Taking Your Practice to a New Level

Why is the growth of our advisory businesses difficult and what can we do to make a change today?

Here are some of the salient points from our interview with David Neagle a few months ago. I believe that you will find the highlights below very interesting and helpful in your efforts to build your advisory practice.

We began the interview with the question: Why is growth difficult?

Our upbringing trains us to grow our businesses in a ‘stair step’ manner. For example, in school, we go from one grade to the next, moving at a pace with all other students. Rare is the person who skips a grade and, as I recall, there is usually an exceptional circumstance that allows that to happen.

The problem with this type of conditioning is that our businesses are not designed or intended to grow in this slow-moving manner. Our belief systems, therefore, reinforce our world and the personal environments that we build for ourselves in our businesses. In short, we create our own limitations for the growth of our businesses.

Pre-disposed Towards Growth

Every advisor who enters the Pinnacle Program is geared towards the growth of their business. So what is keeping you from the growth that you want and deserve? What is keeping you from the changes in your business that you want to implement?

The answer may be as simple as being able to let go of some of those existing limiting beliefs and embracing a larger idea that success is not only your right, but can also be easy – particularly if the success is aligned with your purpose.

So, how do you make these changes in your business and your life?

First, you need to have the desire to learn and grow. If you are a part of the Pinnacle Program, you already have the desire for more.

The next step is to increase your awareness of the reasons why this growth is not occurring.

The first step in increasing your awareness is realizing what your current belief system is and how that impacts your mindset and your approach to your business. If you think in small, incremental steps, then small, incremental opportunities will appear in your life. However, if you think in terms of deserving the larger opportunities and being a part of a more fulfilling process for delivering service to your clients, then those opportunities will also appear in your life.

Therefore, the logical extension of this analysis is that it is as equally easy to attract the larger opportunities as it is to attract the smaller opportunities. All you need to do is alter your awareness around what you are brining into your life and make a decision that you will seek out the opportunities that challenge you to grow and provide you with the income that you deserve.

What Holds Us Back?

Of course if this was easy, everyone would do it. What makes it difficult? Simply, it is the list of subconscious reasons WHY we cannot make these changes - they may include some of the items below:

• I don't have the experience to engage that prospect.



• The competition is too strong for me to compete at that level.



• What if I get asked a question that I cannot answer? How would

that reflect on my professionalism?


• The lead-time is too long for this type of prospecting.



• I don't have the network (like other people) to support receiving
  leads like this on a consistent basis.



• I don't have the time to study and prepare for a meeting with that
  type of prospect.

If any or all of these reasons for not moving ahead are ones that you have come up with for not advancing yourself in your business, I want you to pay very close attention to the reality of each of these statements - it is simply this:

Each of these statements comes from a source that says that your abilities are limited. Furthermore, each of these statements begins with an analysis of what you cannot do, rather than focusing on the infinitely more important question of what can I provide to this marketplace of prospects that they do not currently have? And, why am I denying this marketplace of business owners the opportunity to engage in this process when I already have their trust as their professional advisor?

When you change the questions, you change your thinking and your approach to this marketplace. When you focus on being of service to this marketplace, instead of what your current limitations are, you begin to explode forward. Does this sound like a risky proposition to you? If 'yes', then I submit that examining why this sounds risky is the best place for you to begin the study of yourself and the limitation that you put on your advisory practice. By making this study your highest priority, you will advance forward as you become aware of the real truth of your potential.

Changing Your Thinking

In short, the catalyst for this type of growth has to do with the way that you think. Your thinking comes from your belief system. So, change the beliefs – let go of your limited attitudes towards your business - and you have taken the first step towards the growth that you deserve.

If you would like more information on this type of coaching, feel free to contact our office with your questions and someone from our Pinnacle offices will get back to you within 48 hours.

Specializing in Business Exit Strategies, John M. Leonetti, Esq., M.S. Finance, CM&AA founded Pinnacle Equity Solutions to provide exit strategy planning services to business owners as well as education and training programs for professional advisors. To learn more about John's Exit Strategy Services and his recently published book, "Exiting Your Business, Protecting Your Wealth", visit ExitingYourBusiness.com