This document provides guidance on achieving excellence in business through developing a repeatable process. It emphasizes mastering the basics through hard work over relying on natural talent alone. A key part of the process involves setting goals and creating a business plan and marketing plan to guide actions. Relationship building, communication, and sticking to fundamentals are also emphasized. The document concludes by assigning homework to participants to submit their mission statement and marketing plan.

1. Thank You For Joining Us

2. Everyone on this call is running a business“Business is not financial science, it’s about trading. . . Buying and selling. It’s about creating a product or service so good that people will pay for it.” Anita Roddick

3. MY MISSION STATEMENT To instill in Financial Services professionals the belief that they are capable of achieving excellence at the art of selling and the art of communication; and the confidence to strive to do so

4. Excellence is simply doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well

5. “If you want excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.” Thomas J. Watson Sr.

6. Ours is a simple businessLife is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. ~Confucius

7. Three things must happen if people are going to do business with you. They must like you

8. They must trust you

9. They must feel what you are offering fits their needs Tell me what I’m missing

10. A few truths (of many) about achieving excellenceTalent is overrated. You win with a repeatable process. There are no outliers

11. You must forever stick to three rules

12. You must master and stick to the basics

13. You can be successful without talent. You cannot be successful without hard work Truth: Talent is overrated. There are no outliers

14. The Repeatable ProcessMastering the basics and doing them over and over again every day breeds consistency

15. In golf, consistency means a repeatable swing. A repeatable swing means predictable results

16. Predictable results mean money, fame and fortune in any profession

17. Phil Mickelson is the greatest left-handed golfer of all timeWas Phil Mickelson born a great golfer?

18. Phil MickelsonBorn 1970

19. Began hitting balls at 18 months old

20. Tried to run away from home at age 3 because his parents said he was too young to play golf with his father. His neighbors steered him around the block and back home

21. Declared at age 9 that he would one day win the Masters

22. As a boy, bribed his neighbors to drive him to the golf course

23. Won 34 San Diego Junior Golf Association titles

24. Three time individual NCAA champion at Arizona State

25. Finally won his first Major in 2004, after more than thirty two years of constant practice and competition!!Was Warren Buffett Born a Great Stock Picker?

26. Warren BuffettWarren Buffett created Buffett Associates LTD in 1956 with seven partners (including his sister and aunt) and $105,000.

27. He personally put in $100. He’s been doing the same thing every day for fifty four years!!

28. Was Mark Born a $3.5 Million Producer?

29. Mark DickMark became licensed in 1970

30. First year in production: $38,000 GDC

31. First $1,000,000 year: 1993 (22 years later)

32. “I’ve never made money on an incoming phone call.”

33. “If we’re not sitting with clients, we are unemployed.”

34. Monthly Accumulation Plans for forty years!!All of these people have a repeatable process that works for them. You need a Repeatable Process that works for you and you must rely on it through thick and thin“My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” Hank Aaron

35. Here is your repeatable process

36. The art of selling: The sequence

37. Step one: Acquiring the requisite skills

38. Step two: Goal Setting

39. Imagine what you want and work backwards i.e., Goal: $1,000,000 Annual GDC @ 1% Velocity = $100,000,000 in assets 150 clients @ $750,000 investable assets/clientYou can draw from three pools:

40. Existing clients

41. Friends and acquaintances

42. People you haven't met yet How many appointments do you need from each group weekly, monthly and annually and over what period of time?

43. Step three: Create a Mission Statement

44. What is a mission statement?A formal, short written statement of the purpose for your business

45. It should guide the actions of your business

46. Spell out your business’s overall goal

47. Provide a sense of direction

48. Guides decision-making

49. Provides the framework for devising your strategy

50. It should be clear, concise and inspiringBen & Jerry’s “To make, distribute and sell the finest quality all-natural ice cream and related products in a wide variety of innovative flavors made from Vermont dairy products.”Mc Donald’s “To satisfy the world’s appetite for good food, well served, at a price people can afford.

51. Step four: Creating a Business PlanThis is the roadmap to your future

52. Use this plan to define your objectives, cash flow among them

53. Demonstrate that you have the ability to make your business a success

54. It does not belong in a file cabinet or buried in Word docsStep five: Creating a Marketing Plan

55. Each target market needs a separate marketing planWho is your target market?

56. What are their specific financial needs?

57. Why does this market make sense to you?

58. How will you approach this market?

59. When will you approach this market? (Set goals and timelines) Step 6: Prospecting

60. Step seven: Getting the appointment

61. Getting the AppointmentBeing referred is the best way, but even that does not guarantee that you will get the appointment

62. There are only three reasons people can give for not seeing you

63. We will discuss overcoming all threeStep eight: Giving the PresentationProfessional Selling Skills (PSS) Initial Benefit Statement Probing The Presentation Overcoming Objections Closing the Sale

64. Step nine: Perpetuating the RelationshipThink like a lifer

65. Be so covetous of your clients that only God can take them away, not the competition.

66. Lack of communication breeds lack of confidence. Lack of confidence kills relationships.

67. Become friends with your clients. Nobody fires their friends. This Business

68. Yet only 5% of today’s Advisor’s excel at their craftBob Dunwoody

69. How do the 5% break the curse of the bell curve?

70. The 5% Are brilliant at the basics

71. Have a repeatable process

72. Focus on their goals

73. Have a very solid business plan

74. Segment their books Truth: You must forever stick to three rules

75. Rule Number One: Similarities don’t sell. Differences sell

76. Rule Number Two: It is essential to market yourself

77. Rule number three: The more successful we become, the further we get away from the basics which made us successful in the first place

78. Truth: you must master and stick to the basics

79. “You hear all the time about European players playing the game. These players that come over at 17, 18 and 19, they just don't all of a sudden become skilled. From the time they were little fellas, they learned the fundamentals of the game. “ Bobby Orr

80. “Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time.” Greg LeMond Three timeTour de Francewinner

81. Truth: You can be successful without talent. You cannot be successful without hard work

82. "I thought I was preparing fully for each tournament that I entered but in retrospect I realized that the effort was not quite 100%. Oh, I worked at the game, but I didn't work hard enough." "Perhaps subconsciously after twenty five years of being successful on the pro tour, I thought that I could get by on natural talent plus experience. I proved to myself embarrassingly that I couldn't." "Confidence is the single most important factor in this game and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it and that is work. That may be a hard fact to swallow, but doing so is the first step to excellence." Jack Nicklaus

83. “No man ever reached to excellence in any one art or profession without having passed through the slow and painful process of study and preparation”Horace (65 BC-8 BC)

84. Homework for today’s sessionSubmit your mission statement

85. Submit your marketing plandon@donconnelly.comyeattspg@msn.com

86. The End