The Curse of the Bell Curve: A Sales Idea
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By Don Connelly
Hard work wins. A friend of mine played Division I baseball at Boston College. While chatting one day, he told me that his team had two guys make it to the big leagues. And, he said, they weren't the most gifted baseball players. They were the hardest workers. They were the guys who never stopped trying to improve. I'm sure that doesn't surprise you. We all know that hard work wins. Hard work beats rock. Hard work beats paper. And hard work beats scissors; but not just any old hard work. It has to be deliberate hard work, hard work with a plan, hard work doing the right things. Busy work guarantees nothing. Those guys became pros on purpose. They followed their plan and beat the odds. According to the NCAA, only 0.015 percent of all high school baseball players ever make the big leagues.
Most people drift along in mediocrity. The reality is that most people don't succeed. Actually, most people don't fail either. They just drift along in mediocrity. They live, as Richard Hoffer described in his Book, American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, "A life without expression; just another guy, not a single trait or talent to mark him in a crowd." Call it The Curse of the Bell Curve.
An Advisor told me one time that when he was young and new in the business, an older, very successful Advisor told him how to make a million dollars a year in this business. When he asked the veteran why he was giving him all this information, the veteran's answer was "Because you won't do it." The older man then said, "If I wrote a book explaining exactly how to make a million dollars and I left that book on the sidewalk, nobody would pick it up."
Practice deliberately. He meant, of course, that nobody is willing to work that hard. Years later, Malcolm Gladwell referred to The Ten Year Rule for Success: If you want to be great at anything, 10,000 hours of practice is a minimum target and that pretty much eats up ten years. And practice for the sake of practice is not the answer. Talent is overrated. It has to be deliberate practice.
Professional golfers don't become professional golfers by accident. They become professional golfers on purpose. Greatness was always part of the plan. They do nothing without purpose. They do not mindlessly bang bucket after bucket of balls at the driving range. For one thing, fifty percent of all shots in golf are within fifty yards of the green. So they focus on chipping and putting. Secondly, of all the hours they spend practicing, seventy-five percent of the time is spent trying to perfect the basics of grip, stance and alignment. They practice what's important. They become brilliant at the basics. Chipping fifty balls is one thing. Chipping fifty balls within three feet of the flag is something entirely different. If the basics aren't mastered, the swing will have flaws. A swing with flaws will not hold up on the world stage, and all pros want to compete on the world stage. They practice their swings until they know they can execute under any conditions and all pressures. And they've been doing that for at least ten years.
Practice the basics. Have you practiced lately? Have you given your presentation to your spouse or mate lately? When was the last time you looked in the mirror and practiced asking for referrals? Have you ever listened to a recording of yourself on the phone? Have you been sitting in front of clients every day for at least ten years?
If you have been in this business less than ten years, do not be frustrated if you're not where you thought you would be by now. It's going to take you at least ten years of giving presentations every day, overcoming objections every day, and asking for referrals every day to get great at it.
Make up your mind to get great on purpose. Basically we all go to work in the morning and jump right into the fray. We give a presentation and forget to ask for the order. We stumble over an objection, promising we'll get back to them. Maybe we open the account and promise ourselves we'll ask for referrals next time. That is not the way to get great.
If you want to rise to the very top of this profession, become brilliant at prospecting, communicating, selling and time management. Practice and use those skills all day every day until they are second nature. Get to the point where you can easily identify your best clients and clone them through a repeatable process.
Most Advisors don't have a plan. They go to work every day, and most work very hard. But they work hard at hunting, killing and eating. They work hard at selling products that by definition thrive in robust economies and up markets. Then when the markets turn sour, these Advisors can't call anyone because they have nothing to sell. They're not controlling the business. The business is controlling them.
Clients always have goals, despite the political climate in Washington or negative numbers in the economy. Republican or Democrat notwithstanding, when a child turns eighteen, college tuition is due. When retirement age comes, it is time to retire, high rates or low rates. Use that to your advantage.
Follow a plan. Just like those two Boston College baseball players, the Financial Advisors who have made it to the top didn't make it there by accident or by talent alone. They made it by following a plan, a plan to master the basics and stick to them no matter what. They worked hard like everyone else, but, just like in the pirate movies, they had a map that showed the way to the "X" that marks the spot.
The reason so many Advisors are caught in the fat part of the bell curve is that they haven't yet decided to get great. Bob Dunwoody correctly observed that the moment a Gold Medal Winner lowers her head to accept that medal is not the moment she becomes an Olympic champion. She became a champion a year, or four years or ten years before that, when she put her plan for greatness in motion.
If you really want to be a great Financial Advisor, decide to become one. Then hone your skills through constant repetition and ply your trade for years. Apply these skills in all types of markets and in the face of all manner of adversities. George Bernard Shaw said it very well: Grain by grain, a loaf; stone by stone, a castle.
Don can be reached via his website; www.campconnelly.com