One of the questions I ask top producers when I meet them is “How long did it take you to feel like you were succeeding?”

The most common answer is 5 years and it’s often 10 years before they really felt like they had made it. The reason is the sales cycle is relatively long and unpredictable for an advisor. When you meet a prospective client you never know how long it will be before he is ready to do business. So, it takes time and a lot of prospects to build a book.

The good thing is however, business is cumulatively. Assuming you are in a fee only or fee based revenue model, the clients you win today will be tomorrow’s base. So, if you keep at it and continue to improve you should be able to build a profitable and sustainable book of business.

As for your question about growing into another role the answer is contingent on what type of firm you are with. If you are with an independent broker dealer you will be able to grow into an OSJ position where you’ll have other advisors on your team.

You might find a couple of blog posts I recently wrote helpful:

How to shorten the sales cycle: http://www.finservmarketing.com/blog/how-to-shorten-the-sales-cycle-for-financial-advisors-and-insurance-agents

The formula for calculating the expected ROI of social media: http://www.finservmarketing.com/blog/formula-calculating-expected-roi-social-media-financial-advisors-insurance-agents

Each of these posts should give you a clearer picture of the path to success. I also created a class designed to help financial professionals build a business within their target market. You’ll be amazed at how much more satisfying the business is if you are working with clients who excite you.

You can check out the class here: http://www.finservmarketing.com/your-target-market/

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.

Best,

Mike Langford