You're listening to Financial Adviser Marketing, the best show on the planet for financial advisers 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 advisers grow their businesses more rapidly than ever before. Now, here is your host, James Pollard. [00:31.7]
James: Hey, financial advisors. I hope you're doing well. I hope you're experiencing the success you deserve. I hope you're getting everything you want out of life. I want to say thank you for listening to the show. My job is to make sure you continue to be successful. And I have a little bit of an announcement, Jonathan.
Jonathan: All right.
James: So, by the time this comes out, I'm pretty sure that my email list will already know about this. I know that my LinkedIn followers/connections will already know about this. And depending on when people receive it, if they're international or whatever, the inner circle members would know about this. But I don't know if podcasts listeners will know about this, or at least they shouldn't. I am kind of sorta doing one-on-one coaching again.
Jonathan: No way.
James: For the first time in years.
Jonathan: What happened? [01:15.9]
James: So, I know I discussed this in January, 2019. I was like, Hey Jonathan, I think I, I want to do one-on-one coaching again. And you're like, okay, cool, that's awesome. Good luck to you. And I was like, no. And then in January of 2020, I was like, Hey Jonathan, I think I kind of want to do one-on-one coaching again. And you're like, yeah, that would be awesome kinda. Like you were super supportive and I was like, hmm, no. And so I didn't even bring it up this year. And I was like, screw it. I'm not going to do one-on-one coaching, there's no way. But what I ended up doing was, so I released a 42-minute video. It's completely free. You don't have, you don't even have to opt in. I mean, I'm hurting myself here because like, I should be building my email list. I should be running a webinar or whatever. You don't have to sign up for anything. You just go to TheAdvisorCoach.com/ads. The letter A as in Adam, the letter D as in David, the letter S as in shoot, you better go get that video. TheAdvisorCoach.com/ads. [02:14.2]
It's a 42-minute video about, how financial advisors can run profitable ads. And like, I give you the strategies that allow me to run profitable online ads. I tell you some pretty serious stuff that like, quite frankly, isn't available anywhere else. There's a ton of YouTube videos out there and, so there are some good courses, there are some good articles or whatever, but they all focus on tactical stuff. Like how much should you be bidding? Should you bid, should you track your CPM or your CPC? What image should you use? What headlines should you use? Quite frankly, I'm at the point now I could use pretty much any image in my ads or almost any image I could use almost any headline and my ads would be profitable or at least break even. And it's because of the strategies I reveal in that video. [03:04.6]
So back to the one-on-one coaching thing, if someone goes to TheAdvisorCoach.com/ads, you have the free video there. I'm basically like, Hey, here's this video. It shows you how to run profitable ads, some of the biggest strategies that you can have. And then right beneath that video, there's an offer to work with me One-On-One where we will get on a zoom call together. I'll have my screen on, you'll have your screen on, or your camera on, I should say. I have my camera on, you have your camera on, and you're going to share your screen with me. You're going to go into your ads account, I'm going to look at your ads account. I'm going to make recommendations on what you could do better, what you can change, what you can take out, those kinds of things. And I'm going to make your ads work better. That's pretty much it. And so, I have a calendar on that page. The cost is $2,500 at the time of this recording, the rule of thumb that I have on that page, I explain everything. If you're spending at least $500 per month, are you planning to spend $500 per month, it's very easy for me to recoup my fee. If you're spending a thousand or more, it's laughably easy. And if you're spending much more than a thousand, then it's like, child's play. Like, it's just very easy. I charge $2,500. I tell you exactly how to make your ads better. And like, it should be a no brainer if you're spending at least 500 bucks a month on ads, but here's the kicker producer, Jonathan. [04:22.7]
Jonathan: Yes.
James: If we get on the call together, dear listener or financial advisor, if we get on that zoom call and you share your screen, and I can't find a way to improve your ads, I'm going to refund every single penny of what you paid. We're going to end the call right away. Cause I'm not going to waste my time, right? If in the first five minutes I'm like, Hey, I can't help you. I'm not going to spend the whole hour on the call with you. Like, it's just stupid on my part. But here is where it gets even better. If you implement my changes and your ads don't improve your metrics, don't get better. I'm going to refund every penny again. I'm just going to not again.
Jonathan: Hmm.
James: like I'm not going to be $5,000.
Jonathan: Double them baby.
James: I'm still going to refund everything. So, it's like, you literally cannot lose. Is that a good offer?
Jonathan: I'm, I'm going to TheAdvisorCoach.com/ads right now to check it out. [05:13.6]
James: So financial advisors like seriously, just go to TheAdvisorCoach.com/ads. Even if you don't want to get on a call with me, please watch the video. It's completely free, you don't have to sign up for anything. You don't have to do any of that, but seriously, if your ads don't improve, so you pay me the 2,500 bucks, we get on a call. I say, Hey, I can help you. We go through that entire hour. I give you recommendations. I tell you exactly what to change you. If you change those things that I tell you to change and your metrics do not improve. You get your money back. I call it. You literally cannot lose money back guarantee. Now, of course, I'm going to ask you for proof. I don't want people being like, Oh yeah, my ads didn't improve, give me my money back. I'm going to be like, no, no, no, no. Take a video. Show me your metrics because I'm going to take some notes. I'm going to say your video ads were converting at this, you are getting a cost per click of this or whatever. I'm going to know what your metrics are, because I mean, I'm going to keep track of that. So, if you come back and you're like, Oh my metrics, didn't improve. I'd be like, Oh man, I'm really sorry to hear that. Like, that's literally never happened because that's the reason why I end the call early if I don't think I can help you. But if you provide video proof and you're like, Hey, my metrics didn't improve. You get your money back. Because like, it just doesn't make sense for you to pay for something that didn't work out for you. So, are you checking out the page, Jonathan? [06:27.1]
Jonathan: I am indeed.
James: What do you think? He's given me live feedback people. I don't think he's ever seen this page before. So, he's either going to say something nice or he can tear it apart. We'll see.
Jonathan: No, it looks, it looks pretty good. The video is right up top and the offers in there, you just pre pitched everybody. So, they're not going to be surprised there and you even gave the price, but I obviously can't watch the video right now.
James: No, not on the podcast.
Jonathan: But I will be. It looks...
James: And I even have a video at the bottom showing people exactly how to set the appointment. It's it's a, it's an acuity calendar, it's drop dead easy. But in the video, I have a second video at the bottom where I recap the offer exactly like I just told you. We get on a zoom call together; I help you improve your ads and like that's pretty much it. And so, you go through the calendar, you put your name, first name, last name you put you don't have to put your phone number, but you put your email address. A confirmation email is going to be sent to that email address automatically and it's going to include a private link that's made just for you that you can use to access the meeting. It takes you to the zoom link. The reason I've done that is some fancy magic I've done to where it's a private link that's automatically generated for you, not my private ID, because like, I don't want people jumping on my private ID when I've had zoom calls for people. That would be weird. [07:42.0]
Jonathan: Yeah.
James: So, it automatically generates that. You get the link in the confirmation email and you click that link at whatever time you choose. If you choose one, o'clock on a Tuesday, click that link at one o'clock on a Tuesday and I'll be there and we'll just work through your ads together.
Jonathan: Boom.
James: So hopefully, hopefully I get some takers. That’s…
Jonathan: Hopefully.
James: I'm going to get some takers.
Jonathan: Yeah.
James: I'm kind of nervous to be honest with you. Cause I haven't done any sort of like real one-on-one coaching like this in years. So, like the last time I've done, it was like 2017 I believe, don't quote me on that. And even then, it was like a, it was like a weekly coaching call where I would work with you every single week and I'll help you vote your business. Now I don't want to do that. I just want to, I put my toes back in the water. One hour that way, like we could get it done. And if you want to keep working with me, we can discuss it. I really, I don't want to do that. But if you end up getting amazing results, then like we can talk then, but I'm gonna leave the door open.
Jonathan: I’d leave the escape hatch open.
James: Yeah, you can say that. [08:48.8]
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 one thousand dollars’ worth of bonuses, including exclusive interviews that aren’t available anywhere else.
Head on over to TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching to learn more. [09:11.3]
James: Now, today in the podcast, the actual title of this podcast, I believe it's going to be How Affluent People Search For Financial Advisors. So, I'm going to talk about how affluent people searched for financial advisors. This is obviously the financial advisor marketing podcast. I've done more than 100 episodes about how financial advisors can market their services and get more clients. But this is going to approach marketing from a different angle because we're going to look at some data so we can see how people really search for financial advisors. And I want to begin by saying that there is no single right or wrong way to market your service to wealthy investors. There's better ways and better ways than others, but like there's no real right or wrong way. Your, your unique marketing strategies and their results will depend on your circumstances, your personality, your assets that you have within your business. Like I've talked extensively about how effective marketing trends, how effective it tends to be when you tailor it to your personality. [10:09.4]
This is something most marketers don't talk about. They try to paint with a broad brush, but I'm telling you that someone who's an introvert will do much better with like LinkedIn and email than cold calling. It's just a fact, but you can shift the odds in your favor by looking at the data and looking at the trends of how people search for financial advisors. Because if everyone's looking for a financial advisor through referrals, you should probably gear up your business to focus more on referrals. So, knowing the data will help you think accurately and make good business decisions. So, the survey I want to talk about today is a survey from the Oxley Institute, shout out to Matt Oxley, and they've got the Stephen and Kevin show. Like I love those guys. So, if you're listening to this, shout out to you, if you want to share this with them, I'll probably have shared this with them by the time this comes out, but we'll see if you want to get in touch with them. That's awesome. I love their stuff. I love their studies that they put out. Again, I love anyone who gives you the real information, not just to like, Oh, do this not that like with no proof, right? [11:08.9]
So, they ask 403 investors, I will admit that that's a smaller sample size. And I like to see, but Hey, in the financial services space, it's, it is pretty hard to get a big sample size. So, I mean, I'll take what I can. So, they asked 403 investors with a minimum of $500,000, how they would begin looking for a financial advisor. For respondents over the age of 65 here's the breakdown. Now I'm going to get into the numbers here. So, this may be boring to some people. It may be exciting for other people who knows. 10% of people over age 65 said they would search online. 45% say they would ask friends and family. 34% said they would ask another professional for a and 11% said none of the above. So, in order, if you're over 65, most of them would ask friends and family. Then I would ask her professional. And then the smallest 10% would search online. So even though 10% of searching online is still very small compared to ask them for referrals. So, if you want to learn the most effective referral marketing strategy like ever go back to the last episode and listening to that. [12:20.3]
For respondents age 45 to 65, here's the breakdown, 27%, said they would search online. So, we went from 10% to 27%, 46% said they would ask friends and family for recommendations. So that's about the same 45% of people aged 65 and older 46% of people aged 45 to 65 said they would ask friends and family, so it's roughly the same. But what, what was interesting is that only 21% said they would ask another professional.
Hmm. So, signal inefficiently less than people who are aged 65 and older. The reason I want to get into this study and give you the real numbers in the real data is because if you're a financial advisor who is targeting people aged 65 and older, you need to be focused on referrals, quite frankly. And I have a referral product, which you can go to TheAdvisorCoach.com/products. And you will see on that page, it should be somewhere in there, 51 referral marketing tips for financial advisors. I'm just being straight up with you. [13:20.1]
If you're targeting people who are age 65 and older, that product can change your life. But if you're talking to people, he's 45 to 65, you should also be focused on referrals. Yes, but you should understand that the more of them are searching online. Then for respondents under age 45, here's the breakdown 43% who said they would search online. 39% said they would ask friends and family. So, we're starting to see a load decrease here. So, the younger people don't ask friends and family for referrals, as often as older people, and then only 13% would ask another professional for a recommendation. So there, I agree that the having you strategic alliances and being lined up with accountants and attorneys and all these other professionals, it's a, it's a smart idea. It's an amazing tool to have on your, in your toolbox, but just giving you the real data here, if you're targeting younger people and you're trying to work with millennials or whatever. Yeah…. it’s not going to work as well. [13:20.1]
So, what can you gather from this information? I mean, I've already given you some ends here, but I want to kind of spell it out. The point I'm trying to get through your head. Is that, not right? All marketing strategies are created equal, especially when you consider people of different age groups like Oxley did. If you're a financial advisor and you're marketing to people 65 and older, you can tilt the odds heavily in your favor by focusing on referral marketing like I said. If you get 51 referral marketing tips for financial advisors, it's going to rock your world. And in fact, referral marketing from friends and family members that did have a good percentage across the board, even people under age 45, 39% of them said they would ask recommendation or ask for a recommendation from friends and family members. So, it is entering interesting to see that asking for other professionals that dramatically decreases as the age gets lower. So, if you've been through the referral marketing program and you've seen the bonus video, or I'm getting referrals from CPAs, keep in mind, it is more effective the older your clients are your prospective clients are. [15:19.1]
If you're going after younger clients, your best bet is building an online presence because that is their number one way to begin searching for a financial advisor, they get online 43% of them do that more and more people are going to use the internet going forward. It's like it's 20 21 and I'm like, Oh yeah, the internet is going to be a big thing in the future. I could just, it sounds so goofy to say, but it is true. Asking for a referral isn't as effective as it used to be because when advisors broadcast their niches and their specialties, people can make an informed decision without ever leaving the comfort of their home. So, you might be wondering what's a good first step, if I'm targeting people age 45 and under. Good place to start has been LinkedIn. Because when people, people like start looking for a financial advisor, they type your name and, or your company name into a search engine like Google, bang, duck, duck, go, whatever you use. And one of the first things they're going to see and click on is your LinkedIn profile. [16:24.6]
And the reverse is also true. When people see you on LinkedIn, after viewing your profile and connecting with you and receiving a message, and like, if you've interacted with them and they see you, they are more likely to type your name into a search engine and then go to your website. Like…this is what people actually do. And my overall message, I guess like the overall theme of this is that the writings on the wall, referrals while they are still effective with the older clients and older prospective clients, they are not as powerful as they used to be. I, I view all these old school marketing strategies like gas cars versus electric cars. The writings on the wall with gas cars, they're going away. Everybody kind of accepts that right now, but it's happening so slowly they don't even feel it. This is what's happening with people searching for financial advisor. More and more of it is happening online. Eventually the overwhelming majority of people will find financial advisors online and you will be forced to upgrade your online presence or you will fall to the wayside. So, the choice is yours. I just want to make sure you'd know what's coming so you can prepare for it and so, you can roll with the punches. Never before have we had an opportunity to showcase our skills, established credibility and build rapport with a large audience of people like we have today. This is an amazing blessing that has never existed in the history of the financial services industry. [17:45.0]
Either you're using this to help you or your inactivity is killing you. There's no middle ground. Again, none of this is my theory. None of this is my opinion. You can verify everything I'm telling you by searching Oxley, how do I affluent search for a new financial advisor? That's like the page has got the data on it. You can verify it doesn't even come from me; it comes from them. You can see the survey results for yourself. All I'm doing is giving you a clear path to what works and I'll catch you next week. [18:14.1]
Jonathan: There it is. So, what what do you have coming up for us next time, James?
James: Next one, we're going to shift to email marketing and I'm going to share a little story about a financial advisor who set fourteen appointments from a single email.
Jonathan: Wow. Wow. 14 appointments from one email. I cannot wait. All right. That's it, boys and girls and other financial advisor marketing is in the can. We are so glad that you guys tuned in and now you've got to get out of here, but we'll be back next week. [18:45.8]
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