Jack is 35 years of age, married with twin boys Toby and Greg, age 9. His wife Celeste works part time as a Mary Kay sales representative and earns about $24,000 per year. Jack's net business income this year will be about $70,000 and he has been in sales about 4 ½ years.

As a dedicated financial professional, Jack likes his work and feels he is helping his clients. However, he wants (and needs) to make more money.  He does believe that he could earn about $150,000/yr if he had a clear path. Jack is willing to work smarter and make a serious commitment to a coaching program.
 
The Challenge

As always, I ask you to think about a plan of improvement: How would you help Jack?
 
What We Discovered

When working with a client, I always start by asking these questions:

• How much revenue will you generate in the next 12 months?
• What products will you offer?
• To whom will you sell these products?
• What geographical region will you cover?

For the focused producer these questions are fairly easy to answer. Not so for Jack; he could not answer these questions and furthermore, had no business plan. Next, I ask:

• Why are you in business; what is your mission?

Jack had a rambling, unclear answer. Then I asked:

• What are your specific measurable objectives for the next 12 months?

Again Jack was not clear. (Effective professionals should never have more than 9 objectives at any one time, and shouldn't have more than 1-2 new objectives per quarter.)
 
Our Solution

It was apparent to both Jack and me that a concise and focused business plan was needed. As a certified producer of the One Page Business Plan (available in a specific Financial Services Edition) this planning process helps you generate a One Page Plan (8 1/2 x 11 in.) which lists specific and focused actions to be followed.

Jack undertook the One Page Business Plan process. As he followed his plan, within the next 12 months he saw his income increase to $90,000. More importantly, he got out of a rut and began to perform in a way he'd always wanted to.
 
I have found that the biggest problem producers have can be boiled down to something easy to describe, but difficult to do:

• Define what is truly important to you
• Design a plan which will have and measurable objectives, usable strategies and specific action plans.

Our Suggestion

Do as Jack did. Develop your own plan for 2008. A complimentary coaching call is always available for anyone interested in exploring the One Page Business Plan process. Please tell your friends about this process as well - do someone you know a favor.