For more than 20 years Keith Abraham has explored how top performers bring out the best in themselves and their businesses. At this challenging time, he shares his insights on how financial planners can set themselves up to thrive.

I came across this quote recently from Pablo Picasso, “without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” Well we certainly have had plenty of solitude lately. And when 60 of my 2020 Events were cancelled or postponed until 2021, I decided it’s not about getting through COVID. Now is the time to grow through it … personally, professionally and commercially.

Now I know what you may be thinking … ‘seriously, is now the time to think about growth?’ Absolutely, now is the time to think about growing your client relationships, skills, your expertise and even growing your business. During the past 24 years I have worked extensively with the top five per cent of financial planners in 19 different countries. The advice I have been giving them centres on mastering these three ‘next normals’ in their business and role:

1. Engage – creating engaged, loyal and profitable clients in uncertain and unknown times.
2. Develop – developing yourself as a business leader who thinks bigger, bolder and braver in our new business world.
3. Grow – generating massive business growth in a market that has changed so drastically that it is hard to keep up.

In order to master these next normals, you and I need to get our heads around what we can and can’t control. The way I see it, we need to get clear on this to come out on the other side of this situation and rebound successfully. As you know, the journey is predicted to be long, so here is the roadmap I believe we need to follow to give us something to control and focus on right now.

Phase 1: Respond & review

With so much confusion, chaos and speculation around, what you and I need to do now is respond and review. We need to respond to what we can control in our life, role, team and business. All we can control now is how we think and what we do next. Some of my clients are thriving and some are just surviving. So what can you do now and what do you need to do next to ensure you thrive?

For me, I have two main things to focus on. One is to connect with all of my clients and make sure they are OK. When COVID first hit I made 300 personal phone calls in the first four weeks. Since then I have made an additional 100 phone calls and sent more than 150 text messages, just to check in with people. I am not selling anything, I just want to be a calm voice and be of service to the clients who have been so great to me over the past 24 years. Both you and your team must reach out to key clients and business partners frequently to check in on them.

If you want to be proactive and grow your business during these times, then identify everything you need to fix, improve, transition and create in your business while you have the time. This may be the only time in your working life you can dedicate enough time to work on your business to-do list. Look to complete everything that will assist you to rebound faster, stronger and better than before in the history of your business. It is so easy to become reactive as we go through this situation. Now is the time to be adaptive and work on becoming proactive.

Phase 2: Reset & refocus

Whatever goals you had set for 2020 or this current financial year, they are going to have to change. So you will need to reset your goals and each one of your team members will need to do the same. They need to establish their own next normal. It would be easier to just keep putting out the fires, but you need to reset the goals – not for the rest of the year, just for the next 30 and 90 days.

The next part of this phase is to refocus yourself and your team members on these key areas: projects, people, priorities and personal. To clarify your thinking, answer the questions below and ask your team members to do the same:

• Projects– what projects do you need to be working on that will create momentum once the crisis is over?
• People – what additional skills, knowledge and talents do you and your people need to support the way business will be done moving forward with your clients?
• Priorities – what objectives do each of your team members need to complete this week and what is their number one focus for the week ahead?
• Personal – this is all about you. What non-negotiable daily habits are you completing consistently to ensure you have the energy and mental wellbeing to rebound successfully?

Phase 3: Recalibrate & rebound

There will be a new normal. No one is sure what that looks like at the moment and it is difficult to predict, but how we went about our business in January 2020 is going to be very different by the time we get to December 2020. So we need to recalibrate our mindset and be agile enough to cope with vastly different and rapid change.

My suggestion is to pick three sets of skills you and your team members need to master in the next 30 days. In the past three months I have mastered presenting on Zoom, discovering apps and software to better connect with clients online in order to deliver a unique compelling presentation experience so I can create a virtual offering to connect with anyone at anytime, anywhere in the world. What should this set of skills be for you?

One of my greatest concerns for the business leaders I work with is they are exerting a great deal of energy, effort and emotional capital at the moment. My fear is that you too will become fatigued as you hold your business and team together. So my question to you is what mindset or attitude do you need to have now in order to have the energy and enthusiasm to take your business on the next part of the journey so it can rebound in a tough marketplace? Do you need to be courageous, tenacious, limitless or empowered? You have to pick a mindset and then live it moment by moment if you want to rebound triumphantly.