May 12, 2009
The discipline to stick to that plan
In sports, when you get behind in a game or in a series, it’s easy to lose focus on your plan. But winning teams don’t get distracted – they stick to their fundamental plan.
That doesn’t mean they follow their plan blindly – every team needs to adapt their approach to the circumstances they’re facing on the field and to what’s working on a particular day. The bottom line – winning teams often change tactics, but seldom their overall strategy.
Similarly, advisors need the discipline to stick to their plan – especially in tough times like we’ve seen of late. Yes, if what you’re doing isn’t aligned with what investors seek, you need to be prepared to adapt, but this still needs to happen in the context of your overall game plan.
One of the challenges for advisors today is modifying your approach to the economic environment and investor mindset – while sticking to the core principles that will drive your business going forward.
Focus on preparation
Today’s athletes are a breed apart from those of a generation ago – they’re much bigger, stronger and faster.
Less obvious is another difference – they’re infinitely better prepared.
Every successful athlete focuses on conditioning year-round – a stark comparison to times not long ago when athletes came to training camp to get into shape. Even a sport like golf, where historically overall fitness was not seen as critical, has been transformed by Tiger Woods’ focus on conditioning. In case you haven’t noticed, far fewer pot bellies are on the PGA tour.
An important reason for this change is that the huge escalation in player salaries has made the stakes much higher. As recently as the early sixties, it was common for pro athletes to need off-season jobs to supplement their salaries.
Players are also much better prepared when they step on the field, as video has transformed game preparation. They spend hours studying tendencies of the opposing players they’ll be facing.
And top coaches aren’t just great judges of talent and terrific motivators – coaches like Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots are notorious for their obsessive commitment to pre-game preparation. It has been said of Scotty Bowman, co-holder of the record for coaching the most hockey champions, that what truly set him apart were the hours he invested before each game to anticipate the other team’s tactics on a particular night. “Scotty seemed to know what the other team was going to do before they did,” according to a former player.
Those principles of preparation also apply to advisors. Too many advisors show up to a key meeting with an important client or prospect with only a general game plan for that meeting. You can afford that luxury in good times – but in times like these, you have to make every minute of every meeting count.
Advisors need to be much more disciplined about preparing for client meetings and phone calls. For each meeting, spend the time beforehand identifying the specific outcomes you want, the items you’ll be discussing, the questions you’ll be asking and the recommendations you’ll be making to achieve your objectives.
Taking the time before a meeting to get client buy-in to a meeting agenda will be helpful in that process. Even if you’re just talking to an existing or prospective client on the phone, taking 60 seconds beforehand to jot down what you want to achieve from that call will increase your success rate.
Here is a recent article I wrote about preparing for meetings.
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