Targets, including MDRT meeting qualifications, are met not just by was sheer hard work and the occasional dash of luck. Sometimes it takes a more strategic approach to reach your goals. Here’s how you can achieve your aspirations — whether it’s to get new clients, increase your production volume or even strike a work-life balance — by setting clear goals.

Prioritize your ambitions

It helps to pick three important priorities you have for the new year and create specific goals for them. This will give you the direction and focus you need with a clear structure on how you will achieve them.

It will also give you better clarity for decision making for the rest of the year and serve as an anchor to keep your vision in check. If pivots are needed during the journey, you can still chart your progress in a way that aligns with your priorities. In the long run, these goals will also help to give you a sense of purpose for your practice on days when you feel you’re not doing your best and motivate you to keep going.

Set SMART goals

Goals have to be SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. If you find these elements to be lacking, there’s a possibility that your efforts have gone to waste or you may need a longer time to achieve your targets. Examine each goal you set and ensure these questions are answered:

Specific: What exactly are you going to do?

Measurable: How will you know if you are succeeding?

Achievable: How will you implement the goal?

Relevant: Does the goal connect to your overall objectives?

Timely: When will you achieve the goal by?

It might also be useful to set key performance indicators (KPIs) along the same lines to keep expectations in check and avoid being overly optimistic as you are working on your goals. At the same time, take note of these goal setting habits that financial advisors should avoid:

Not keeping your eyes on the big picture

It’s good to pay attention to the nitty gritty details but don’t lose sight of the big picture, especially when you face setbacks and objections along the way. The end goal may feel far away at the start but focusing on the day-to-day routine could push you closer to achieve your goals. Sometimes you may also need to stick to the routine you’ve set, even if your daily activities look different than usual.

Tommy Khoerniawan, a seven-year MDRT member from Singapore, recalls a time when he was on a company trip, but he made a promise to himself to stick to his goal of making three appointments daily. “With my mentor's guidance, I still managed to schedule my daily appointments while shopping on Myeongdong Street in Seoul, South Korea, in the morning, and allowing me to fully enjoy the trip especially once my appointments were set. Upon returning to Singapore, I had a series of productive and fruitful appointments lined up.”

Not setting firm timeframes

It’s too easy to get drowned in the daily grind and you may find yourself overwhelmed with tasks that take up too much of your time. This is why it’s important to set deadlines and timeframes for when you want to complete or reach your goals.

With the SMART framework, you are required to have an end goal in sight to make it easier for you to push your goals along. Be realistic when you carve out the timeline but be sure to set one as a fluid timeline is less likely to drive you to prioritize impactful actions towards the goal in your schedule.

Not keeping track of the results

Every bit of achievement matters so it’s good to know where you are with each goal you set, no matter how close or far you are to achieving it. It not only serves as a motivation but also as a reminder of what you set out to do and whether your methods are still valid. Plan to review your goals frequently to see how well you’ve done and tweak areas that need improvement.

One way to do this is to cultivate a habit of journaling. Marcus Seet, a three-year MDRT member from Singapore, maintains a bi-weekly journal where he documents his thoughts on improving his practice as well as his personal development. “The journal serves as a tool for reflection, allowing me to track my progress through written words, figures, and numbers. Updating the journal biweekly helps me stay disciplined, fuelling my motivation even during challenging times.” One specific outcome Seet garnered from this simple habit was a collaboration with a retail store in Singapore, as an avenue to meet more prospects. It first came to him as an idea he wrote down in his journal, which led him to map out the steps needed to execute the idea into fruition.

Being too set in your strategy

Sometimes, there is more than one road to reach the destination. Being flexible in how you achieve your goals can help you get there faster or open new possibilities. There was a time when Jaslyn Ang, a two-year MDRT member from Singapore, strictly focused on selling a single product to meet the needs of her clients and to avoid appearing pushy, and this product-focused approach helped her secure 250 long-term care cases. "However, I began observing my clients acquiring insurance and investment plans from other advisors. This prompted me to re-evaluate my approach. I realized to fully serve my clients, I needed to offer a broader range of products and services beyond just long-term care." Keeping an open mind and adjusting accordingly along the way is linked to the “Relevant” of element of your SMART goals to produce timely progress towards the set goals.

Having a strategic plan in place will help to ensure you have a clear road map to reach the goals you set at the start of the new year and reap the benefits at the end of the journey.

Contact: MDRTeditorial@teamlewis.com

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Setting goals to steer your business growth