The following is based on one of The Covenant Group's clients, Colin. All of the names and telling details have been changed.
When Matt helped Colin prepare his income and expense pro forma, he gave him the solution to his greatest business concern. Matthew (Matt) Asser is a Covenant Group coach. Matt is passionate about helping financial advisors build profitable practices. Colin is a financial advisor whom Matt started coaching a few months ago.
Typically, when we start working with financial advisors, they don't have a good handle on where their income will come from beyond the next few weeks or few months. They are working in their business to generate income, but not on creating a scenario where their income and expenses become predictable over a one to five year timeframe.
Colin was a good example of an advisor who spent very little time working on the business. He is a good salesman and relationship builder. He also understands the seniors market and has become quite knowledgeable about the financial products seniors need. As a result of his knowledge and expertise in the business and his interpersonal skills, he has become quite successful. His income has grown to the $200,000 range. However, his income seems to have reached a ceiling and he is worried about his ability to maintain or grow it. His motivation to become involved in a coaching program derives from his desire to make his income more predictable.
Initially, Colin was quite skeptical about his ability to predict where the income would come from beyond the next few months. Like many financial advisors, Colin had a list of prospects and clients he expected to close over the next six to 12 weeks. He knew with reasonable certainty where his income would be generated over the next one to three months. Beyond that, he was counting on his ability to do the things that he had been doing for years to drive income. That was the extent of his planning. To change the game and gain mastery over the growth of his income over the next one to five years, he needed a different approach.
