Speaker, executive coach, and Olympic medalist Paul Kingsman spoke to Ellen Wunder at Reach Customers, LLC about overcoming ever-increasing distractions to achieve greater business and personal success. The author of The Distraction-Proof Advisor: Gain Control, Work Smarter, Succeed Sooner, Kingsman explains that the pressure to do more in less time can be overwhelming. Ironically, digital resources, often expected to be the big solution, add to the time-sucking distractions that pull focus away from what’s most important. Kingsman works with financial-services professionals who face the stresses any business owner experiences but also must focus on increasing regulatory demands. They tackle these challenges while dealing with the pressure of working in an industry dedicated to the highly emotional issue of people’s money.
As modern attention spans continue to decrease, people quickly switch attention from one subject to the next, according to Kingman. People who react habitually, without time for consideration or strategic processing, must force a sustained effort to focus on long-term goals. Many believe that multitasking solves the problem of information overload, but, says Kingsman, “Those who feel the busiest don’t achieve goals and are typically dissatisfied. Multitasking makes people less productive, less accurate, and less able to determine what’s relevant.”
Kingsman teaches the power of deadlines, a skill he learned as an Olympian. “Olympic athletes know long in advance when they’ll be competing, so they focus on daily activities that move them toward their objective: to be prepared on ‘race day’,” he explains. “Most people, including financial advisors, don’t treat their lives in a way that lands them at a specific goal on a particular date.” The tools that Kingsman teaches people to identify specific desired achievements and then minimize distractions to stay focused on these goals.
Cable-news “money” shows play on viewers’ emotions by entertaining them with immediate-term market ups and downs. Overexposure to sound-bite-based media causes people to be distracted from goals and react without thinking. “It makes advisors’ jobs tougher,” says Kingsman. “Advisors must learn to respond with conviction for their processes and not let the client guide them into discussions of ‘What will the market do this year?’ The only correct answer to that question is: ‘No one knows.’ There are no guarantees, other than: an up market had more buyers than sellers, and vice versa. Everything else is conjecture.”
Using emotion to connect with clients makes them pay attention to the factors that count and remain focused on achieving those goals. “Rather than asking clients what dollar amount they’d like by a certain age,” explains Kingsman, “I ask about what they want to do in the future. Once I know their long-term goals, I help figure out the money needed to achieve them. I train advisors to ask such questions and really listen to the responses. By displaying genuine interest and discovering what makes people tick, we develop a rapport that enables us to determine who will be an ideal client.” By encouraging his advisors to develop long-term client relationships, Kingsman teaches them to seek clients with the right attitude: a willingness to avoid distractions, stay focused on long-term objectives, and follow their advisor’s advice toward a successful conclusion.
Going forward, Kingsman will continue speaking at meetings for industry professionals and coaching advisors to build the businesses they want; clients with great attitudes and the right level of assets are happy advocates for their advisors. “I’m fortunate,” says Kingsman. “As a speaker, I talk to advisors about the distractions they encounter and then equip them to achieve peak performance. This establishes a foundation to succeed in the industry and to genuinely help a lot of people.”
Paul Kingsman is a sought-after expert on how to be distraction-proof. Through his speaking, coaching, and writing, he combines his experience as an Olympic medalist and as a financial advisor to help financial-services professionals overcome distractions and focus on what matters most so they can succeed sooner. He is the author of The Distraction-Proof Advisor: Gain Control, Work Smarter, Succeed Sooner available through Amazon.
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Paul Kingsman – Focused Potential
Focused Potential
P.O. Box 2402
Novato, CA 94948
(415) 897-8082
Ellen Wunder – Reach Customers, LLC
Ellen Wunder provides concierge-quality customer outreach services at Reach Customers, LLC. Ellen and her team of Reach specialists help their clients to cultivate unwavering customer loyalty, blast through barriers that exist in an increasingly noisy world, and gain a competitive advantage by learning what customers do, want, and lose sleep over. Learn more at: http://www.reach-customers.com.
Ellen is the author of Reach: Cultivate Customer Loyalty and Reap Intel, which reveals the five common Loyalty LeaksTM that weaken or destroy customer relationships. Readers learn techniques to create authentic customer connections in an impersonal world. Reach is available at: http://www.reach-book.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever books are sold.