Your Rules of Engagement
Setting Your Rules
Your rules of engagement can be set by you after you are able to promise your behavior… follow the progression of Infinite Advisor Alpha to become and stay relevant in the new digitally transparent ecosystem of financial services.
Build On Purpose (3/3)
Building Your Business On Purpose Empowers You
In this three part blog post I am attempting to simplify what I have known to be fundamentally true about advisor value design for the past three decades… It can be tricky sometimes to simplify the complex.
This is part three of three. We pick up where we left off in part two…
A big part of what I do is trying to simplify what I have learned over the past 30 years in the financial services industry. The models and slides that I share freely can be the biggest piece of the puzzle for some advisors looking to break out of the opacity of the industry designed “black box” that defines advisor value. Building on purpose is a metaphor for doing the right thing all the time but it also can be physically modeled to demonstrate how a progression of value design can justify value while empowering advisors to take complete control over how their unique value is perceived. The big picture for advisors in the new digital age is control over perception… if you are an advisor you must become responsible for the definition and perception of your advisor alpha (advisor value). If you are counting on the industry to do this for you, you will be replaced by the industry.
Previously in parts one and two we touched on the purpose driven model to demonstrate exactly how advisors can ultimately promise their behavior.
Your relevance hinges on your ability to promise your behavior. By promising your behavior you are able to get and keep ideal clients with your digital filter. By promising your behavior you’re able to control the perception of your relevance. By promising your behavior you’re able to demand reciprocal actions from your trusted clients. By promising your behavior you’re able to gather feedback that matters. Your promises tied to behavior leads to the value that you control the most which allows you to take complete control over the perception of your value.
Earning trust controlling perception and creating collaborative relationships are the three main elements that are required for survival in a robo world.You must be able to promise your behavior to create that culture by design.
The progression of infinite advisor alpha empowers advisers to promise their behavior so they may remain relevant in a robo world.
We are now shifting from the slides that model how to earn trust by promising behavior to the infinite progression of advisor value development which empowers advisors to get and stay exactly where the want to be… a state of perpetual relevance.
Amplify the value that you can control. Take complete control over how that value is perceived. And maximize your relevance to get and keep ideal clients in a robo world.
This is what it means to build on purpose.
Earn trust, promise your behavior, demand reciprocal behavior, create trusted partners as clients, make your value tangible, gather feedback, continue to amplify your value and your business, and live your preferred life.
In order for your business to have a positive change 30 days from right now, you must start making incremental changes daily. And those incremental changes must add up in a way that makes sense. Your focus must be appropriate the system you choose to maximize your relevance must make complete sense and you must carry the discipline that it takes to make incremental improvements daily.
Organized
Efficient
Simplified
Driven
Realistic
Interesting
Fun
Adaptive
On-point
Relevant
Healthy
It’s all about you.
This is where you want to be.
Ultimately you are earning trust by becoming accountable because you’re able to promise the behavior that leads to the value that you can control the most. Which is exactly why your ideal audience should be paying you.
Build your business on purpose.
Advisor Benchmarks
Originally Published 12.27.2016
Building a digital footprint is critical in the era of collaboration.
Everything that you publish, whether it be in the form of comments as in this article, or in the form of blog posts as seen here on this blog post… or a combination of the two, curated to bring meaning to my beliefs and opinions in a tangible fashion. This blog post is a working example of HOW to leverage your digital footprint by exuding your authentic value 24/7. Your ideal audience will find you so you had better be publishing with a purpose.
The Future for Advisors is about proving value. 24/7.
When Advisors allow any other entity besides themselves to define their authentic value they diminish the chances of survival and hinder their plans to thrive in the digital age. You mustn’t allow your plans to thrive in the digital age be undermined by anyone… much less yourself. Avoid self-sabotage by reading on…
The advisor in the future must look beyond industry standards and minimum antiquated regulation to demonstrate in a tangible fashion why anyone should do business with them Pertaining specifically to this article, (Original Article from RIABiz.com) the advisor who relies on the industry to demonstrate his or her value through a benchmark is more likely to be replaced by the industry. Advisor autonomy goes beyond the realm of value props.. In order to thrive in the digital age of transparency advisors must own a “client-centered purpose.” Technology and transparency will weed out the ne’er do wells. It’s already happening without (and in spite of) regulation. Clients are becoming more empowered through transparency and technology , which is a beautiful thing. Advisors must also leverage the same transparency and technology to empower themselves.
You can’t police advisors into stewardship roles.
Any form of industry standard benchmark weakens the advisor… it does nothing to empower the perception of value, which is under the complete control of the advisor… more specifically, the advisor who owns a client-centered purpose. – Most advisors are good.-(Especially those advisors who subscribe to RIA Biz.) More industry drafted oversight is only adding to the digital noise. Advisors must become empowered through autonomy to thrive in the new collaborative world of 24/7 advice. My opinions about the facts in this article are backed by my conviction about HOW advisors can and should become empowered. Advisors must be afforded the opportunity to exude their authentic value through – ownership – of the perception of their value. Acquiescing to antiquated industry standards that limit the ability of the advisor to own the perception of his or her value, in my opinion, is a catastrophic mistake that can and should be avoided. Now, more than ever, investors are searching for a trusted source of wisdom. Advisors who are empowered through autonomy will be more likely to exude that wisdom than those advisors who agree to become suppressed by industry created benchmarks. ((BTW, this is a great article that shines a much needed light on the difference b/t portfolio alpha and advisor alpha. Keep ‘em coming.)) This article is an important component in moving the conversations away from the “what” that most RIABiz readers are already well aware of.
The comments after the article (found in the link above) are nearly 2 years old… and there they sit… Conveying my unique beliefs and opinions about this business.
If advisors rely on the industry to define their value will they be replaced?
Who do you trust?
Who should your clients trust?
Better conversations start with questions that lead to better definitions which lead to better solutions that can truly make a difference in the lives of trusted clients…
By posing these questions I am reminding my current ideal clients of my authentic value while exuding my alpha to a new audience who is looking for a trusted source of wisdom to help them see hear and feel about their business in a different dimension. The perception of my value is entirely up to me. There has never been a greater opportunity for advisors to take advantage of technology. By ignoring this statement you risk extinction… discover as much as you can as soon as you can.
#TangibleAlpha
Always available when the time is right for you.
Culture Creation
Advisor autonomy will empower advisors to create stakeholder value that leads to enterprise value and shareholder value.
Recruiters of advisors must come to the realization that in the digital age of transparency, it is autonomy that will set advisors free and not independence. Advisor autonomy can be offered to any advisor regardless of his or her firm’s affiliation. The battle for recruiting top advisors will start with a different tone in the not too distant future because the era of collaborative services has arrived and transparency will dictate that investors will not trust advisors (or their firms) who are not offering stakeholder value ahead of shareholder value.
Transparency will empower the investor to see exactly how his or her best interest is being discounted for the good of the c-suites and shareholder value and they will not become a party to being the means to that end. Those days are over.
Just as the investor is becoming empowered by technology and transparency, so too will the advisor. Autonomy will afford the advisor in the future to sit on the same side of the table as his or her clients by owning the perception of his or her authentic value which is wrought from a client-centered purpose. Shared purpose is the only way investors will trust advisors or their firms in this modern era of financial service. This is a great thing. It’s the best time in the history of financial services to become a trusted steward of wealth and every financial advisor has an opportunity to thrive in the digital age.
To create a sustainable culture of integrity that ensures growth from this point forward, recruiters are going to have to offer autonomy to advis
ors to empower them by allowing the to own the perception of their value. Otherwise the pending crunch that is spearheading commoditization of services and reducing margins (including NIM) will destroy the firm and the industry.
The industry will not be able to serve investors through robos and opaque sales tactics… ever.
I’m not going to let that happen and neither will you. And… neither will the firms… once they realize that autonomy is the key to the culture creation that spurs inorganic growth while harmoniously stimulating and ensuring organic growth for advisors. Own the words… own your alpha… create your own autonomy to remain relevant and become irreplaceable.