Financial Advisor Marketing: Affirmative Goals and HVFDAs
To achieve your financial advisor marketing goal, it has to be written correctly. Very few financial advisors (or people in general) understand how to correctly write out goals.
The first step is to write your financial advisor marketing goals out in positive, present tense affirmative statements.
A typical incorrectly written goal example:
My goal is to earn $200,000 per year, work with women and complete two HVFDAs, high value fixed daily activities. I make calls daily.
Rewritten affirmative goal statement:
“I earn $200,000 this year with ease. I advise 100 combination, affluent women.
I complete one lunch-n-learn each week. I conduct one feeder workshop each month. I make 20 warm calls per day from 9:00-11:00 am.”
Stating a specific goal in a clear, positive, present tense affirmative statement dramatically increases the odds of achieving it because it directs your reticular activating system and because your subconscious cannot differentiate a positive from a negative statement. For example, ‘I am not broke’ is a negative statement and is translated into your subconscious as ‘I am broke.’ Better affirmative statements would include “My net worth is x. I am financially free. I make great financial decisions.”
Identifying your HVFDAs
HVFDAs, high value fixed daily activities, are those actions and “mini-goals,” which must be completed on a daily basis. While it is exciting to set goals and discuss dreams, the true test of your commitment is the consistent completion of your daily activities, specifically your HVFDAs. This requires work and dedication. As the saying goes, “You can’t skip activities on Monday and make them up on Tuesday.” It simply doesn’t work. So if you have scheduled to make ten warm calls every day, commit to completing them every day. Completing your HVFDAs, first thing in the morning, (before you get distracted) will increase the odds of completing them. Close your door, sequester yourself in your office and train your financial advisory staff not to interrupt you when you are completing your HVFDAs.
Critical HVFDAs: IPAs, Income Producing Activities
Include IPAs, income producing activities, in your HVFDAs. IPAs are activities that either generate income for your advisory firm now or in the future. Examples include client meetings, lunch-n-learns, feeder workshops or prospecting.
If you are just starting out in your financial advisory career, complete eight hours of IPAs each day. If you are half way toward your financial advisor marketing goal, complete a minimum of four hours. If you are established and close to earning your desired income then you should complete a minimum of two hours of HVFDAs each day.
While there’s not a huge difference between top financial advisors and average financial advisors, one of the most obvious differences is that top financial advisors focus on completing HVFDAs while low and average producers spend their time on LVFDAs (low value fixed daily activities). Low producers will let HVFDAs slip through the cracks and then justify why, whereas top financial advisors won’t. The only excuse for not completing your daily HVFDAs are pre-planned vacations or an emergency.
Ideally, delegate your LVFDAs to staff. Or if you do not have staff, then complete them outside of your regular advisory firm business hours until you can afford to hire a staff member.
After you write an affirmative goal in each area, identify the most important HVFDAs you need to complete to achieve the goal.
For example:
Affirmative Goal: I advise 50 combination, affluent women.
Sample HVFDAs:
1. I present one feeder workshop per week to groups attended by affluent women.
2. My referral partners and I present one feeder lunch-n-learn workshop, from 11:30-1:00 pm, the first Thursday of each month.
3. I make 20 warm calls each day to affluent women prospects, clients and centers of influence.
4. I volunteer at the women’s shelter the first Saturday morning of each month.
Once you have written out your goals for each area of your financial advisory business & life, identify two HVFDA for each goal. Then go through each affirmative goal and HVFDA and ask, “Will this activity have the greatest impact for me achieving this goal?” If the answer is yes, you are on course. If you are not sure, revise your activities or affirmative goals before proceeding.
HVFDAs are powerful as exemplified in this story. There was a farmer, who had an amazing farm with a variety of crops and flowers. People drove for hundreds of miles just to see the farm. It was like an oasis in the middle of dirt and weeds, so people would drive for miles just to see it. One visitor exclaimed to the farmer “You are so lucky, God sure has been good to you and has blessed you with an amazing farm!” The farmer replied “Yes, God has been good to me but you should have seen the farm when God had it all to himself!” He explained “The reason my farm is spectacular is the same reason any business is successful. I first create a plan and then I implement and work the plan every day. If I have to be away, my workers complete the daily tasks. I know that if I do not plant my seeds on time, fertilize and water them adequately, my farm will be a disaster. My secret is really not a secret at all. I simply complete my required tasks every day which is what anyone who wants to succeed needs to do. The result is what you see. Can you imagine if I got lazy in the spring and waited until late summer to plant my harvest? The crops wouldn’t survive the frost and I would have a disaster.” The visitor replied “There are businesses that could learn a lot by talking to you.” The farmer smiled and said “It was nice meeting you but I need to get back to finishing my daily chores. Enjoy your visit and take as much time as you like.”
Regardless of your goal – to create a successful financial advisory firm or farm – HVFDAs are the secret.
Take some time each day to write out your own affirmative goals and identify two HVFDAs for each goal. In my next blog post, I will provide some examples of affirmative goals and HVFDAs in various aspects of life.
To attend our next marketing webinar go to Advisor Marketing System.
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