Gau started his own planning firm in southern California in 1987, and it would be difficult to overstate his success. "By the time I sold the [first] company in 1999, I had $1 billion in assets under management and was doing over $3 million a year in gross dealer concession," says Gau. In other words, he didn't need formal training as a coach; other advisors saw what he had accomplished and were beating down his door to find out his secrets.
The high-energy Gau presented his first "Boot Camp" in 1993, a two-day intensive seminar to show people his operation. Advisors who've been through Boot Camp often advance to take Gau's Million Dollar Producer Exclusive Coaching Program.
Asked if he's aware of Dan Sullivan's coaching services, Gau replies, "I was in one of Dan Sullivan's groups in 1998-99. I thought his coaching was good for generic applications, but he didn't have a clue about my business as a financial advisor. My partner, Ken Unger, and I do all of our own coaching, and we have been and are now practicing financial advisors. The question you have to ask is, do you want to be coached by someone who's never done it, or by someone actually in the trenches? We help you implement our ideas because advice without implementation is worthless."
However, Gau acknowledges that what he characterizes as a downside to Sullivan's services is really a clarification of how Gau's approach differs from that of the other coaches. On a continuum that begins with very inward-focused processes (i.e., self-examination) to very external processes (i.e., how one's business is operating), all of our coaches hold a valid place. Gau sits at the end of the spectrum where the practice is paramount (as one can tell from the name of his program).
Perhaps this is best illustrated by one of Gau's clients. Gordon Wollman of Cornerstone Financial Solutions in Huron, S.D., has been a client of Gau's for about eight years now, and says Gau is all he promotes himself to be. "I first heard Tom speak at one of my broker-dealer conferences. I attended his two-day Boot Camp, which helped me get in the seminar business and get my office organized. Tom shares his own office organization systems, and I was impressedæthey worked for me," says Wollman.
Wollman went on to do more work with Gau, and also with Bill Good, a noted marketing consultant to the business, both of whom he says have been his mentors. But how do we translate his statement that Gau's systems "worked" for him into a concrete measure of success? Fortunately, Wollman shared some of his firm's specs: "I've follow Tom's advice to run my practice like a doctor's office. I now just see prospects or clients and delegate everything else. My typical day is ten to 12 appointments ... sometimes as many as 14. My staff has grown from just a few people to seven full-time and one part-time staff persons. And since I began working with Tom, my revenue has gone up from $350,000 to $1,200,000." Impressive.
The Million Dollar Producer offers three services/products. They are one year of coaching for $12,000, which includes three two-day meetings, six conference calls and four one-on-one personal coaching sessions by phone; a two-day Financial Advisor Boot Camp for $2,000; and training DVDs that cost between $100 and $500.
Ted Roman/Robert Walsh/Tedd Oyler: "Masterminds"
A somewhat different coaching direction is being taken by three enterprising members of our industry, each with established histories in the coaching and financial planning fields. Ted Roman, CFP (Roman Financial Advisors, San Diego), W. Tedd Oyler, J.D. (Saugatuck, Mich.) and Robert Walsh, CPA/PFS, CFP (Lighthouse Financial Advisors Inc., Jersey City, N.J.) are MastermindYourIdeal.com.
The concept of the "Mastermind" was developed by author Napoleon Hill in his 1937 book, "Think and Grow Rich." To Hill, the Mastermind was the coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose. Hill observed that famous and successful people throughout history have often congregated, shared and propelled each other's achievements in a way that might not have happened had they not met. He gives as one example the association of Henry Ford, who grew up in an environment of poverty, illiteracy and ignorance, with Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, John Burrows and Luther Burbank. It was only following his association with these other men that Ford achieved real greatness.
For their financial advisor clients, Roman, Walsh and Oyler create Mastermind groups. Two, or sometimes all three of them, will be on a call with between ten and 16 Mastermind clients. A typical Mastermind program lasts one year, divided into two six-month periods in which the participants do two group calls a month, one full-day conference and 24 "buddy calls."