Are you on a production plateau? Most people are or will be at some point in their careers. In fact, your business can go only three ways: up, down, or settle on a production plateau. The big question is, do you know how to get beyond a production plateau?
Getting to the next level rarely happens by accident. Sure, there is the occasional advisor or agent who stumbles across a big prospect or has clients who come into money. But, rarely do advisors and agents get to the next level without a well thought out system. The solution begins by understanding that success is a process.
Let’s examine each step:
Step #1: Develop Your Prospecting Mindset
Everything starts between your ears! In other words, if you don’t have the right mindset, you won’t reach the next level. The best way to do that is by conquering your fear of both failure and success.
Most people are on what I refer to as a Production Trend Line. Just as a stock has support and resistance so does your sales production. The support line is the minimum production that you need to reach in order to pay the bills and feel secure.
The resistance line is the maximum production that you are willing to do before you slow down. Both are based on fear- either the fear of failure or the fear of success. The way to conquer both is to get beyond focusing on fear and focus on activities, how many people can you help with your products and services.
Step #2: Discover Your Prospecting Methods
Are you a hunter or a farmer? Maybe you’ve never heard that phrase before and if not, let me explain.
Hunters love to prospect, and they would rather prospect to find new clients than anything else. Farmers love to nurture and cultivate client relationships, which should turn into additional cross-selling opportunities.
Once you understand who you are, it’s important to understand the prospecting method that is right for you. The best way to do this is to determine what has worked before and the top two ways that you acquired your biggest clients. By understanding your prospecting methods, you can work on incorporating those methods again and improving on them by taking the next step.
Step #3: Determine Your Prospecting System
Developing successful prospecting systems is not a luxury but a necessity when getting off the production plateau. Unfortunately, your past experiences might be holding you back from future success. Here is what I mean.
Rookies tend not to have a well-thought-out prospecting system, and as a result, they run into challenges by not knowing what to say, how to say it, and how to handle objections. This is what I refer to as “Rookie Prospecting,” being unprepared for each step in the pipeline process.
Conversely, “Veteran Prospecting” is a term I use for the preparation and implementation of a well-thought-out prospecting system by defining goals, objectives, and a strong value proposition statement to be fully prepared for any and all challenges.
Step #4: Develop Prospecting Skill Sets
Part of having a great prospecting system is also having great prospecting skill sets. In the Advisor Solutions Kick Start Group Coaching Program, I teach fifteen different prospecting and sales skill sets.
Many of these prospecting skill sets are used in several different stages of the pipeline. One example of this is knowing how to overcome objections using a technique called The Objection Resolution Model. This technique can be used at every stage of the pipeline because prospects may have an objection at any time. However, if you didn’t know how to do this technique, you would most likely at some point, get an objection that you can’t overcome; thus, causing a clog in your pipeline.
Step #5: Apply, Assess, and Adjust the Plan
Hopefully, by now, you are starting to understand that if you follow the previous steps, you will succeed! But just knowing what to do is not enough.
By constantly applying, assessing, and adjusting the plan, you will know if you are on track to achieve the success you want. Getting beyond the production plateau is just a process.
Why Getting Beyond the Production Plateau Works
The reason why getting Beyond the Production Plateau works so well is that it’s a stepwise process for prospecting. In the Advisor Solutions Podcast Episode # 104: Beyond the Production Plateau, you will find a much more detailed account of these steps along with actual examples of advisors and agents that have taken them.