Every Second Counts: The Power of Purpose & the Gift of Serving Clients

:SPOILER ALERT:?

While we’ve been up in Wisconsin taking our oldest son on college visits, we’ve passed some time introducing him to FX ’s hit show The Bear.

If you’ve watched the show, you’ll get the full benefit of this article. If not, I’ll try to navigate this without spoiling too much for you, but if you’re worried, skip down to the next header and then watch season 2.

:READ ON:

I’m not sure what your relationship is with your alarm clock.

Mine is the alarm app on my iPhone.

It’s a mess. Littered with tons of random times that I set or where I asked Siri to set the alarm for 2 pm.

Somehow our alarm clock tells a really interesting and revealing story.

My Actual Alarm Clock App

In Episode 7 of FX’s The Bear, Richie gets our full attention. You glimpse his backstory, full of bad luck and poor decisions. You walk with him to see how Carmy’s introduction to another restaurant and chef friend impacts Richie to help him reach his full potential.

His alarm clock and his obvious desire to hit snooze dwindle as he connects his newfound respect for his industry and himself to his ultimate purpose in life.

Here’s the moment it all clicks:

Watch the full clip

From going through the motions and struggling to get out of bed each day, to waking up energized before the alarm can even go off, Richie’s entire countenance transforms (don’t worry, he doesn’t lose his edge, even while he belts out his daughter’s favorite music on the drive home).

Here’s the thing. We’ve all had our share of bad breaks and bad choices. Plenty of people have come through these past three years and arrived at this moment beat down, exhausted, and feeling like nothing might go their way again.

If you can’t relate, you likely have people on your team that can connect with Richie’s un-self-actualized version of existence. The show resonates so well because you get to see HOW he transforms. What’s the secret of moving from lackluster existing to vibrant life?

Making clients feel seen and known.

Specifically, Richie fully embraces the joy of crafting client experiences that are mind-blowing. To get it right, he learns how to totally commit to understanding every detail, knowing his product exactly and flawless execution.

It was impossible not to see the implications for wealth management.

If you, or your valued team members, are struggling to see the importance of doing the little things - keeping clean data in your CRM is to your RIA as polishing forks is to a 5-star restaurant - it might be time to step back and put in the reps at the bottom of the ladder. Remember why all the tiny details matter by putting in the time doing those tiny details for yourself and see what you discover.

Of course, you don’t have to find purpose by doing manually data entry. Here are some other actions you can take to find your purpose:

1. Reflection and self-assessment:?Ask yourself questions like; What do my clients get the most excited about? What are the reactions I want them to have when we serve them well? How can I consistently exceed expectations?
2. Set meaningful goals that center client experience:?Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. You know that “relevant” part? Add in this question every time you make a goal: How does this impact client joy?
3. Be different:?You don’t have to be extravagant or elaborate. Just strive for different. The best way to discover different is to do some different stuff yourself. Attend an event you’ve never gone to before. Talk to new people. Take on a new project. You never know where joy might be found.

P.S. Obviously, finding and fulfilling your purpose isn’t always going to be found through client experience. It’s a personal and ongoing quest. So, sit back, relax and keep setting your alarm.

Grab more articles from me by following along at https://newsletter.milemarker.co/