Where appropriate, please remind your team members about this process.
I will have quite a bit on my plate when I return, and I will get through your communication as soon as possible.
Thanks! And have a great week.
6. Meet with your administrative manager and/or team to establish a protocol for interrupting your vacation with a true emergency.
The beauty of this business is that there really are no true emergencies. The bigger benefit of working on this process with your team is for them to discover that an event that might trigger interrupting your vacation can almost always be handled by one of them, either completely or until after you return. The way you do that is to ask them to list the things that could trigger a vacation interruption. Once listed, review each one individually and ask, "What could be done by you (or one of you) to permanently resolve that issue or answer that question while I'm away?" Reread the section about empowering your staff. What would have to happen to have an administrative manager and/or staff who can put out their own fires?
7. Have a script for what to say to people when they, in the course of normal conversation while you are on vacation, ask what you do for a living.
Here's my response, "I'm the CEO of a company I founded in 1988. I love my work, but I made a commitment to myself to be on real vacation this week, so, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not get into discussions about work." Then ask them one of the questions I describe in the next paragraph. An almost identical script will work for you. I've never had anyone ever be offended by that. In fact, I often get comments about what a great idea that is and how they really need to do the same. How would having a simple script like this help you have more enjoyable vacations and more interesting conversations?
8. Get good at steering the conversation away from work-related subjects and toward things that are more fun and interesting.
It's quite easy. Consider questions like, "What do you do for fun?" "Tell me about your family." "What are the things in life you are most passionate about?" As they respond, just say, "Tell me more about that." When they ask you a question about you or work, simply say, "I'd like to hear more about _______." Not surprisingly, they will keep talking as long as you keep asking good questions. One financial advisor on the heli-ski trip I mentioned earlier finally cornered me on the last day of our trip because he was really curious about what I do for a living. We had sort of bonded because of all the great conversations we had during the trip about fun things in life. I had been deliberately steering the conversation to keep him talking about fun things instead of work things. When I finally acquiesced on the last day of the trip and told him and his buddies that I train financial advisors to acquire ideal clients, build their ideal business, and live their ideal life, we had a good laugh about why I was avoiding discussing business all week. We spent the rest of the day skiing the best powder of the trip and never talked about business. What are two or three questions you can commit to memory to keep the conversation more fun and personal instead of business-oriented?
9. Lose the "I'm always prospecting" mindset.
This ties into my first tactic about dividing your work year by 40 weeks instead of 52. When you are highly productive at work you can relax on vacation. Not every financially successful person you meet has to be a prospect or become a client. What would have to happen so you could relax on vacation and not shift into business mode just because you meet a person who could be a prospect?
Ultimately, it will boil down to your self-discipline to unplug from the news and focus on truly being on vacation. The bottom line is that staying plugged into business is a choice, not a necessity. Even in today's high-tech world with powerful communication tools, you can unplug. All of your devices have off switches. Find your off switch. Start with just a day, work your way up to a week, and before you know it you will be enjoying several weeks in a row of real vacation. You'll be a better human and a better and more successful advisor when you do.
Bill Bachrach, CSP, CPAE is considered the financial services industry's leading authority on building high-trust client relationships. He is a popular keynote speaker, and successful financial professionals from around the world subscribe to the Values-Based Financial Planning turnkey business model to acquire Ideal Clients, build their Ideal Business, and create their Ideal Life. www.billbachrach.com