3 Ways to Reduce Stress and Focus On Success

We are heading into March, a time for spring cleaning and organization. How has your New Year's been going?  I hope you've had a great start to the year.  My New Year's consisted of celebrating my success by going to Cabo San Lucas with my husband for a week in the sun. What a great way to unwind and enjoy life!

During my vacation, I came to the realization that it is very important to celebrate when business and life have been good to us. I also realized that it is necessary to find ways to reduce stress in our daily lives. Ordinarily our calendar is hectic with multiple appointments, busy activities, and too much to do. When we give the mind time to clear and become more focused we can see things we may not have noticed before.  We must learn ways to reduce stress and focus on what we do best. Here are three ways:

Meditation

If you have never tried meditation as a form of reducing stress, you might want to give it a try. Search for beginning classes in your area and discover the wonderful benefits of mediation such as lowering your blood pressure, steadying your concentration, and clearing your mind of negativity. Although you could teach yourself to meditate, I have found that when you take a class you will receive the right kind of training necessary to be successful at meditating regularly.

Joy

One reason stress creeps into our lives is because we don't take the time to have fun and do the things that naturally reduce stress. When we don't take the time to experience joy, our lives become continuous days of harried activities.  So how do we experience joy? By going for walks in nature, connecting with friends and relatives, writing about our hopes and dreams, getting a massage, and generally treating ourselves well. If you don't regularly experience joy, think about how you can incorporate more happiness in your life.

Say No

Is your schedule full of activities? Are you running from one appointment to another? Do you find yourself saying yes to all activities and requests? If so, you could be stressing yourself out by simply not having boundaries that protect you.  I find that when my clients are too busy, it's because they say yes to everything. If you have too many appointments, reduce the number that you generally allow yourself to schedule. When asked to be involved in an activity or project, what you might try instead of saying yes, is to say you'll think about it. The key is to be very selective with what you are willing to do with your time.    

Stress prevents us from living up to our full potential by occupying our minds and keeping us busy worrying about things that may never happen. By working on eliminating stress though mediation, joy and saying no, we can take control of our lives and focus on success.

Suzanne Muusers

Business Coach for Financial Advisors

How to Get More Appointments From Seminars

Too many financial advisors don't know how to get appointments from their seminars and workshops.  Today, let's look at how to overcome this issue and improve the number of appointments you set at your public speaking events.

You've just finished giving a great workshop or seminar. You presented interesting material that encouraged a shift in thinking and attitude about money, financial goals, and the future. You made jokes, got some laughs, and really connected with the audience.  NOW WHAT?

Presenting seminars and workshops is one of the most effective marketing tactics to grow the number of prospects in your pipeline and spread the word about your practice. Public speaking enhances reputation, positions the speaker as an expert in their field, and improves exposure to new prospects. The problem is that too many financial advisors do not know how to get appointments from their seminars.

A few things need to happen in order to perfect your seminar appointment rate. Here are a few pointers and shifts that need to happen:

*Make a time-limited offer. Let your audience know that you are available in the next week to meet with them. You could say something like "Thank you everyone for attending. For those who have questions, I'd like to offer one complimentary hour of my time if you come in to see me in the next week." Ask prospects to indicate their interest on the evaluation form and point them toward your assistant who has your appointment calendar in hand.

*Be OK with asking for the business. Yes, you are a nice guy and it's not easy to put yourself out there and ask for the business, but the prospects in your audience need your help. It's OK to ask for the appointment.

*No pressure. Tell attendees that there is absolutely no pressure and no selling will be done during the appointment. This will alleviate any anxiety participants may feel in committing to meet with you. Put yourself in their shoes – they don't want to feel obligated to hire you or be forced into a high pressure close.

*Be likeable and be yourself. I've seen too many speakers become a robo-presenter and fail to infuse their presentation with personality, humor, and likeability. If this sounds like you, please consider joining Toastmasters so that you can practice in a safe environment and learn how to be a good speaker. You will grow personally and professionally through Toastmasters and you'll make great friends.

Put these pointers to work in your own practice. Get out of your comfort zone and get out of your own way. Grow your practice in 2011!

Suzanne Muusers

Business Coach for Financial Advisors

Business Plan Workshop in Arizona

Here's a great opportunity if you live in Arizona to get your business plan off the ground in 2011!

There's nothing like focusing on your Goals, Strategies, and Marketing!

For Whom:  Realtors and real-estate related fields

What:  Business Plan Success – Create the Life You Want by Planning For It

When:  Thursday February 3^rd, 2011 1pm to 4pm

Where:  The Gecko Room 4600 W. Union Hills Drive

Learn how to make 2011 the year you take your business to the next level! Suzanne Muusers, ICF Credentialed Business Coach and entrepreneur with thirty years experience, will challenge you think about your business in a new way. You will set up goals and tactics that will create financial success in 2011.

You'll learn:

• What having a Business Plan can do for you
• Reasons traditional Business Plans are useless
• The six sections to include in your Mini Business Plan
• Why everyone should have Big Picture Goals in their Vision
• The "Aha" moment - Take a self test to determine how goal oriented you are
• Common goal setting mistakes

What you'll leave with

• Create your 2011 Business and Personal Goals

• Create your 2011 Marketing Tactics

Space is limited! RSVP to: info@AZWhiteGlove.com

Set Time Aside to Think and Plan Weekly

If you're like most people you fill your day with meetings, phone calls, research, and countless other activities. This is because managing a business is a time-consuming practice that requires juggling skills, fire fighting expertise, and good dose of business knowledge. Nevertheless if we want to improve and grow from year to year, it is absolutely essential to set time aside for thinking and planning.

Regularly taking the time to think about your practice allows the creative juices to flow and is one of the keys to moving beyond where you are now. While "thinking" about their practice, some advisors experience what I call "Mojo Moments" when they move from kinetic behavior (just keeping up with what they're doing now) to planning the future. It's as if a switch is turned "on" allowing ideas to come forward - ideas that were hidden before.

Alternately, this is another reason why it's important to let the mind rest. On the weekends, don't bring work home and don't think about your business. The mind needs two days of rest in order to clear out the clutter, form new pathways, and allow fresh ideas to percolate to the surface. 

I know you – you are just like me. In the evenings and on the weekend you go for a walk and all you can think about is your business. But you have to force yourself to NOT think about work. Learning to be really "present" and enjoy the moment is one of life's immense pleasures. We only have NOW. If you are thinking about the past or the future you are not living NOW. The key is to give your full attention to what you are doing at the time. When you are working, really WORK. When you are walking in nature, notice the things around you. Notice the trees, the leaves, the way the sun is bouncing off the clouds.

I'm working with a few superstar clients right now. Some are superstars despite not setting time aside weekly to plan out the growth of their business. Yet, they all realize that in order to create the practice of their dreams, they will need to overcome their existing work habits.  One way to do this is to block time on your calendar once per week to THINK DEEPLY ABOUT YOUR PRACTICE. 

*What needs to change?

*What are your Big Picture Goals?

*What do you need to focus on?

When you take the time to plan the future, you can then take the steps to make your dreams come true.  Do it now. I know you can.

Suzanne Muusers

Business Coach for Financial Advisors

Goals for the New Year - Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2010! So long. Adios. You've been good to me, with a 35% upswing in revenue, but now it's time to move on.  2011 is just around the corner and I'm very excited to be poised for yet another big revenue increase.  

This is my favorite time of year with family in town, parties, eating out, and touristy activities. Living in Scottsdale, Arizona means that whenever someone visits, the tourist map gets dusted off and the sightseeing activities are planned. Even though I take the week between Christmas and New Year's off, I still spend time planning my goals for the New Year.  

It is amazing to me the difference between people who plan their goals versus those who do not.  Goal-oriented people are driven by their goals and accomplish so much more than those who fly by the seat of their pants.  The exercise of working on your goals gives you clarity about what you want to accomplish and helps you reach for more than you have now.

So what do you want in 2011?

*What revenue goal would excite you?

 *How many new clients would it take?

*What professional accomplishments would motivate you?

*What about personal goals? What can you realistically accomplish to be or remain physically fit?

*Is your office aesthetically pleasing or does it reflect poorly on your business?

*Is your website lacking design or branding?

*What new marketing tactics do you need to implement to get where you're going?

Many experts say that to increase revenue by $100,000 you must spend an additional $25,000 to get there. Since you get what you pay for, how much did you increase your revenue this year? How much are you spending on marketing?

Spend the time now to grow next year. Work on your goals for the New Year!

Suzanne Muusers

Business Coach for Financial Advisors

Revenue Goals and Marketing Metrics for 2011

What would it take for your business to generate a revenue increase in 2011? Give this some thought as you do your end of year planning and think about what needs to change in you and your business. Since you've been measuring your marketing (you have, haven’t you?), you'll know what to let go of and what to continue. But let me ask you, what exactly are you measuring? What are your marketing metrics?

In order for us to grow as a person and a business owner, we need to track specific metrics over time to analyze where we're growing. Reviewing this data on a quarterly and annual basis helps us to be better business owners and to think strategically. For example, if we see that over time the number of unique visitors to our website is stagnant, then we know that in order to grow and bring the firm into the 20^th century, we need to investigate internet marketing tactics to improve this metric.

Here's a brief list of metrics:

New clients

New investible assets

Cost per new client acquisition

Conversion ratio

Referrals per client

Website pagerank

Unique website visitors

Facebook fans

Newsletter sign ups

What marketing tactics do you need to implement to reach your BIG revenue goal for 2011? Where are your opportunities for growth in 2011? What tactics have you not included in your business plan? We all have weaknesses or areas that need attention. What are yours?

Which area below needs work in your plan?

Trade Shows

Event Marketing

Public Relations

Online Advertising

Print Advertising

Social Media

Video Marketing

Email Marketing

Website Marketing

What I want for you in 2011 is bigger financial success so that we can put the Great Recession behind us.  It's time to move on and reach for the life we want. How are you planning to grow your business in 2011?

Suzanne Muusers

Business Coach for Financial Advisors