I had written a post about WOOP on October 27th, 2020. In case you have not read it or cannot recollect it, I would strongly urge you to read it now. WOOP is simply one of the most powerful tools for your practice/business. If there is only one tool that you can use to plan for FY 2021-2022, this is absolutely the one to go for. Do not waste your time doubting whether it will work. It has worked for many and will work for you too. Period.

So, let us begin.

WOOP is a Tool by Gabriele Oettingen that simply stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle and Plan.

In my previous post, I have already covered the 4 steps at a conceptual level with specific examples. In this post, I will cover a sample implementation for Ramesh from Mumbai and Suresh from Nashik (both names changed).

Wish: Just like most, Ramesh’s goal was to grow. When I asked, the answer was straightforward “I want to grow”.

Suresh on the other hand had a different one “I want to have more ideal clients. Though I have many clients, most of them are not like my best ones, which are limited in number. Thus, I want to replicate my best clients.”

Outcome: This is all about quantifying your wish and giving it a number that you can objectively measure.

Ramesh: I want to add 12 new families and Rs. 24 Crore of Assets.
Suresh: I want to add 30 ideal clients with a minimum of Rs. 50 Lakh of Assets each.

Simple so far. Now it gets challenging and interesting.

Obstacles: I then asked them about the Obstacles they are likely to face. This is a critical step in the planning process. You are likely to face obstacles but many of us simply do not factor them in. We just go ahead with doing something towards without anticipating problems. Then when we face obstacles, we either give up or just stop doing it. This is typically what happens with most resolutions.

By the way, Writing the obstacles down is not as easy as you think.

Nevertheless, this took them some thinking but they managed to come up with some responses.

1. I might not be able to meet people because of the lockdown again.
2. People might be scared to invest as the markets are high.
3. I might not have enough prospect meetings.
4. I might not get enough referrals and they are key for my growth.
5. I do not have time as I am so busy with existing clients and 100 other things.
6. What if they do not like what I have to offer?

Finally, we moved on to the final step.

Plan.

I guided them through this process, and we came up with the following plan. I am briefly sharing some of the action points we came up with. These are the traditional IF-THEN statements that you should attempt to write.

IF you are not able to meet people because of the lockdown, THEN you should meet them virtually. Creating a virtual experience is no longer a luxury but a necessity for all of us. By the way, anyone can open a ZOOM account and start. The key was about delivering a WOW virtual experience that touches their hearts and the emotions they are going through today.

When it comes to not getting sufficient Prospect Meetings, it is often for the following reasons:

1. Not enough prospecting is happening. Client Acquisition Discipline is very sloppy and poor in most IFA Businesses. Some of the bigger ones have got enough clients that they are not driven enough while others are playing Office-Office and literally wasting time.
2. Not getting enough referrals from existing clients.

This is a classic case of not enough PULL that clients are coming to you or not enough PUSH that you are trying to reach out to people.

This is clearly a GAME of Numbers and IF you do not have enough prospects, THEN up your Client Acquisition Discipline and Make Prospecting a PRIORITY. What this means is dedicate several hours to Prospecting every day (in a laser focused manner) till your pipeline to meet people is overflowing. We decided to focus on this activity the first thing in the morning every day for several hours. It was decided to keep the TV off and the phone to be kept on silent mode till 1 pm. The goal was to generate 5 meetings per week.

We decided to journal this every day and do an audit of the progress every week. The key here is consistency, and you need to be super consistent with prospecting even when you think you do not need it. It is exactly when you feel you do not need it is when you actually need it. Never stop this key discipline that is necessary for long term growth and success.

After going through all the above steps, Ramesh, and Suresh both had a clear direction of their plan for this financial year.

Do you?

If not, it is time to WOOP it.