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Covenant Capabilities
The document discusses strategies for building a successful advisory business, emphasizing the importance of attracting and retaining the right advisors, managing profitable relationships, and ensuring persistent advisor productivity. It presents a career stage model for advisors and outlines ten truths about effective practice building, highlighting the need for a clear value proposition and an entrepreneurial mindset. Additionally, it introduces a systems approach to practice development, focusing on marketing and client engagement to enhance business growth and client relationships.
Covenant Capabilities
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- 2. Four Key Metricsof Persistent Growth 1. Attract the right advisors 2. Retain the right advisors 3. Profitable advisor relationships 4. Persistent advisor production
- 3. Common Practice Realities I have spent my career building what I thought was a successful practice. Now my client base is: Not valuing my advice Aging Converting assets into retirement income Transferring their money to children with whom I have no relationship Dying Looking for lower risk alternatives Sensitive to premiums Leaving me for another advisor I spend more time on administration and client service than giving advice and developing business I feel like the business is running me – rather than the other way around My work/life balance is way out of whack – it isn’t much fun anymore I have no idea how I will realize the value of this business that I have spent years building
- 4. Three Paradigms Business Paradigm Marketing Revenue Paradigm Sales Paradigm 0 Years
- 5. Career Stages Model 1.Apprentice Conformist, Approval 2. Specialist Conscientious, Rule-oriented 3. Mentor Autonomous, Social contract 4. Integrator Influence, Wisdom
- 6. Apprentice Stage Needs Task Sub-tasks clear, gains success experience, help in understanding formal & informal organization Relationship Feedback / Support Assessment Development Broad range of experiences to develop base competencies, opportunities to work with and observe models of excellence, training/education and reading to accelerate development of knowledge competencies
- 7. Specialist Stage Needs Task Control over projects and completes tasks, Managing own time Relationship Feedback / Support Assessment Development Special assignments and broadened responsibilities, workshop brainstorming sessions with peers focused on key work issues, training and reading accelerate development of higher level competencies, trade literature focusing on technical specialty
- 8. Mentor Stage Needs Task Coach, counsel, Stimulate others, balance people and business goals; personal and work goals Relationship Feedback / Support Assessment Development Development experience help make the often difficult shift from stage 2 to stage 3, training and feedback on management skills, assignments and meeting participation to broaden business goals understanding, counseling skills training
- 9. Integrator Stage Needs Task Planning policy and strategy, identify new areas of work Relationship Feedback / Support Assessment Development Reading business publications and business-oriented material, special projects that give exposure to community and profession, round tables on cutting-edge issues
- 10. 10 Truths AboutBuilding a Powerful Practice 1. Advisors build a powerful practice by working ON as well as IN their business 2. Advisors work on their business by developing a strategy to take their practice from where it is today to where they would like it to be in the future 3. They develop a strategy to advance theirr business by having a clear vision of what they want the practice to look like when it is as successful as they want it to be 4. They develop a clear vision for your practice by declaring their value proposition 5. Advisors declare their value proposition by defining their services, products and processes 6. They define their offer by understanding what their target market wants 7. They understand what their target market wants by employing a disciplined methodology for identifying client values and making appropriate recommendations 8. They employ a disciplined methodology for identifying values and making recommendations by consistently following a Disciplined Process 9. They consistently Create Client Capital to realize clients’ lifetime value 10. They realize lifetime value by creating clients for life
- 11. Practice Development: The Business Builder Model Mindset Target Engage Commit Expand Mindset Adopt an entrepreneurial approach to business building. This entrepreneurial mindset unlocks economic potential within your business. Target Develop and implement a marketing system that builds your brand in your network and chosen markets. Engage Prepare a simple client attraction conversation that creates meaningful dialogue and interest. If you know how to open, you don’t have to close. Commit Focus on creating Client Capital and maximize the value of your client relationships. Expand Create a client experience that expands your “relationship equity.” Grow your business based upon a reputation of service excellence and value-added relationships. You earn the right to obtain introductions, recommendations and referrals from the people you know.
- 12. Practice Development is Essential The process of strategically building an advisory business The best approach? A “systems” approach
- 13. Practice Development With The Covenant Group Value-added program to help Advisors grow their businesses organically Advisors are looking for additional training and education programs Advisors are looking for something outside of product and concept training Methods & tools to help them develop their business
- 14. Proven Success Do you feel this was a good investment for you? When, if ever, do you expect to see business benefits as a result of participating in the program? Absolutely! . . . it is immediate because it helps identify what you are doing vs. what you ought to be doing so you can start to make changes immediately. . . . I am going to make a very good return by way of increased business. Right now. Very good investment and also an ongoing one. It reminds me to constantly refine and define the business, my associates and myself. Benefits are happening already and exponentially . . .
- 15. Implementing an Integrated Developmental Continuum Advanced Development Study Groups Business Builder Coaching Self Study Books & Millionaire Advisor.ca
- 16. Outcomes Sponsoring Firms Agents / Advisors 1. Increased revenue 1. Increased revenue 2. Maximized utility of 2. Leveraged resources of marketing programs sponsoring firms 3. Deeper understanding 3. Deeper understanding of of advisor needs client needs 4. Leveraged internal 4. Increased utility of resources practice resources 5. Visible value 5. Unique value proposition
Editor's Notes
- #6 ApprenticeThe individual is established in a new environment, is assigned parts of projects and depend primarily on others for evaluation of their work SpecialistThe individual establishes technical credibility and concentrates on mastering an area of technical expertise MentorThe established person begins to look outward to others, their needs and his or her ability to help them learn the trade IntegratorThe individual integrates the technical and other functions of the organization and makes their influence felt both inside and outside the organization
- #7 Where what others think of us and how they evaluate us are key performance measures. We are motivated by the need to impress others and to show that we can do the management job. We are “outer directed” and look to others to measure our value in the management role.Our views of change are based on models of salesmanship and personal influence. We believe in the charismatic role that such a view implies. In other words, our attitude as an agent is that our own personal influence or charisma can shape the success of agents working with us.
- #8 We become concerned with technical mastery of our work, of becoming 'technical specialists'. The primary concerns are developing competence in each area of our job and broadening the technical understanding and mastery of the job.Our achievement motivation is to master each aspect of the role. Our views of change can be summarized as follows: “If I do a good job at marketing, conducting selling interviews and client service, I will be successful.” We see our change agent role less as ‘a charismatic leader' and more as ‘a specialist’ who masters the important subtasks of prospecting, calling for appointments, conducting interviews, etc...
- #9 The focus shifts from the development of our own competence to facilitating the development of the competencies of others. We become more concerned about the impact we have on others. The individual in the mentor phase begins to view the change process and his role in it quite differently than before. There is growing awareness that the growth of the firm and of individuals is a collaboratively planned and implemented process where managers and others work together toward greater personal and organizational effectiveness and where the manager's most important skill is the ability to facilitate the collaboration.
- #10 We are ready to lead both inside and outside our organizations. We are in a position “to integrate”, base decisions more on “wisdom” than guesswork and practices, and in thoughts, influence “beyond our personal span of control and contact”. In the Integrator Stage, we have the “head” and “heart” of the role, and we have the position power than comes from people within and outside our organization recognizing our “wisdom”. We can make our influence felt in a very broad way.The Integrator sets up Performance Support Systems to achieve individual and organizational goals. Performance Support Systems integrate reward systems, organizational structure, training and development systems and assessment and monitoring individual systems to permit individuals to perform at a high level. It is at this stage that the manager is capable of building the “mega” practice. He seeks to have impact no only on his practice, but also on his firm and the industry itself.A significant business works with top management to create new approaches to enhancing individual effectiveness and to contributing to human resource development. Having an impact at this level requires position power, a reputation for managerial excellence, and high levels of self esteem. Our managerial effectiveness in this stage - in fact, the degree to which we enter it - is directly proportional to our reputation, position and self-confidence.
- #16 .