Tips For Advisors And Clients To End The Year Strong

If you are like most advisors, you might be looking for steps you can take right now to make sure you finish the year strong.

The following ideas from Robert Arzt, President of Polaris One and Insurance CoachU, will provide some guidance as you seek to accomplish this challenging task.

“The first step to concluding the year with a bang is to get really clear about what finishing strong means,” Arzt said. “The more clearly and accurately you can define it and measure it, the better the chances are of your achieving it. When it comes down to the wire, a crystal-clear focus on the goal and a playing field free of as many distractions as possible are both required and essential.”

For the next step, Arzt asks his clients the following question to help them gain the clear, end-game clarity they need: “If there is one thing that you can accomplish between now and the end of the year that would make all the difference in the world to achieving your main goal or goals, what would that be?”

Arzt and his clients then identify a list of measurable activities and actions that they will commit to doing in order to achieve that one objective.

After defining that goal and the actions required to achieve it, Arzt asks his clients to define a second goal that would make all the difference in accomplishing what is needed to finish the year strong, along with its measurable activities and actions.

'Critical Objectives'

Having a very narrow focus means that clients will most likely have to put several tasks on the back burner for a while, Arzt warned. Deciding on what they should give up in the short run can be difficult, but it is critically important to do so, he added.

“One way to do this is to identify the nice-to-have goals and delete them from your list until you have achieved your one-to-three critical objectives that you have defined, using the process mentioned earlier,” he said.

As you try to accomplish these tasks, Arzt offers some helpful suggestions. First, be ruthless with your time management, he said. Also, create a plan and stick to it and remember that these are the few minutes of the final quarter.

“Just as a magnifying glass can focus light to be powerful enough to start a fire, your focused activities will magnify your results,” he said.

You should also be realistic about what you can actually accomplish, Arzt added. Don’t take on more than you can handle, and define, measure and track your progress daily. “Keeping score every day will increase your focus and help to fend off distractions,” he said.

Lastly, when the game is over, celebrate victories both big and small and take some time to reflect, relax, and rejuvenate. Afterward, assess your results and think through the positive and negative lessons you have learned. Then, take what you have learned and develop a game plan that you will apply to your practice immediately.

Ayo Mseka has more than 30 years of experience reporting on the financial-services industry. She formerly served as Editor-In-Chief of NAIFA’s Advisor Today magazine. Contact her at amseka@INNfeedback.com.