The power of a good mission statement
The following is based on one of The Covenant Group’s clients. All of the names and telling details have been changed.
When we first met Alan Avery, he had built a successful planning firm using his expert networking skills. Recently, he had felt the momentum drop out of his business and came to us for help.
Alan had been an advisor for over fifteen years, starting out in life insurance, growing his practice to include planning and investment. His office was based in the suburbs and he was heavily involved in the community: a member of the local business association and arts committee, a political campaigner, and an active participant on the school board and in youth sports. For the past ten years, he had managed to maintain a continual flow of new prospects by networking through his friends and associates on the various committees and associations.
A year before coming to see us, Alan’s annual revenue had surpassed the half-million mark. He had reached the limit on his ability to service his growing clientele and had hired a couple of sub-producers to act as specialists, while he focused on servicing top tier clients, marketing, and prospecting.
However, Alan soon felt the flow of prospects dry up. New revenue started to slip and Alan began to worry he’d have to trim his operations, perhaps even let go his new producers, something he was loath to do.
When we met, we asked Alan why he thought his flow of prospects had dried up? Alan thought the volatile market had made prospects more leery about the value an advisor can add.
“Actually, Alan,” we said, “all the evidence points to the contrary being true. Clients and prospects are saying they need their advisors more than ever to help guide them through these tough times. In fact, when times are good, that’s when investors start thinking they can do things on their own and question the value their advisors add. So it is unlikely that the market is the issue.”
Alan nodded then asked why the prospects he was meeting seemed uninterested in what he could do for them?
We asked Alan to explain how he normally goes about prospecting. Alan said that he’s out at least two or three nights a week at various functions and meetings and so is constantly meeting new people.
“How do you turn someone you meet into a prospect?” We asked.
“People invariably ask you what you do for a living. That’s my opportunity to introduce my services.”
“What exactly do you say?” We asked.
“I tell them I do financial planning.”
“Is that all you say?” We asked.
“No. I usually wait for the opportunity to elaborate and then go into greater detail on how I work, explaining that I take them through a planning process that takes between two and four hours—”
At this point, our coach interrupted Alan. We had a problem with how Alan introduced himself, but for now, we wanted to explore another issue. “You mentioned you wait for the opportunity to elaborate. What do you mean by that?”
“Usually someone will ask me to tell them more about what I do.”
We were beginning to sense what Alan’s problem was. “And that’s not happening as often as it used to?” We asked.
Alan nodded. “Any idea why?”
No. I haven’t changed my story, and I’ve been networking this way for fifteen years.”
“Alan,” our coach said, “the industry has changed in fifteen years. Something that worked a few years ago isn’t likely to work today. Business practices usually have a shelf life of only a few years. I teach advisors how to build their practices, but I’m certainly not teaching them things I taught a couple of years ago. The same is true for you; you can’t prospect today the way you prospected five years ago.”
“How should I change?”
“Before we get to that, you have to analyze how the environment has changed. What’s different today that wasn’t the case a few years ago? Why isn’t your prospecting method working?”
Alan pondered the question for a few minutes but remained silent.
“Alan, how many other financial advisors are working your network?”
“Seems like quite a few.”
“More today than in the past?”
“Definitely.”
“One thing we’ve seen in the industry over the past few years is the blurring of lines between financial services. With multilicensing and easy access to resources, many advisors have a share of wallet strategy and are offering full service. Much like yourself. You started out in insurance and have expanded your offering to include investments, planning, etc.”
Alan nodded.
“The perception, as far as prospects and clients are concerned, is that one advisor is really no different from the next. When you start explaining that you do financial planning, you sound just like every other
advisor.”
“So what should I be saying?
What aspect of my service should I be focusing on?”
“Actually, I think that’s the wrong question,” our coach explained.
Alan gave a curious look.
“The solution to how you answer the question ‘what do you do?’ doesn’t lie in finding the right features to highlight, it lies in highlighting the benefit to the client. And that benefit depends on what business you are in.”
We asked Alan if he had a business plan. Alan showed a plan he’d worked on recently. Though he had a reasonable facsimile of a vision for his business, the plan was otherwise scant.
“Alan,” our coach said, “the first step in creating a business plan is defining your business. I see you have a vision to be a full- service financial planning firm generating two million dollars in three years time, but I don’t see a mission statement. Your mission statement articulates why you are in business and how you benefit your client. It doesn’t get into how you do your business. In fact, as you’ll soon see, your mission statement forms the basis of how you answer the question ‘what do you do?
“There are four fundamentals to producing a mission statement:
- Start with the benefit to the client
- Define yourself
- Differentiate yourself
- Keep it simple.”
We asked Alan to revisit his business plan and focus on articulating his mission statement. When we met again, we played the role of a prospect and asked Alan, “What do you do?”
Alan answered, “I create financial security for my clients — no matter what happens.”
We sat back and smiled. Alan had grasped the essence of a mission statement. In one brief sentence, he was able to communicate the benefit to the client (financial security), to define his business as full service and to differentiate himself by the compelling line ‘no matter what happens’. And of course, he kept it simple.
Over the next few months, Alan used his mission statement when meeting a prospect and invariably found his prospects intrigued and asking to know more about his business.
Alan was able to fill his pipeline again with a steady flow of prospects. He was so excited about his new approach that he included the mission statement as his tagline on his business card, and produced flyers and mailing pieces restating his mission statement. He had created a unique identity and succeeded in distinguishing himself in the marketplace. He no longer felt lost in a crowd of generic advisors. Within a year, Alan’s revenue had nearly doubled, and he attributes that growth to the power his mission statement unlocked.
Lessons Learned
Alan learned that prospecting in today’s competitive market means rising above the crowd of generic advisors and distinguishing yourself through a clear mission statement. Without a simple, concise mission statement that clearly communicates the benefit to your prospects and sets you apart, you run the risk of sounding like every other advisor. Your mission statement must pique your prospect’s interest and encourage them to want to know more. Alan realized that he was having trouble prospecting, not because of a problem in his business, but because he hadn’t yet found a way to communicate how his business could help his prospect. To create his mission statement, Alan didn’t have to change the way he did business, he simply had to find a way to articulate what he already did well in a compelling way.
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