The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor: Powerful Lessons and Proven Strategies from Top Producers - Hardcover

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David J. Mullen, Jr.(Englewood, CO) is the author of The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor and The Million-Dollar Financial Services Practice. He is a 37-year industry veteran and former managing director at Merrill Lynch, where his advisor training program had a consistent success rate of twice the industry average.

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During David J. Mullen Jr.’s decades-long career successfully training top financial advisors, he was privileged to meet some of the very best and brightest in the financial services industry. While recruiting, hiring, and working with over 100 individuals who either were or, under his guidance, became “million plus” financial advisors, he was able to observe the best practices of these top financial advisors …and now, in this book, he picks the brains of 15 of the very, very best, asking them how they got to be at the top of their game, how they stay there…and how you can do the same.

Organized into 13 distinct lessons derived from the principles each and every one of these highly successful advisors has followed to amazing results on their own personal and professional journeys, The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor illuminates the essence of these superstar advisors’ thoughts on topics crucial to your own advancement in the industry, including:

Developing the Proper Mindset. Top advisors are confident and competitive, always providing an aura of being at the top of their game. This book shows you through specific examples how the best of the best remain focused and goal-oriented throughout their careers, always aspiring to do better, and consistently able to articulate their specific goals immediately and succinctly. Learn how to develop high energy, an incredible work ethic, and an overall vision that will see you through any challenges you may face.

Professional Development. Whether it’s through professional designations, ongoing education, or searching for better and more efficient business practices, you need to devote the proper time and resources to set yourself apart from the competition. This book provides you with field-tested techniques for doing so, as well as methods for ensuring that you never quit learning.

Determining Your Area of Specialization. Typically, financial advisors start out as generalists, casting a wide net to find whatever clients they can find. But over time, you must winnow your sights down to a particular niche. Find out how to identify your own area of expertise…and then corner the market.

Become a Wealth Manager. Cream-of-the-crop advisors take a comprehensive, holistic approach to investment management, taking care of all of their clients’ financial needs, from portfolio management to liability management, asset protection, banking, retirement, and estate planning. This book reveals long-term, practical techniques for earning trust and expanding your advisory roles for your best clients.

Marketing. If you want to push yourself into the million-dollar bracket, you’ll have to learn how to actively—and successfully—market yourself over the course of your entire career. Discover the practices top practitioners use involving client referrals, professional referral networks, client events, nonprofit leadership, niche marketing, and more.

Focus on Relationship. Become a master relationship builder, communicating, socializing, and gaining access to affluent clients and prospects by developing excellent one-on-one people skills. Discover how to become an active listener, constantly and immediately attuned to the needs of affluent investors.

The lessons presented in this uniquely revealing book have withstood the test of time no matter what the state of the economy, because the principles of good business always stay the same. The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor provides you a rare glimpse into the minds of the industry’s top professionals, showing you a clear way to the top of your own greatest ambitions.

DAVID J. MULLEN JR. is the author of The Million-Dollar Financial Services Practice as well as a 30-year industry veteran and former Managing Director at Merrill Lynch, where he trained more than 500 financial advisors. The success rate of his advisor training programs has been significantly higher than the industry average. Dave can be reached through his website, www.learntactix.com. He lives in Englewood, Colorado.

Aus dem Klappentext

During David J. Mullen Jr.’s decades-long career successfully training top financial advisors, he was privileged to meet some of the very best and brightest in the financial services industry. While recruiting, hiring, and working with over 100 individuals who either were or, under his guidance, became “million plus” financial advisors, he was able to observe the best practices of these top financial advisors …and now, in this book, he picks the brains of 15 of the very, very best, asking them how they got to be at the top of their game, how they stay there…and how you can do the same.

Organized into 13 distinct lessons derived from the principles each and every one of these highly successful advisors has followed to amazing results on their own personal and professional journeys, The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor illuminates the essence of these superstar advisors’ thoughts on topics crucial to your own advancement in the industry, including:

Developing the Proper Mindset. Top advisors are confident and competitive, always providing an aura of being at the top of their game. This book shows you through specific examples how the best of the best remain focused and goal-oriented throughout their careers, always aspiring to do better, and consistently able to articulate their specific goals immediately and succinctly. Learn how to develop high energy, an incredible work ethic, and an overall vision that will see you through any challenges you may face.

Professional Development. Whether it’s through professional designations, ongoing education, or searching for better and more efficient business practices, you need to devote the proper time and resources to set yourself apart from the competition. This book provides you with field-tested techniques for doing so, as well as methods for ensuring that you never quit learning.

Determining Your Area of Specialization. Typically, financial advisors start out as generalists, casting a wide net to find whatever clients they can find. But over time, you must winnow your sights down to a particular niche. Find out how to identify your own area of expertise…and then corner the market.

Become a Wealth Manager. Cream-of-the-crop advisors take a comprehensive, holistic approach to investment management, taking care of all of their clients’ financial needs, from portfolio management to liability management, asset protection, banking, retirement, and estate planning. This book reveals long-term, practical techniques for earning trust and expanding your advisory roles for your best clients.

Marketing. If you want to push yourself into the million-dollar bracket, you’ll have to learn how to actively—and successfully—market yourself over the course of your entire career. Discover the practices top practitioners use involving client referrals, professional referral networks, client events, nonprofit leadership, niche marketing, and more.

Focus on Relationship. Become a master relationship builder, communicating, socializing, and gaining access to affluent clients and prospects by developing excellent one-on-one people skills. Discover how to become an active listener, constantly and immediately attuned to the needs of affluent investors.

The lessons presented in this uniquely revealing book have withstood the test of time no matter what the state of the economy, because the principles of good business always stay the same. The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor provides you a rare glimpse into the minds of the industry’s top professionals, showing you a clear way to the top of your own greatest ambitions.

DAVID J. MULLEN JR. is the author of The Million-Dollar Financial Services Practice as well as a 30-year industry veteran and former Managing Director at Merrill Lynch, where he trained more than 500 financial advisors. The success rate of his advisor training programs has been significantly higher than the industry average. Dave can be reached through his website, www.learntactix.com. He lives in Englewood, Colorado.

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INTRODUCTION

I HAVE ALWAYS had an insatiable curiosity about the methods successful

people use to reach the pinnacle of their industry. I am particularly

interested in the financial services field, because this is where

I have made my career.When I started in the business back in 1980,

my goal was to create my own million-dollar practice, but I had

absolutely no idea how to do it. I read all the literature at the time

about how to be successful, but there didn’t seem to be any blueprint

for me to follow. Even though I was motivated to succeed, I knew

that the odds were against me: Only one percent of those who start

in this business ever reach the million-dollar business level.

Introduction

So began the long, challenging journey toward my goal. I spent

the first six years of my career as a financial advisor, starting in

1980 with a large, national financial services firm in my hometown

of Athens, Georgia. I was 25 years old and had absolutely no idea

how to build a financial services practice. I didn’t know anyone

who had more than $20,000 to invest and had never sold an intangible

product before. I was as green as they get, but I did have a

high level of motivation to succeed. I soon recognized this business

was much more difficult than I had expected and that I was in

for the biggest challenge of my life. Through hard work, perseverance,

and a little luck, I began building my business, growing it

bigger every year.

While developing my practice, I realized that I wanted to help

others thrive as well. I was given my first opportunity to help other

financial advisors back in 1984, when I was promoted to the level of

producing manager in a large, national financial services firm in

Atlanta. I took my best accounts with me and threw myself at the

challenge. I was in charge of motivating a group of unsuspecting

financial advisors. What I lacked in managerial experience I made

up for in energy and enthusiasm. I began to teach the lessons that I

had learned to those reporting to me, to great results. In just two

years that office cumulatively grew by almost 30 percent.

Then, in 1986, I passed the firm’s assessment for managers, and

my dream of having a full-time career helping other financial advisors

came true. Over the next 20 years I had managerial responsibilities

in Denver, Newport Beach, Minneapolis, New York City,

and Atlanta. In every location I was sent I saw the same thing: I realized

that there was much to be learned, but saw how little was

shared. So I started to collect and refine a set of best business practices

for this industry. These lessons are featured in my first book,

The Million-Dollar Financial Services Practice, which provides the fundamentals

to guide any financial advisor to a million-dollar business,

no matter where you are in your financial services career.

Learning from the Masters

If my first book is the equivalent of a college degree in financial services,

then this new one is the graduate course. The first book was

designed to be a tactical blueprint for success, but the next step was

to focus on the proven lessons that could be learned from many of

the top advisors in the industry. The combination of these two books

should provide instruction as well as the motivation needed to help

you reach your goals. These lessons can be incorporated at any stage

of your financial career; in fact, the earlier they are understood and

followed, the better.

During my 20-year management career, I was privileged to meet

some of the very best and brightest in the financial services industry.

In fact, I recruited, hired, and eventually worked with more than

100 individuals who were “million plus” financial advisors. Through

this experience I was able observe the best practices of these top

financial advisors and compare them to the best practices I had

developed. I was surprised to see how much more I still had to learn.

Then I realized the challenge most advisors face: They simply don’t

have access to individuals they can learn from. There is little flow of

information downward because top advisors are extremely focused

on their own practices.

However, I was able to interview 15 professionals who have personally

exemplified what it takes to be at the very top. Through my

personal and professional relationships with them, I was able to

observe and interview them, asking them the questions that I know

you would want to ask on exactly how they were able to become so

successful. I had also worked directly with most of these advisors for

years and was able to watch them, in many instances, practicing

these lessons “live.” The combination of the interviews, my personal

interactions with these professionals, and my knowledge and experience

is what separates this book from all others.

The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor provides a rare glimpse into

the best practices that make these top producers so successful. All of

the information in this book was acquired through in-depth interviews

and, in many cases, years of observations while working with

these top advisors. I am confident that this wealth of information