Financial Advisor Tips for Effective Goal-Setting

Setting goals is an important element in your success as a financial advisor. Having clear goals to work toward can give you the motivation you need to scale while helping you to develop a focused plan for doing so. Setting goals is not a difficult process, but how you define them and the action steps needed to achieve them can influence your results.

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Understanding the Importance of Goal-Setting for Advisors

Creating realistic goals as an advisor can be instrumental in building a sustainable business. When you have a goal in mind, it becomes easier to focus your energy and efforts in a specific direction.

For example, 59% of millennials say they want to acquire more clients, according to BlackRock’s inaugural Advisor Trends Survey. ¹ Forty percent want to improve their operational efficiency, while 21% are focusing their goals on technological innovation in their practices.

You may have similar goals, or have an entirely different set of objectives in mind. Regardless of the target, setting goals as a financial advisor can help you to:

• Get clarity about your business and what you want to achieve
• Eliminate activities that aren’t producing the kind of results you’re seeking
• Develop resilience and skills that are necessary to overcome challenges
• Better understand your unique value proposition and the clients you want to serve
• Build trust with your clients, which can increase retention and referral rates
• Manage risks that may threaten your business stability

An advisor without goals is like a ship without a sail, drifting with no clear destination in sight. Setting a goal allows you to chart your course with efficiency and purpose.

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Goal-Setting Strategies for Financial Advisors

There are a couple of ways to approach goal setting as an advisor. The first is to consider the time frame involved; the second centers on how your goals are structured.

In terms of timing, there are three broad categories of goals:

• Short-term goals, which may take less than one year to achieve
• Mid-term goals, which can take a few years to complete
• Long-term goals, which may encompass the entire lifespan of your business

Understanding your time frame matters, as it influences the goals you decide to pursue. For example, your goals as a first-year advisor may look very different compared to the goals you set in year 5 or year 10 of your business.

Having a mix of different goals is a good thing, as it can boost motivation. When you’re able to get some quick wins by knocking out shorter-term goals, that can help with maintaining momentum to pursue bigger, long-term goals.

In terms of how to structure your goals, goal-setting experts recommend making them S.M.A.R.T. The elements of a S.M.A.R.T. goal are as follows:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Making financial advisor goals that are specific, rather than vague, leaves no room for doubt about what you’re hoping to accomplish. At the same time, those goals need to be measurable in some way so that you’re able to track your progress.

Goals also need to be achievable and relevant to your situation. Otherwise, you may be working for something that’s out of reach or won’t have the degree of impact on your business that you’re seeking. Finally, goals need to be time-bound as deadlines encourage action and accountability.

Examples of “SMART” financial advisor goals include:

• Acquire 60 new clients per year, at a pace of 5 per month on average
• Develop a strong referral program that generates 75% of all new client traffic annually
• Increase total assets under management by $20 million in the next 12 months
• Adopt a new customer relationship management (CRM) system that increases back office efficiency by 20% in the next six months
• Complete the education, experience and exam requirements to become a CFP^® professional within the next 24 months

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How to Set Financial Advisor Goals and Achieve Them

The important thing to remember about setting goals as a financial advisor is that they should be unique to you and your business. It’s tempting to look at what other advisors are doing and use their success as a model for goal setting. However, making comparisons can lead you to set goals that may not be realistic for your business. With that in mind, here are some tips for setting effective goals as a financial advisor.

1. Know Your Starting Point

Before making any goal, consider where you’re starting from. Asking some key questions can help you identify what areas you might want to address when setting goals.

For example, you might ask yourself:

• What is the biggest challenge I’m trying to overcome right now?
• Where am I least satisfied with how the business is growing/performing?
• What is working for my business and are there ways I can expand on that?
• Are there any business development efforts I could make to expand my skills or knowledge?
• Where do I want this business to be in one year, five years, 10 years, etc.?

The more detailed you are in answering, the easier it may be to shape your goals and the action steps needed to complete them.

2. Create a Timeline

Once you know where you want to focus, you can begin defining your goals. But first, how many goals should a financial advisor set?

Setting too few goals means you don’t have as many targets to aim for. Setting too many goals can leave you overwhelmed. Prioritizing what you want to concentrate on in a logical way can help you keep moving forward with your goals as you implement growth strategies.

For example, you could break your goals down:

• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Annually

Again, by setting multiple targets, you can feed your sense of accomplishment without feeling bogged down with all that you’re trying to do. You may set goals that are one-time or recurring for each time period.

3. Prioritize and Define Your Goals

At this stage, you should be ready to create some concrete goals. If you have lots of things you want to achieve, prioritizing goals can help.

One way to do that is by considering which areas of your business you want to work on and choosing one to three as your main focus. For example, your top three priorities might include:

• New client acquisition
• Client retention
• Marketing and branding

Within each category, you would consider what your overall objective is, and then use that as a guide for setting individual goals.

Let’s use client acquisition as an example. You might set a goal of acquiring five new clients per month for the next 12 months. That is a goal that is specific, measurable, relevant and time-bound. Whether it’s achievable depends on how clearly you define each necessary step to reach that goal.

For example, your action plan might look something like this:

• I will step up new client outreach to target 20 new prospects per day for the next 90 days.
• I will identify my 10 most loyal clients and ask them to refer me to friends, family or colleagues who may be looking for an advisor.
• I will participate in one community event locally per month in order to increase my visibility and network with prospects.

Just like your overall goal, these action steps are also specific, measurable and have a time component. The more you can fine-tune your goals, the better since you narrow down the types of activities you need to be engaging in to reach them.

4. Review Your Goals and Adjust

Your goals are not necessarily set in stone and it’s helpful to review them periodically to see how well you’re doing and where you might be able to improve. How often you do this is up to you, though it may be a good idea to schedule monthly check-ins for shorter-term goals and review longer-term goals quarterly, biannually or annually.

As you look at the progress you’ve made, ask yourself whether it aligns with where you expected to be at that point. If the answer is no, then you may need to reconsider whether the goal is realistic and achievable. If it is, then the next step is taking a closer look at what’s not working with regard to the way that you’re approaching it.

You may also consider having an accountability partner to help you keep track of your progress. That might be a colleague, your mentor or someone on your staff whom you can trust to review your progress and tell you honestly and without judgment where you could improve.

Bottom Line

Setting goals as a financial advisor is an important part of business operations. The goals you set and the way that you approach them can help your business to thrive in a competitive landscape year after year. It can be the difference between hitting your firm’s goals to survive and provide the income you need, and having to close up shop. If you’ve put off goal-setting or just haven’t had time to tackle it, consider how you can fit that into your busy schedule.

Tips for Financial Advisor Marketing

• Goal setting can reach all parts of your firm, including obtaining new clients. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
• Expanding your digital marketing footprint may be a goal to set if you’ve neglected social media, search engine optimization and other online marketing efforts. As you set digital marketing goals, consider which key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics you’ll track to monitor your progress. For example, it’s helpful to consider your client acquisition cost (CAC) to evaluate which marketing strategies provide the best return on investment.