? Do you regularly write and post to your blog? Do you send new blogs out to your clients consistently? Blogging is an excellent way to educate your clients and stay top of mind with them.

7. Re-evaluate your current website. Does your website need to be updated? Is it mobile friendly? If you or your staff cannot handle this task, consider hiring a firm to help you.

8. Create a client survey. Are you regularly gathering client feedback? Write a client survey and send it to your top 10 to 20 clients to gather input on how you are doing and where you might need to improve your service model.

9. Arrange a lunch meeting with a new Center of Influence (COI). What is your strategy for connecting with COIs? Having a handful of COI strategic partners who regularly provide you with new, quality prospects is an important and often overlooked referral strategy.

10. Try a new marketing technique. Have you ever recorded a podcast for your business or created a marketing video? Consider recording a two-minute podcast or creating a 30-second marketing video to put on your website and send out to clients.

Whether you decide to implement one or two of these changes or identify changes that you want to make on your own, make a firm commitment and fully embrace the changes you choose to act on.

When you do commit, be sure to determine a realistic frequency. Is the change you want to implement something you will do daily, weekly or monthly? Don’t create an unrealistic frequency so that you avoid doing the new task altogether.

Also, set a time period for yourself when you implement a new strategy. After three to six months, measure whether or not you believe the new strategy has impacted your practice.

Remember, if you try a small change and it doesn’t show results, don’t give up. In other words, if you fail, try again. All top financial advisors know that you have to fail to succeed.

Keep in mind that this same principle also applies to your personal life! Small changes will yield a big impact on your personal life and will benefit your professional and family life, leading to better life balance.

Get a few more minutes of sleep each night and choose to go to bed earlier. Exercise a few more minutes a day by choosing to take the stairs rather than the elevator to your office. Drink more water. Eat one more fruit or vegetable. Smile more. It might sound silly, but even these small changes, done consistently, will make a difference to your overall well-being and energy every day. This, of course, will also ultimately benefit your business.

Small actions make big differences. Your road to becoming a successful financial advisor can be paved with minor tweaks.

Don’t get caught up in thinking that you need to make major changes to see dramatic results in your business. Commit to one or two small changes and stick to them. You will see the impact.