Maximize your performance as an advisor with these 6 “Ps”

Everyone has a strategy for enhancing professional capabilities. For Bruce Etherington, CLU, CH.F.C., a 50-year MDRT member with 43 Top of the Table qualifications, his success comes down to a series of “Ps”:

1. Prospects: “To raise the bar on the quality of your prospects, you must have a focused process that includes prospecting your new clients and existing clients on a regular basis. The most productive prospecting method that has served me well for the past 48 years is a review of my top 20 clients on an annual basis.”
2. Process: “To be effective with our time and stay focused upon the reason we are here, we must have a process that eliminates inefficiencies and keeps us on track with regard to what to do and when to do it.”
3. Preparation: “It is not practice that makes perfect because, in fact, practice makes better. However, the practice of what we are practicing is extremely important because the practice that prepares us for the actual implementation of the process is one that will determine the ultimate outcome of our business activity.”
4. Preview: “When we go into an automobile dealer’s showroom, it is to see what they are showing as the best examples of their productivity and manufacturing capabilities at that time. Thus, our preview — or showroom if you will — is exactly that. We say, ‘This is a preview or a showroom peek at what we do and how we do it. And if you like this particular example, then we will take a step back and design one with the right size engine, color, and options — everything that you like or want that will fit and be properly integrated into your overall financial portfolio.’”
5. Patience: “Our major objective in dealing with our clients is to build a trust relationship, which does not happen overnight. It happens only with time, where the confidence factor outweighs the wariness or the uncertainty of where they should place their trust.”
6. Persistence: “Over the years, I have found that the best cases usually require the best efforts on my part as well as, in most of those cases, a great deal of persistence.”

Read six more ways to maximize your performance in the 2014 Annual Meeting presentation. Maximize your performance by joining MDRT. You’ll learn from the industry’s best through the ideas they share at meetings and in our content.