“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”
– Mark Twain
Sunday Brew Preview
🔵 The “behind the scenes” of getting more closed deals on LinkedIn
🔵 The secret to achieving successful deep work in a world of distraction
🔵 How some FAs are consistently winning 2.4x MORE clients than average
Let’s dig in!
The First Sip
When Rema Kabore was born, the doctors didn’t expect her to see her first birthday.
She had cerebral palsy and was extremely frail and delicate.
But Rema has spent the past 5 decades wowing doctors and loving life.
It took numerous surgeries and procedures, but she finally learned to walk at the age of 13.
And the miracles haven’t stopped since.
This week, Rema turned 50 – something her mother Patricia believes is at least indirectly related to how kind other people have been to her over the years…
…something that was on full display at her recent party in her hometown of Greenville, SC.
A family friend planned a surprise party at one of her favorite restaurants.
Once Rema arrived, a car full of friends and family poured out of a car to have lunch with the family.
“I was shocked,” Rema said. “They were all there for me!”
And the acts of kindness were just getting started…
“One of the young men who worked there went in the back and got his saxophone,” Patricia said. “He serenaded Rema. The owner who came over who had a beautiful voice sang… to her.”
After enjoying an amazing meal, there was one more surprise in store.
A woman from another table – a total stranger to the family – paid for the birthday lunch for all 8 of them.
“I was almost in tears. With everything going on now, you just never know how much of an impact you can have on someone by doing something nice.”
“An act of kindness today means more than it would’ve meant 5 years ago or 10 years ago.”
What a powerful thought that is.
And I think there’s some real truth to that.
As time goes on, acts of kindness seem to shine brighter than ever. There might be a lot of darkness in the world, but kindness always prevails.
Patricia has been attempting to locate the woman who paid for the email to say thank you, but her attempts have been unsuccessful.
Her message?
“I would like to tell you what a difference you made in the life of a young woman who celebrated a life that she was not necessarily supposed to live to see.”
1 Caffeinated Neurohack
“A wandering mind is not a happy mind.”
This quote from Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, is worth chewing on.
His research suggests people spend 45% of their waking hours thinking about multiple tasks at once.
This leaves us unable to focus on the thing that we’re supposed to be doing in the moment…
- Making a sales call…
- Running a report for a client…
- Writing an email…
- Talking to your spouse…
- Playing with your kids/grandkids…
And here’s the kicker: Multiple studies suggest a strong correlation between focus and happiness.
People with wandering minds are usually less happy (in the long term) than those who are able to manage their time and focus on what’s in front of them.
It all comes down to planning your time and proactively honing your ability to eliminate distractions.
As author Laura Vanderkam writes in her book What The Most Successful People Do at Work:
“Successful people know that hours, like capital, can be
consciously allocated with the goal of creating riches –
in the form of a changed world, life’s work – over time.”
While there are multiple approaches, one approach is to schedule EVERY single minute of every day.
That might sound crazy, but it works.
Every Sunday evening before the week starts, take the time to review your to-do list and assign time periods to each task.
You may find it most helpful to use blocks of 30 minutes. Some tasks will take one block, while others might take six blocks.
You should even plan out sleeping (which should ideally consist of 16 blocks).
Cal Newport, author of Deep Work, believes there are several benefits to this approach:
- It gives you a clear task list (and you know precisely what to do after finishing the previous task)
- Limited time forces you to finish tasks faster (Parkinson’s Law)
- Your brain won’t feel scattered, since you know that everything is accounted for and you’ve made time for each item to be completed
Give it a try this week and see what you think!
☕ TL;DR: For optimum focus, try time blocking every minute of the day.
Marketing Psychology Quick Hit
A new Broadridge survey of financial advisors reveals some interesting findings on the role of marketing in lead generation.
The survey asked advisors with a minimum of $10M in AUM an array of questions about their marketing efforts.
One of the most illuminating findings…
Advisors with a marketing strategy bring on an average of 41 new clients per year, compared to 17 new clients for advisors without a strategy.
That means FAs with solid marketing strategies are winning 2.4x MORE clients.
The survey also discovered that advisors spend an average of $743 in marketing dollars for each new client added.
The takeaway?
It’s not enough to just implement a random tactic here and there – you need an intentional strategy.
As Broadridge Advisor Solutions GM Kevin Darlington says: “[Advisors with defined marketing strategies] are much more confident in reaching their goals, they’re acquiring clients, and they’re just getting much better ROI on their marketing.”
The best time to implement an intentional marketing strategy for 2023 was on January 1.
The second-best time is today.
And here’s the best part: An intentional marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes you just need a single document to outline it.
Visit MeetWithAdvisorist.com to book a free 15-minute virtual appointment engine strategy session to see if there’s a good growth system you can put in place.
☕ TL;DR: Implement a defined marketing strategy to win 2.4x more clients
What’s New in SHIFT Nation?
[ 🎥 Watch] Uncover the secret to more closed deals on LinkedIn for financial advisors!
Weekly Industry Catch-Up
🔹 That 1 word. On Wednesday, Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell used the word “disinflation” more than a dozen times. And it was that one word – used to describe the slowdown in rising prices – that gave Wall Street an instant jolt of energy.
Despite previously suggesting a recession would likely hit at some point this year, the Fed chair is now suggesting optimism of avoiding this scenario.
🔹 Financial turnoffs. A new study reveals women find irresponsible spending a huge turnoff, while men prefer their date to know how to budget. Read more on financial deal-breakers for singles in the dating pool.
🔹 Surprising money Q’s. A new study analyzing Google search data reveals the most commonly finance-related questions people ask – and you might find some of the queries surprising. Check them out here. (Hint: One of the top questions: What is a bank?)
Enjoy your Sunday,
Jeremiah D. Desmarais
CEO, Advisorist
#1 in ROI-Driven Training for Advisors
