© Copyright 2004                               UN-BUNDLE THE SYSTEM AND STAY FOCUSED by Shane E. Westhoelter, RFC, LUTCF Strategic thinking is the buzzword that is making the rounds in the management circles. Thanks to great leaders and coaches like Dan Sullivan, John Maxwell, Steven Covey, and many others we have all begun a new era of "Strategic Coaching and Time Management". When I entered the industry back in the 1980's, I was a one-person shop -- a "Loan Ranger" with out even a sidekick to assist. Today I work with "Strategic Alliances, Partners, Synergistic Circles, Assistances, and do everything except be a "Loan Ranger". How is one to stay focused with so much product change, compliance change, and even companies changing through acquisitions and mergers? The one simple way that I have found to stay sane through all of this is to "Un-bundle the System and Stay Focused". Un-bundle the system may seem very logical and simple -- yet many seem to not be able to do this effectively. What does it mean to "Un-bundle the System"? It means to get focused on what you do best and delegate out the rest. Let's take a look at how this may work for the independent advisor in today's environment. The step to take with assisting clients in achieving their financial goals is to create a "Team" of professional advisors around them. This means to refer them too professional alliances. Together this team of "professional" advisors begin to focus in on the client's needs, "What is important to them". The Client is then surrounded with the best advisors in the business that we know. In our operation we call this our "Synergy Circle" and it looks like this: To help our client understand that we are here to serve them with the "Best of the Best" in each of the financial areas of need. We begin to un-bundle our system to serve them. The first person in our "Team" of advisors is what we call the, "The Rain Maker". The "Rain Maker" is the person who sets the appointment with the Client. This person usually has some sort of personal connection with the perspective client. They have a similar background, know them personally, or worked in the same type of occupation prior. This "Rain Maker" becomes the co-coordinator for the client. They will get the "Team" together to serve this client. They will also serve in many cases as the Servicing Representative at the end of the process. The "Rain Maker" is the person who enjoys meeting people, calling people, visiting with people and helping people achieve their financial goals. This is an outgoing and well-respected person who has the desire to help others. The Second Person on the team is the "Relationship Maker". This person knows how to make the relationship solid. They are great at "Fact Finding" and probing deep into what is "Important" to the Client. They accommodate the Rain Maker on the initial interview(s) and gather the facts, the needed information for us to develop a full financial plan for the client. They know how to explain our firm, our concepts, our "Synergy Circle" and some basic financial concepts to the client. They know how to "sell the Client" on the need to plan and to develop a financial game plan going forward. The Next person on the team is our "Analysis". This person takes the Data from the client interview and plugs it into the computer system and software programs. They run the profile, the financial analysis reports, they build the Portfolio's both current and proposed. If insurance is needed they will run the appropriate illustrations and create the spreadsheet of the best product choices for the client's need, risk tolerance, and desired future goals. This person must be a well-educated person of the both the industry and be competent in computer programs. Then the Analysis hands it over to the "Presenter". The Presenter is going to review the information, the output pages, the plan design and the illustrations. They will prepare what ever they need to go meet with the client and make the presentation of the financial plan. This person must be well adverse in product knowledge, be able to teach/present this knowledge to the client, be able to overcome objections, questions, and even be able to modify the plan if needed while meeting with the client. The presenter is the "Sales Person" who knows how to take the financial portfolio and present it to the client. Usually at this client interview either the Rain Maker or the Relationship Maker is also present to help the client see the team approach. The presenter depends strongly on the other members of the team to have secured the relationship with the client and the desire of the client to move forward with a plan. The Presenter is probably the more "Technical" person of the team and must be able to communicate the complex issues in a simple way to the client. The last person on the team is the "Service Reprehensive". This person will commit to serve the client as time goes forward. Making sure that the portfolio is reviewed on a regular basis, products are keep up to date, changes are made as needed for the client such as address changes, bank drafts, or job changes. This person must be a caring and committed person to the client's needs. This person will be the key in making your reputation stand out with your clients, as they are the contact when the client needs service. This explains what we have done in our office to unbundle the process. Each person in my office knows how to be a "Loan Ranger" but we have each decided that working as a team and using our skills, talents, and focusing on the areas that we enjoy, make our firm more productive and our day to day work much more enjoyable. By designing this system and implementing it in our office it has allowed me to stay focused on what I enjoy and what I do best. At times we must all do more than one "position" but when we can stay focused on our area of specialty we work more productively. I would encourage those of you who are still trying to do it all yourself -- to consider finding advisors who want to go to the next level by becoming part of a team. I guess I would liken this to the concept of a great sports team -- although most professional athletes have probably played most, if not all, of the positions on the field, they play one or at most two best. That position is what they enjoy, and they shine as a pro. They get paid big money to play that position and to stay focused on playing that position well. The same is true for us -- if we learn to play our position and learn to play it well, we will be paid like a pro. We will bring more value to our clients, giving them personal service, and we will enjoy working everyday because we are doing what we truly enjoy doing. Un-bundle your system and stay focused -- it really does work! Shane Westhoelter is president of Gateway Financial Advisors, Inc. and sits on the Board of Directors for Gateway Financial Resources, LLC. Shane is a past president of St. Charles Association of NAFIA, and currently serves on the executive board of both St. Louis Missouri Association of NAFIA, and the Missouri State Board of NAFIA . Shane is available to do presentations or consultations for financial firms and insurance companies. You can contact Shane through the web site of www.GFAinvestments.com or e-mail Shane@MLC.net. The synergy circle was developed by Gateway Financial Resources, LLC and is property of GFR, LLC., Trademark and Patten are pending. Reproduction in any form with out written permission is prohibited. Please contact Gateway Financial resources, LLC or Gateway Financial Advisors for permission to use.