Success Rituals Of Top Producers Part 5: Optimize Your Business Practices by Joseph J. Lukacs, Success Coach to Million-Dollar Producers An observation I have made during the past 8 years coaching top producers is that they work smarter, but usually not any harder, than average producers. How can this be? I call it "the principal of optimization." What is the principal of optimization? Simply stated, it is maximizing every opportunity and every moment throughout your day. A quick example: Asking for a referral every time you interact with a client or prospect. Think about it; you're already communicating with this person, all you need to do is open your mouth and ask. You are not making any additional calls or having any additional meetingsóyou are working smarter, not harder. Let me illustrate this concept further with a story about one of my clients. Brian has been my client for over two years. When I started coaching him he wanted to increase his gross production from $300k to $600k. Brian was using direct mail, cold calling, seminars, and basically any avenue he could think of to grow his business. This was, however, a haphazard and time-consuming process with poor results. I pointed out to Brian that he had well over 100 satisfied clients, but that he had done a poor job optimizing his relationship with them in two areas. First, he rarely asked for referrals. Second, he rarely asked for any additional assets he did not already have. I asked him how many times a day he communicated with his clients. He determined that between outbound and incoming telephone calls and meetings he had about 15 opportunities a day to ask about referrals and additional assets. We set a goal of no less than 8 requests per dayóa little over 50% of the contacts. Over the course of a production month he would have a minimum of 160 opportunities for his current clients to help him grow his business. I explained to Brian that it was all about consistency and not about having the greatest speech on gathering referrals and assets. Brian is having excellent results with this new commitment. He has stopped cold calling and doing seminars entirely. Instead, he now only does client appreciation dinners and sends thank you notes and birthday cards to his clients. His success rate is approximately 10%. He is getting an average of 16 quality referrals per month and is gathering $1.5 to $2.0 million per month of new assets. How can you optimize your business? Below, I have outlined some of the most important principals of optimization. Review Your Current Practices: Make a list of every way you currently grow your business. Note the time cost and the economic cost of each one. Also, rate from 1-10 how effective and optimized each one is. No matter what your score is, ask yourself: How can I improve my results? Know Your Numbers: What is your closing ratio? How much does it cost you to acquire a new client? How many A, B, C, and D clients do you have? How many referrals do you average each month? How many clients have additional assets you do not work with? How many times a day do you ask for referrals and additional assets? Set Daily Standards: Commit to daily standards of asking for referrals and new money. It is important that you pick a number that you absolutely believe you can achieve every day. I believe in picking a small number first to create the daily habit you need to be successful. And remember: after you have mastered your current standard, raise the bar on a regular basis. Keep Track: You must be able to measure your results. Keep a daily log of your activities and look for trends. Some of my clients use a logbook, others use a spreadsheet on their computer. It doesn't matter which you useójust commit to using one. By committing to the principals of optimization you can dramatically increase your business effectively while working smarter, not harder. Remember: there is no correlation between hours worked and success in this industryóit is about generating results! One last note about my client Brian. In 2000, Brian is on track to do $750k in productionówhile actually spending less time in the office! Joseph J. Lukacs, Business Coach, is the founder of International Performance Group LLC., a professional business coaching company delivering customized coaching and training, by telephone, to financial and insurance professionals. International Performance Group LLC. is based in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Joseph can be reached at 908-526-8877, by e-mail to joe@ipg-coaching.com, or visit our Web site: http://www.ipg-coaching.com