Every home needs a solid foundation. The same holds true for financial plans. When it comes to constructing a new home, one of the first crews on sight is the excavation team. They dig and lay the foundation. The foundation determines the long-term stability of the home to be built on top of it.

Many advisors and agents ask their Insurance Marketing Organization (IMO) “What's your favorite product?” I've always been perplexed by this question. What's your favorite product? Really? It's as if financial advisors and insurance agents have been conditioned to ask that question, which would lead me to believe that most IMOs are pitching products and not asking questions.

When you work with a prospect and guide them towards making a financial decision and take action, you assume a leadership role. For many financial advisors, you make a commitment to lead them to and through retirement. However, many financial professionals have failed to have a scheduled maintenance process in place to review their clients’ plans and adapt them to life and lifestyle changes.

I have talked to many advisors in my career and I have lost count how many times I have heard “I only sell annuities” or "I only sell life insurance”. There are several things wrong with this picture. Agents that think like this are not fully helping their clients. They are leaving cracks in their financial plans and as an advisor they are leaving dollars on the table. 

Let’s say you have brochures, flyers, letterhead and business cards for your business. You’re very proud that you created these pieces…but you have a problem. They don’t look as professional as they should and you can’t quite figure out why.

A career as an independent financial professional is rewarding beyond comprehension in many ways. Effecting lives of the clients you touch in a positive way is spirit-raising. There’s nothing like standing by your clients’ side as they identify their challenges, acknowledge them, take ownership, and make a decision to take action with you as their guide. 

Financial advisors often make simple mistakes that they can correct to improve their businesses. These mistakes reduce their potential and can cause business to slow, or even worse, start to decline. Here are the top six mistakes you should avoid making in your financial services business.

Humans need a tribe. We are social animals, and most of us need to feel a part of something larger than us to feel OK. We need to know someone has our back. In return we’ll have theirs. As a unit we’ll be secure and succeed. We’ll overcome challenges and achieve great things. 

What separates the most successful financial advisors from average advisors?  It’s pretty simple really. Here are the five traits of the most successful financial advisors...

The independent industry doesn't do a really good job of surveying it's field force regarding what they look for in an Independent Marketing Organization (IMO). Having been around the business for more than 20 years, and having talked with thousands of insurance agents regarding their wishes and wants, I thought I'd put together a listing of the top field requests I've heard over the past few years.