ADDICTED TO CREDENTIALS

Advisors fall into one of two buckets:

-Those who believe they have all the answers and everyone needs them.

-Those who question their value and recognize their weaknesses.

In my experience, many of the advisors who are acutely aware of their shortcomings are actually the BEST advisors.  They are constantly learning. They are willing to go deep to find a solution.  They are humble in their interactions and more likely to really listen to their clients.

Advisors who question themselves are almost always NOT the most successful advisors.

The most successful advisors are those with the swagger and bravado that makes clients believe they know what they are doing.  Their confidence, justified or not, encourages clients to listen to their advice and follow-through with implementation.  This makes them the highest producers.

More tentative advisors tend to do one of two things.  They either try to fake-it-til-you-make-it by acting more confident then they are.  Or they overcompensate with credentials in an attempt to "earn confidence".

I want to talk a little bit about this addiction to credentials and how all that learning might actually be getting in the way of your success.

Let me start by saying that I hold my CFP® and my ChFC credentials.  I am not anti-credential or anti-learning.  If you are going to make a career out of this, I encourage you to pursue the credentials you need to be a competent professional. 

However, many great advisors are using the pursuit of credentials as an excuse not to get out there and prospect and grow their practices.  They lie to themselves and say, "When I have this credential, clients will listen to me and I will be successful."

It's not true!  Clients are largely oblivious to credentials!

And, as exemplified by the advisors with swagger who are scooping up all the awards, it is your own confidence that is the primary driver behind advisor success.  We all know advisors who are just this side of incompetent and are still making a great living.  We talk behind our hands about them, but we don't learn from them.

If you are the kind of advisor who is addicted to credentials, you are already smart enough!  You have everything you need to serve clients.  You need to turn your energy toward building your confidence and becoming a better influencer of client behavior.

Getting initials behind your name make you feel…

-Capable

-Productive

-Responsible

But if you are spending all your energy learning and not spending enough growing your practice, it is just a form of denial.  Denial of the truth that prospecting is scary and involves a lot of potential rejection. 

Chasing credentials boosts your ego and prospecting threatens it!

You already know enough!  In a recent survey, over half of pre-retirees failed a basic quiz about Social Security.  Do you think those people might need your help?

After every market correction we hear horror stories of investors jumping out at the bottom and sitting on mountains of cash waiting for the right moment to re-invest.  Do you think those people might benefit from your expertise?

Americans are rubbish with money!  They buy dumb things, they finance them in even dumber ways.  They need you!

You don't need loads of high-level credentials to serve the average client.  But you do need to get out there and find the people who need you in order to serve them.

Let me ask you, are you addicted to credentials?  Are you hiding from the hard parts of this business in the pursuit of more knowledge?

With Purpose,

-Lucila

When I doubt my own value, my solution is to create something that I can 100% get behind.  I know that when I have confidence in what I offer, my clients feel that and are moved to action.  Not because I have initials behind my name, but because they can feel my conviction that what I am offering will solve their problems.

I created the Delivering on the Promise Online Course to help advisors build Advice-based Financial Planning practices that they believe in!  So that when they go to market they can have confidence that what they offer is worth every penny and more!

You can learn more about all of my online courses HERE.

Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] if you have any questions about finding the course or coaching package that is right for you.