To Excel as a Financial Advisor, You must Motivate Yourself and Stay Motivated
Mahatma Gandhi said – “Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive, because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. And keep your values positive because your values become your destiny. “
When you are at your most vulnerable, you cannot let it show. You must remain strong for the simple reason that the more uncertain the times, the more certainty clients will demand from you. Your equity is your relationships with your clients. It is imperative that you always do what is right, in order to preserve those relationships. If you get down, motivate yourself right back up.
Let’s role-play for a moment. I’m your client and I’m in a dilemma.
Watch the video or read the transcript below to learn what the dilemma is and what Don suggests you do to handle such situations.
I’m your client and I’m in a dilemma. I need some hard answers. It always seems that the more uncertain the times, the more certainty I want from my advisor. I apologize, I know it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. You are my trusted family advisor, and I’m going to lean on you for answers.
Here’s my dilemma. I don’t have enough money to retire.
I used to, or at least I thought I did, but I don’t any more. I now have a huge shortfall and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m not trying to get rich. I’m just afraid of being poor.
My 85-year old golfing buddies are running out of money. In fact too many of them are almost poor. When these guys retired, $40,000 was a great income. That may have sounded great back in 1993 but I know it’s not large in 2013. It’s less than $800 a week.
I’m guessing my friends didn’t expect to live this long. I know for a fact that they never expected to pay $90 to gas up their cars as it was a few years ago. I’ve got friends earning $4000 a month, paying $2400 a month for medicine. Since these guys retired, prices have almost tripled, and their incomes have remained constant.
A Florida condo may sound nice on paper. It’s a lousy place to be trapped. So please tell me Mr. or Ms. Advisor, how do I make up the shortfall?
Don’t tell me I’ve got to do something, I know that. What do I do?
That’s the problem. The system is broken.
Everything drilled into my head as an investment gospel was apparently untrue. I can’t save and make up the shortfall, nobody can. I have to invest.
I used to like the stock market – at least it allowed me to diversify. I don’t trust it any more. What about gold – is it too high? I like real estate but it’s not liquid. If you’re an individual investor – will you be playing around with oil futures? I need some hard answers.
I know that conversation is playing itself out in your office and offices like yours all across the country. And I know it’s not fair to you but as a trusted family advisor you have to be the source of encouragement. You have to be at your strongest, when you’re no doubt at your most uncertain.
Clients don’t see you up at 3 o’clock in the morning drinking milk, doubting yourself. They see you as a strong beacon of anti-stress.
Also, clients need the relationship now more than ever. They need your wisdom and they need you to be strong. We all need someone to lean on. And that begs a question: Who motivates you?
The answer is that to keep going day in and day out, you have to motivate yourself.
So let me give you 3 suggestions for motivating yourself.
#1. Be uncool
It’s now cool to be negative. Mainstream media are passing off character assassinations as objective reporting. Our beliefs, our values, our morals are derided on television and Hollywood. Look, get high on America, and get high on America’s prospects for the future.
To quote Charles Kuralt “It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge the whole country isn’t going up in flames.” There are people in this country besides politicians, entertainers and criminals.
#2. Stand tall
Do what you know is right. Say ‘no’ to your clients’ obsession with themselves. It’s time your clients be made to decide between their needs and their wants. That’s your job.
#3. Stay away from negative people
Let the other guy decide to be negative. You decide to be positive. Enthusiasm is passion and passion is contagious. Your clients will love you for it. I know, I’m a client.
Let me also give you 3 takeaways from this post.
Number one: The more uncertain the times, the more certainty clients are going to demand from you. Get ready for it.
Number two: Never forget how important you are to your clients.
And number three: For your clients’ sake, you must stay motivated. Therefore it is imperative that you learn how to motivate yourself when you’re down. Stay motivated.
If you liked this episode, join Don Connelly 24/7 – see how we can help you stay motivated!
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