Chapter 3: Operate a Business Dedicated to Serving Ideal Clients Transitioning a practice from the old-world model of selling products (transaction-oriented) to the new-world model of helping people create a financial future through comprehensive planning (client-centered) can be a difficult balancing act. In a perfect world, you would simply dismiss anyone who didnít fit the Ideal Client Profile, serve only those who did, and concentrate on attracting new ideal clients through referrals. This gets you off the prospecting treadmill and is whatís best for the clients: an advisor focused solely on the objective of Being Doneô so that eventually, he or she will be able to serve only their needs and no longer put any energy into marketing. But in reality, many advisors must straddle the old and new world, continuing to serve customers who are less than ideal until the practice is filled with new clients who fit the profile - and can make up the income gap. We call this phase of business ìsurvival mode,î a time when the principles of the Trusted Advisorô are still foremost in your mind, but the necessities of everyday life - paying the bills, putting food on the table, keeping a roof over your head - require that you keep some less-than-ideal clients. Even as you are building your ideal clientele, you may need to run two aspects of business simultaneously: the survival side and the Being Doneô side. Your survival business keeps your cash flow on an even keel while you climb the necessary emotional and psychological slope to ëbe done.í Most CEOs are familiar with the Sigmoid Curve, a mathematical arc business strategists have adopted to understand how and why to manage the dynamics of change. This S-shaped curve has been said to sum up ìthe story and time line of life itself: we start slowly, we experiment and falter, we then grow rapidly, then wax, and wane.î Itís applicable to the life cycle of the financial services industry in general, and for the advisor who is committed to being a Trusted Advisorô in particular. The Sigmoid Curve shows how all of us go through a period of wondering if itís going to work. The short plateau at the beginning shows the decision to change; the line up to the peak shows the longer, steeper climb to the top; and the crest is the point at which change has occurred and effort begins to diminish. This curve even applies to sporting events, and most graphically to the Tour de France. You see dozens of athletes cycling up these summits, pouring their hearts out in the race. And if youíve never bonked on a steep climb, you donít understand why the announcer starts saying, ìLook at Joe Blow Ö Heís about to crack!î Then all of a sudden Joe does: He loses his speed and goes back to an easier, more comfortable pace. The rest of the riders continue at a strong pace and the rider who cracked seems to just slide off the back of the group. He doesnít collapse on the side of the mountain, but heís no longer really a contender, either. The numbers in the front dwindle, until there are only one or two people who crest the mountain together. They go over the top first and are the first to experience the fast, easy downhill ride. Everyone who strives toward Being Doneô must master the summit, must get up that climb without cracking. One of many pressures advisors face will be the potential drop in income. But does your income have to decline as you make the transition from old world to new world, huge numbers of clients to a select few? No. Thatís what the survival side of your business is about. If, while youíre expending the energy to get ideal clients, you have to keep some survival clients to maintain constant cash flow, do so. But thereís a big difference between 1) working to bring in just anyone who will hire you while occasionally lucking into ideal clients and 2) focusing on ideal clients while serving survival clients occasionally. The former will break you in the long run; you will ultimately find yourself stuck in the slower gear, which may seem easier but will ultimately require more and more effort to get up the hill. This is not a race against your peers. It is a race against time, where youíre attempting to make a profit before you run out of money, to create a quality of life before you run out of energy, to acquire enough ideal clients before youíre too tired and jaded to serve them. If you ever want to ëbe done,í even as you are expending a great deal of effort, you must keep the end result in mind. Why are you working so hard? Itís so you can build a business thatís about them, your clients. Itís also so you can gain the professional satisfaction of achieving a specific plan for your business that provides you with the income you need, the time off you desire, and the sense of personal esteem that can come only from applying your expertise to its highest and best use. What is the Being Done Study group about? The Being Done Study Group is a group of advisors that collaborate and study weekly with Bill Bachrach. It is a study group that focuses on helping you, the advisor, to be done, sooner rather than later. The group focuses on the principles that Bill teaches in Values-Based Selling and Values-Based Financial Planning. The purpose of the Being Done Study Group is to coach advisors to stay in the Trusted Advisor role instead of the salesperson role by using Values-Based Financial Planning and assisting you in getting your business to the point that you no longer have a need to prospect and market for clients.