The Actions that Lead to Top Performance

Activities with existing clients

1. Delivering superior value

   Given today’s discerning investors and range of alternatives, outstanding performance starts with the ability to deliver tangible, superior value. Three common paths to that value are:

   • Returns

     Among the top advisors I’ve talked to are some who focus on performance as their core value, pointing to historical returns or a differentiated investment process based on endowment-like diversification, Buffett-like stock selection, disciplined risk management or a single-minded focus on after-tax returns.

   • Total planning

     A second group of top advisors deliver value through comprehensive financial planning, expertise in inter-generational wealth transfer or total wealth management, often augmented by in-house or outside tax and estate planning experts. In some cases, top advisors take this one step further and communicate their value in terms of being a “financial quarterback,” coordinating their clients’ financial professionals.

   • Specialization

     A third route to value employed by top advisors is focused expertise in shared needs of a defined client niche, such as doctors, entrepreneurs or senior executives of a major local employer.

   Service, communication and deep relationships almost never make the list when it comes to how top advisors set themselves apart to deliver value. These are important, but today high-net worth clients (who are the focus of top-performing advisors) expect this of all advisors.

2. Frequent high-quality client interactions

   A second universal trait among top performing advisors is a strong focus on frequent personal interactions with clients, either personally or via a member of his or her team. These interactions are generally face-to-face, although sometimes they’re done via telephone meetings. And in some instances, Skype or Go to Meeting are replacing personal meetings and phone calls.

   Indirect communication doesn’t make the list of essential activities. While client letters, newsletters, emails, webinars, conference calls and other forms of indirect communication are used extensively by some top performers, there are many who put limited effort against these communication vehicles, choosing to concentrate their effort on personal contact.

3. Above-and-beyond activity

   Above and beyond activities varu greatly, from those that are focused broadly or targeted to top clients, recognition events for multiple clients or personal activity one-on-one with individual clients. But every top advisor dedicates some resources to making his or her best clients feel valued.

Activities with prospective clients

1. Articulating a clear point of difference to prospects

   When it comes to prospects, something else that sets top-performing advisors apart is their ability to provide a compelling reason to work with them. This is an extension of the value that these advisors deliver to existing clients – with the additional feature of distilling their point of different into a concise, persuasive message.

2. A focus on conversations with prospective clients

   Once they’ve achieved a threshold level of success, most advisors see a sharp drop in the priority they give to conversations with prospective clients. But top-performing advisors continue to emphasize reaching out to prospects; it may not be their first priority but it’s an important part of their routine and something that gets much more emphasis among top performers than among middle-of-the-pack advisors such as the one who asked the question that was the catalyst for this article.

3. A clear process to convert prospects

   A clear process to maintain ongoing contact with prospective clients is critical. For some advisors, if nothing comes of an initial meeting with a prospect, they will write that prospect off. By contrast, top performers maintain ongoing contact with prospective clients for months or even years after initial meetings, recognizing that prospects decide to do business based on their timeframe, not yours. In part, this relates to patience and being willing to defer gratification, one of the core attitudes of highly successful advisors that I covered last week.

Activities to manage your team

1. A clearly defined process for dealing with clients and prospects

   The final group of activities common to top-performing advisors is having clearly defined processes in place to deal with existing and prospective clients. Of course, there are large variations in the level of structure that top performers bring to how they work, but every successful advisor has some clearly defined procedures that are used consistently and are at the core of how they work.

2. Effective delegation to team members

   Successful advisors universally delegate the implementation of that process. The level of delegation varies greatly. Some very successful advisors delegate routine administration and day-to-day client contact but are the principal point of contact for all but the smallest clients. By contrast, some advisors run large teams where associate advisors handle all but the very largest clients. When clients are in the office for meetings, the senior advisor may stop in to briefly greet them but the bulk of contact is delegated down. Whichever end of the spectrum an advisor operates, every highly successful advisor has developed the skill of effective delegation.

3. A capable and motivated team

   As I said at the outset, there’s no cookie-cutter model for how to attract, structure and compensate an effective team, but no advisor can operate at a high level unless he or she is supported by a sound team.

The starting point for this two-part series of articles was a question from an advisor frustrated that he wasn’t producing results at the level of the most successful advisors in his firm. If you have a similar concern, consider working with your team to pick one of the attributes under attitudes, skills or activities and make that your focus for the period ahead. Do that and you will see the performance gap narrow between you and today’s most successful advisors.

conducts programs to help advisors gain and retain clients and is an award winning faculty member in the MBA program at the University of Toronto. To see more of his written and video commentaries, go to www.clientinsights.ca. Use A555A for the rep and dealer code to register for website access.

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