You're listening to “Financial Advisor Marketing”—the best show on the planet for financial advisors who want to get more clients, without all the stress. You're about to get the real scoop on everything from lead generation to closing the deal.
James is the founder of TheAdvisorCoach.com, where you can find an entire suite of products designed to help financial advisors grow their businesses more rapidly than ever before. Now, here is your host, James Pollard.
James: In this episode of the Financial Advisor Marketing podcast, I'm going to talk to you about my best lead generator ever. But first things first, I want to let you know that best is completely subjective. The reason being is I might have different goals than you. I might have different objectives. When I say “best,” I mean best in the sense of helping me accomplish my objectives. [00:54.5]
A lot of financial advisors think in terms of numbers, and who can blame them? I certainly don't fault them for that because they work with numbers all day long. But they might think that the, quote-unquote, “best” lead generator is the one that brings in leads at the lowest cost. I think that's a faulty way of thinking and here's why. Let's say Lead Generator No. 1 attracts leads for $50 each and Lead Generator No. 2 attracts leads for $25 each. Which one is better?
Ah, that's a trick question because you can't really tell. If they convert equally and lead to an equal amount of revenue, then No. 2 which brings in leads for $25 each is the better one. However, what if Lead Generator No. 1 converts three times more? Then things change, all else being equal, because if you can pay twice as much and get three times the results, you should take that deal every single day of the week. You'd be a horrible business owner if you didn't. [01:48.7]
But, wait, that's not the only thing you should think about, because is profit truly all that matters? Because let's say that one lead generator gets you clients that are twice as profitable, but they are also twice as difficult to work with. They may be three or four or five times as difficult to work with. Does that change anything for you? Would you be willing to accept less money if all of your clients were an absolute delight to work with? I know I would, and I actually have. That's how I run my business and I am better for it. Lots of people think like me. They're okay making a little bit less money in order to live the life they want to live.
There was a survey, I don't remember the source, I'm sorry. It may have been Business Insider, reported on Business Insider. I think it may have been FlexJobs, but don't quote me on this. It found that half of Americans would be willing to take pay cuts to work from home.
That's a good example of what I'm talking about, but for financial advisors and within the context of financial advisor marketing, that means investing a little bit more in marketing. And I hate calling marketing an expense because it's not an expense. It's an investment. However, on a balance sheet or in a profit and loss statement, it's viewed as an expense. So, technically speaking, your marketing expense is higher, meaning, your net profit is less, but you do that in order to get the clients that you actually want to get. [03:04.3]
Two episodes ago on this podcast, I talked about the big fat problem with niche marketing and the problem was not being willing to put in the effort it takes over the long term to market to a niche. Every so often, I'll get pushback from people who say that you should be a generalist first because niching down is too hard. I guess it depends on what you think is hard. It depends on the life you want to live.
I personally think that being a generalist in the beginning is much harder, because you will be working with all sorts of different people solving all sorts of different challenges, and that sort of business setup will eat a lot more of your time, and that is precious time that can be used to grow your business. It's kind of like tax drag.
If you're familiar with that term, tax drag, you know it's how taxes can slow down a portfolio's returns over time. You have to pay the generalist tax, if you're a generalist, and invest a lot more time working with your clients and building out your systems. It's just so time intensive. However, if you choose a niche from day one, yes, you will likely get fewer clients in the very beginning, but you will have more time to invest in growing your business and your systems will be so much stronger in the long run. [04:12.7]
I say all that to tell you that only you can make the decision. I don't want you to listen to me or anyone else and think you have to do something because I said so or because someone else said so. No, you are the adult. You need to think for yourself. You can make the decision. You are a big boy or a big girl. You can put on your big boy or big girl pants. What do you want from your business?
I'll give you two examples from my business to give you an idea of how to think about this and how you might want to structure everything in your life. These are examples. These are from my business. You don't have to do what I'm saying and I don't want you to, right? I want you to think for yourself, but this is what I personally do.
The first example is one that I am notorious for and that is I do not respond to emails from people who are not subscribed to my Inner Circle Newsletter. People hate this idea, because deep down they believe one of two things. They believe that they are entitled to other people's time for free or they believe that others are entitled to their time for free. They think just because they give away their time for free to other people that everyone else should do it and be like them, and honestly, I don't know which one is worse. [05:16.5]
But I've had people tell me that it's such a horrible business strategy, how it's not nice, and all of this other stuff. They tell me that I should be more accessible, I should be more available. But why? I don't want to spend a big chunk of my life responding to random emails and getting my brain picked by strangers. Sorry, I only have so much time and that is not how I want to spend it. If you don't like it, guess what? It's not your business. It's mine.
The second example is another one that I'm notorious for, imagine that, and it's that I do not let my Inner Circle members resubscribe once they cancel. My newsletter is not a game of hokey-pokey. You are not in sometimes and out sometimes. That is not how it works. It is a commitment, and if you're not willing to commit, then it isn't for you, and that's okay. Besides, if you ever feel the need to cancel, then it is a sign that your mindset probably wasn't right in the first place to be worthy of being an Inner Circle member. [06:07.7]
Again, a lot of people think that is too harsh. People tell me all the time that I could make more money by letting people back in, and that is probably true. I probably could make a lot more money. But is money all that matters? I don't think so. And, actually, my blacklisting policy where I don't let people back in, that's aligned with many of the world's major religions. For example, did you know that giving up Islam is a punishable offense in Saudi Arabia and in other areas of the Middle East as well? It's literally against the law.
Even in Christianity, there's the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and it goes like this. There was this rich man and this poor man named Lazarus. Lazarus was outside of the rich man's gate, begging for scraps. He really wanted the rich man to help them but the rich man did not. Eventually, both Lazarus and the rich man passed away. Lazarus went to Heaven and had this heavenly banquet, and the rich man went to Hell where he had a view of the poor man in heaven. [07:00.2]
He's just down there, he's looking up or out or whatever, and he sees this poor man had at a time of his life, and the rich man was told, and I quote, this is from the New Living Translation, “Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.”
What does that mean? It means once you are in Hell, you are there permanently. If you make bad decisions and go to what Christians think of as Hell, there is no turning back. It is over for you. It doesn't matter how much you regret it or how much you want to turn back. You had your chance, and you blew it.
So, if two of the world's biggest religions, Christianity and Islam, frown on this sort of thing, then why is it so crazy to think that I have a similar policy in my business? Christ Himself told this parable and he also told the story of the 10 virgins where five of them were cut off from the wedding party. He told stories about people being cut off and not being let back in. [08:03.0]
So, I believe, and I have evidence to support this based on what I literally just told you, that having a strict blacklist policy is being Christ-like. I am imitating Christ by keeping people out once they ruin their chances. You might not like that. You might not agree with it. It might rub you the wrong way, but that's okay. It is not your business. It's mine.
Now, let me talk about my best lead generator ever. The parable is actually a great segue because the lead generator itself is a 47-minute video called “Financial Advisor Marketing Wisdom from the Bible.” If you want to check it out yourself, you can see it over at TheAdvisorCoach.com/Bible. You can look at a real lead magnet that I'm using right now with the exact landing page that promotes it. You can view the copy, the headline, the images, the segues, the order thing. Everything, right?
At the time of this recording, it hasn't been out very long, but it looks extremely promising. Here are some of the numbers. I'm just going to share these numbers with you. The very first number is one, $1, more specifically. Now, why is that important? Because it's not a free lead magnet. I am not giving this away for free. [09:04.0]
Free lead magnets are fine and I still use them. I have 57 marketing tips, which you can get over at TheAdvisorCoach.com/57mt. The number 57, M-T, so 57 marketing tips. I have the Client Method. I think that is at TheAdvisorCoach.com/TheClientMethod. I have a whole bunch of different free lead magnets. That's what I want to tell you.
But I wanted to do something that would immediately separate freebie seekers from everyone else, so I didn't let freebie seekers in. I made a “pay what you want” offer with a minimum of $1. That means if $1 is truly all you can afford, then that's okay. Then that's what you pay. A lot of people have gotten it for $1.
But I will give you a warning. I want to say this. This is important. Being cheap for the sake of being cheap is psychologically damaging. It is dangerous to tell your unconscious mind, “I invest the bare minimum into myself.” If you pay $1 and you know in your heart that you can afford a lot more than $1, what you are doing to yourself is saying, “I invest the bare minimum.” You're telling your unconscious mind, “I invest the bare minimum. I am not worthy of investing more. I don't go above and beyond,” and that is psychologically dangerous. [10:14.7]
The sad truth is, and I don't want to go off on a tangent here, but I think this is very important, many financial advisors struggle to get clients because they are horrible prospective clients to other people. And guess what? That's biblical law. That is the golden rule. They complain about how prospective clients ghost them. Yet they ghost others. They whine about how prospective clients quibble over their fees. Yet they nickel and dime others. They moan about how prospective clients take forever to convert. Yet they take just as long to make decisions with other people. I know it's cliché, but you get what you give. You are what you repeatedly do. Your life is a reflection of your actions.
If you don't believe me, try it for a few months. When you are a prospective client for other people, act exactly how you would want one of your prospective clients to act with you. You might be surprised by the results. [11:02.2]
Hey, financial advisors. If you'd like even more help building your business, I invite you to subscribe to James' monthly paper-and-ink newsletter, “The James Pollard Inner Circle”. When you join today, you'll get more than $1,000 worth of bonuses, including exclusive interviews that aren't available anywhere else. Head on over to TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching to learn more.
I purposely tried very hard to practice this in my life. I'll give you an example. Not that long ago, I had this guy come over to help me reseal my shower. I know, I could do it myself, but time is money, and if I were to buy the permanent seal itself, the stuff that you use, I would spend a few hundred bucks is what it is, because it's a special permanent [treatment.] Quote-unquote, “permanent.” It's not really permanent. But it's like a permanent treatment and it's pretty expensive, and I would have had product leftover anyway, so why not have somebody else do it? [11:53.6]
Anyway, this guy came in, he looked at my shower. He talked about how he would clean the grout, seal the grout, clean the tile, seal the tile, and all this stuff. We sat down together at my dining room table and he started to go through this presentation that he obviously had prepared. He has a presentation that he goes through with everybody. He had this very pretty spiral bound book with a bunch of photos of his work and testimonials.
I just stopped him. I stopped him very gently and I said, “Hey, I'm sold. How much do you want?” and he told me he wanted $750. I said, “Done. Let's schedule it.” So, we scheduled it and you could tell he was thrilled. This didn't happen often. He was expecting me to give him some objections and for us to do this little song and dance, like, “Oh, when is a good time?” or “If the price was not an object,” and “Would you move forward?” and all this little stuff. But I don't do that. Do you know why? Because I don't want people to do that with me, so I'm not going to do that to other people.
Now, back to the lead magnet. The second thing that makes this my best lead generator ever is the topic, the content. “Financial Advisor Marketing Wisdom from the Bible” might sound like a weird topic, and it is to some people. That's the whole point. I've been leaning into my faith a lot more. It's worked wonders for me. I want to do my part in spreading the message to other people. [13:03.2]
I think one of the things that makes me different is that I don't actively try to convert people. Maybe I should, I don't know, but I think if you're an adult, you can decide yourself if you want to embrace a certain religion or not. Truly, honestly, I really don't care. I think it's providential. Deep down in my heart, I don't think I have any control over it anyway. I think it's all God's plan. You might not agree with that. You might not kind of identify with that, but that's okay, too.
Some people have this weird fear of people pushing religion on them, as if mere exposure to a religious text is going to change them if they don't want to change. Look, if you don't want to adopt a certain religion or a set of beliefs, you have the right to make that decision. But I think you should, at least at least at bare minimum, be open minded enough where you can study a major text that has been around for literally thousands of years and it has influenced the course of humanity. [13:51.7]
I started talking a lot more about my faith in August or I think it was either August or September 2022. I lost speaking engagements. I had people write me nasty emails. I lost a good chunk of business. I don't tell you that so you feel sorry for me. Trust me, I was okay. Everything's fine. But the whole thing about counting the cost before you embark on a journey, yeah, that's totally real.
But you know what's funny to me? I'm being dead serious here. The people who talked the biggest game about being tolerant and accepting of everyone, and being caring and “we just love everybody,” they were the ones who were the most intolerant to me. Think about that. These people say they're all about love and acceptance and tolerance, and “we just love everybody,” unless you happen to have a certain set of beliefs.
This is going to make people upset. I know it will. But I think you, my listener, you deserve to know this. There are some people in the financial services industry who hate Christianity. I mean, hate it with a passion. I had no clue until I started talking about it, but it immediately became obvious these people absolutely despise everything I stand for. [15:04.6]
Some of these people run big organizations, too. I'm never going to name any names, unless they start something with me first because I'm not that type of guy. I'm not the shoot first, ask questions later. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to call people out. But, trust me, listen to me, they are out there. Keep your eyes and ears open. Pay attention. Anyway, enough about that. That's a story for another day or perhaps for never.
Here's another number related to the lead magnet. It's 19, because as of the time of this recording, the average order value for this product is actually 19. It's $19. It's not $1. That means even though it is available for a minimum of $1, most people are paying more than that, in some cases a lot more, and I greatly appreciate it.
This is a lot better than a free lead magnet, because I can immediately take the money generated and advertise even more. The sales cycle is ultra-short, so the cash flow is just going and going and going. Because let's say that the average order value stays at $19 and I am paying 50 cents per click on my advertisements. Let's just say that's an average. Some, it's 25 cents. Others are 75, so on and so forth. But let's say that those are the numbers. [16:13.0]
That means I can get 38 clicks for each order. That's pretty cool. I can put my name and my face, and my headline and my website in front of people to get 38 additional clicks for every single order. The page is also converting at 16%. That means 16% of people who visit that page, TheAdvisorCoach.com/Bible, convert into purchases. That is amazing, especially considering that this is a paid offer and not a free one.
LeadPages says that a common conversion rate for an email opt-in landing page is between 5–15%, so this is crushing it because it's not a free lead magnet. One more time, if you want to see the page for yourself, you can do so at TheAdvisorCoach.com/Bible.
I also want to be a hundred percent transparent with you that the conversion rate number, the 16%, will likely go down a little bit because some of that traffic is traffic from my email list. That's traffic from my website visitors and those people are far more likely to convert, so they skew that number up a little bit. [17:10.0]
However, I also plan on split-testing the page so I should be able to get the conversion rate back up over the long run. I'll be testing the headline, the image, the layout. I'll be testing a whole bunch of stuff.
The reason I'm recording this podcast episode is because if you're a financial advisor, I want you to think about what the best lead generator might be for you. What do you actually want from your business? Are you the type of person who wants to get your lead cost as low as possible, no matter what? I personally think that's a little short-sighted, but if so, then more power to you. At least you know what you want and knowing what you want puts you in a better position than most people. [17:47.6]
Are you willing to have your lead magnet convert a lower percentage of visitors in order to get the right ones? If so, then you and I think alike. The key takeaway is that the best lead generator is one that aligns with your personal goals and your values. It is all about you. It's not just about the raw numbers, like the cost per lead or conversion rate, but it's about attracting the types of clients you genuinely want to work with. Even if a particular approach generates fewer leads, if they are higher-quality leads that are a better fit for you and your practice, that can be far more valuable in the long run.
Another important point you might want to consider is to think carefully about the message and the positioning itself of your lead magnet. A lot of times the best lead magnets aren't as inclusive as people think. They're exclusive. In my case, I am excluding the people who are not open-minded and are not willing to invest in themselves. By excluding the wrong types of people, you will probably find that the right types of people are naturally drawn to you.
This kind of self-selection is extremely powerful. You likely want 100 leads who are philosophically aligned with you than 1,000 leads who are not philosophically aligned with you. Quality trumps quantity, most of the time. And I mean this, too, don't be afraid to put a stake in the ground and share your authentic beliefs and personality, even if it ruffled some feathers. [19:10.3]
Trying to please everyone is a recipe for disaster. Besides, the people who get upset or offended when you are just being yourself are never going to be a good fit for you anyway. Focus on the segment of the market that appreciates what you uniquely have to offer and who you are. You want people who appreciate you for you.
The final thing I'll emphasize is that your best lead generator will probably be the one that protects your time and energy as a business owner. Good lead magnets already do this by excluding people and building trust, credibility and rapport automatically. But you can take it even further if you want. Every minute you spend on low-value activities is a minute you can't spend on high-value ones. So, if policies like not responding to emails from non-subscribers or not allowing people to rejoin after canceling a paid membership rub people the wrong way, so be it. You have every right to set boundaries that safeguard your wellbeing and allow you to operate at your best for the people you serve. [20:10.4]
In summary, choose a lead gen approach that reflects your values. Don't be afraid to repel the wrong people to attract the right ones. Look at the full client-lifecycle value and how you feel. What do you want? What do you want to accomplish, not just the upfront conversion rates or the cost or just some random metric? And, finally, prioritize your time and your mental space to focus on what matters most.
I hope this has given you some additional food for thought as you explore what “best” really means for you. Thanks for tuning in, and I will catch you next week. [20:43.3]
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