Do you ever feel like you have too much to do? You know that you want to grow your business, but you don’t know how to scale it as it grows. This is a common challenge and most advisors and agents don’t have a method for scaling their businesses.
Your scalability is your ability to maintain a good performance as your business grows. You want to be scalable because it means you have the ability to attract the right talent, clients, and eventually buyer(s) for your business when you decide to retire.
Zig Ziglar, an American author, salesman and motivational speaker said it best, “You don’t build a business, you build people, then people build the business.”
I believe that this statement is true. But, this is only one of the strategies to scale your business. Let’s examine several others.
Strategy #1: Know Your Business Vision
Your business will never be scalable if you don’t first understand what you want the business to look like. And, one of the best ways to know that is to ask yourself the following questions:
Knowing the answers to the aforementioned questions will help, but don’t get hung up on your current Business Vision. It will most likely change as your priorities change in your business and life. Instead, use this as a starting point.
Strategy #2: Know Your Scalable Sales Model
In order to scale the business, you must have a scalable sales model. Are your sales funnel and your funnel metrics as well as conversion rates predictably successful? In other words, do you know that if you just repeat your lead generation process you will get enough leads into your pipeline that you need? And, do you know that if you have enough people in the pipeline what your rate of conversion (from prospect to client) will be? Also, is your process to acquire a client clearly repeatable?
Think of it this way, your Scalable Sales Model should be like an assembly line. You have specific people at each step to move prospects into and through the pipeline. And, you can easily train someone else in a specific step. That way, as your business grows so does your scalable sales model.
Strategy #3: Create a Great Team
People can make or break your business! In a rapid growth mode, you don’t want to find yourself in a position hiring warm bodies to respond to the growing demand.
Build a staffing plan and pipeline long before you need them. Most advisors and agents overlook this strategy until they feel like they are maxed out, and then they scramble to find a good fit.
That’s why in Strategy #1: Know Your Business Vision, I asked the question, “Do you know what the next team member looks like?” The point is, that you should know ahead of time and constantly be on the lookout for great people to add to your team.
Strategy #4: Create Great Systems
If your systems aren’t standardized, you have to customize a solution for every client. However, customized solutions are time-consuming and not scalable. Instead, determine what critical systems (or processes) need to be standardized, such as onboarding, training, marketing, client-servicing, and portfolio management.
As you build out your systems, make sure that you keep them accessible to the team by creating a Systems Manual. That way, all team members know exactly how specific systems are to be performed and there is no confusion.
Strategy #5: Use Scalable Products
This might seem like a no-brainer, but some products are time-consuming. Here is what I mean: What if you don’t have everyone in model portfolios, don’t have discretion in clients’ accounts, or don’t do fee-based business? You would have to call each client before every transaction, and that would be very time-consuming.
If you truly want to scale your business, you have to use the right products that free up your time while still serving your target market. If a product fits those two requirements, then use it.
Why Strategies for Scaling Your Business Works
The reason why having strategies for scaling your business works so well is because they give you a framework for business growth without being capped out on business capacity. In the Advisor Solutions Podcast Episode #108: Strategies for Scaling Your Business, you will find a much more detailed account of these strategies. When you apply them you will be able to take your business to the next level without the fear of being overwhelmed!