He Who Re-invents The Wheel Will Likely Design a Square Wheel and Spend a Year Trying to Figure Out Why It Won't Roll
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but checks when you say the paint is wet?
Financial advisors are a skeptical crowd and I'm almost humored when I'm challenged about things I've successfully implemented in my own financial services business for years.
I started in the financial services business on April 28 of 1981; my first job right out of college. I was securities licensed in March of 1987 and started my own firm in 1989. In 2002 I began coaching financial advisors in addition to running my financial advisory business and nearly from "day one" I noticed an interesting pattern among fellow financial advisors. The pattern is one of doubt regarding any significant thing which would improve their client relationships, business operations, or their service delivery or business model.
Why is it that some of us resist most those changes that will improve things most?
All that said, in all the time I've worked with financial advisors I've always found a small percentage who literally love,
- Finding a method that has worked well before.
- Discovering a system or process that works, even if they didn't create it themselves.
- Following documented procedures.
- Not "re-inventing the wheel."
I've learned that one delightful predictor of an advisor's success implementing Comprehensive Financial Services delivered through a best in class Deliverables Team of Subject Matter Experts, as supported on The Trusted Advisor Toolkit™ system, is absence of challenges to things we have implemented successfully for years.
Thankfully, of the hundreds of thousands of financial advisors out there, a "small percentage" represents an impressive number of advisors who have no interest in challenging success. Rather, we are motivated to work with financial advisors who make simple statements like, "just tell me about things that work well," while accepting that just because they haven't seen something with their own eyes doesn't mean a thing does not work.
Just as your clients have to decide this about you, with anyone you choose to consult you regarding your financial services business, once you determine they are competent, worthy of trust and can add value to you either personally, professionally or both, then just "jump in the river" and start implementing (paddling) as fast as you can.
