Hi guys, welcome to this great piece on Financial Advisor Coaching.
This article promises to improve your knowledge on what financial coaching entails, the right qualities to look out for, and the benefits of having a good coach.
In this article, our experts will help you understand:
Let’s get into it!
Introduction
Are you currently a Financial Advisor and you’re somehow getting it wrong in this business?
You might need another professional to guide you on running your business and achieving the highest levels of success in the financial advisory industry.
This is where Financial Advisor coaching comes into play.
What Is Financial Advisor Coaching?
Coaching for Financial Advisors is all about helping the Financial Advisor with their business systems and processes.
Financial Advisors can benefit from the coaching process when it comes to business development.
You might be a great Financial Advisor or a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who is perfect at the financial planning part of your business but not so skilled in your business’s prospecting and marketing aspects.
Financial Advisor coaching will involve marketing of your financial services, and Advisors will go through this process to improve their marketing.
Other Coaches might focus on practice management, productivity, or hiring.
For instance, being a professional in wealth management does not translate to being a professional in business management.
The main reason you may want to hire a Coach is to help you with a particular business area as a Financial Advisor.
Every Financial Advisor has room for improvement, even when you’re ranked top in the industry.
Hiring a Financial Advisor Coach effectively ensures that you achieve even more in terms of performance and become better for your clients.
The Advisor coaching process might cost you, but if you are determined to become better than you currently are and gain new clients as you grow, then you shouldn’t be mentally hung up about investing in yourself.
Well, if you are, you have no choice but to go back to your comfort zone and continue performing averagely without realizing your full potential.
Now, let’s look at some of the categories of Financial Advisors who require Coaching.
Categories of Advisors Who Require Financial Advisor Coaching
Most Financial Advisors who subscribe to Financial Advisor coaching/training programs fall into the following categories:
New Financial Advisors Who Are getting Started
These new Advisors understand that there is value in a strong foundation and believe they need to build one by enrolling in financial coaching.
With the coaching process, these new Professionals can learn some crucial tips and avoid making costly mistakes that most Advisors make.
These new Financial Advisors are also the best people to learn because, unlike their highly experienced counterparts, they have very few things to unlearn.
As a budding Financial Advisor, coaching programs like these help you identify and define your value proposition and brand clearly.
Unfortunately, most new Financial Advisors run to gain the experience first and are unwilling to invest money in themselves.
With the scarcity mindset that most of them have when trying to get started, they struggle too much initially.
As a new Advisor, consider hiring a Coach before going out to the world and getting your fair share of experiences.
Next, let’s consider those that have been in the business a much longer.
The Plateau-Hitting Experienced Financial Advisors
Unlike the new Financial Advisors, there comes the point in the career of a Financial Advisor where they hit a plateau.
It just feels as if they’re stuck in their current business level and not moving higher.
While some will burst through plateaus without requiring any Financial Advisor coaching, most Financial Advisors burst through plateaus faster with the help of a Coach.
They will learn the things that make them stagnate and work quickly towards eliminating them and gaining referrals courtesy of their excellent service to clients.
Another category is the “Growth-hungry Advisors.”
The Growth-Oriented Advisors Who Desire More Growth
These Advisors are never comfortable in their comfort zones, making, for example, $60,000 a year.
The word “go-getters” describes these Advisors best.
They are the ones who want to make a huge difference in the world and will run their advisory practice with diligence.
They understand that Financial Advisor coaching will boost their current growth rate and expose them to new opportunities that they only dreamed of.
This is why they will seek coaching services from professionals who will help propel them to where they want to be.
Now that we’ve seen the categories of Financial Advisors that need coaching let’s take a closer look at the gains of having a Financial Advisor Coach.
Benefits of A Financial Advisor Coaching Program
Various benefits come with undergoing an advisor coaching program, and these are on the top of our list:
You Move From Your Comfort Zone
Staying too long in your comfort zone can limit you from achieving your true potential as a Financial Advisor.
Markets, tools, and technologies are constantly evolving, and refusing to move from your normal situation, will see you left out from experiencing the benefits that come with change.
A Financial Advisor coaching program will help improve your current skill sets and expose you to new markets and ideas that only top Financial Professionals experience.
Unparalleled Insight
Undergoing the learning process can be very useful for you as a Financial Advisor because it will give you unfiltered, professional opinions about running your advisory practice.
You will know the mistakes you are making and correct them.
This will result in great success, thanks to the effective financial decisions you make in your practice.
Learn and Adapt Proven Processes
The learning process also allows you to learn and embrace the proven processes involving financial planning, documentation, marketing strategies, and operations systems.
You Will Be Held Accountable
Running your firm comes with its challenges.
This is the case, especially if you have no one to hold you accountable but yourself.
The Coaches taking you through the process will be helpful when it comes to keeping you on track and achieving your goals.
Better Service to Your Clients
After going through the coaching process, you will leave a lasting positive impact on your clients as a professional.
This is because you will always deliver nothing but the best asset-positioning strategies, of course in their best interest.
This will always ensure constant growth throughout your career as a Financial Advisor.
Growth to your Business
There will be no plateau-hitting instances anymore once you know what it takes to take your business to the next level.
Growth will be a never-ending process for you, and it will happen in whatever way you want to define it.
Qualities of A Good Financial Coach
As a Financial Advisor with a good coach on your side, you can gain good clarity on your goals.
The coach might not get down and dirty to do the work for you, but it will be worth every dollar you pay for the process when they help you achieve the next growth milestone in the following ways:
The Financial Coach can offer additional clarity by becoming a confidant
You will be free to share with your coach the things that you can’t share with others.
These intimate details about your business can help the coach see things more realistic in a manner that no one else can.
It is important to have these other sets of honest eyes.
A good Coach will always give you that much-needed objective feedback
The things the coach says might not always be pleasant, but they will inspire positive change, which will be integral in the growth of your business.
A great Coach will always keep you accountable
This is one of the most important aspects of hiring a coach.
The same way you keep your clients accountable for saving and investing money is the same way the coach will you the financial advisor accountable for your business growth goals.
A good Coach can also be your sounding board
They will listen to your ideas, offer honest feedback and also help you when it comes to brainstorming new ideas to gain prospective clients.
Let’s now take a look as those qualities to avoid.
Red Flags for Bad Coaches
Well, even among good apples, there will always be a bad apple somewhere in there.
As a professional Financial Planner, you will, of course, be looking around for the best coach to help you in your growth journey as a professional.
Note the telltale signs discussed below so you can know the kind of coaches to give a wide berth.
Nothing Else Offered But Coaching
Financial Advisor coaching is an essential service, but if your coach is only offering that, then that is a red flag right there.
This is because you don’t have any way to confirm the coach’s experience and advice.
A great Coach should offer more products other than coaching.
For example, they can offer online products that other professionals can buy and even an online presence like a Financial Advisor Marketing podcast, social media channels, or even written books with good sales.
This will show you that this coach is reputable and can be trusted.
You can see their prosperous world and know that they know a thing or two about getting things done the right way.
Free Consultation Minus an Application
A free consultation minus any screening process is a bad sign.
This shows that your coach isn’t in demand and takes on anyone who comes by.
There is a lot to be said about someone who doesn’t take their time to screen applicants.
The chances of them doing a shoddy job of coaching are high.
You don’t want to fall victim to such unprofessionalism, especially if yours is still a new business in the financial industry.
They Don’t Charge Enough
A Financial Coach who knows the value of their service will not charge a low price.
Many of them have labeled themselves fancy names like “experts,” “gurus,” and “modern coaches,” but in reality, they are just out to make as much money as they can by offering the “best deal.”
Don’t be a price shopper looking for that tremendous Financial Advisor coaching deal lest you fall prey to these cons.
Let it cost you well for the great value you will be getting, and let your success as a Financial Advisor be guaranteed with the right coach.
Group Coaching Is What They Do
Well, any coach who is doing group coaching instead of offering a one-on-one experience should be avoided.
One-on-one coaching is always the most effective form of coaching because each Financial Advisor faces different challenges that should be uniquely addressed.
What could be one Advisor’s problem might not be the next advisor’s problem.
This is why group coaching can never be effective and should be best avoided.
Conclusion
Every Advisor who wants to build their business and become reputable must also want to build this business to stand out and not look similar to the majority of advisory firms.
For this to happen, Financial Advisor coaching must take place.
We have seen its importance and defined what it is and its benefits to you as an Advisor.
We have also highlighted the Financial Advisors who should undergo the coaching program and the benefits to Advisors who hire Financial Coaches.
You can now tell an excellent Financial Coach and an unsuitable one as we have also highlighted the red flags and good qualities.
As an Advisor, it is up to you to decide whether Financial Advisor coaching is good for you and whether you want to make a mark in the industry or remain similar to the firms with zero growth that cause the majority in the industry.