Whether you like it or not, everything has already changed in sales.
Timothy Hughes, one of the founders of DLA Ignite and the author of THE BOOK about Social Selling titled the same, had one of the best analogies ever for what has already happened:
“Imagine you are at a conference and. the day before the event, there is a drinks in the evening, you have a call and so you are late by 30 minutes. As you enter the bar, you see all of the conference delegates and you realize they are all your ICP (ideal customer profile). You also see that each ICP is talking with, and laughing with a salesperson. Now is that salesperson they are laughing with, your salesperson or is it the competitions?” From Tim’s blog: https://bit.ly/3ywlDCn
That is real and I honestly don’t care to argue with you or anyone else about it further.
I know some of you reading this are going to say “But Mike, I already make all the money I want and am set for the future.” That is great and I mean that with all my heart. I hope that you are planning on selling your business and/or retiring really, really soon because the party has already started and you aren’t even going to make the event. This content isn’t for you because you are done.
I am writing this for any business owner in the financial services space that is planning on growing value for at least three years. That is absolutely right…three years. The window is closing faster than you know because you aren’t even aware it is there.
#referrals are still the king when it comes to delivering ideal client opportunities for #financialadvisors and that isn’t going to change. How you get those referrals and how you scale your business to drive enterprise value (real multiples aka ‘x’ at exit) is going to change in method.
Not a single successful business owner in the financial services space has the free time to drive organic or purposeful growth solely via 1 to 1 interactions in the ‘real world’. I don’t and I wrote multiple books on referrals.
The good news: you don’t have to be perfect or even good at using #socialmedia right now to drive referral success. You just need to get started.
Where does it all start?
With you.
One of the inescapable truths that #socialselling and #referrals share is that to truly experience the benefits you have to be committed to your own personal development. You will need to spend time learning and researching.
Don’t tell me you don’t have the time. That is not true if you truly understand what Tim (and I) am saying about what is already happening in your industry. My turn for an analogy.
You are a horse drawn carriage maker right before Henry Ford successfully implemented the manufacturing and selling of cars. If you don’t see what is happening with the dawn of the automobile age, spend the time to figure out how to adapt to it, you will continue to WASTE time trying to perfect a system that is dead.
I know I have been very direct and stark in my tone and I am not going to apologize for it. To my shame, I have been taking the easy way out and not insisting and advocating for what I know is real. No longer.
If you love referrals you love social. Just like in referrals, there are bad situations and bad actors.
So what.
I am ruthlessly committed to leading this change and leveraging my predictable referral system to make it even more profitable and fun. That’s right, done correctly it will be amazing and you will like it.
I work with a small group of financial advisors that own their practice to drive growth, accelerate value and be ready for an exit (at any time) with the best options for them, their families, employees and communities. Contact me at mike@valuesbasedmindset.com for more information.
This is too important for you to keep making buggies.
All the best and tight lines,
Mike
