By Alain Quennec, CFP, CIM

Fifteen years ago, a client and I were cycling when he introduced me to one of his friends. “This is Al Quennec,” he said. After his friend asked, “Who is Al to you?” he said, “Oh, he’s my money guy.”

My heart fell right away. My client didn’t understand the breadth of the work and complex financial planning we had done for him in the previous 10 years. I thought to myself, How do I rectify that?How do I show him all the work that we’ve been doing for him across several different areas of financial planning?

Showing clients what you do

MDRT Past President James E. Rogers, CLU, CFP, a 52-year MDRT member and my mentor, once said to me, “It’s not enough to do a good job. You must show them you’re doing a good job.” So, my business coach and I came up with this idea of a personal financial organizer to document everything my practice has done and what we will do for our clients.

Jim always said, “Before you get the client, you have to let them smell the leather.” Building on that advice, we made sure that all the binders were made of leather. That gives the client a tangible hold on it. They can open the binder and see everything we’ve been discussing. It’s a visual and tactile experience that doesn’t get lost easily like a computer file would. The first page is the welcome letter that says, “Welcome to your PFO: Personal Financial Organizer.” Furthermore, it lets clients know it’s a resource for them and for those who may be acting as their power of attorney in case they are disabled or unable to communicate with their executors.

Updating plans

On the PFO’s one-year anniversary, we call clients and say, “It’s time to renew and refresh this binder.” That’s when we start talking about the financial plan update report.

This makes our team’s lives so much easier. We bring out the original financial plan and say, “These were your goals and objectives when we started working together. Has anything changed? Do you want to strike some off? Add some? Let’s put a check mark next to everything we’ve completed together. And I’ll tell you when we do the financial plan update next year, that item, though completed, will remain on the financial plan update report because it’s a check mark.”

To prepare for a client meeting, we pull out the last financial plan update report, and in advance, we know what our client’s concerns are. I also like to think of this as a tool that makes the client want to work with me. Not because it’s an obligation, but it’s something they want to do for themselves and their families.

Alain Quennec is a 20-year MDRT member. Contact him at aquennec@rgfwealth.com. This was excerpted from his 2024 MDRT Annual Meeting presentation, which is available at mdrt.org/create-financial-organizer.

Take action to grow your financial practice

By Sandy Schussel

Do you want to grow your business, or do you choose to grow your business?

Troy, a financial advisor, claimed he was constantly making prospecting calls, but he barely netted $60,000 last year.

“I’ve taken several sales training courses and I’m always reading sales books,” Troy told me during our first conversation. “I’m not sure why none of it is working for me.”

Are you doing the right activities?

When I questioned him about his activity, it was clear that his prospecting calls were sporadic and unscripted, and that his appointments resulted in a very low closing ratio. Troy was suffering from the same fate as many advisors who believe if they don’t have enough clients, then they need to take another course, read another book or listen to another audio. If this sounds like you, the truth is you probably already know enough to have success. You don’t need more information. You need to take massive, persistent action using the information you already have.

What’s your inner stance?

In his book, “Straight-Line Leadership,” author Dusan Djukich writes about having the wrong “inner stance.” If your inner stance is a belief that you don’t know how to get ahead rather than a belief that you haven’t yet chosen to get ahead, you’ll keep going to seminars and reading books and trying out shiny, new prospecting ideas. You’ll only be disappointed. However, if your stance is one of taking action — choosing to act on the knowledge you already have — your practice will flourish.

Are you choosing to put your knowledge into action?

Troy had spent years studying everything there was to study about selling services, but he hadn’t chosen to put that knowledge into action. So, while he may have been working hard, he kept doing the wrong work. Once Troy understood this, his business started to grow.

What’s your inner stance? If it’s a choose to, action-based stance, then not knowing enough is an easily fixable condition. You will learn as you move forward, finding and applying the information you really need as you go along. Fears fall by the wayside because you’re on a mission to make things happen.

If you’re not constantly taking necessary required actions, it may be because you see your world as a place where it can’t be done. If that’s where you are, it might be time to get help with your inner stance.

Sandy Schussel is a performance acceleration coach who has been working with financial advisors for more than 20 years, helping them break through to higher production levels. Contact him at sandyschussel.com.

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