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: If you're a new financial advisor, you do not want to miss this episode, because I'm going to chat with you about some marketing mistakes new financial advisors make. I'll give you a few pitfalls to avoid, along with some alternative approaches that can help you succeed—and, please, don't ignore this episode if you're an experienced financial advisor because you might pick up a thing or two that can help you as well. [00:53.6]
But, first, let me share this email I received from an advisor.
“I have tried learning from a bunch of marketers, like Gary Vaynerchuk, Russell Brunson, and Grant Cardone, but couldn't quite make it work. I think it's because none of them work directly with financial advisors like you do, so you were able to make a lot of sense to me where others do not.”
To be fair, this email went into a lot more detail about the advisor’s current situation, how much money he's making, and how well he's doing, but none of that really applies to your specific situation and I don't want to guarantee results. I don't want to imply any results. But I just wanted to point that out. I appreciate that very much.
The truth is that it is difficult to make general marketing advice for financial advisors work, because financial advice marketing is so nuanced. There are so many little things that make a difference that, respectfully, I love the marketers who are doing a good job. I have great respect for the profession. But, respectfully, people who don't work directly with financial advisors simply don't know about a lot of these nuances. [01:51.7]
For example, I frequently share scripts and headlines, and website pages and whatnot, in my Inner Circle Newsletter that would not work in other industries. Let me say that again, the stuff that I share would not work in other industries, meaning, if someone tried to apply the advisor-specific tactics to another industry or the advisor-specific strategies, it would not do as well.
Something similar happens in reverse. There are a lot of commonly-accepted marketing tactics and strategies that simply do not work or don't work as well for financial advisors. But you have no way of knowing that unless you've been in the trenches working with advisors and unless you've seen a lot of financial advisor marketing campaigns like I have, because even if you're getting your advice from a successful financial advisor, chances are that financial advisor has a sample size of one, what worked for him or her only. and that's bad. I don't know if you know statistics or not, but a sample size of one is not really good.
So, let's get into these marketing mistakes that new financial advisors make.
Number one, they blindly seek out mentors. There's been this weird trend in the entrepreneurship business space over the past few decades for people to want to seek out mentors. It's like they can't even get started or do anything unless they have mentors. “I need a mentor. I have to go out and get someone to mentor me.” [03:10.8]
They use not having a mentor as an excuse for not doing anything, and that's not a good idea, especially because having a mentor can be dangerous. My advice to you if you're someone who thinks you need one is this. Be careful. Be very careful. First, it's important to recognize that even though marketing strategies don't change, tactics do. What worked for your mentor 20 years ago may no longer be effective at all today. Blindly following outdated advice from a mentor could lead you down a path of wasted time and resources.
I got an email literally yesterday from an Inner Circle member who told me that he was working with a family member and that family member was telling him how direct mail doesn't work, email marketing doesn't work and social media doesn't work. That's news to me. [03:56.3]
I mean, I'm shocked, because all of those things have been working extremely well for as long as I've been helping financial advisors and there was a long line of people who made them work before me, before I ever started. I mean, direct mail has been around for more than 100 years as a marketing tool. Sears, Roebuck was using it. You have advertisements from the insurance industry, in the fashion industry, your financial advice. Yes, Merrill Lynch has these old ads that just crushed it. It has been around forever. Entire multimillion-dollar businesses have been built on the back of direct mail alone.
But this family member seems to know a little bit better. He knew better than all of the marketers and copywriters out there. He knew better than everyone who came before me who got incredible results. And he might have great intentions, but I'm just keeping it real with you. He's giving dumb advice.
I told my Inner Circle member to listen to this family member for a little bit because one of two things will happen. The family member’s advice will either work and the advisor will be more successful, which is great, or the family member’s advice will not work and the advisor will get him off his back, because if it doesn't work, he can say, “Hey, I tried your thing. It didn't work. Please let me do my own thing now.” [05:03.7]
The financial advisor needs the mental resilience to try something while accepting that it's probably not going to work well for him. It's a sucky situation all around and he'll probably have to work on other marketing strategies during his downtime while following the family member’s advice.
My point in sharing this little story with you is that if this advisor just blindly accepted his family member’s advice that those marketing strategies don't work, he would be shutting himself out from a lot of proven marketing strategies that could get him more clients and grow his business. He would just be putting a blindfold on and it would be silly.
Moreover, every financial advisor’s journey is unique. Your target audience, your background, your experience, your personal strengths, all of these things are almost certainly different from your mentors. Attempting to replicate your mentors’ exact strategies without considering your unique circumstances can hurt you. [05:55.5]
That's another reason why I love the newsletter model so much and why it's so beneficial for financial advisors, because they can make it their own. They can adjust the information to their situations. 99% of this stuff is not etched in stone, but when you work with a mentor, that mentor will likely tell you, “Do this, not that. Do this, not that. Do this. Hey, what are you doing? Don't think outside the box. Don't color outside the lines,” and you'll be stuck, because another potential pitfall of relying too heavily on a mentor is that you limit your creativity and your innovation.
As a new financial advisor, you bring fresh perspectives and ideas. Don't let anyone tell you any different. By depending solely on a mentor, you may inadvertently stifle your own ability to think outside the box and to develop unique marketing approaches that can work well for you. Use your creativity. Lean into it. You have a fresh set of eyes that people do not have. That is an awesome asset.
Mistake No. 2, I'm going to move on here, is another reason why having a mentor can be dangerous, but I think it goes beyond having a mentor, so I wanted to shine a light on it separately and here it is. Number two, they try marketing strategies that are not aligned with their personalities. [07:01.4]
I am one of the only people in the entire financial advice industry who was talking about this years ago. I talked about how you should not get a fish to fly or a bird to swim. You should lean into your natural strengths. I remember doing podcast episodes where people would ask me about improving weaknesses and I would say, “Why?” Why would you focus on stuff that you're not good at knowing that even if you improve your skills, you'll probably never be a top 1% performer?
The example I like to give is Michael Phelps. His body is literally built for swimming. His legs, his torso, his wingspan, and even his lung capacity, all built for swimming. His lung capacity is so much greater than the average human being that it gives him nearly an insurmountable advantage under the water. It's unreal. Even if I trained every single day and did the exact same things he did, if I ate the exact same diet, I would never come close to his swimming ability, because my body is not built like his. I'm like a potato, okay? [08:02.8]
We have things that we are naturally good at doing. We have things that we are naturally bad at doing. For example, I am naturally good at writing. I'm good with the written word. Even when I was a kid, I loved reading. I loved writing. I used to have this typewriter. Yes, a real typewriter that I used to write short stories and essays. I would read constantly. I would try to replicate what I've read.
Think back to what you like to do as a kid, maybe not the activities themselves, but the implications of the activities. What did they imply about you? That you were adventurous? That you were studious? That you were analytical? Figuring that out will go a long way in developing your natural strengths and, gosh, I really want you to take this message because it is so important.
Number three, they fall for the “make a list of 250 names” trap. If you're trying to become a financial advisor, and at any point, the company you're trying to work with tells you that you need to make a list of 100 names or 250 names, or 3,069 names, whatever, then you need to run. Politely stand up, thank the people for their time and get the heck out of there. Listen to me. [09:09.5]
This is often presented as a way to jumpstart an advisor’s client base. They say, “Okay, we're going to get these names. We're going to jumpstart your business. We're going to help you hit the ground running.” But in reality, it is a huge red flag. It puts immense pressure on new advisors to leverage their personal relationships for business gain, and it really doesn't work that well. And don't give me that crap about, oh, if you have something valuable to offer them, then wouldn't you offer it to your family members or your friends? Because while that's true, in some cases, financial services are more nuanced. You can't just blindly offer something to every single person. It's just not the way it works.
Plus, this little tactic, the “make a list of 250 names” tactic, it assumes that an advisor’s friends and family members are automatically suitable clients, which is probably not going to be the case, at least not for every single person. People within an advisor’s circle may have been actually different financial situations goals and risk tolerances compared to the people the advisor actually wants to work with. [10:05.6]
So, if the advisor comes in saying, “Okay, these are going to be the people I want to work with. I want to do this. I have a vision. I have a plan using my fresh perspective,” and the company says, “No, no, no, we want to stifle you. We want to mine your personal data, people that you know,” that's bad. Don't do that.
It's also worth noting that relying heavily on friends and family for business can limit an advisor’s growth potential. I've seen this over and over, because while those people may be able to offer support in the beginning, they're unlikely to provide you with the types of clients and the type of business that you need to build a thriving practice over the long term, and every minute spent talking with your list of 100 or 250 names is a minute you could spend building real marketing assets and getting real marketing experience that will help you in the long run. [10:52.3]
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.
Number four, they don't clearly understand what makes a financial advisor valuable. One critical mistake that new financial advisors often make is not fully understanding what makes them valuable to their clients or that they're valuable at all. I'm not really a mindset guy, because I prefer building assets that work independently of your mindset. However, mindset is really important here.
It's going to be nearly impossible for you to succeed unless you can truly internalize that you are valuable and you have services worth paying for. I'm not a therapist. I'm not a psychologist, so I don't have any advice here for you, except that it must get done. [11:56.5]
If you have Judeo-Christian beliefs, I will tell you that Proverbs specifically says that “People will curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.” The reason I'm not squeamish about selling my marketing services, products, things like that is because I want the blessing. So, I offer my grain. I make it available. I make sure you know about it. Here, I'll do it right now. I'm obviously biased, but I think I have “the” best marketing resources ever created in the entire world for financial advisors over at TheAdvisorCoach.com.
If you're a new financial advisor, your grain is the value you provide. This must be the value perceived by your clients. What do they see? And that's where marketing comes in. Marketing helps you with perception. Many financial advisors focus solely on the technical aspects of their jobs, such as investment strategies and financial planning, without realizing that value lies elsewhere. Value is in the good night's sleep. Value is in the peace of mind. Value is in avoiding mistakes. Value is being okay. [13:00.0]
When someone comes into your office and sits down and they want to know “Am I going to be okay? I've worked so hard. I've got this nest egg. I put all this money together. I’ve followed the rules. I've done all the right things. Am I going to be okay?” Those are the things that your marketing should communicate. For many other industries, this is obvious that, hey, provide value, give a perception that you can help someone in a certain way.
Most people don't know and they don't know and they don't care how a car's motor works. They just want to get from Point A to Point B. Most people don't know and don't care how their refrigerators work. They just wanted to keep their food cold. Most people don't know and don't care how a cell phone works. They just want to make phone calls. They want to open apps. They want to send text messages. Financial Advisor marketing is not that much different.
Another specific mistake that new financial advisors make that stems from not understanding their value is not differentiating themselves. I just did a whole episode about the big fat problem with niche marketing where I talked about how it is much harder yet sometimes necessary to be a generalist from the very beginning in order to get clients in the short term. [14:07.0]
But you shouldn't be able to, at a minimum, create some sort of compelling value proposition even on day one. If not, you don't have a good enough business. I'm sorry, it's just the truth. No majorly successful business operates without having some sort of reason why people should choose that business over the alternatives. If you're ignoring that you're ignoring reality, and that typically doesn't work well for people.
Number five, they set small goals, your goals should stretch you. A goal that doesn't stretch you is not a good goal, in my opinion. Good goal-setting is both an art and a science. I've done a lot of research into goal-setting. I've written a lot about it. I’ve talked a lot about it. I've done podcast episodes about it in the past. I have found that the best goals should be challenging yet doable, meaning, your goal should not be to make a billion dollars in the next year if you're just starting out. That's ridiculous. [15:01.0]
I don't care how many motivational YouTube videos you watch. I don't care how many law-of-attraction books you read. Yes, I read Seth speaks and Esther Hicks and Wallace Wattles. I read all of those and I look in the mirror, and I think and I say to myself, “I am worthy. I can make this money. I have a billion dollars.” It's just ridiculous. I don't care how many of these things you do, how many affirmations you repeat, it is probably not going to happen.
On the other hand, your goal should not be to make $105,000 next year if you're currently making $100,000. That's not big enough. That’s not compelling enough, because if you're doing any sort of good marketing, you should be able to do that in your sleep. If you're making $100,000 right now, take a look at your current resources and your past behavior. Have you increased your income a lot recently? Do you think you can do it again? Do you think you could keep that going?
Also, consider the point at which you think you can't do it, because thinking you can or thinking you can't will make a big difference in your goal-setting process for reasons I don't have time to explain right now, but just you're going to have to trust me on this. I hate to be the “Trust me, bro” guy, but trust me, bro. [16:07.2]
Let's say you're making $100,000 and you try different goals in your mind. You start with making $120,000 per year. You think about it. That seems very doable to you, so you think about making $150,000 in the next year. That seems a little more difficult, but you figure that you're building strong business relationships and your business is growing, and you have marketing assets, so you feel like you can do it.
So, you aim a little higher. You start thinking about making $175,000 in the next year, and that's when you start to feel uncomfortable. You think, I . . . don't know. I don't think that's possible,” or “I don't think I can do it,” and that is where you should draw the line and move a little closer to $150,000. Draw the line. Go back a little bit. You have discovered your sweet spot, your hesitancy, because belief is so important. Many goals go unaccomplished because the people who set them truly did not believe they could accomplish them. I'll probably talk about this concept and future podcast episodes, but just not today. [17:10.1]
Number six, they get stuck in the trap of more. One of the most frustrating pieces of advice I hear people giving to new financial advisors is to simply do more. Make more phone calls. Increase your outreach efforts. This advice is not only ineffective, it's harmful. When a financial advisor is struggling to attract clients, it is often a symptom of a broken process. Simply making more calls, sending more mailers, messaging more people on LinkedIn without addressing the root cause is like trying to fix a leaky boat by scooping out water and never patching the hole. It will not work.
Imagine. Let me give you another example. Imagine biting into a spoiled sandwich and feeling sick to your stomach. This solution is not to force yourself to eat the rest of the sandwich hoping it will somehow make you feel better. Instead, you need to go back and fix the process, in this case by getting rid of the sandwich and making another one. [18:07.1]
This same principle applies to financial advisor marketing. If an advisor is saying the wrong things, targeting the wrong prospects or using ineffective marketing strategies, telling that advisor to make more calls will only amplify the problem. Duh. But people do it all the time. You have to identify and address the source of the problem. For example, if an advisor is targeting a broad undefined market, that advisor may be wasting time and resources reaching out to people who are not a good fit. Instead of reaching out even more, do more outreach. That's bad advice. The advisor should focus on narrowing the target market and tailoring his or her messaging to resonate with a certain type of person.
This is also why tracking your marketing metrics is so important. Without tracking metrics, advisors can't optimize their strategies for better results. That means whenever they want more clients, their mind immediately goes to doing more instead of optimizing what they already have. [19:02.0]
Imagine a lever. That's where the term leverage comes from, by the way. Trying to do more is like pushing down harder on the same point of the lever. It requires you to exert more strength to do more work. However, I think it's much better and much easier to just move to the edge of the lever. You can get more work done, and work is actually what it's called in science. It's called work. You can get more work done with the same or less strength. That is the magic of optimization instead of more. You’re not pushing down harder on the same spot. You're moving. You’re optimizing, and you get more work done with the same or less strength.
Finally, number seven, they give up too quickly. I'll keep this short and sweet. Marketing success takes time and consistency. New advisors who expect overnight success may find themselves feeling frustrated and tempted to give up. Building any successful business, not just a financial advice business, is a marathon and not a sprint. [20:02.8]
Just like planting a seed and nurturing it until it grows into a strong healthy tree, building a thriving client base takes time and consistent care. Advisors must be prepared to invest in their marketing efforts for the long haul, even when the initial results seem underwhelming.
That wraps up another episode of the Financial Advisor Marketing podcast. Before you go, I have a favor to ask. If you know someone who is a new financial advisor, please share this episode with that person. There are not that many resources out there for new financial advisors and I'm trying to help them specifically with episodes like this. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you, and I will catch you next week. [20:44.0]
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