It is time to re-evaluate your mission statement

August 28, 2017 by Matt Marcum

A group of salespeople attend a presentation.

About the author

Matt Marcum

Director, marketing

As director of marketing, Matt oversees the breadth of go-to-market initiatives for Advicent, including product marketing, lead generation, and public relations. Drawing from a nearly decade-long background at Advicent, Matt works closely with the sales, product development, and executive teams to successfully align Advicent products with the evolving business needs of the financial services industry.

Recently, Advicent finished hosting many of our mid-year meetings and conferences. This includes town hall presentations, the annual summer outing, and our second sales quarterly of the year. Being a veteran of three years’ worth of sales quarterlies, it was easy to look at the lineup of product updates, accolades, and motivational sessions with just moderate excitement.

 

However, that changed very quickly thanks to Frank Mallinder. Frank joined the Advicent sales staff for a morning of coaching centered on the concept of building our own personal mission statements. Frank's coaching was unlike any other activity that I had ever been through at a sales quarterly because it was so focused on personal reflection. While there were still many high-energy moments, I think the focus on reflection and deep thinking surrounding the mission statements that we each created was a highly valuable session for everyone involved.

 

Deviating from your mission statement

After such a reflective process, and after many draft mission statements, it really dawned on me how easy it is to get away from what you believe to be your core values. I am not talking about morally deviating from your mission, but rather simply being bogged down by menial tasks or roadblocks that pull focus away from your main goals and values.

 

What does this have to do with how your firm operates? After visiting and reading through an abundance of different advisor websites, it is clear that the primary goal for advisors is to help their clients. However, you also quickly see a trend in the diction around the mission statements. Usually what an advisor sees as a reason for why people work with them is some combination of their people, their expertise, or their exceptional service.

 

Instead, I think advisors need to start thinking about what they value about their own time and experience. How do your people drive your firm’s mission? What makes your expertise so much more valuable? How is your level of service so different from your competition?

 

At Advicent, our mission is to enable everyone to understand and impact their financial future. We believe that financial planning should be at the core of every financial professional value, and that our technology can help advisors focus their attention on their clients, not the roadblocks.

To learn how financial planning technology from Advicent can increase ROI at your firm, click here.