Keep Track

Write. It. Down. Everything. All the time.

The basic principle is this: write down everything you’re spending your time on, and how much time you’re spending. The easiest way to do this is to write what time you started and what time you ended, and then do the math at the end of the day when you’re reviewing how productive you were.

Going through emails for 30 minutes? Write it down.
Meeting with your team for 2 hours? Write it down.
“Taking a break” on Facebook for *gasp* 15 minutes?? Write. It. Down.

If you were to commit to this for even just one week, it can offer you an insane amount of insight in to where your precious time has been spent. You may discover that you have a problem client who has managed to drag you way over scope on their project. Or you may discover that you spend so much time explaining things to one employee that you need to do some more training with him or her.

I could do a whole other post on the value of having a yellow-pad and functioning pen at your side all the time. I use mine for my time tracking, for ideas, for to-dos and everything in-between. This process will seem tedious and like a waste of your valuable time in the beginning, but you’ll thank yourself for doing it in the long-haul. If you’re a techie, there are about a million apps and online time tracking systems – many of them even integrate with popular project management and CRM software. Whatever your preference, find a way to track your time and use it.

Categorize and Analyze

At the end of your day, put it on your calendar to allocate 10 minutes to look over your time tracking results (and write that down too!). Take a look at the types of things you’re spending your time on, and look for ways where you can be more productive. Could you group all of your email responses into a single block twice a day so that you can spend less time being reactive? Some other categories you might utilize include: team meetings, phone calls, lead generation, follow-ups, errands, breaks and non-income-producing tasks. Looking at your day from a statistical, analytical standpoint will help you to step back and figure out where things can change so that you can be more productive and a better asset to your company.

Give Yourself a Deadline

Now that you’ve identified where the problems are, you can start controlling your day, instead of it controlling you. Start by looking at the categories you’ve established, and then breaking them down into a measurable block of time. For example, if all week you’ve spent an average of an hour handling email each day, then put two 30-minute blocks on your calendar to handle email – one early in the day and one later in the day. That way it’s a standing appointment with yourself and you can feel confident that it’s a) not going to get forgotten about and b) you can handle other things without worrying what’s coming in, and therefore getting yourself out of a reactive state. Continue tracking your time and make adjustments to your blocks as necessary. You can even turn this into a game! I’m a generally competitive person, and it actually helps me to focus to know that I’m racing the clock to get something done.

I highly recommend utilizing a calendar for this approach. In our agency, we use Google products, and my calendar is often full of blocks for me to handle tasks in my queue, in addition to the meetings and calls that I have. This way, I know when I can actually handle another request for a meeting, versus filling my calendar with them and not getting anything else done.

Don’t Be Afraid to Delegate

Your effectiveness as a leader isn’t simply defined by how well you can juggle 50 tasks and how many all-nighters you can handle. It’s defined by how well you can empower your team and how seamless your company can run – even when you’re not around. You have to start by hiring the right people, and then you build your success by training those people to handle things the exact way you would handle them yourself, and you empower them to make decisions for the benefit of your client. If your team can operate without every decision being made by you as their boss, that means that everyone can focus and get more done and clients will reap the benefits. I wrote more about employment strategies in this article.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Author Gary Vaynerchuk is a four-time New York Times bestselling author and entrepreneurial giant that took his family’s local liquor store from a “brick and mortar” business that was profiting $3 million a year to an online e-commerce giant that was profiting $60 million a year, in just 5 short years.

Vaynerchuck can sometimes have a “colorful” way of explaining concepts, but his advice is sound and time-tested. In his current bestseller, Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence – And How You Can, Too, he explains how being his vibrant, personable self was absolutely fundamental to his entrepreneurial self. Vaynerchuck takes an unconventional approach to building success and encourages his readers to go one step further to build the life they want, not just the business they want.

If you want to follow Vaynerchuck, oftentimes referred to as GaryVee, he has a podcast available on 12 different platforms, a blog that he publishes to at least a couple times a week, various live events throughout the world, and he is active on four different social media platforms. He also has five different books, available at most major booksellers.

Cam Marston

One of the newest authors that I’ve discovered through my regular professional development reading is Cam Marston. He’s an author, columnist, blogger, lecturer and business owner, and so far, all of his books have been incredibly insightful reads. Marston specializes in how the different generations and their tendencies can affect the market, and how the business owner should conduct themselves accordingly.

Marston’s latest book, which I finished just recently, is called The Gen-Savvy Financial Advisor, and it’s become a new favorite. It’s designed to prepare you to sustain a healthy business, as you strive to connect with the different generations, including Baby Boomers, Gen-X, and Millennials. In previous blog posts, I interpreted and summarized what I learned and how you might apply it in your business, so be sure to check those out.

If you’d like to learn more about Cam Marston and follow his work, he’s the CEO of Generational Insights, where he publishes weekly blogs and has a podcast. He’s also active on Twitter and lectures live around the world.

Scott and Alison Stratten

The last folks that I wanted to mention, even though they may not be everyone’s cup of tea, are Scott and Alison Stratten. They’ve published several books together, but my favorite is Un-Marketing. Like Vaynerchuck, they oftentimes use colorful language to get their points across, and if you’re a fan of audiobooks, it’s a riot to listen to. Another of my favorites is QR Codes Kill Kittens: How to Alienate Customers, Dishearten Employees, and Drive Your Business into the Ground. They use this obtuse title to grab your attention and instead of overwhelming you with things you “should” be doing, they instead give you a list of things you absolutely should not be doing. It’s a refreshing take on professional development.

The Strattens are co-owners of what has become a global brand, Un-Marketing Inc., co-authors of 5 best-selling books, and active on Twitter. They’re also live keynote speakers worldwide and have an active podcast.

About Millennials

Millennials are the largest generation in American history, and they have immense spending power. As the holders of social currency, they determine what’s relevant and shape the way business is done online.

Many from this generation have never known life without the internet, and they value technology greatly. Technology has made it very easy for millennials to gauge their peers’ opinions, and they rely heavily on their recommendations. Communication is often informal among this generation.

Because of the wealth of information available at their fingertips, millennials pay attention to the events and trends that affect society. They focus on diversity and tolerance. They are also passionate about buying and investing for a cause.

Millennials are the most educated generation in the U.S. to date. This has had a great effect on the social norms of this generation. Due to pursuing more education, adult milestones such as marriage and having children have been pushed later into their late 20’s and 30’s.

How They’re Doing Financially

Due to the downturn of the economy in their lifetime and a job market that has not kept up with the vast number of college graduates with immense student loan debt, millennials are concerned with financial security. Many have had to downsize their dreams to make ends meet. These circumstances have made them reluctant to save and invest, and they will have to save more and longer than their parents. The lack of ability or desire to seek financial planning causes millennials to prefer convenient products over traditional ones.

How to Meet Their Needs

Pay attention to how you conduct yourself when trying to win over the business of a millennial. After reflecting on a meeting or two, you may realize the format of your meetings need to change. Business should progress as quickly and easily as possible to keep their interest. Millennials also greatly appreciate any free offerings you can give them.

As a generation that is accustomed to being able to find out most anything through social media and which communicates mainly online, protect your online reputation and let your involvement with social or environmental causes be made known. Transparency will win over a millennial. They will see through it if you try too hard.

Why They’re Important

Generation X is just now entering their peak earning years. They tend to be less trusting than the generations before them, but once their trust is gained, they’re loyal.

What They’re Like

Gen X’ers are tech savvy, so make sure you’re using a variety of media to reach out to them. They can be skeptical and often want to know “why.” Make sure you are forward thinking and anticipate the types of questions they may have. They will focus on trust and transparency. This should come as no surprise since Gen X’ers were young adults during many of the worst financial scandals in history.

Generation X is a self-educated generation that likes to be in the driver’s seat. They trust their friend’s referrals, so once you have the loyalty of one Gen X’er, others are sure to follow. The younger generations have a fear of missing out, so good advice of when to make a financial move will often be considered and appreciated by this generation.

How They’re Doing Financially

Generation X has lost the most in net worth. They are still regaining their footing from the Great Recession, and are falling behind in their retirement savings. These unfortunate circumstances may cause them to shy away from traditional investment instruments.

How to Earn Their Business

When connecting with a Gen X’er, focus on the facts. Be transparent and don’t pressure. To earn their trust, you need to prove that you can do things right and on time. Generation X is a generation that wants to be involved in the decision-making process, so provide them with options and back up plans.

Since this generation is tech savvy, be prepared to do business over the phone and through email. Ask yourself how you plan to compete against robo-advisors as well. Being tech savvy, Generation X wants to know all the information that is available to them. Ask yourself if there is any information that has traditionally been held back that you can provide.

Their tech savviness also means Gen X’ers need to see up-to-date information on your social media profiles and website. They will use your website very differently, as they are interested in who you are as a person, more so than the previous generations. Information such as organizations you support, what you do for fun and information about your family are all good connection points with Gen X’ers.

About baby boomers

The baby boomer generation controls over half of the net household wealth because they grew up at peak levels of income. They have been in the workforce for most of their lives, and they are beginning their transition into retirement. Baby boomers were fortunate to have good pension options, and they bought houses when they were more affordable. They will have a longer life expectancy today than any of the generations before them.

Baby boomers are competitive and optimistic. They believe hard work is rewarded and rightfully so, as the economy overall has done well throughout their working years. Many baby boomers feel young at heart and their life expectancy will surpass the previous generations.

Postponing retirement

Although some have retired early due health issues, many baby boomers are healthy and plan on working past a traditional retirement age. Some baby boomers are short on retirement funds due to financial reasons such as supporting their adult children who entered the workforce during a less favorable economy and their now dwindling inheritance. Although this isn’t ideal to anyone, baby boomers are especially self-reliant, and do what they have to do when it comes to achieving their goals.

How to connect

Baby boomers were born before the technology craze hit and still value face-to-face communication. Traditional sales techniques work well with this generation, and they appreciate service that makes them feel rewarded. To connect with baby boomers, conduct yourself as a team member and be cheerful. Be prepared to share your story, work with them on succession planning, and offer to do business with their children as well.

Like matures, baby boomers are interested in your history, as well as your background. They are also interested in information such as awards, designations and other qualifications. It is essential that you publish this information on your social media pages, website and in print materials. Baby boomers are more likely to offer their business to you when they see these qualifications.

Characteristics

Matures were born between 1927-1945. They are patriotic and are rule followers. They respect hierarchies, but also demand respect back because of their life experience. They have a strong preference for loyalty and traditional values. The men often dedicated their whole career to one company. Women of this generation were part of the pre-feminism movement. They usually stayed home to raise their families, and if they worked outside of the home, it was for very particular roles such as a teacher, secretary or nurse.

Why They Matter

Matures are frugal, and they have solid portfolios. They can see the value in your services and will be loyal clients for life. As matures now make up the majority of the older generation that is still living, they need your help to plan their wealth transfer.

Financial Traits

Few matures are still in the workforce. Most are facing health issues and disabilities. They are willing to seek out and listen to expert advice.

Ways to Connect

Before meeting with a “mature,” make sure your office is accommodating to the disabled. Ask yourself if you have any generational biases that will conflict with them. Be sure to make their comfort a top priority, stick to formal titles, and follow their rules of engagement.

Building Relationships

Matures are interested in your history as well as your background. Information such as awards, designations and other qualifications are important to them. They want to ensure you are a true industry expert before they offer their business to you.

Basic Account

The Basic (free) account allows you to do everything we have discussed so far in previous blog posts. You can build a great profile, connect with people, find second degree connections and send connect requests. You can also post content such as articles, SlideShares, and blogs.

Premium Business Account

Any of the paid account types come with a free month trial. The Premium Business Account will cost you $47.99/month^*, billed annually. It allows you to see all the people who have viewed your profile over the last 90 days (as opposed to just seeing the last 5 with the basic account).

You can browse in “anonymous mode” and still see who is looking at your profile, and you can see which search terms they used to find you. Premium Business also allows you to send 15 InMails per month to reach out to potential prospects you’re not connected to. This account type is best for people who are not cold prospecting on LinkedIn, but want to use it to communicate with existing connections and get introductions to prospects.

Sales Navigator Account

The Sales Navigator Account starts at $64.99/month^*, billed annually. This account type allows you to use LinkedIn’s advanced search setting, giving you premium filters (such as “engineers in Phoenix over 50”). You are also able to make private lead lists and see their activity, such as job changes and updates. This account also allows you to input data from Salesforce so you can keep all your leads together in one place and locate potential prospects with “suggested leads” and “suggested accounts” features. It also allows you to use the “Notes & Tags” feature, which is great if you’re doing heavy prospecting. You will be notified when one of your leads gets a new job with the “Job Change” feature, and you can send 20 InMails per month to reach out to potential prospects you’re not connected to. This account type is best for people who are planning to use LinkedIn very aggressively to cold prospect and/or people who go after specific niche markets with offers like attending seminars.

Critical Privacy Settings

On any social media platform, one of the first things you want to do is select your level of security. You have the option of being “transparent” to other users or “anonymous.” The transparent setting allows anyone to see your profile and notifies them if you have viewed their profile, too. Use this if your goal is to visit a lot of target market profiles with the goal of getting them to look back at your profile out of curiosity. An added reward of using transparency mode is being able to see who has looked at your profile as well. Anonymous mode is a better option if you are using LinkedIn before meetings or functions to profile people, or if you’re using it to get introductions from current connections. You can switch back and forth between the two settings at any time.

The next setting you need to choose is deciding who can see your connections. Showing them is good for social proof and allows people to see the power players and mutual connections you know. Showing them can also hurt if you aren’t connected to a lot of people who are in your target market segment, and it could lead to client poaching. Deciding which way to go really depends on who you’re connected to and whether or not you’re concerned with competitors trying to steal your clients.

Turn On/Off Your Activity Broadcasts

Your activity broadcasters let your contacts know when you have made changes to your profile or joined a group, for example. Toggle this on and off depending on what you’re doing, but leave it off as default. Turn it on when you add a new interest, award, organization you’re affiliated with, or a new address if you’ve moved offices. It’s also a good idea to turn it on when you update your headshot. This simple way of putting you in front of your contacts can lead to a casual conversation that closes business for you. Turn it off when you’re updating positions, titles, and headlines on your profile because you don’t want to give a wrong impression and seem unstable.

Set Revenue-Related Goals

Before you actively use LinkedIn, ask yourself one question: “What do I want to achieve?” An example of a good goal may be to generate revenue by meeting new people you do not currently have any connection to, or you may wish to generate revenue by increasing lines of business with current clients. Lastly, your goal may be to generate revenue by getting referrals from your current connections.

Thoughts on Connections

The more quality people you are connected to, the more powerful everything you do will be and the faster it will all work. Do connect with all clients, centers of influence, and friends/family who don’t make you look bad. Don’t connect with competitors, strangers trying to sell you things or people who present themselves in an inappropriate way.

One way to get connected with people is to invite your email contacts. It only takes a few minutes, and the payoff is huge. The requests can be sent to all of them, or just the ones you select. LinkedIn will also give you many connection requests and suggestions. To find them, click on “My Network” at the top of LinkedIn. You’ll see suggestions for people you may know. They are based on who you are already connected with, so a lot will be from your target market segments. Request to connect with the people you do actually know, and check back often.

The Law of Reciprocity

When you do something nice for someone, they will have a deep-rooted psychological urge to do something nice in return. Are you permitted by compliance to give and receive endorsements and recommendations? If you can, this is a great way to build up social proof, increase existing lines of business, and attract referrals. Give endorsements and recommendations to your connections on things you personally know or have experienced. They are notified and will often reciprocate by endorsing or recommending you.

Posting “Pulse” Content

People see your content two ways: when vetting you or in their LinkedIn news stream. Make sure everything you post shows your target market that you understand them and have your finger on the pulse of what matters most. Share links to blog posts or new information on your website. Share interesting articles with your two cents added in the post. You don’t ever want to be off-putting by sharing too much about your business that seems salesy, so follow the 4:1 rule of sharing non-industry and industry related posts.

Samples of “Pulse” Content

What are some good examples of pulse content? Here are a few examples if your target market is business owners:

• Share an article with tips to help business owners motivate their people better
• Post a quote about success from John Rockefeller
• Share a picture and something “behind the scenes” from your office
• Share an article about how the new tax laws are impacting local businesses
• Post a link to a blog post you wrote about succession planning secrets

Interacting with Other People’s Content

Interacting with other’s content is just as important as what you post yourself. Spend a few minutes each day commenting on or liking content posted by your connections, but be careful with compliance rules about liking/endorsing financial and investment topics. Look for personal things to comment on such as someone sharing they’ve won an award, hired a new staff member, or gotten a job promotion. When you do this, it gets your name in front of them.

Use professional photos

You are a professional and you should have a photo that shows it. It is worth the time and money to have a professional photographer take a headshot for you. After all, it can be used not only on your LinkedIn profile, but your website, advertisements, other social media profiles and sent to the press should you have an opportunity to share thought-leadership. Do not use a personal photo that is more on the casual side, blurry or that you have to crop yourself out of.

Choose a background/cover photo for your profile that is within the theme of your business and website. Do not choose a background image just because you like it. If your website has photos of cityscapes, go with that. If it has pictures of rural Vermont, choose something within that theme.

Put some thought into your headline

Your headline is the first thing people see when they search for you on LinkedIn. It is also displayed every time you post on the LinkedIn platform. LinkedIn gives you a default headline consisting of your title and company. Write a custom headline that describes what you do and who you do business with.

This may sound simple, but it is probably a little more difficult than you might expect. First of all, you only have 120 characters to use. It is not much to make you stand out among your competitors and attract potential clients. Jot down a few words that are important to you and what you do for clients to get ideas flowing and see what you can fit into that character limit.

Personalize your LinkedIn URL

If you ignore your LinkedIn URL, LinkedIn is going to assign you a random one that is your name followed by a long string of numbers that will not be memorable. You may wonder why it matters when you can always provide a link to it on your website, email signature, etc. What about your business card though? Or what if you get the chance to mention it to someone in conversation? Take a second and make it something you can remember. You never know when you might get an opportunity to mention connecting with someone in nonconventional ways.

Make reaching out to you easy

Different people have different preferences when it comes to contacting you. Putting as many options as you are comfortable with on your LinkedIn profile is the best way to ensure you are contacted by a potential client. Some will send you a message via LinkedIn, but others will prefer to give you a call or send an email.

Make your summary reader friendly

Your summary is the most important element of your profile. It is the most personalized section and the one area most people will not skip over. It should be written in first person and describe what you do in a professional way, but don’t be afraid to include some personal details as connection points as well. Think of your summary as your elevator pitch. It should describe what you specialize in, who you work with, and what your specific skills and accomplishments are. Be sure to use language clients will understand and explain what designations mean as well as use the complete name for acronyms such as MDRT or NAIFA.

Keep paragraphs short and use bullets when applicable, such as to outline what services your business offers. Refrain from putting your disclaimer here unless it is the only option allowed by your compliance.

Make it educational

Don’t be too salesy on your profile. It is ok to be direct about what you do and prove you are good at it, but leave some information that is educational for potential clients. Proving you can make a positive impact on their life can be done by offering them useful information rather than going on and on about what you do. LinkedIn has a field to add presentations and video. This is a great place to put those digital “leave behind” pieces to boost your credibility.

Add your volunteer experience

Not only does it show you are a leader and actively involved in your community, but volunteer organizations you have worked with and support may be just the connection point you need to win over a new client.

Don’t forget your awards and achievements

We understand that when you become one of the top producers in your industry that you may not think your awards are all that important anymore, but to clients they matter. Awards show that you are the type of person they can trust and be comfortable working with. We have had clients miss out on opportunities because they choose not to highlight these achievements.

Find over 500 connections

When you connect to more than 500 people, LinkedIn shows this to others as “500+”. Naturally, people want to connect to well-connected people. Having many connections boosts your credibility. This does not mean you have to accept just any connection request you receive, but finding 500 people you know is probably not that difficult.

Get some recommendations

There are three ways to go about this. Think of a few people that are clients but are also a friend, and ask them to take a minute and write one for you. Also, think of a few people you have recently done business with. Message them and tell them again how thankful you are for their business, and ask them if they would mind writing a recommendation.

Create a company profile

If you are an independent advisor or you have a DBA, you should create a company profile as well. After all the time spent setting up a personal profile, you may be reluctant to do this, but it does not take near as much time to create a solid company page.

Company pages can be very helpful because they improve your SEO (search engine optimization) and allow you to list your specialties. We recommend about ten solid services you provide as opposed to watering the list down with a ton of services. Having a company page also allows your company logo to display next to the company name on your personal page and will allow you to link your employees to the page as well.

Interests

Interests in LinkedIn are not geared toward your personal interests necessarily, but towards other organizations and companies you are connected to. Select your alma mater, charities you support and the companies your clients own or work for, to start with.