Setting Proper Goals
The biggest issue I run into when working with producers is that most of them don’t even know where to start when it comes to setting their goals. It makes it very difficult for us nail down what a real solid business plan looks like because we have no clarity on the target we are trying to reach. Being clear with yourself and your business about your goals is so fundamentally important that I thought I would try to shed some light on how I set my goals and how other successful advisers do as well.
Let’s first start with the 2 biggest mistakes I run into most frequently when discussing goal setting with the advisers I work with:
Setting your goals too small!
The major issue with this is that goals and targets that are too small don’t provide you with the drive necessary to achieve what you really want! This can chain reaction into a couple other problems…
If your goals are too small and don’t require you to really elevate your action levels to reach them, and then you don’t… you will end up devastated and looking back at a year that will be considered a failure
On the flip side, you might end up reaching your goals easily and then realize that your potential was much greater and you feel like you wasted a great opportunity.
Not Reviewing your goals frequently enough!
We want these goals burned into our brains and you must review them all the time for that to be the case.
Reviewing your goals also gives you a specific sense of purpose when you need it most. For example, if you lose a sale or have a bad marketing event, it is nice to be able to go back and review those goals to remind you that there is a purpose to get you re-motivated!
I want to challenge you to play a little game. I call it the Lottery Game (I’m sure you have played this before). Think to yourself, “If I won the lottery, how would I spend that money?” How does that make you feel? It is tough to argue that the potential is so much more exciting than the reality. When you set your goals you should get that same feeling towards what you would do with the reward for reaching that target. Only in this case, the work you do is not just because you have to do the work, it is to absolutely get you closer to reaching that target and making your dreams become reality. If these goals aren’t clear, you will despise the work it takes to get there and you will ultimately fail.
What does having clear goals mean? As an adviser it should absolutely revolve around how much money you want to make in the given time period. We do this job to take care of ourselves, our families, and our employees so this is the most important number you want to nail down for your business. From there we can reverse engineer our numbers to get there.
How many sales do you need to make to get to that revenue target? (You’ll need to know your average client size to calculate)
AUM
Annuity
Life
How many people do you have to sit with to make that many sales? (You’ll need to know your closing success ratio for this)
Finally, what does the work look like to get that many appointments
How many calls?
How many mailings?
How many referrals?
How many seminars?
Etc.
The final way to really set yourself up to reach your goals is to internalize and determine where you need to develop personally. If you have had issues reaching your goals in the past it might not be the goals, it might very well be your skills.
Do you need to get better at presenting to a group?
Do you need to nail down a better sales process and improve your closing skills?
Evaluate where you can improve and make a commitment of TIME & MONEY to develop those skills. Make it a great year and make your potential a reality!
-Trent