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: When I was a kid, I loved knights. Not like night and day. I mean knights in shining armor, like King Arthur and the Round Table. I had toy swords, plastic shields. I even had a helmet that was way too big for my little cranium. I'd run around the backyard pretending I was on some epic quest, saving kingdoms and slaying dragons. For the longest time, my favorite animated movie was The Sword in the Stone. That's a rare one. You may have not even heard of that one, if you have you're a real one and I love that you know that. I love seeing knights in other movies and TV shows besides that one. [01:08.8]
I remember seeing something on TV that made a big impact on me. I don't even remember what it was because I was so young. It was this moment where the brave knight knelt before the king and the Royal sword tapped each of his shoulders, and the king said something like, Rise, Sir Knight. Actually, fun fact for you, that little ceremony, the knighting ceremony, is where we get the word “accolade.” The origin of that word is all about conferring knighthood. Keep that in mind as we go through this episode. I want you to think about how attached you are or might be to various accolades in your life. [01:47.4]
But back to the knight and knighthood. I loved that moment. I loved that ceremony, because it seemed like the knight became an instant hero. The knight got all the attention, all the glory, and sometimes a princess to go with it. But here's what no one told me as a kid. In real life, there is no king who taps you on the shoulder and says, “Congratulations, you're successful now,” and yet so many people go through life waiting for that moment, waiting for a sign, waiting for someone to tell them they've earned the right to go after their goals, waiting for some industry guru to say, “Now you're good enough to succeed.”
Let me save you some time. No one is coming. I've seen lots of financial advisors in this situation, including one very recently. We'll call him Steve. Steve is smart. Steve has a great personality, and Steve genuinely cares about his clients. I'll tell you this, I would be proud to be one of Steve's clients. But Steve was stuck. Every time he would send me an email, he would include a sentence or two like this: “I'll market myself once I feel more established.” “I can't raise my fees until I've been in the game a few years.” This was back when I wrote the Inner Circle Newsletter about pricing, which apparently helped a lot of people. That was a sleeper of an issue. I guess I didn't think it would do that well, but it ended up doing really well. So, cool, financial advisors want to learn about pricing and the economics of their business. [03:12.2]
He would also say things like, “I'm not ready to work with high-net-worth clients yet.” There's actually a specific form of prospecting reluctance where advisors are afraid to work with wealthy individuals, but that's a topic for another episode. Basically, Steve was waiting for permission. He was waiting for someone to come along and anoint him with a shiny sword and say, “Rise Sir Steve of Financial Advising.” That wasn't going to happen.
But do you know what did happen? I told him, “Steve, no one is coming to anoint you. You have to crown yourself.” Now, I didn't say it exactly like that, but that was the message. I'm sure he laughed at first when he got that email from me, but then he probably realized I was serious, and thankfully—and this is so important. This is what I want you to get—Steve gave himself permission. He stopped waiting and started acting. He started building marketing systems. He started improving his business. He started doing all of the cool things I talk about here on the Financial Advisor Marketing podcast and elsewhere. [04:13.2]
The funny thing is that Steve didn't change as a person. He was still the smart, caring advisor. He was still the same old Steve. The only thing that changed was he gave himself permission to do the things that he needed to do to improve his business. The biggest obstacle to your success is not the market, your competitors or even your current clients, because some of you think that all your clients take up your time and you can't do anything because you have to service your clients. That's an excuse. The biggest obstacle is you.
You're waiting for someone to say you're good enough. You're waiting for a sign that says, “Now is the time.” You're waiting for permission to go after what you want. But guess what? You don't need permission. You don't need a guru to bless your strategy. You don't need a fancy title or decades of experience. You don't need someone else's approval. You just need to act. [05:02.0]
In my experience, one of the most common ways financial advisors seek permission is with excessive credential-seeking. Let me start by saying this, because I don't want people to misinterpret what I'm saying here. Credentials are important. The CFP, CFA, CPA, EA and all of those, they prove you know your stuff. They build trust. They give you credibility. They're valuable, yes, but the issue is, lots of financial advisors treat their credentials like a magic key to success. They think, If I just add another certification, clients will come running, so they spend months, sometimes years, chasing more letters to add after their name.
Meanwhile, other financial advisors with fewer certifications but more belief and more permission, more internal validation, are out there marketing themselves and landing high-value clients and growing their businesses, and just being successful. Why? Because, even though credentials can open the door, it's the marketing that brings people in. [06:02.3]
When you think about what actually moves the needle in your business, this seems obvious. The financial advisors who position themselves as trustworthy professionals and build relationships, they're the ones who get more clients. Oh, and let me throw this in. There are things you can do that will ruin your chances of converting clients, even if you have all the credentials in the world, so you need to know what not to do also.
For example, if your messaging is generic and uninspiring, then prospects won't see you as the right fit. Or if you spend too much time rattling off your qualifications and talking about how awesome you are, instead of focusing on your clients’ goals or at least tying your credentials back to your clients, then their eyes will glaze over and they will forget all about you.
Another example. I'll give you another example, just to be helpful, inconsistent follow up. It doesn't matter how many certifications you have, how many credentials you have. You could have a PhD in financial planning, but if you're not following up with people, if you're not staying in front of people, someone else will swoop in and convert the people in your world to clients. [07:07.8]
Again, credentials are important. I love credentials, but clients don't choose you solely because of your credentials. They choose you because you make them feel understood. You position yourself as an expert who can help them reach their goals—and, yes, I understand credentials can be a part of that—and because you market yourself in such a way that makes them think, This is the person I trust, or I can trust with my money. None of that happens automatically, no matter how many letters you add to your name. There is also not a single person who will come to you and give you permission to do this stuff besides yourself.
I didn't plan on getting that deep with this podcast episode, but I'd like to share with you how a lot of stuff in the self-help space is really about self-permission. You can tell when this is happening because people will ask questions like this. “Is it possible? Should I? Could I? What do you think? Can I? What if?” Those questions are usually, not all the time, but usually, seeking permission from other people. So, if someone asks a question, “Is it possible?” to another person, they're seeking permission from that other person. [08:16.5]
A subtle shift you can make is to change those questions into statements. For example, instead of asking, “Is it possible?” you turn it into a statement and say, “It's possible because—” Or instead of “Can I?” you should say, “I can because—” Instead of “What do you think?” you can say, “I think XYZ because—” In psychological terms, what's happening when you do this is you're giving yourself agency. It shifts the focus from external validation to internal validation.
Agency is one of the most powerful forces you can tap into as a human being. It allows you to own your choices and your actions without needing any input from other people, because you are your own person. Can you still get input? Yes, and you probably should. I believe wise people seek counsel. But you don't need it. That is the differentiator. The lack of counsel doesn't prevent you from making moves. [09:09.5]
When you make the shift inside, things start to change. You stop waiting for permission to market yourself. You stop waiting for permission to show up confidently in the marketplace. You stop waiting for permission to pursue a certain type of client. Instead, you take the reins. You have control.
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.
Let me bring this back to marketing for a moment. One of the best examples of self-permission is deciding to take bold action. Too many advisors are stuck in what I like to call the safe zone of marketing, or their comfort zone. They stick to tactics that feel comfortable, like posting a few times on LinkedIn, sending the occasional email when they should be automating it and doing the stuff I teach with email, but whatever. Maybe they attend a networking event here and there where they talk to the same five people every single time. Those are okay, but they don't stretch you. They don't push the boundaries of what's possible. [11:04.0]
The advisors who succeed at the highest level give themselves permission to take risks. They launch ad campaigns that make them a little nervous. They try direct mail, even though everyone says it's outdated, even though it's absolutely not outdated, and in the podcast I did a few weeks ago with Michael Kitces, even Michael Kitces was like, Yeah, direct mail was crushing it. And I'm like, Yeah, you tell me. Tell me something I don't know. They experiment with webinars or workshops that force them to grow as communicators. Those advisors are the ones who look back a year later or two years later and they think, Wow, I can't believe how far I've come.
The truth is, you're the only one who can give yourself permission to do these things. No certification, no industry mentor, no client is going to hand you a golden ticket and say, “Here you go. You're ready now.” You decide when you're ready. You decide when you're qualified, and then you back that up with action. [12:01.1]
This idea of self-permission doesn't just apply to marketing, either. It's relevant to every part of your business. Do you want to charge higher fees? Give yourself permission to believe you're worth it. Do you want to narrow your niche? Give yourself permission to say no to clients who don't fit that niche. Do you want to scale your business? Give yourself permission to think bigger than you ever have before.
Here's a practical exercise. I want you to take out a piece of paper and write down one thing you've been holding back on because you're waiting for permission, either consciously or unconsciously. Just really think about this. Maybe it's creating a video series or hosting an event, or reaching out to a high-net-worth prospect that you know you should reach out to, but you just don't, you're hesitant. Write it down, whatever it is, and next to it, write, “I can do this because—” and then finish the sentence. [12:53.7]
Wow, I'm really getting into the weeds with this episode. There's something called self-determination theory and it was developed in the early-2000s. It basically says that human beings have these inherent psychological needs and those needs drive growth. When those needs are satisfied, people are basically more likely to be happy and healthy, and be well-rounded and functioning adults. Those needs are autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Autonomy is all about feeling in control of your behavior and your goals. This is in direct opposition to permission-seeking. Competence is about basically feeling capable, like you can do the things that you want to do. Competence is about mastering tasks and solving problems, and just getting stuff done. I've concluded this. I've concluded that excessive credential seeking is a misguided way to seek competence, because these financial advisors get really good at getting credentials and building that aspect of credibility, so they are competent at that thing. Yet it's misguided because there are so many other elements of marketing and business building, and the advisors remain incompetent in those things. [14:04.1]
The final need, relatedness, is the need to feel connected to other people and to experience a sense of belonging. This is different from permission-seeking, though, because relatedness does not diminish your autonomy. You are still your own person. In fact, supportive relationships often empower people because they feel like they connect with other people, and they get insights and tips and tricks and everything, and they feel grounded. They feel supported. They feel empathy.
That's what I try to do with my Inner Circle members. I don't want them to view me or other people in the Inner Circle with the office hours, I don't want them to view me or those people as someone or people who give them permission, even though it happens sometimes. Instead, I want us to help each other. I want us to become better. [14:50.4]
So, let's break this down even further with some actionable insights. I usually don't give this level of actionable takeaways in the Financial Advisor Marketing podcast episode, but I think this is such an important topic. Let's focus on autonomy. Autonomy is the cornerstone of overcoming this permission-seeking behavior. It's about recognizing you are in control of your decisions and your outcomes. You might not be able to control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it.
Waiting for permission to do stuff in your life erodes your autonomy, because it puts someone else in charge of your own destiny. So, avoid getting caught up in what others expect of you. Learn to say no to opportunities to don't align with your goals. Define success on your own terms. Instead of saying, “I'll be successful when someone recognizes my skills,” even if you don't do that consciously, you might be doing that unconsciously. You want to truly, 100% believe, to your core, “I'm successful because I say so. I'm successful because I'm taking action. I'm moving toward my goals.” [15:53.3]
Competence. Let's move on to competence, because you’ve got autonomy. You've got competence. You’ve got relatedness. Competence is about basically being good at what you do. Instead of adding another credential or seeking permission from someone, learn the stuff you actually need to do. I mean, you're on the right path because you're listening to the Financial Advisor Marketing podcast, so you're learning stuff, or at least, I hope you are. It's never my intention to teach you stuff. I never sit down and I say, “What can I teach financial advisors this week?” but if you take things away from this podcast, then I'm thankful and I'm grateful that you do. But you should be learning these things. You should learn marketing and communication, and sales and accounting and bookkeeping, just stuff that will help you in business that will increase your competence.
Along the way, you should celebrate milestones. You should acknowledge them, even small ones. Did you get one new client from your recent campaign? That's proof you're on the right track. That's proof that you're gaining competence—and the fastest way to gain competence is to do, to take action, because even if you fail, you gain experience, and that prepares you for the next thing that you want to do, the next opportunity, the next way for you to build competence, and so on and so forth. [17:03.2]
Rather than saying, “You're not ready and trying to seek someone to tell you, “Oh, you're ready now. It's okay. I give you permission,” you could just start small. I know that's a shocker for a lot of people, but you can just start with a tiny action and then do another one, and then do another one, and that is what can build competence. Scientifically and psychologically speaking, that is a proven way to do it.
Finally, you have relatedness. Again, that's all about relating to other people and feeling supported and being connected with others. But, and this is crucial, it doesn't mean giving up your autonomy in order to fit in. True relatedness should strengthen your ability to act independently. That is so important for people to understand.
The way to build this in a healthy manner, I think, is to surround yourself with people who challenge and inspire you. For financial advisors, these groups of other financial advisors or marketers, yes, the Inner Circle with the office hours and everything, but it could be other professional networks. It could be groups. You could even set up your own thing. I mean, I know there are financial advisors out there who meet with groups of other advisors five or six at a time or a dozen, and they have coffee together or lunch together. That's awesome. I love that. [18:17.8]
I also think that when you are building your relatedness, I want you to avoid the guru trap. It's great to have mentors. Mentors can be awesome. Yes, you should be very careful when you're choosing your mentor, but if you have the right one, that can be a great thing. But don't depend on your mentor for every decision, because then you're putting your mentor on a pedestal. You should not do that. You should use their advice as guidance, but it shouldn't necessarily be the final word.
I mean, are there some exceptions to this? Yes, there are some things where you should just shut up and listen to the person telling you what to do. But for most things, you should probably just take everything a mentor tells you with a grain of salt and apply it to your specific situation. [19:00.7]
So, engage with people. Maybe if you want to join the Inner Circle, that's awesome. But instead of waiting for others to tell you what to do, you should just actively contribute with your ideas. It's not seeking permission. It's just you building on what you already have.
So, what stops advisors from giving themselves permission? I think there are three big things. The first thing is fear of failure. Many financial advisors hesitate because they fear making mistakes. They live their life in spreadsheets. They're numbers people. They get analysis paralysis. But making mistakes is just a natural part of growth. If you're not making mistakes, then you're probably not growing.
The second thing is imposter syndrome, so feeling like you're not good enough or that you don't deserve success. That can hold you back. I've done entire podcast episodes about imposter syndrome, so if you have a search function, you should probably search financial advisor marketing imposter syndrome.
The third is over reliance on external validation, and I talked a lot about this. This is basically about waiting for approval from colleagues or clients, or industry leaders or anyone besides yourself that can create stagnation. [20:07.1]
At the end of the day, I'll wrap this podcast episode with this, no one is coming to anoint you. There's no king with a sword, no industry guru, no certification that magically transforms you into a successful financial advisor. You have to decide you're ready. You have to crown yourself, and I hope you do. And with that said, I will catch you next week. [20:32.0]
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