Advice for New Financial Advisors

Things Veteran Advisors Wish They Knew When They First Started Out. Valuable things shared by veteran Advisors for young and aspiring advisors:

1. “I should have focused on a niche sooner.”

Many advisors say they wish they had focused their practice on a single niche or concept much earlier in their careers. There are a number of advantages to this – It sets you apart from the crowd, It allows you to become among the leading experts in the country on one topic instead of fighting among the generalists, You can focus your marketing and advertising much more effectively.
When you’re the expert in your niche, people come to you.

2.  “I should have prospected more.”
Call shyness is one of the number one killers of young advisors’ careers. Anytime you speak with an advisor who survived his or her first five years in the business, you’re already dealing with survivorship bias: They survived five years because they prospected enough to make it that long.
But even then, nobody told us they prospected too much. They may have wished they prospected smarter. But nobody said they should have prospected less!
So, pick up the phone, or knock on those doors, and collect a few hundred rejections this month. You won’t regret it. And you’ll meet a lot of people. Feed that pipeline.

3. “This isn’t the ‘money’ business. It’s a people business!

Many advisors became extremely technically proficient at an early age. They knew investment products backwards and forwards. They became wizards of their chosen software programs. They could generate beautiful-looking reports and financial plans in minutes. And they couldn’t close a sale to save their lives. Until they internalized this powerful lesson: It’s not how well you know money. It’s how well you know people. Once you stop thinking you’re in the money management business and start thinking you’re in the people business, you’re going to have a lot more success.

4. “I should have embraced technology.”

There’s no doubt about it: Technology is changing the way financial services are marketed and sold for the better. But that doesn’t mean some advisors didn’t get left behind.
Smart advisors are investing aggressively in a good website with great client interaction, in first-class contact management software that saves precious time, and in best-in-class practice management software.
This is another way of saying you need to work on your business, rather than in it. Technology will help you create processes that will help you serve more people – and bring in more revenue doing it.

5. “I should have spent more time with my family.”

This is one of the most common regrets veteran advisors have – and by far the most important. Yes, this business is grueling. Especially in the early years. You need your family to be supportive. But you also have to be supportive to your family, or what’s the point?
Take a 4-day weekend once every quarter, and just do family stuff. Take your spouse for a dinner after a success. Your clients will understand. You’ll be a better advisor for it. And you’ll get more business.