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: Hey, financial advisors, as the financial advisor marketing guy, I talk a lot about how financial advisors can get more clients, and this episode will be no different. I'm going to discuss some of my absolute favorite ways for financial advisors to attract high-net-worth clients. Ooh, that's a good topic, isn't it? They may not be what you think.
But first, I want to talk about one of the biggest changes I've made here at The Advisor Coach. If you are a longtime listener of this podcast, first, thank you. Second, I have the Inner Circle Newsletter. It's a real paper-and-ink newsletter that gets shipped directly to your door every single month. I talk about it all the time. I harp on it because my newsletter subscribers are honestly the biggest source of ideas for this podcast. [01:15.7]
I've been writing that newsletter for years, and during that time, I've allowed newsletter subscribers direct email access to me for their questions. There are actually some advisors who have told me they don't even read the newsletter. They just pay every month so they can ask me one or two things every so often. Hey, whatever works I guess. I would prefer that they read the newsletter, because I write it in order to help them, and I pack it with information that maybe if they read it, they wouldn't have to ask me questions. But, whatever, I'm not one to judge.
Anyway, I recognize there is a segment of the advisor population that wants direct help from a real human being who can help them with their marketing and business-building challenges. Therefore, I am going to start doing monthly office hours exclusively for Inner Circle members. [02:01.7]
On the second Tuesday of every month, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, I will sit at my desk with my camera on and with my microphone on. There will be a Zoom link where Inner Circle members can join a Zoom meeting and we can all hang out. We can work on whatever they need.
These office hours will be super relaxed. They'll be informal. It's not going to be some structured thing. There will be no presentations. There will be no lectures. They will be like office hours. They'll be open. They'll be interactive. They'll just be relaxed sessions where you can ask questions, seek advice, discuss strategies, and just hang out, whatever you want to do. It will literally just be me and whoever shows up, hanging out in a Zoom room together. If you join, then you can join for five minutes, 30 minutes, or the whole two hours. It is up to you, and it doesn't matter. I am here to serve you. You are the one who is important. I work for you. [02:51.7]
I obviously got inspiration from how college professors operate their office hours. College professors typically set aside some time to be available for their students, and that's what it is. During these times, students can swing by to ask questions, seek clarification, discuss their goals, and whatever they want. That's what it is.
When I was in college, I went to a few office hours here and there. Sometimes I was the only one. Other times, usually before exams, office hours were packed. In the same way my Inner Circle office hours are designed to ensure that advisors have the support they need to grow their businesses, and I will do them every month, whether five people show up or 500 people show up. In fact, I'm kind of hoping that only a few people show up and that they're smaller, because I personally prefer smaller meetings and they give me an opportunity to really get to know the advisors who attend, kind of a four quarters versus a 100 pennies type thing. That's always nice.
Now, you might be thinking, James, aren't you going to tell me how to attract high-net-worth clients? Yes, I am. In fact, I think this is a fantastic segue into the first tip I have for you, which is, respect their time, and I'll tell you why I think it's a good segue in a second, but I want to explain to you, high-net-worth clients think in terms of time. [04:02.6]
How much time do they have? How much time can they save? How much time do they have to spend with you doing things they may not want to do? Average people love to give away their time for nothing. I've told this story a few times, but I love telling it, so I'll tell it again in case you're a new listener to this podcast. You may not have heard this.
Many years ago, Dunkin’, which used to be Dunkin’ Donuts. I personally prefer Dunkin’ Donuts. I think it's nicer than just Dunkin’, but I'm in the minority here. Dunkin’ ran this promotion, where if your local NFL team won its game, then you could get a free iced coffee on Monday morning.
Now, where I was living at the time, the Philadelphia Eagles were the local team. I remember one morning, it was Monday, after the Eagles won their game, I saw a line around the block at Dunkin’. No exaggeration, literally around the block. This Dunkin’ did not have a drive through, it was walk-in only, and because I'm a marketer, I remember thinking to myself, Wow, that seems like a really successful promotion. Good for them. [04:59.7]
Now, it depends on how much money they made and how much profit they made from that promotion, but just seeing a whole bunch of people there, I was assuming that it was a good promotion. I started looking at the people in line. I started observing them. I guess you could say I was studying their demographics. Again, marketer brain, I know. I looked at how old they were, if they were men or women, if they were dressed for blue-collar work or white-collar work. I just paid attention to them.
I bring that up because I ran a few errands. I don't know what I did. I think I went to the post office or something, and I came back something like half an hour later, and the same people were still in line. The same exact people were in the same exact line. It is crazy. I don't remember how much an iced coffee cost back then. Let's say it cost $3. That means if you spent 30 minutes in line to receive $3 worth of free stuff, you valued your time at $6 per hour, and I think the minimum wage in Delaware was $7.25, so it's less than minimum wage. If I approached the same people in line and I offered them a job for minimum wage, or even $8, $9, $10 an hour, they probably wouldn't take it. [06:05.0]
The reason that's astounding to me is because the same street with that Dunkin’ had other coffee shops with, truthfully, better coffee. Look, I love Dunkin’. I get Dunkin’ all the time. I got Dunkin’ this morning, actually. But there are better options. If they went to another coffee shop, they probably could have had their coffee in a few minutes or less, and they wouldn't have had to stand in line for over 30 minutes for a darn free medium, by the way. You couldn't get large. It had to be medium. It was a free medium ice coffee.
The reason I said my newsletter stuff was a good segue for this is because I think in terms of time. I have been answering Inner Circle Newsletter questions, they're member questions, pretty much every day for several years now. There have been days where I've spent more than two hours at my computer typing up responses to people. One of the selfish reasons why I'm doing the office hours is because I'm hoping that some people will save their questions for the office hours and therefore save me more than the two hours I'm spending, so please think of me. Think of James. And if that happens, the office hours will make me more productive, and that's important. I'm just going to tell you like it is. I would like to be more productive. [07:10.1]
Plus, I think it's a better experience to just come, hang out and work through whatever challenges you have and get it done one on one, and what's nice is that, because I do not and will not have all the answers, it'd be cool for everyone to meet each other and learn from each other. I want to build a real community, a real network, where people come, hang out and chat, and grow with one another.
I think it'd be really cool if financial advisors put together some sort of blog post or online ad or infographic about how much time they estimate they save their clients, especially if they're going after high-net-worth clients. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that, but I think it would be awesome. I feel like high-net-worth clients would love it, because, again, they think in terms of time. [07:51.6]
I mean, one of the reasons people become high net worth is because they are just more productive. We all have the same 24 hours in a day and some people are simply better users of that time than others, from an economics perspective. I mean, you could spend more time with your family. You could have a loving relationship, and all that is good, and I totally espouse that. I want people to have that in their lives. However, if someone is worth $10 million at age 30, and another person is worth -$100,000 at age 30, then the fact of the matter is that the person worth $10 million was more economically productive with his time or her time, and assuming they both started from the same place.
Moving on to number two.
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.
Number two is to build connections with other professionals. Now, I don't have the studies and research reports in front of me, so I can't cite my sources this time. I know I usually cite my sources. I'm sorry, you're just going to have to trust me. But high-net-worth clients are more likely than others to get referrals from CPAs, estate-planning attorneys and other professionals. [09:52.1]
What's interesting is, I think it's easy to get misled into thinking they're more likely to seek out the referrals from professionals or they're far more likely to seek them out, meaning, the data makes it look like they explicitly ask their accounts for referrals to financial advisors. But my experience tells me that's not true. At least not as much as the data suggests. It does not explain all of the variance. I hope that makes sense.
The reason I think this happens is because high-net-worth people are, a) more likely to have these professionals in the first place, and b) likely spending more time with these professionals, which increases the odds of a referral conversation happening. Duh, that should make sense. I mean, think about it. If you aren't spending any time with an accountant, what are the odds of that accountant referring a financial advisor to you? Pretty slim, right? It makes sense.
I love referrals. I think they're awesome, but I want to throw that in there, because it requires a little bit of independent thought. You have to think about how the data comes together. I don't want you to think, Oh, boy, I need to go all in on a referral marketing strategy, because that is not the case. However, if you want to attract high-net-worth clients, you should at least be cognizant of stuff like this and proactively build relationships with other professionals. There is no secret sauce for this. It takes time. It takes effort. Building a successful referral relationship does not happen overnight. [11:14.4]
But I will give you a very obvious tip, something that can help a lot of you listening right now. Here it is. If your goal is to attract high-net-worth clients, and it probably is, if you're listening to this podcast episode with this title, then please make sure the accountants and estate-planning attorneys and whoever you're networking with also works with high-net-worth clients. This seems so obvious, but I've heard stories of advisors networking with professionals only to find out they don't have the type of clients they want.
I'll be transparent with you here. The ideal, the best case scenario, is for you to work with a specific niche market and have a working relationship with professionals who also work with that same niche, meaning, you are a financial advisor who works specifically with farmers, and you have a working relationship with an accountant who works specifically with farmers as well. That is the ideal. Again, that is the best case scenario. [12:08.0]
But if you're just trying to get high-net-worth clients and you don't really have something super, super specific, then make sure, at a minimum, that the person you're trying to network with also serves high-net-worth clients, because sometimes they don't, and I've seen cases where it just backfires with the financial advisors.
Next, this is number three. I mean, I don't think I put a number in the title and I'm going to put a number in the title, but I have three tips for you. This is the third and final one. It is to lengthen your sales cycle. I'm just going to tell you like it is. All else being equal, the financial advisor who wins is the one who can stay in the game the longest. This is especially true for financial advisors who want to work with high-net-worth clients. [12:50.4]
I don't know what it is that gets advisors to think that the sales cycle for financial advice should be short. It's like financial advisors think they can connect with someone on LinkedIn, send a single message, and then somehow have that person just say, “Gasp. Oh boy, I have to give you all of my money. I have to give you all of my financial information. I have to set an appointment.” They feel as if they're going to be compelled. It does not work like that. I mean, view it from the other person's perspective. You would want to learn more about the financial advisor. You would want to learn more about who he or she helps, and you would want to see if it makes sense to work with that person.
Also, I don't know if you know this or not, but people have lives. At least some people do, right? There are a lot of people where I think, Wow, you should get a life. But a lot of people have lives. They're not sitting around thinking about you all of the time. I wish they were, and you probably wish they were, too, but they're not. They're not thinking about you.
There is not a single soul on the face of this planet who is sitting there constantly refreshing his or her LinkedIn inbox to see if a financial advisor will eventually send a message. Nobody waits by the window, like a little puppy waiting for the mail truck to go by, to see if today is finally the day that they receive a letter from a financial advisor they've never met. But hope springs eternal, I suppose. I guess it's important for financial advisors to remain optimistic, because a lot of them would go crazy if they didn't have that type of optimism. [14:15.8]
Anyway, the reason embracing a longer sales cycle is important in attracting high-net-worth clients is because it will likely take a little bit longer, and even if it doesn't, it's good to be prepared for it taking longer. Does that mean you have to spend your time one on one with each person? No, and I don't expect you to do that. However, you should have a good portfolio of marketing assets designed to build trust, credibility and rapport with people over time. That is what makes the magic happen.
Do you have resources they can consume? Do you have ways to show up on social media? Do you have automated emails that go out every day? Yes, every day. Every single day you should send an email. It should be automated. Do you have lead magnets they can spend time with? Not just a little checklist, cheat sheet or guide that takes two minutes to go through. I'm talking about something substantial. Do you have that? Do you have interviews or videos they can watch? [15:08.1]
All of those things allow people to spend more time with you, more time getting to know you and finding out if it makes sense to work with you. That is what I mean when I tell you to extend your sales cycle. It is very, very, very difficult to build trust quickly. It can be done, but you are probably not in a position to do it.
For example, imagine you're a prospective client and your accountant introduces you to a financial advisor, and that accountant says, “This financial advisor has worked with more than 30 of my most valued clients and has done phenomenal work for all of them.” In that case, yeah, trust can be built quickly. But how many of those are you getting? Just be realistic here. Chances are you're getting traffic and leads and prospective clients from all sorts of places, social media, email, your website, networking events, presentations, direct mail, and so on. Therefore, you must do a lot of trust building, and that takes time. [16:03.3]
A lot of research has been done about this also, and I do have my sources for this one. A man named Robert Clay analyzed a bunch of sales cycles in multiple industries and found that only 2% of sales occur after the first contact. The other 98% of sales happen only after a certain level of trust has been established. If you think you're going to do some one-and-done marketing strategy, you might as well light your money on fire.
I can also tell you, from my experience working with financial advisors for quite a long time now, and working with a ton of them, that the bulk of conversions happen after five contacts. I've seen it in so many areas. Email marketing is the obvious one. It is so much better for financial advisors to have at least five emails in a sequence, because then they can get the five contacts right there, and then everything else is just gravy on top. [16:52.0]
But I've also seen it with online ads, meaning, a financial advisor who targets the exact same audience over and over again with different headlines and images will get much better results than an advisor who runs one ad and quickly turns it off because it, quote-unquote, “isn't getting results.” Yeah, what do you expect? Do you really think people are sitting around just waiting for that one magic ad to show on their Facebook feed, and as soon as they see it, they immediately schedule an appointment and give you all of their financial information?
It sounds absurd when I say it that way, doesn't it? But that's how some financial advisors operate. I want you to quit it if you're one of those financial advisors. Just quit it. Quit it. Quit it. It is wild just how much better all marketing can perform if it is extended a little bit, especially when attempting to go after high-net-worth clients.
All right, those are three of my favorite tips for you. I know this is a shorter podcast episode than normal. Respect their time. Build connections with other professionals, and lengthen your sales cycle. Don't ignore this information because it seems too simple. And I will catch you next week. [17:55.0]
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