The Million-Dollar Financial Advisor: Powerful Lessons and Proven Strategies from Top Producers

289 Pages·2009·1.13 MB·English

by  David J. Mullen Jr.

TTHHEE MMIILLLLIIOONN--DDOOLLLLAARR
FFIINNAANNCCIIAALL AADDVVIISSOORR
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The Million-Dollar
Financial Advisor
Powerful Lessons and Proven
Strategies from Top Producers
DDAAVVIIDD JJ.. MMUULLLLEENN,, JJRR..
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mullen, David J., Jr.
The million-dollar financial advisor : powerful lessons and proven strategies from
top producers / David J. Mullen, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13:978-0-8144-1472-9
ISBN-10:0-8144-1472-9
1. Financial planners. 2. Financial services industry. 3. Investment advisors. 4. Fin-
ancial planners—Case studies. 5. Investment advisors—Case studies. I. Title.
HG179.5.M848 2010
332.6—dc22
2009025149
© 2010 David J. Mullen Jr.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmit-
ted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, pho-
tocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New
York, NY 10019.
Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my parents: the late Dave, Sr., and Rosemary Mullen.
Not only were they wonderful parents, but both were
teachers who inspired me to share knowledge with others.
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CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART 1: THE LESSONS
1 Lesson #1: The Top Advisor Mindset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 Lesson #2: The “Leverage of Size” Principle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3 Lesson #3: Professional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 Lesson #4: Specialization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5 Lesson #5: Relationship Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6 Lesson #6: Marketing Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
7 Lesson #7: Professional Referral Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8 Lesson #8: Nonprofit Organization Involvement . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
9 Lesson #9: Long-Term Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10 Lesson #10: Creating a Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
11 Lesson #11: Wealth Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
12 Lesson #12: Commitment to Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
13 Lesson #13: Time Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
PART 2: PUTTING THE LESSONS INTO PRACTICE
14 Taylor Glover: Lessons from the Very Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
15 Henry Camp: Going from Good to Great. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
16 The Asset Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
AACCKKNNOOWWLLEEDDGGMMEENNTTSS
To my loving family, for providing their unconditional love and sup-
port. Thank you Cynthia, Katie, John, David, and Nathan.
I would also like to thank the top advisors I had the privilege of
working with and talking to about their extraordinary business prac-
tices. They unselfishly gave their time so that my readers could ben-
efit from their hard-earned lessons. These top advisors are among
the best role models the financial services industry has.
I would like to thank my agent, Wendy Keller and AMACOM
for believing in this book. My editor Bob Shuman did great work
with the manuscript. And thanks to Pam Liflander for being my
editing partner in this book, providing her services to make the most
of my work.