What does the most “optimistic optimist” say about 2020, and what one question does every advisor need to ask themselves?
“Stay with people that bring something to the table, get rid of people that bring you down and stay with people that are thinking and doing something,” DMWSC founder Dennis Moseley-Williams said at the outset of his conversation with Ross Marino, CEO of Advisor2X, for the latest episode of the OUTCOMES Podcast.
His enthusiasm is infectious, something he maintains through self-imposed news blackouts and other disciplinary measures to ensure his attitude stays positive.
“Believe in your work, know what it does, know the change it creates, and don’t beat yourself up trying to sell it to people who don’t want it,” Moseley-Williams added. “Most businesses are obsessed with growth and ‘grow or die.’ It should be profit or die.”
Running through several business “truths” that are actually not, he noted that the client isn’t always right.
“When you sell goods and services, the customer is always right, but when you stage experiences that lead to transformation, the customers not always right and that’s a ‘serious shift,’” he explained. “They’re either the right customer for you, or they’re not. A person who doesn’t like the Starbucks experience isn’t right, they’re in the wrong place.”
LISTEN TO MARINO AND MOSELEY-WILLIAMS HERE
Arguing for minimalism in many cases, “maybe bigger isn’t better. Maybe better is better.”
A serious shift is starting small, staying small, and focusing on profitability rather than growing into something massive and becoming a slave to that growth.
“It’s making more of an impact, being more authentic, more generous, and building a business around your life and not the other way around.”
As for the question for every advisor, “Who am I helping my client become?”
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With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
