Oechsli Pulse 2.23.10 by Kevin Nichols

Oechsli Pulse The Oechsli Institute’s virtual Newsletter

What’s Going on at The Oechsli Insitute Greetings, We’ve been extremely busy at The Oechsli Institute and I want to keep you current. The idea behind the “Oechsli Pulse” is to be a resource for financial professionals to keep up with our research rich content, make sure you’re aware of all our upcoming teleconferences, and to keep you firmly on the “pulse” of our new initiatives. This resource is designed for you! Throughout 2009 I’ve conducted over 200 presentations to the financial services industry and we’ve held five Rainmaker Weekend events with over 400 Rainmaker graduates. Good fortune has shined upon us as we’ve had so many requests for personal and team performance coaching over the past year that we’ve added two new coaches to our staff (Tam Milton and Jim Zitch). We just completed our comprehensive New World Advisor Research report (100+ pages). The focus of this report is on today’s affluent investor and financial advisor – uncovering what’s important, from a statistical perspective, for today’s affluent investor and how financial advisors are addressing these needs. If you haven’t read the excerpt, make sure you take advantage of the download on the subsequent pages. On a personal note, my daughter Amy (I’m a proud father of three) is in the last semester of getting her MBA. She’s into the home stretch! Here at the office, Stephen Boswell and Kevin Nichols (best of class performance coaches) have finally broken down and are active participants in dog training classes for their three rescue dogs. We’ll keep you updated on their progress. Our mission is to serve you. Let us know where we can help.

Affluent Sales Secrets by Matt Oechsli

Dallas: “I’ve got some extremely affluent clients,” explained Mark in the Q & A session following my keynote address, then adding, “it’s hard to imagine prospects in these wealthy centers-of-influence being interested in any type of financial planning or influenced by the broad-based questions that you’re advocating.” Like so many advisors, Mark didn’t understand the affluent, much less possess either the mindset or skills to sell his professional services to them. He was looking into the future with at least one-eye focused on the rearview mirror, “My wealthy clients are only interested in fixed income products -- thats how it’s always been and it’s all they ask me about.” Obviously, there seemed to be a lot of issues holding him back. His question was actually an attempt to rationalize his struggles in affluent client acquisition, rather than admit that he was positioned as the “bond guy”. Because Mark doesn’t understand today’s affluent investor (we do – that’s what our research is all about), he assumed his ‘wealthy’ clients, friends and colleagues were above any conversation that involved two simple broadbased questions: • How has your wealth management plan held up? • Have you had a second opinion on your family’s portfolio? Mark had considered attending one of our Rainmaker Weekends, but he couldn’t pull the trigger –“Maybe it’s just the wealthy people in my market, but I don’t see them looking to change advisors.”

Now let me walk you through a real life example of how Bill, a veteran advisor who attended a Rainmaker Weekend, successfully applied our affluent client acquisition process – the one Mark was clueless about. Incidentally, Mark’s wealthy clients are in the $5 to $10 million dollar range, the same range Bill is targeting. The following is a live example that occurred during a social encounter – a holiday party – a time period where most advisors (Mark) are not marketing their services. I’m going to break Bill’s real-life example into its affluent client acquisition component parts: 1. Affluent Playing Field: Bill has changed his routine in order to significantly increase his face-to-face interaction with his affluent clients and prospects. He attended numerous social events and holiday parties, including a party thrown by a top client. 2. Pre-Work: By asking the host of the party (his client) who was attending, Bill was able to identify a handful of qualified names which enabled him to engage in a little information gathering homework (Google search for each). 3. At the Event: Positioning is always very important. Bill carefully made certain that he was engaged in social conversation with his client at specific intervals; those times when his client was interacting with one of the individuals from his pre-work list. 4. Recognizing/Orchestrating Opportunities: One of the pre-work attendees, an oral surgeon, after the host introduced Bill as “the guy who oversees his family’s financial affairs” started talking about the confusing nature of the stock market.

5. Proper Execution: Rather than engage in a conversation about the markets and investing, Bill simply smiled and said “That’s why we’re spending a lot of time providing second opinions on portfolios.” To which his prospect responded, “I could probably use a second opinion.”

While poor Mark is wallowing away in excuses; ignorant of today’s affluent investor and prospecting opportunities. Which is one of the reasons Rainmakers like Bill have so little compe-

6. Mini-Close: Instead of letting the discussion linger, providing too much information, or suggesting that he’d call and schedule an appointment, Bill mini-closed on the spot. He scheduled an early breakfast meeting for two days later.

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7. First Meeting: The breakfast meeting, the first official meeting, served as a platform to strengthen rapport, and further the discussion initiated at the party. The oral surgeon didn’t bring all of his statements and admitted that he didn’t have a financial plan. At the appropriate time, Bill used this initial meeting to explain how he operates, the requirements he has for taking on a new client, and the next step he thought they should take (he had to take a thorough look at everything). At this point, the affluent prospect asked “How do we get started?” Within two weeks over the holidays Bill had acquired new affluent clients and opened-up an entire new center-of-influence; his new client has already offered to introduce Bill to a close friend, another oral surgeon. Bill understands the affluent sales secrets and is capitalizing on the opportunity awaiting every advisor who is similarly prepared; 9 of 10 affluent investors would welcome a second opinion, 8 of 10 would consider changing advisors! It doesn’t get much better than that.

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New World Advisor Research The Industry’s Elite We have been experiencing a crisis of epic proportions. The world of financial services has been shaken to its core, financial institutions have gone bankrupt, others have been forced to merge and change identity, and the retail financial advisor has been left to deal with their affluent clients who lost significant amounts of their personal wealth as well as their trust of the financial services industry. Through compilation of all this research, we’ve been able to develop a clear profile of the New World Advisor, a term that exemplifies the qualities of today’s elite financial advisors. This new set of norms is now a requirement for any financial advisor who wants to succeed in this ever-changing world of the affluent... Read the full excerpt of the Pre-Released Report by clicking here:

Rainmaker Weekend Philadelphia Affluent Client Acquisition Conference April 23 & 24 Rainmaker Weekends are two-day action packed workshops for financial professionals who are serious about growth. Learn how to better attract, service, and retain affluent clients - based on 7 years of comprehensive research. Add to Outlook Calendar

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Join us the day before the Rainmaker Weekend in Philadelphia for our Elite Team Retreat. In 2009, we conducted a comprehensive research study on financial teams. This was a continuation of six year project in which we researched over 1,350 teams. This research enabled us to create a true profile of an Elite Financial Team and is the foundation of our Elite Team Retreat. Learn the secrets of affluent client acquisition... * * * *

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Oechsli In The News

New World Advisor Research Leads the Field in three national publications... Investment News February 16, 2010

The New York Times February 18, 2010 “The most important factors in selecting the adviser is the reputation of the individual and the impression that person makes in terms of professionalism and competence,” said Matt Oechsli, the chief executive. “The trust you have for the firm goes up if you trust the adviser; if you don’t trust your adviser you don’t trust the firm. This is the first time this has been inverted.” Read More...

“Top-shelf practice management is not optional — it is essential for working with today’s skeptical affluent investor. Here, then, are the following top six reasons why affluent clients switch advisers, based on our most recent research.” Read More...

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Registered Rep January 21, 2010 “Leadership is a term that is little understood and rarely used to describe financial advisors. However, it is a key component of every elite advisor. Our findings regarding today’s affluent tell us exactly what they are looking for in a financial advisor. Here is a simple outline of elite advisor leadership...” Read More...

The Psychology of Goal Performance by Matt Oechsli

St. Louis: “I’m pretty confident in my ability to set goals,” explained Marty during a break at our Rainmaker Weekend. “I used to set goals all the time, but when I failed to reach a goal, I was devastated. That really de-motivated me. So now, instead of setting goals, I just try to do my best and let the chips fall where they may.” I asked him if that made him eager to go to work each day. “Not really,” he replied. When you walk into your office to begin a new day, what really determines how fulfilling that day will be for you? Marty has gone from setting goals to simply getting by, and he has not found either to be fulfilling. That’s because Marty has failed to grasp the impact of how striving to achieve meaningful goals has on his achievement drive. Goals light your fire, they unleash a psychological rush equal to the endorphin rush experienced by athletes. Marty is not alone. Literally millions of dollars have been invested in teaching financial advisors how to set goals. Yet, little has changed. Usually disguised in the form of a business plan, you are asked to project the upcoming year by looking in the rearview mirror (studying last year’s numbers) and then committing to specific targets that you would like to achieve. If enough pressure is applied, you will likely set those goals too high to be realistic. If not pressured, you will be tempted to set them low enough to ensure your success. Then, once a quarter or so, you and the powers that be will check your progress. Otherwise, those numbers will be out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Under those circumstances, your goals have little, if any, relationship to what motivates you each day. © 2010 The Oechsli Institute. All Rights Reserved.

The reality is... - Everyone is driven by goals, either their own, or someone else’s. When you are pressured to set unrealistic goals, they become the goals of the person applying the pressure, not yours. When, like Marty, you resist setting your own goals, those who have influence over you will keep pushing you to go where they think you ought to go. Establish your own meaningful goals, and they will pull you toward meaningful achievement. - Goals that are set too high, or too low, will have little to no influence over what you choose to do each day. They are void of any psychological pull. Dr. J. Sterling Livingston’s classic article, “Pygmalion in Management,” was first published in the July/August 1969 issue of the Harvard Business Review. The article focused on how a group of insurance agents tended to perform in ways that were consistent with the expectations of their managers. To explain the impact of those expectations, Livingston referenced research by David McClelland (Harvard) and John Atkinson (University of Michigan) that confirms what I stated above: Goals that are set too high, or too low, will have little to no influence over what you choose to do each day. Since I like to play tennis, allow me to use a tennis metaphor to make McClelland and Atkinson’s point. Imagine you are a tennis player (substitute any competitive activity), and you have the opportunity to play one of the following club players: - Someone you have beaten easily every time you’ve played. - Someone you have never beaten and have been destroyed when you played.

- Someone you have beaten two of the last four times you have played. Which player would get you most focused and motivated to play your best? As a competitive athlete, which player would stir your competitive juices? Which player would bring out your best tennis? Most would select the player against which they are most evenly matched. Why? Because as a competitive athlete, we are most stimulated when we must play our best to win -- where we have a 50 percent chance of winning. That’s exactly what McClelland and Atkinson discovered. The goals that motivate us the most are those we believe we have a 50/50 chance of achieving. Goals activate our internal juices in the same fashion a worthy athletic competitor does. It’s like saying, “Give me a 50/50 chance to win, and turn me lose!” Dr. Livingston used a simple bell curve to illustrate the McClelland-Atkinson findings. Peak Motivation, the point where your motivation strength is as close to 100 percent as you can get, is when you have a 50 percent probability of success.

The Key to Goal Achievement Let’s summarize … Your achievement drive rises and ultimately peaks when you have a 50/50 chance of reaching your goals. That assumes, of course, that you are totally committed to working toward that achievement. Your achievement drive dies when your goals are perceived as being virtually certain (you can achieve it with little or no effort) or virtually impossible to attain (your goal is “pie in the sky”). The key to goal achievement is to set and commit to goals that you may not reach 50 percent of the time, even though you are giving it a 110 percent effort. At first thought, you may be tempted to react like Marty: “Set goals I can’t achieve? You’ve got to be joking!” If you are still puzzling over this, consider the alternative… You will not be motivated by goals too easy to achieve (right side of the graph) any more than you will be by goals that are beyond your capacity to achieve (left side of the graph). If you are not driven by your goals, you will be pushed by someone else’s goals.

Setting goals that you have a 50/50 chance of achieving will pay dividends beyond your dreams, even if you do not hit a given target on the nose. For example, let’s say you set a goal to bring in 15 new affluent clients over the next 12 months, and you believe you have a 50 percent chance of achieving that goal. You give it your all, and at the end of that 12-month period, you have brought in 11 new affluent clients.

Were you successful? Absolutely! You were a screaming success because your goal motivated you to execute your high-impact Rainmaker activities on a consistent basis. Your Rainmaker goals forced you to do your best, and you do have 11 new clients. Being motivated to do what you need to do is the power behind setting 50/50 goals. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment every financial advisor worth his or her rep number should be setting a serious affluent client acquisition goal. This is a perfect storm for Rainmaking. Remember, this goal needs to be lofty enough that if you perform your high-impact activities every working day (this will naturally improve your affluent sales skills) your will have a 50/50 chance of achieving those goals in 2010. >> Subscribe to Performance Edge Newsletter >> Subscribe to Management Newsletter >> Subscribe to New Advisor Newsletter