Do you have a productive Financial Advisor Weekly Schedule?
Being unproductive is a huge roadblock to financial success. I have been coaching financial advisors since 2004, and 99% do not have a Model Work Week with a focus on their top priorities.
They could be time blocking for client meetings as well as time blocking to prospect for new clients. They could be developing goals around their practice growth and designing repeatable actions that will help them achieve their big 5-year vision!
When you don’t have a weekly schedule, what happens? Well, you don’t get much done! Or you don’t get the right things done.
It’s easy enough to create a productive schedule.
You have five days in the work week. There is plenty of time to get things done so that you are working smarter, not harder. If you are working more than 45 hours per week, you are not working smart.
If you are VERY PRODUCTIVE while you are at work, you DO NOT have to work long hours!
Weekly Schedule Blueprint:
Your schedule should be organized to be as productive as possible. Since most people are visual, create an excel spreadsheet and color code it according to your activities. I suggest you make prospecting, marketing, and service actions dark green in color as they represent MONEY activities. Try using dark blue for client meetings and purple for planning. Responding to email and phone calls can be light blue.
There are three kinds of days in your week:
1. Priority Days
– You are extremely focused on these days. Normally you will not leave the office, take neither unsolicited incoming calls, nor waste time in any way. To do this you have to minimize interruptions. You will be focused on booking appointments, following up with prospects, making client appointments, and making client calls. It takes the mind twenty minutes to return to productivity once interrupted so keep your email closed and your phone set to voicemail. You will have 1-3 Priority Days per week.
2. Go Days
– You are out in the field networking, meeting with prospects, and meeting with clients. You could also be meeting with clients in your office. Go days are face to face activities that are eyeball to eyeball. Go Days are for making a connection with people so you will gain exposure to new prospects outside of the office. You will have 1-3 Go Days per week.
3. Easy Days
– This is your flexible day. You can use it for whatever you want. Catching up with paperwork. Cleaning and organizing your office. Having lunch with friends or family. Working on your marketing ideas. I recommend that you make Fridays your Easy Day. Don’t schedule client meetings on your Easy Day. Keep it open and flexible. I like my clients to take long weekends using their Easy Days once they have developed a productive routine.
Create activities around these types of actions & schedule into your week:
Prospect calls (10-15)
Prospect appointments (5-10)
Prospect follow-up calls (5-10)
Client calls (10-12)
Client appointments or review meetings (3-5)
Skills you need to make your practice work:
Focus – no WASTING TIME or pretending to be busy when you’re not
Ambition – the DESIRE to do more and BE more by committing to success
Vision – the KNOWLEDGE that you are creating a bigger and better firm
Dedication – the certainty that you are providing the best possible service for your clients
Visual reminders
It is essential to visually block sections of your calendar to allow you to be much more productive. See this post about how to do that.
What are your scheduling challenges? Do you lack focus? Are you allowing distractions to take you away from the most important issues?
Need prospecting help? Check out my Prospecting Coaching Program
This program will help YOU develop a targeted Prospecting Plan to acquire new clients.
Adrienne, you are so right. Very often we focus on activities that really get us no where. At the end of the day if you can say you produced something that will lead to revenue, you have done well. Thanks for adding to the conversation.