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Stop burning up fuel and generating heat in the lower gears, doing general marketing activities that only attract more non-ideal clients and overload your system.
Two years ago, I purchased a 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera and set about restoring it from the ground up.
Breathing new life into it to make it fully operational has been a journey, but I’m glad I did it because I learned some valuable lessons.
One of the things I became intimately acquainted with during the restoration process was the relationship between engine power and torque.
With engines it turns out there’s a “rev range” in which the engine generates the most amount of wheel turning power (torque), given the amount of air and fuel it burns in a cycle.
The purpose of the gears is to keep the engine working within that optimal rev range (also called the “power band”) to maximize acceleration power.
You’ll notice this in your own car.
Acceleration builds quickly in the lower gears but as the engine revs past its power band, the rate of acceleration declines and you can’t go any faster unless you shift up to a higher gear.
Eventually, in the lower gears, more energy is lost through friction and heat than is transferred to the wheels.
Fuel consumption goes up exponentially, as well as wear and tear on your engine’s internal components.
A typical torque curve of an engine looks a bit like this...
When I saw this for the first time, I was immediately struck by the parallel to my own sales and marketing engine.
It’s a universal law.
Early in the lifespan of your business, you’re reliant on bringing in as many leads in as possible to get your business moving forward.
But over time, as you look at ways to grow, you encounter a problem that’s identical to the torque curve above.
Your business doesn’t have the same accelerating power it once had, and bringing in more leads or servicing more clients is unsustainable. You’re already operating at the limit with the volume of clients you have.
What is the missing “high gear” in your sales and marketing engine that’s needed to continue generating useful power, rather than just friction and heat?
Well, it’s to do with how you’re uniquely differentiated in your market.
For the hundreds of advisors I coach and mentor, I refer to this unique differentiation as your “trusted authority positioning.”
Without trusted authority positioning, you’re essentially stuck in your market, running in low gear while your “engine” burns fuel inefficiently.
The marketing activities that got you moving in the beginning now have you busy chasing prospects over long sales cycles, and essentially providing free consulting in the hope they become your client.
This positions you with the majority of other advisors doing the same thing, and as a result, the type of clients you bring in are less than ideal.
Even if you were to increase your market share of those non-ideal clients, the cost and “internal friction” they generate passing through your sales process would place an unsustainable load on your system.
It’s like driving at 100mph in third gear – there’s just not enough free bandwidth to go any faster, and if you push it hard enough it won’t be long before your engine burns up.
But with trusted authority positioning that clearly differentiates you in your market, you’re able to choose your clients rather than chase them.
If you’re an experienced advisor and your sales and marketing engine is working overtime but it’s not transferring enough power to where it’s needed to grow your business, then creating your own trusted authority positioning is the “upgrade” that will get you to the next level.
Learn to create and “shift up” to become a trusted authority position in your market.
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after high-net worth/lead generation expert for financial advisors. His newest book, “Trusted Authority” has become an instant best-seller among financial advisors worldwide – you can get a free copy of Ari’s book here and, when you click the “YES” button in the order form, you’ll also receive a complimentary “plug up the holes” lead generation consultation. Ari has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, INC Magazine and the Australian Financial Review. He is considered a contrarian in the financial services industry and in his book, everything you learned about selling will be turned upside down. No more chasing, no pressure, no closing.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
