7 Mistakes Many Professionals Make

Why do so many financial services businesses struggle to produce superior growth results?

Here are 7 observations I have made:

1. Many professionals don’t have an industry-targeted niche focus

Marketing is expensive and ego bruising. The key to predictable, significant growth is to be ‘somebody special’ to a particular group of businesses.

2. Many professionals don’t know where to begin to market their business

Inaction, due to confusion about growing your business, causes personal and professional difficulties.

Older-style marketing methods, such as passing out business cards and setting up websites are outdated. Those who realise this will outperform those who don’t.

3. Many professionals don’t have a reliable method of attracting their ideal clients

Word of mouth is great – unless it’s all you have.

Relying on word of mouth means there is no predictability and nothing you can control when you want to call more ideal prospective clients. No matter how many business cards you pass out, you can never know whether or not you’ll get any calls.

Fix this or continue to struggle with the uncertainty.

4. Many professionals spend their time on outdated or ineffective strategies.

Promoting yourself without a clear plan is a waste of time and will yield few results.

5. Many professionals don’t keep track of key numbers in their business

Being aware of the key numbers in your business is easy. Why, then, do so few professionals bother to pay attention to the numbers that make or break their business?

What is your average revenue per relationship? What is your conversion ratio? What is your closing ratio? Who are your top 20% clients – those who generate 80% of your revenues?

Learning how these numbers work can help you build a successful business, faster.

6. Many professionals think ‘marketing’ and ‘sales’ are dirty words

Your business will not build itself.

There is a reason why even the biggest companies pour a huge amount of money into marketing themselves. You need to know that your business must involve marketing; that knowledge should inform every interaction with potential clients.

It will hold your growth back if you fail to acknowledge that every conversation with a prospective client is a sales opportunity.

7. Many professionals become overwhelmed with anything related to CRM and technology

The most terrifying word for most professionals, after ‘business’, ‘marketing’ and ‘sales’, is ‘technology’. Technology, however, is where you can make your biggest breakthroughs.