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: Welcome to Financial Advisor Marketing. If you're here, great - love to have you listening to the show, and not only is this show about informing you and helping you to get more clients as a financial advisor, I'm also here to entertain you. And apparently, a lot of people are finding value in this podcast. I really appreciate it. It does mean a lot to me. And in fact, I recently got an email from a financial advisor in Florida, your home state, Jonathan.
Jonathan: How bout that?
James: And he said this. He said, "James, I know you talk a lot about how you don’t believe in giving value, but I must say, I found a tremendous amount of value in this podcast. Every time I listen, I take away something new that I can use. Keep up the good work. You've got a loyal listener who tunes in every Monday." [0:01:15.3]
Great feedback. And I'm glad to hear that, and yes, I am of the opinion that giving value is a big trap that marketers fall into, and I don’t want to talk about that today, but essentially, you should not assume what your prospect values and I mean, if you like this show, please - leave a review and if you look at the reviews, you'll realize that people either love me or they hate me. And that's done intentionally. That's what I want. I want to turn off certain people. And I don't know what it is, Jonathan - maybe some people expect like a lecture or something - like this is going to be a class or they come to this podcast classroom, I guess, and sit down and take notes and I'm just going to regurgitate and feed them information. I mean, is that like a perception people have about podcasts? [0:02:00.2]
Jonathan: I hope not.
James: Well, I mean, that's kind of what it is. Either people are like, "Oh, my goodness - I love listening to this. This is so entertaining and I laugh every week and I still get some good takeaways," and that's like right on the nose. That's what I want. I want to be entertaining, just relax, we're laid back, you get some good takeaways. I'm not like boring you or anything. I'm not like giving you just straight info. And then there are the other people who are like, "Oh, there's no value in this podcast." It's like they expect … I just don’t know what it is. Maybe it really is my fault for not seeing this, but I imagine like people do just expect a classroom?
Jonathan: It's their programming, bro.
James: The programming - yeah, yeah. And again, listen to the programming episode that we did two episodes back, I believe. Then go back and listen to that. I guess some people really are programmed to expect that a podcast is just giving them…
Jonathan: They're just entitled. Call it what it is.
James: Entitled - yeah, maybe, sure. So, whatever. I'm being entertaining. The last time I checked, this was the Financial Advisor Marketing Podcast with James Pollard, not the give you information for free classroom show. [0:03:07.2]
So, there you go. If you love the show, if you hate the show - either way, please leave a review, and like I said, don’t assume what your prospect values, because your prospect could value something completely different than what you think. So be careful. A lot of people think they need to give value by sharing content, sharing videos, and giving information and stuff like that. And it's not true. But we will talk about that another time because today, we're talking about that very provocative title, that click bait title - How You Can Predict A Financial Advisor's Bank Balance. And I must admit that this idea is not original to me, and it comes from legendary marketer, Dan Kennedy, and I wish I could remember exactly where it came from. It was one of his speeches or one of his seminars and he was talking about how he used to go to these conventions for speakers and chiropractors and people like that, and he would notice something strange. [0:04:08.2]
He noticed that at the speaking seminar, speakers were talking about ways they could speak better, and what was funny is that Dan Kennedy was actually, he admitted that he was a terrible speaker, but he still made more money than most of the professional speakers at the meeting. Why? Because he focused on marketing. And actually, you know what, now that I think about it, that might be it, Jonathan. I guess financial advisors are listening to this podcast expecting ways to become better, like actual advisors. Like the doing of the thing. They want to be better technicians. Well, I've got news for you - the technical stuff is not where the money is. Being an actual, like an actual better advisor in your craft, that's great, but you still have to market. I'm not telling people to be terrible advisors or to just completely slack off, but what I mean is like, none of that matters until you get clients, and that's what I'm helping you with. [0:05:08.4]
I'm helping you with the mental side. I'm helping you with the marketing side. If you read between the lines, I mean, I'm not giving you all this stuff - I mean, this is not a classroom where I'm saying point 1, point 2, take all these notes and I'm giving you everything away. I'm not doing that because I want to attract a particular person who will really value what's going on. So, that's what it is. And Dan Kennedy, he also, he noticed the same thing at chiropractic seminars. He noticed that they would try all these different techniques and all these adjustments and they were cracking each other and like ripping each other's joints and things like that. They would all focus on doing the chiropractic stuff. And I've never been to a chiropractor. Have you ever been to a chiropractor, Jonathan?
Jonathan: I have not, but I have one as a client.
James: Yeah. I never, never been. And that's kind of cool that you got a client who is a chiropractor. Just cracking and whacking.
Jonathan: He's a good marketer, though. [0:06:00.8]
James: Okay. Well, yeah right - that's the thing. Because only a small amount of people focus on the marketing stuff. They want to focus on the marketing of their craft; that's where the money is. But Dan Kennedy also noticed, very quickly, that the people who were focused on the marketing, not the doing of the thing, but the marketing of the thing, these people were also making the most money. And he said this, and this is where I got the inspiration for the title - he said he could predict the bank balance of the people who were focused on the doing of their thing because he knew the average American's bank balance at the time, and he knew that the average person focused on the doing. So it was easy for him to predict it. And I don't know what the number was or whatever; he didn't share it. But like, for example, if the average American has $4000 in a bank account - I think I'm close - I could be completely off, but I think I'm in the ballpark. So let's just say, for the purposes of this example, that the average American has $4000 in a bank account, and the average American is going to be focused on doing stuff, like the doing of their profession. [0:07:06.0]
So when you put 2 and 2 together, you quickly realize that people who are focused on the doing of their profession are probably going to have average results and an average bank balance. And this is true with financial advising as well. A lot of people get caught up in the doing of their thing, and don’t get me wrong - you want to have the skills to pay the bills, but good marketing trumps all. You have to do something to move the needle.
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James: And you can move the needle in a lot of ways. You can do direct outreach for prospects. You can get traffic to your website. If you haven’t listened to the last episode, it's about making your website better; listen to that. You can get referrals. You can do all that stuff. But none of those things really involve the doing of what you do. When you're getting referrals, you're not doing financial planning. When you're reaching out to prospects, you're not doing financial planning. You're not doing money management. You're not putting together spreadsheets and things like that for your clients when you're doing the marketing. So, it's sad because a lot of advisors view marketing as this like second tier thing, almost like a necessary evil, but good financial advisors who are also good marketers get paid a lot more than just the good financial advisors. And Jonathan, your chiropractor client - I'm sure he gets paid a lot more than other chiropractors. [0:09:01.3]
Jonathan: He's pretty successful.
James: So there you go, and it's because of the marketing. Correct?
Jonathan: Yeah, yeah. He's a great marketer.
James: And if you hang around marketers and you study the marketing information and you put it together with your business.. I mean if… the thing is, if you're a terrible financial advisor to begin with, good marketing is not going to solve your problem, and I'm not going to tell you that it will. I know there are other experts and gurus out there that will say, "Yeah, just become a good marketer and everything will be okay." That's not true. You've got to have the skills to pay the bills, like I said - you've got to be good. But once you're good, oh, my goodness. When you get your marketing right, everything blows up. And that's kind of what I'm doing in my own life. I mean, I'm really good at helping financial advisors. I'm not ashamed to admit it. So all I'm doing is putting the marketing behind it. I'm marketing the stuff because I've got the skills. I'm doing the things, you know, but I'm putting the marketing machine in there too. I'm pouring gasoline on the fire. And here's another example. Harry Houdini, the magician, yes. [0:10:04.5]
Harry, himself - he was not the best magician ever. He wasn’t even the best for his own time. Yet, he was the best marketer amongst all those magicians so you probably can't even tell me, like in the 1920s and 30s - I think that's when he was around - so, but if I went up to a person and I say, "Hey - name an old timey magician from like the last century, or name three." They would be like, uhhh - Harry Houdini, then…. "And they would like draw a blank, but that is the whole point. And I won't spend too much time on this, but another secret you can learn from all the stuff is to constantly keep innovating. That's what Harry Houdini did because people would always copy his stuff. They would see his act and the tricks that he did and the magic he performed and they would copy it. And that's kind of how like people copy my stuff. I'm just going to put that out there. I have noticed people copying my stuff. When I do a certain email style, all of the sudden, I see other people doing it. [0:11:06.4]
There's a very unique way for financial advisors to do email, right? And I'm starting to see people copy it, but what's funny is - I'm heavily inspired by Ben Settle and his daily emails - I think he's like the go, greatest of all time when it comes to email, and I'm actually putting together an email system, and I'm not - I don’t want to give too much away. I know you’ve seen it, Jonathan, the covers at least, and it is going to be an absolute game changer. And even though I'm inspired by Ben, I'm not blatantly copying his stuff. I mean, sure, yeah - I advocate daily emails, just like he does, but that's just a, that's a method. There's a method behind it and his stuff, the specifics of what he does, doesn’t necessarily work the best way for financial advisors. It's a heck of a lot better than what most advisors are doing, but there's a few things that you need to do differently, and I'm putting that together in an email system. [0:12:02.5]
Anyway, people were copying Houdini because they saw his act. It was amazing. They wanted to be just like that. But he stayed a step ahead because he was always innovating. If you can do that as a financial advisor, if you can innovate, you will never have competition. I promise you. And a lot of innovation comes from good marketing. So no matter how many financial advisors there are in your area, no matter how many competitors you think you have, if you're constantly innovating and constantly moving, nobody will be able to touch you. And a lot of financial advisors may be thinking right now, "But I don’t like the marketing stuff." But it doesn’t matter - you don’t have to like it. It literally does not matter if you like marketing or not because the real question you need to ask yourself is "How much money do I want to make." It's like eating better. It's like exercising. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not. If you want to be healthy, you've got to do it. I don’t like kale, Jonathan. I don’t like blueberries and raspberries and I don’t like working out. [0:13:07.9]
I really don’t. I mean, I do it, and I try … I don’t like tracking my sleep. I don’t like going to bed early. I really do not like it. I don’t like taking Bach Rescue Sleep, which is what I take. It's a weird sensation because it's like a melting capsule and you put it on your tongue and it melts. I don’t like it, but the real question is do I want to be healthy? Do I want to live a better lifestyle? Heck, yeah - sign me up. So, I mean, it doesn’t matter if I like it or not. And it doesn’t matter if financial advisors like marketing or not. They've got to get comfortable with it. Marketing has no opinion. It doesn’t care. It just is. And the same is true of money. Money doesn’t care if you like it, if you hate it - well, in the attraction sense, it kind of cares - but in a business sense, it's just there. Are you going to get the money or are you not? Are you going to help people or not? Are you going to build your business or not? [0:14:00.1]
So, you’ve got to shift from being the doer of your thing to the marketer of your thing. And if you're not comfortable with that, it doesn’t matter. I mean, this podcast is called the Financial Advisor Marketing Podcast for a reason, so if you're listening to this right now, I assume you're one of the rare financial advisors who actually gives a crap about marketing, and if that's you, you're probably going to make way more money than everyone else anyway, with or without my help. But with my help, I can put you a notch above. So, speaking of marketing and making money, I actually have a book called The Big Book of Business Building Secrets, and that's available at TheAdvisorCoach.com/big, that's b-i-g, like Notorious B.I.G., and you can even check that out and it's very expensive; it's $595, but it's also worth every penny. And my guarantee is that if you don’t agree that's worth at least 10 times what you paid over the course of your career, just send it back for a full refund. There's literally no risk. So, great offer,
Jonathan. Great episode, Jonathan. [0:15:08.0]
Jonathan: Yes, sir. What's coming up next time?
James: Next time, I'm going to talk about how financial advisors can set appointments on autopilot, which is actually the title of my upcoming email system, so I'm going to give you a little sneak peek, and it's going to be a phenomenal episode and you're going to want to take notes. I am going to break everything down, step-by-step, and show you what you need to do to get appointments.
Jonathan: Oh, man - I can't wait for that.
Alright. You've been listening to Financial Advisor Marketing. We will be back with you next time.
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