Are You Sick of Hearing the Word “Innovation" Yet?

There are few words in financial services like “innovation” to make the majority of us cringe. And guess what? We all better get over ourselves – and quickly – because if you’re not embracing this word, you’re likely adding paper to your fax machine, picking up a movie at Blockbuster on the way home, and going to Toys R Us later to get a new toy for your kid.

Gary Vaynerchuk: He’s Loud. He’s even obnoxious. He’s also 100% right.

Recently – GaryVee did a video about Toys R Us and as I watched, my mind was feeling very heavy. Not because Toys R Us is going under (I shop on Amazon so I don’t really give a hoot that it’s going out of business) but because of THESE lines:

“…when you don’t innovate, you die. Like, when you don’t change, you die; the world passes you by…” and he goes on to add (watch for the curse words, too…)

“…how in trouble everybody is if they fucking rest on their laurels…” and then says

“if Toys R Us, the dominant niche retail leader of a humongous multi-billion dollar category is finished, what do you think is gonna happen over the next six years in every category…”

That should scare the crap out of you in financial services. If any of the below items are in your world, trust me – someone outside of our community WILL fix this and WILL change our world and we WILL be left out…think about these questions:

Are you on LinkedIn or other social media? If not – what’s your excuse? It’s free, folks – c’mon!

Are you using paper forms? If so – why are you not asking for online and fillable forms from your providers? Who wants to fill out another form?

Are you using technology to manage your clients information?

Are you using technology to manage your office?

Can a client make an appointment online with you and your employees?

When was the last time you updated your website?

Are you still making clients drive to your office for meetings? Why not do them online?

Are you texting your clients? If not – have you asked compliance to step up their game?

Are you using video to communicate versus email writing alone?

Related: Why You Need to Stop Keeping up With Your Competitors

The list……….JUST…………GOES……………..ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN…….

Be a Person of Action: Stop making excuses for why you’re not innovating. Stop waiting around for someone else to make you move your business forward with technology . I am telling you – FinServ will be outdone by some company who sat around one day and said, “I can take them out.” And if we don’t do something – guess what? They will.