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 week's podcast episode, I want to talk about one of my favorite topics in the entire world, and that is qualifying. Qualifying is all about being extremely clear who you want to become your client, and perhaps even more importantly, who you do not want to become your client. In my experience, you need to do both. [00:53.3]
Lots of people will tell you all about how you need to attract your ideal clients and attract this and attract that, but almost nobody talks about how you should repel people, the people you don't want. You should get them away from you. In fact, not a single person in the financial advisor marketing space talked about this concept before I first started talking about it nearly a decade ago, or at least not that I've ever seen. If you know someone, feel free to send me a screenshot and let me know, and I will stand corrected, because as far as I can tell, I am the one who popularized this concept in the financial advice industry.
I want to make that clear, because I did not invent it. It's been around for a long time in the marketing world. It's been a little-known secret in some of the best marketing campaigns ever done. It's just that many financial advisors didn't know about it until I started bringing it up and applying it to the financial advice industry.
I'm going to focus on repulsion marketing in this podcast episode, because I believe it is even more important than attraction marketing, because think back to what the word “prospecting” actually means. Picture a gold prospector digging in the California riverbeds during the gold rush of 1848–1849. I believe that's when it was. How does he find gold? [02:11.1]
Does he simply attract gold? Does he just put stuff out there and the gold comes to him? No. He fills his bucket up with dirt and sifts through all of the dirt until he's left with nothing but potential gold, and so it is with financial advisor marketing. You get to the gold by removing all of the dirt. A lot of people wonder why they can't find gold, when the truth is that finding gold isn't the problem. The real problem is that they don't have a system for removing the dirt. The gold is already there. The gold is in the riverbeds. The gold is in the dirt. You need a way to remove the dirt.
Let me explain with a tactic I use all the time in my business. I love to send what I call “qualification emails.” These are emails designed to filter out the people you want in your world, while, subtly, or not so subtly, in some cases, encouraging other people to leave. Just like you filter out the gold from the dirt, you filter out the people you want in your world. [03:12.2]
I recently sent a qualification email to my email list and I got this response from a financial advisor, and I'm going to read this to you now. This email makes you sound like a complete jackass. Why even send an email like this out? Then he went on a rant and he told me to unsubscribe him. No surprise there. When I got his response, I smiled. I clapped my hands for joy. I was ecstatic. Why? Because it meant the email was working exactly as I intended.
Every so often I send emails that are designed to filter the serious from the unserious, the wheat from the chaff, in other words. I also do the same thing in my social media content, in this podcast, especially in my social media content, for sure. I love it when I post something and I see people unfollowing me. It happens all the time, because it means the wrong people are leaving my world. That is awesome. [04:08.3]
The principle behind this strategy, to put it one way, is simply being yourself. If you are your 100% authentic self and people don't like that, then let them go, because you have two options. Option 1 is to be someone else and have those people stick around. Then you'll be miserable, because you'll be pretending to be someone you're not. Option 2 is to be yourself and let them leave.
You might be thinking, James, doesn't that mean giving up potential clients? I don't know. Maybe. In my experience, probably not, though, because you will almost certainly attract people at the same time and those people will fill the voids left by the people who left you, which means not only will you be able to continue being yourself, which is critical, but you'll be able to work with people who appreciate you for you, and that is so darn cool. I don't know about you, but I'd rather run a business with people I like and who like me. I don't want to spend my time and my life, really, because time makes up my life, trying to be someone that I'm not. [05:11.4]
Anyway, back to the email. As I was happily and gladly and gratefully deleting this financial advisor from my email list, I noticed something interesting. He received 635 emails from me. Yes, 635. This means he was on my email list for nearly two years, and while he opened nearly all of the emails, he never, not once purchased a single product or service from me after two years. It should be drop-dead obvious if we were ever going to do business together. I'd say it should be obvious even after two months.
Here's another tip for implementing this strategy. You must absolutely unequivocally approach this from a place of service. Yes, you can have a little fun with it, as I'm about to tell you in a little bit, but deep down in your core, you must believe that you are serving others. I believe the world finds a way to get back at people who are only out for themselves. If you ever find yourself thinking more about what you can get instead of what you can give, then that's like a big fat caution light flashing you in the face. Hello, caution, be careful. Don't do that. [06:18.8]
I really mean this. You must have a servant's heart. This goes beyond mere tactics and strategies. It's an underlying principle that should guide the way you do business. You should be in business to serve others. In this case, I was serving this particular financial advisor by deleting him from my email list. I still would have done it, even if he never asked me to unsubscribe him, because I know that all he is doing is wasting his time reading my emails. They haven't done anything for him. They will not do anything for him. It would be wrong of me to continue sending him emails that waste his time, because staying on the email list and never doing anything else is like staring at a map without ever taking a single step toward the destination. It is pointless. [07:02.0]
Think about it. If someone has been consuming your content for years without taking action, is that person really a good fit for your business? Is that someone you really want to work with and have meetings with, and counsel and give advice, or whatever it is that you do? Probably not.
Now, here's an example of how I like to have a little fun with unqualified people. I don't always do this and I will admit that this is not for everyone. You probably should not try this at home. But I responded to the guy and I said the following: “Oh, no, I'm so sad. Someone who has never purchased anything or hired me for anything is leaving. I'm not sure how I'll survive.”
I normally would not have responded, but the truth is, I actually wanted this screenshot as proof that I actually said it so I could share it in another email to further qualify. That's right, I took that screenshot and I put it in another email, and it was just so fun. But that is an advanced tactic. We don't have time to get into that today. [08:01.5]
We live in a weird world where people feel-- Actually, I could just stop right there. We live in a weird world. Yep, you're right, that's true. But people feel entitled to your time and content and resources, simply because they exist. I talked about this in a previous podcast episode about how I haven't hopped on a call in years. People get so mad about that. They believe they're entitled to another person's time merely because they ask. I'm not sure where this behavior came from. I wish it would go away.
I blame the rise of instant gratification and this culture of entitlement that has seeped into every aspect of life. People think that just by existing and maybe existing in your space, that they deserve your attention, your expertise and your resources, for free no less. They want to get it for free. If they don't get it for free, then they throw a little temper tantrum.
But let me be clear about something. Your time is valuable. If you're a financial advisor, your expertise is valuable, and you don't owe a single soul, anyone, your time or energy, unless there's a mutual exchange of value. This is why qualifying is so important. It's not about or just about identifying the right prospects. It's about protecting your time and energy from the wrong ones, because if you don't set boundaries, you'll end up overextending yourself for people who don't value you, and that is a recipe for disaster. [09:24.1]
Listen up, financial advisors. This is something special I'm doing exclusively for people who listen to this podcast. If you subscribe to the Inner Circle Newsletter over at TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching, I will send you a collection of seven copyright-free emails, personally written by me, that you can use right away to begin getting more clients.
I call these my “objection-busting” emails, because they are designed to overcome the biggest objections financial advisors face. All you have to do is send me an email letting me know you’ve subscribed and I will reply with a link where you can download them for free.
I originally offered these in the May 2024 Inner Circle Newsletter issue, and it was one of the most popular bonuses I've ever given away. Today, these seven objection-busting, copyright-free emails are only available to listeners of this podcast, because I'm not mentioning them anywhere else. Go to TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching to subscribe today. Now, back to the show.
If I wanted to playfully qualify in marketing, I would say things like this. “If you're still on the fence after two years, I have to wonder, is it comfortable up there?” just playful. Or “This isn't for people who love to window-shop but never walk into the store.” Those are light-hearted ways to call out the behavior without being as rude as I sometimes am. It's not even about being rude. It's about ratcheting up your personality a little bit to see who can take it versus who can't.
I've got news for you. If you think that I'm this cantankerous and grumpy in real life, then you watch too many TV shows and movies. You probably think that Tom Cruise was really a pilot. Don't get me wrong, I am irritable. I am grouchy, just not this much. I like to turn it up a notch to get rid of the people who would find it difficult to hang with me at the lower levels of my personality. [11:14.5]
I've actually talked about this concept several times with my Inner Circle members during our office hours together, so I'm not going to give away too much for free here, but I will give you another example. I mentioned a few episodes back that I hired a grip coach to help me develop a stronger grip. As of right now, I'm in the top 1% or 2% of all men in the world in terms of grip strength. I started training back in late October. I hired him in November, and we have been rocking and rolling ever since.
Now, would I have likely been able to figure everything out myself? It's certainly possible. There are YouTube videos. There are podcasts out there. But I’d rather have a coach who I can lean on for help when I need it. That is a big lesson by itself. And let me tell you, my grip coach does not take any nonsense. He has some of the strongest hands in the world and he can back it up. [12:05.4]
He has a YouTube channel and his tagline on his YouTube channel is, literally, “I am almost better than everyone at grip,” and that's it. Some people would call that bold or arrogant, or whatever, but it's true. He is almost better than everyone else at grip. His website makes it clear that he's only interested in training winners. He says something like, “I'm only interested in training effing killers.” That's intense. He doesn't want people who whine and make excuses. He doesn't want people who will waste his time. When he tells me to do something new, I don't second-guess him. I don't think I'm smarter than him or better than him. I say, “Yes, sir. Will do, sir. Thank you, sir.” [12:45.2]
Actually, I want to go off on a bit of a tangent here, if you'll indulge me. I think the whole world needs a little bit more of this special ingredient in the recipe of life I call “deference.” That word, the definition of that word means something like humble submission and respect. We would be a whole lot better if we had deference toward people who know more than us or are better than us at certain things.
Yes, people are better than each other at certain things. That is the truth. I'm so tired of this participation trophy culture, where everyone is all equal and we're the same. No. No, we have different gifts. We are blessed with different things. You want to learn from people who are better than you at things if you want to get better, then learn from those people.
I have a deference toward my grip coach. Why? Because he is stronger than I am. Objectively stronger. He can prove it. He can prove these things. He can say, “James, I can grip more than you. I can crush more than you. I can pinch more than you.” When I'm talking to someone I want to learn from, I defer to that person. [13:55.2]
Right now, I am working on what's called pinch or pinch grip. That's exactly what it sounds like, where you pinch things together. You can pinch lifting plates and a little hub that you can lift up and down. I know virtually nothing about it compared to him. He knows a ton, so I'm going to listen to him. It's not that complicated.
That's why it drives me crazy when financial advisors say they want to get more clients and build a lifestyle business, yet they refuse to listen to anything I say. Look, I'm about to say something that might come across the wrong way, and I don't want that to happen. Rest assured I mean this in the nicest, kindest and most respectful way possible.
I grew up in poverty, literal poverty, not a middle-class family that politicians love to talk about. I mean, the actual poverty line that exists that is objective and quantifiable, I was below that. What’s worse is I went into student loan debt as an adult. I graduated half a year early. I graduated when I was 21 years old. I had nearly $30,000 in student loan debt. That's, I guess, not a lot by today's standards. I don't even know what the average is anymore. I think it's like $39,000 or something. But my point with that is I did not start from zero. I started from less than zero. [15:12.6]
I know I'm not unique. I know lots of people are in that situation and have been in that situation. I'm not trying to say I'm special because of that, but I had my ideal lifestyle before I was 30 years old. I was already doing everything I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it and when I wanted to do it. I have never in my entire life had a full-time job. All of the jobs I had were either part time or seasonal while I built my businesses on the side. I have never had to suck up to a boss. I've never had to tap dance to impress people I didn't like. That's because I was always building. I was always making moves, and I have spent time with my family every single day, no exceptions, for years. [15:58.0]
Guess how many days I spent away from my family in 2024? Zero. How many days did I spend away from my family in 2023? Zero. What about 2022? Zero. 2021? Zero. There are so many financial advisors who say they want to spend more time with their families, but refuse to listen to a guy who has done it, who has legitimately spent every single day with his family for years. It's just goofy. Sometimes it's their ego. Sometimes it's plain ignorance. But whatever it is, they don't have deference, that magic ingredient that I'm talking about. They cannot defer to someone who has the result they want to have.
When it comes to qualification, again, you don't have to be this hardcore. It could be as simple as including a question or a statement that elicits some type of response that you want. It could be as simple as this: “Reply if you're interested in seeing a custom financial plan or if a custom financial plan is right for you,” or “This is only for people who want XYZ or ABC,” whatever you offer. “If that's you, please let me know.” You're qualifying. The goal is to create this natural filter. [17:05.7]
The people who respond to that sort of message are usually engaged. They're usually serious. They're usually ready to take action, and the ones who don't they've disqualified themselves and that is perfectly fine, because it does two things: it saves you from wasting time on people who aren't a good fit, and it creates a sense of exclusivity, which makes the gold—remember the term from prospecting? You're making the gold even more valuable.
I've even seen some financial advisors get creative with this approach by sprinkling kind of humorous or tongue-in-cheek statements in their marketing to repel people who wouldn't be fun to work with. For example, if you're looking for someone to hold your hand and tell you, “Everything will be okay while you ignore my advice. I'm not your guy.” Or “If you think Tiktok is the key to your retirement planning, we're probably not a good fit.” Or “I work with people who take action, not people who have to think about it for six months.” Statements like these set clear expectations right away. People know what kind of advisor you are and what you're about. That clarity saves you time and attracts the right clients. [18:11.6]
There it is, attracting again, because when you repel, you also attract. Those statements also make you stand out. Most financial advisors are afraid to show personality into marketing, but when you add a little bit of humor, when you get close to the edge, when you push the envelope a little bit, you differentiate yourself in a sea of sameness.
The truth is, marketing isn't just about drawing people in. It's about pushing people away, too, the wrong people that is, and when you do this, trust me, I promise you this will happen—you will create a stronger connection with the right prospects.
All right, I have a lot more I want to say about qualifying, but I will save it for a future podcast episode. This is one of the most important topics I can ever share with financial advisors, and I hope you take it seriously. With that said, I will catch you next week. [19:01.2]
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