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The Advisor Playbook: Regain Liberation and Order in your Personal and Professional Life
Practice management is often misunderstood. The Advisor Playbook will take the mystery away.
Practice management is confused with marketing, or is limited to strategizing about branding, or simply equated to old-school salesmanship.
Practice management is how you build an organized toolbox of all your processes – branding, marketing, service activities, core functions – and constantly tune and keep that toolbox efficient and effortless. It’s a network of interrelated skills, processes and strategies that build value in a business while making it manageable, scalable and ensuring the owner runs the business and not the other way around.
Duncan MacPherson and Pareto Systems have been in the forefront of practice management in the realm of the professional advisor for a quarter-century. Chris Jeppesen of First Trust brings his own decades of professional knowledge to the table. The processes in The Advisor Playbook have grown over those years, through constant refinement and improvement. They’ll help you to perform that same refinement and improvement on your business, and regain liberation and order in your personal and professional life.
As you progress through the book, you’ll realize that each process is implemented in synergy with every other. Referrals are influenced by your service which is influenced by your process, which is influenced by your philosophy, which is influenced by your ideal client definition, life and business goals. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and everything is, in the end, focused on a single unwavering To build real, advocate relationships with your ideal clients that will generate both growth through referrals and the capacity for that growth.
How you are perceived is key in every step of that circle, and readers who take on board what the Playbook outlines will come away with an understanding of how they are perceived, how to cast themselves as a consultant with a process rather than a salesperson with a quota, and will set a constantly rising bar for their own success.
You’ll be amazed at how common-sense most of the processes and strategies seem, and probably horrified at how often you’ve wandered from the path or failed to implement them due to a lack of clarity or simple distraction.
The Playbook will guide you to an actionable plan and process that makes going to work a positive experience, and a positive investment.
Practice management is confused with marketing, or is limited to strategizing about branding, or simply equated to old-school salesmanship.
Practice management is how you build an organized toolbox of all your processes – branding, marketing, service activities, core functions – and constantly tune and keep that toolbox efficient and effortless. It’s a network of interrelated skills, processes and strategies that build value in a business while making it manageable, scalable and ensuring the owner runs the business and not the other way around.
Duncan MacPherson and Pareto Systems have been in the forefront of practice management in the realm of the professional advisor for a quarter-century. Chris Jeppesen of First Trust brings his own decades of professional knowledge to the table. The processes in The Advisor Playbook have grown over those years, through constant refinement and improvement. They’ll help you to perform that same refinement and improvement on your business, and regain liberation and order in your personal and professional life.
As you progress through the book, you’ll realize that each process is implemented in synergy with every other. Referrals are influenced by your service which is influenced by your process, which is influenced by your philosophy, which is influenced by your ideal client definition, life and business goals. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and everything is, in the end, focused on a single unwavering To build real, advocate relationships with your ideal clients that will generate both growth through referrals and the capacity for that growth.
How you are perceived is key in every step of that circle, and readers who take on board what the Playbook outlines will come away with an understanding of how they are perceived, how to cast themselves as a consultant with a process rather than a salesperson with a quota, and will set a constantly rising bar for their own success.
You’ll be amazed at how common-sense most of the processes and strategies seem, and probably horrified at how often you’ve wandered from the path or failed to implement them due to a lack of clarity or simple distraction.
The Playbook will guide you to an actionable plan and process that makes going to work a positive experience, and a positive investment.
- GenresBusiness
357 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 21, 2015
88 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Duncan MacPherson
69 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 19, 2018
If 31 pages worth of notes taken while reading it are any indication, I certainly found value in this book! But, I didn’t start out that way…
Have you ever read the back of a book and thought, “You know what? This book is not going to be for me.”
That was my first thought about The Advisor Playbook: Regain Liberation and Order in Your Personal and Professional Life by Duncan MacPherson and Chris Jeppesen. If I had stuck with my first impression, that would have been a big mistake. Big.
The back cover of the book clearly states this book, and the processes it outlines, are most ideally suited for financial or accounting professionals, insurance or trust specialists, and estate planning attorneys. I am none of those things and neither are any of our clients at AIRO (Annapolis Investments in Rural Opportunity). And, after getting past the back cover and into reading the first few chapters, I was still concerned that this was going to be a waste of my time…
…I was wrong.
As I kept reading, I discovered that the key to getting the most out of this book was to let go of their focus on the financial industry and to begin translating their ideas into concepts for AIRO and its clients. That key unlocked a treasure chest of common (and some not so common) sense business advice.
The root of the advice in this book – and perhaps all business or professional development books – is that “If you want your outcomes to change, your actions have to change.” And, while that may be simple advice, MacPherson and Jeppesen back it up with practical tactics to help you improve your outcomes.
The Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule) is revisited and that is always a good reminder – 80% of your business stems from 20% of your clients. This hit me right between the eyes! Do you know who that 20% are in your business? The key is to focus 80% of your effort on that 20% of clients, rather than the other way around which is what often happens.
The book is broken out into seven sections covering everything from strategic planning and branding, to refer-ability and future-proofing your practice. There are techniques revisited from previous books by MacPherson, along with new practices to refine your client experience and “right-size” your business. I’ve already put some of these practices in place at AIRO and find them very beneficial!
There are some gems repeated throughout the book, one of which bears repeating here:
Marketing is what you say about yourself; branding is what your client says about you to others.
It’s not so much of an “aha” idea as it is something that we need to be reminded of on a regular basis. We need to think about what outcome our activities are generating – are we marketing, or are we branding, because the results won’t be the same for both. This sounds simple – but it’s BIG and it’s critical to know the difference.
I definitely liked this book even if I didn’t love it...translating information that was targeted to financial management professionals into something that was relevant to me took time. BUT that’s also part of the biggest value I got from the book. Thinking about ways to translate the “aha” moments into things our clients will be able to use stretched my mind and that I LOVE!
The takeaways summed up.
Two things really stood out that I’m actively applying…
1.) Their advice about depersonalizing and documenting business processes so the business is more salable in the long run.
2.) They give a number of different pieces of advice about meeting set-up and procedure which I’ve implemented and am really enjoying the results!
Two bonus takeaways are the repeated reminders that marketing is what you say about yourself and branding is what others say about you, and a fresh look at the 80/20 rule – in most cases 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. There were LOTS of other valuable tidbits (I took 31 pages of notes remember!).
This book also inspired a huge action item for me – what you’re reading right now – the commitment to review each of the books from the Thought Readers 2018 book club. I’m hoping to use what I learn to help our clients and maybe turn them on to these books as a resource for their businesses.
So, bottom line, read it or don’t read it?
Read it – but just be aware that their focus is on the financial industry. Go into it knowing that you’ll have to interpret how to apply this to your own industry.
If you’ve read this book I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.
-------------------------
Adele MacDonald is the Executive Director of AIRO (Annapolis Investments in Rural Opportunity). Do you know an entrepreneur who is ready to dream big with a new or expanding business in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia? AIRO has been meeting with people - and supporting projects - from a wide range of industry sectors. We like being busy, so if you have a business idea you want to get off the ground we'd like to meet with you! Go to our website and choose the appropriate application form, submit it, and we’ll contact you with the next steps.
Have you ever read the back of a book and thought, “You know what? This book is not going to be for me.”
That was my first thought about The Advisor Playbook: Regain Liberation and Order in Your Personal and Professional Life by Duncan MacPherson and Chris Jeppesen. If I had stuck with my first impression, that would have been a big mistake. Big.
The back cover of the book clearly states this book, and the processes it outlines, are most ideally suited for financial or accounting professionals, insurance or trust specialists, and estate planning attorneys. I am none of those things and neither are any of our clients at AIRO (Annapolis Investments in Rural Opportunity). And, after getting past the back cover and into reading the first few chapters, I was still concerned that this was going to be a waste of my time…
…I was wrong.
As I kept reading, I discovered that the key to getting the most out of this book was to let go of their focus on the financial industry and to begin translating their ideas into concepts for AIRO and its clients. That key unlocked a treasure chest of common (and some not so common) sense business advice.
The root of the advice in this book – and perhaps all business or professional development books – is that “If you want your outcomes to change, your actions have to change.” And, while that may be simple advice, MacPherson and Jeppesen back it up with practical tactics to help you improve your outcomes.
The Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule) is revisited and that is always a good reminder – 80% of your business stems from 20% of your clients. This hit me right between the eyes! Do you know who that 20% are in your business? The key is to focus 80% of your effort on that 20% of clients, rather than the other way around which is what often happens.
The book is broken out into seven sections covering everything from strategic planning and branding, to refer-ability and future-proofing your practice. There are techniques revisited from previous books by MacPherson, along with new practices to refine your client experience and “right-size” your business. I’ve already put some of these practices in place at AIRO and find them very beneficial!
There are some gems repeated throughout the book, one of which bears repeating here:
Marketing is what you say about yourself; branding is what your client says about you to others.
It’s not so much of an “aha” idea as it is something that we need to be reminded of on a regular basis. We need to think about what outcome our activities are generating – are we marketing, or are we branding, because the results won’t be the same for both. This sounds simple – but it’s BIG and it’s critical to know the difference.
I definitely liked this book even if I didn’t love it...translating information that was targeted to financial management professionals into something that was relevant to me took time. BUT that’s also part of the biggest value I got from the book. Thinking about ways to translate the “aha” moments into things our clients will be able to use stretched my mind and that I LOVE!
The takeaways summed up.
Two things really stood out that I’m actively applying…
1.) Their advice about depersonalizing and documenting business processes so the business is more salable in the long run.
2.) They give a number of different pieces of advice about meeting set-up and procedure which I’ve implemented and am really enjoying the results!
Two bonus takeaways are the repeated reminders that marketing is what you say about yourself and branding is what others say about you, and a fresh look at the 80/20 rule – in most cases 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. There were LOTS of other valuable tidbits (I took 31 pages of notes remember!).
This book also inspired a huge action item for me – what you’re reading right now – the commitment to review each of the books from the Thought Readers 2018 book club. I’m hoping to use what I learn to help our clients and maybe turn them on to these books as a resource for their businesses.
So, bottom line, read it or don’t read it?
Read it – but just be aware that their focus is on the financial industry. Go into it knowing that you’ll have to interpret how to apply this to your own industry.
If you’ve read this book I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.
-------------------------
Adele MacDonald is the Executive Director of AIRO (Annapolis Investments in Rural Opportunity). Do you know an entrepreneur who is ready to dream big with a new or expanding business in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia? AIRO has been meeting with people - and supporting projects - from a wide range of industry sectors. We like being busy, so if you have a business idea you want to get off the ground we'd like to meet with you! Go to our website and choose the appropriate application form, submit it, and we’ll contact you with the next steps.
June 17, 2022
Very practical and a must read for financial professionals. The points in the last chapter about changing companies/transitioning to something new were especially helpful and timely.
There is also much to glean if you are in other fields dealing with clients, as most of the theories and ideas are universal.
There is also much to glean if you are in other fields dealing with clients, as most of the theories and ideas are universal.
January 17, 2020
filled with actionable advice, strategies, and creative ideas. can be used for any entrepreneur or Advisor looking to build or improve their firm.
November 11, 2023
Love the practical applications and scripting
May 31, 2020
Good at moments, offering good insights. Talked over each topic with my father, a veteran adviser, agreed with some concepts, not all. Dislikes— not a fan of corny tactics given, which I’ve noticed in other financial books and training programs.
May 25, 2023
After a more philosophical introduction, it concluded with dozens of concrete ideas to help any Advisor build a successful practice. Undoubtedly for the high autonomy advisor in many aspects, since the implementation would require an adaptation to your process, there were also plenty of ideas for the advisor who is part of a team and already has many pieces in place.
The goal is to go from "Good guy with good ideas" to "professional with a process."
Many of the components of a referable Advisor are not related to the financial advice he provides and more so to the high-touch service he provides. "No one is out there talking about how great your last review meeting was."
This is a "come back to it in a couple of years" type of book as well.
The goal is to go from "Good guy with good ideas" to "professional with a process."
Many of the components of a referable Advisor are not related to the financial advice he provides and more so to the high-touch service he provides. "No one is out there talking about how great your last review meeting was."
This is a "come back to it in a couple of years" type of book as well.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews