Are You Ready for Your Challenge?

by Kimberly A. Branch, CFP®, CLTCPresident, 4WARD Financial Marketing

The NEXT Challenge is a comprehensive training; coaching and mentoring program created exclusively for registered representatives and OSJ Managers. Over 185 reps have participated in the NEXT Challenge in both 2007 and 2008. The reps are continuing to see stellar results, and their trailing 12-gross dealer concessions is up 41% versus our control group who is up 15%. To date, they have brought an amazing $8,500,000 in new GDC to the Broker Dealer.

When you take advantage of this program, you will be provided the skills and knowledge to take your practice to the NEXT level. Whether you are looking to increase your production, be more efficient or increase the value of your practice, this program is for you!

1.      Have you achieved a reasonably high success level but feel dissatisfied?

2.      Are you lacking a complete, well-balanced business or personal life with a defined succession plan for retirement, death or disability?

3.      Would you like to better manage your time while maintaining and increasing your business production and value?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you are ready to join the NEXT Challenge.

The program offers results with proven systems. Those who are enrolled in coaching, consulting or mentoring produce quantifiable results that are unparalleled to their peers.

So, why use a coach? A coach can help you craft a vision of where you want to go and a road map of how you will get there. In essence, a coach offers the same type of benefits to you as you do for your clients. You help your clients reach their financial goals on a daily basis, work with them to achieve their dream retirement, but how often do you work on your own long-term future plan?

It takes time, energy and money to set and manage your goals and vision for the future. You are worth it. All it takes is a little time and commitment to make your own dreams come true.

I have worked with an executive coach since 2000. The first call I made to my coach was a desperate one, because I was considering leaving my family-owned insurance business to work for a large insurance/ financial planning company.

“The future is not something we enter, it’s something we create.”

 My coach never told me what to do, but helped me define my own dreams and put a course of action into place to make them come true. Without her in my life, I would not have made critical changes in my personal and professional life to take me where I am today. She is like a spring board –– we bounce

ideas off each other. Accountability is the key in our relationship. Never in a million years would I have obtained my CFP® designation without her coaching, cheerleading and accountability. Today, I still continue to use my coach to take me to higher levels of success –– not so much monetarily but, more personally rewarding milestones that I celebrate every day.

A quote I recently read in a book entitled “What’s NEXT” explains it perfectly ––“The future is not something we enter, it’s something we create.”

After two rewarding years of the NEXT Challenge, we have taken the program to a new level. Customized NEXT Challenge coaching services now offer you three levels of membership (Platinum, Gold and Silver). These levels were created to help you get the most from your coaching experience and get you desired results based on your goals, level of motivation, and preferred level of support and accountability. You decide which level is best for you. Whatever membership you choose, we will partner with you in making the tools available to you in reaching your vision.

No matter what level of the coaching program you decide to enroll in, you will receive the following:

Three on-site sessions:

Session I: January 8 -9, 2009

Hyatt Regency Phoenix, AZ

Session II: June 18 - 19, 2009

Loews Lake Las Vegas, NV

Session III: October 12-13, 2009

Hilton Americas Houston, TX

•                 A Buddy-System either with a peer or one of our highly specialized marketing specialists

•                 Collaborative break-out meetings with your peers

•                 Exclusive Newsletters

•                 Interim Inspirational Calls

When you decide you’ll make a commitment to the program, you select a level of coaching and accountability.