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| Increase Your Productivity with One Piece of Paper |
| by
Allyson Lewis
| 01-15-09 |
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There are two burning questions I would like you to consider as you read this article. The first is "What daily activities originally made you successful as a financial advisor?" The second question is "Are you willing to increase those activities and can one piece of paper help you increase your daily productivity?"
I believe that when we take the time to answer those simple questions, the logical and simple outcome will be that your business and your productivity will increase.
What repeatable daily activities originally made you successful?
It is amazing to remember what we focused on when we started our. Our branch managers would have called these activities "the basics." The basics were the tasks we would need to focus on to become and remain successful. Here are examples of these basic daily activities:
1. Talk to our clients regularly over the telephone
2. Meet with our clients in face-to-face appointments
3. Network with people who have money
4. Become involved and stay involved in our local communities
5. Hold seminars
6. Call prospects
7. Ask prospects with money to do business with us
These basic activities worked so well we stopped doing them! As time passes and we grow our financial advisory practices we somehow forget the importance of these fundamental concepts.
It should go without saying that the goal of any financial advisor should be to help clients create models and investment strategies to help them achieve their financial goals and dreams. In order to do this, it also becomes our job to have a deep and ever-growing understanding of the current markets, the economy, various investment instruments, asset allocation models, style allocation implications, and more.
However, knowing how to invest for our clients is only one aspect of building a successful practice. You must also be able to seek out and acquire new business on a regular basis. This leads us to the second question:
Are you willing to increase those activities and can one piece of paper help you increase your daily productivity?
As obvious as it seems to me, after 26 years in this business I can get so caught up in the day-to-day emotion of the markets that I forget to focus on these seven simple basic daily activities. Therefore, about six years ago I made a conscious decision to become accountable for how I was spending my day and I created a one page tool that has revolutionized how I structure my work day. This single piece of paper is called the "daily progress report with contacts."
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Allyson Lewis is the author of The Seven Minute Difference. She speaks about improving time-management, increasing productivity, and rediscovering purpose. Visit her Web site to find out more about her newest time-management project, The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner. She also has a blog and a Twitter account.
The author is not an employee of Morningstar, Inc. The views expressed in this article are the author's. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Morningstar. |
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