The first requirement in building a sustainable Financial Planning practice is a firm belief in oneself. You have to believe in your heart that you have what it takes to become successful. You are going to hit so many obstacles on the way to the top that you won’t keep on going without that inner faith. Bad golfers dwell on their bad shots. Don’t do that. When you get knocked down, don’t dwell on your mistakes. Learn from them and push on. Also, be your own best cheerleader. Think how far you’ve come in the last five years. You’ve already proved you can evolve. Just keep on doing it.

As you are calling your clients wishing them a happy holiday season, ask them a simple question with a powerful message. “What two or three things could I be doing differently to better serve you?” They will love it. In too many cases in America, service is so bad that when people do their jobs normally, you want to write their boss a letter telling the boss how good they are.

I’ve been an Alvin Toffler fan for a long time. I’m an even bigger fan after coming across the following comment: “The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.” To learn is to evolve. To evolve is to get better at what we do.

Being a Financial Advisor is not a job. Being a Financial Advisor is a career. There are times this can be a really lousy job. But it’s always a great career. Whenever you do anything with anybody, you think long term. Any deed done for the short is detrimental to the relationship. Every move you make for your own career, think like a lifer.

There are only three objections you will ever get: I’m not interested; I already have an Advisor; I don’t have any money. Every other objection is an offshoot of these three.

An objection is a declarative sentence. A declarative sentence is not open for debate. There is nothing you can say in response. You can’t answer it. But you can answer a question. So turn the objection into a question. Then answer the question.

“Mr. Financial Advisor, no thank you. I’m happy with my Advisor at Merrill Lynch.”

“Mr. Prospect, if I understand you correctly, you are pleased with the job your Merrill Lynch Advisor is doing. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“I commend you for having an account at Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch is an excellent firm and I agree with your decision to have an account there. In turn, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that not any one person or firm has a corner on all the good ideas. If I come up with one idea designed to increase your income, reduce your taxes or both, may I compete for part of your business?”

Who’s going to say no to that? Practice overcoming objections until you are excellent at it.