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: I have a sneaking suspicion that this episode isn't going to get a lot of downloads because it's such a weird topic and title, but that's okay. I would rather help the financial advisors who listen to this and I feel like it's a topic that can genuinely help you. I appreciate you listening and I hope that I live up to the expectations that I am setting for you here. [00:51.6]
I have a love–hate relationship with a lot of popular marketing books, because I love the financial advisors who read them. I love the fact that they're reading and searching out information and all that good stuff. That is awesome. Financial advisors who do these sorts of things are typically amazing to work with and just fantastic people. If you're someone who leads business and marketing books, then I applaud you, and I think you're probably a fantastic person.
However, here's the hate part. The truth is that many bestselling marketing books can wreck financial advisors businesses, and I'm going to explain why in this podcast episode. I'm even going to give you specific examples to prove to you why this is the case and to help protect you against making some costly mistakes in your marketing and in your business.
But first speaking of reading, I want to announce again that the Inner Circle Newsletter price will increase from $99 per month to $199 per month on January 1, 2025. Anyone and everyone who is subscribed before that date will be locked in at $99 per month and will not be subject to the price increase. I want to make that perfectly clear. [01:58.3]
I'm doing it because I want to say thank you to existing subscribers, and honestly, I just think it's the right thing to do. Thank you for your loyalty and thank you for being there. Thank you for investing in yourself, so I am keeping your price $99 per month. But if you procrastinate and subscribe after this year, you will pay $199 per month. If you want to lock in your spot and pay the $99 per month, then you could do so over at TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching.
Now, what's all this about popular marketing and business books hurting financial advisors? I decided to record this episode because I got a message from a financial advisor talking about how I validated his thoughts and feelings about books like The E-Myth and Who Not How.
In case you're not familiar, a few episodes back, I talked about how I think The E-Myth is goofy because it operates on this faulty premise that you should work on your business instead of in your business, when literally every single business, any successful business with zero exceptions, has had entrepreneurs work in both for at least some time in their business life. [03:02.4]
Yes, you should work on your business. I'm not disputing that. That is a good idea, but it's super damaging to give entrepreneurs this impression that all they have to do is work on their businesses, when it is simply not true. Yes, I will die on this hill. It's just so dumb.
I also mentioned Who Not How because it's legitimately just a repackaging of the idea to hire people.
“Have you ever sent something in the mail? Congratulations, you used Who Not How, because you got a government employee to deliver your letter or package instead of doing it yourself.”
“Have you ever gone out to eat at a restaurant? Congratulations, you've done Who Not How, because you got someone else to cook your meal. Whoa, what a concept?”
“Have you ever hired someone? If so, then you too, have embraced Who Not How.”
You don't need hundreds of pages to get this concept. You just simply don't, and I guess if you do, I almost feel bad for you. Newsflash: the concept of hiring people has been around for thousands of years. You don't need a bestselling book to tell you to hire people. [04:06.5]
I want to make it clear that I'm not knocking you if you are reading or have read any of these sorts of books. I actually love that you read them or have read them. I just want you to know that the concepts in them can hurt you. I wouldn't expect you to know this if you're not deep in the marketing world, but I am deep in the marketing world. That is my job. My job is to be an advocate for you and make sure that you know what is good for you and what is not. That's what will help me sleep better at night. I can rest easy knowing that I've served financial advisors this way.
One of my favorite testimonials I've ever received is this one. I'll read it to you.
“I've been subscribed to your newsletter since 2021 and I don't think I've ever been more excited to receive an issue than I am for the next one.”
So, he sent it at a specific point in time.
“I've 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.” [05:05.7]
Bingo, the guy hit the nail on the head. That is so true. It's difficult to make general marketing advice work for financial advisors because financial advice is so nuanced. There are lots of little things that make a difference that, respectfully, I truly mean this respectfully, people who do not work with financial advisors simply don't know about it. It's not their fault. It's not like they're being malicious or anything. They simply do not know. The people giving generic marketing advice aren't thinking about financial advisors. They're not considering all of the things that go into making financial advice work. They just do not know.
There are people out there who are extraordinary marketers better than I ever have been or will be. They are better at marketing to the masses than me. I will readily admit that. But the financial advice industry is different in many ways and knowing those differences is where I can help, and it's where I have been helping for almost a decade at this point. [05:59.0]
Marketing financial advice is different from marketing shoes or cookies, or plumbing services or anything like that, and to prove it to you, I will go through some of the bestselling books on Amazon right now and explain what I mean. I'm just going to go to the bestseller list in marketing and business, and I'm just going to look at these books and I'm going to tell you why I'm saying this.
Influence by Robert Cialdini is on there. I think that's a fantastic book. I talk about Influence all the time, but I think it's done a lot of damage to the marketing world, because there are far too many people out there who read this book and think they're marketing experts. The cold, hard truth is that applying the principles of influence requires a little bit more finesse than people realize.
For example, one of the principles is reciprocity. It's the tendency to respond to a positive action with another positive action. People interpret it by thinking the more they give away for free without expecting anything in return, the more prospective clients they will get. That is dead wrong, and almost everything I have ever seen giving away free stuff without having a call to action without having an explanation for it absolutely destroys conversions. [07:06.0]
I don't know if you know this about me, but email marketing is a pretty big part of what I do. I kinda sorta have sent one or two emails over the years. Then I've also helped financial advisors build one or two lead magnets that they give away for free in order to get people to subscribe to their email list. I am telling you right now—you can believe me, you can not believe me, I really don't care. I'm just going to tell you, just so you know, I really want you to know this.—being upfront about the fact that you are a financial advisor, and being upfront about the fact that you want to set an appointment and you want to get more clients, is going to get you more clients, period. I don't even know how I can stress this more. It just works. Consumers are actually wary of financial advisors who give stuff away for free without asking for anything in return. They view it as manipulation and they don't like it. [07:51.8]
I did a survey in 2023 where I dug deep into this. I'm not going to talk about that here. I just want you to know that I have seen this in research. I have seen this anecdotally. I've seen this from other financial advisors. I've just seen it everywhere. But instead in your lead magnet, specifically, if you give something away and say, “Hey, the reason I'm doing this is because I want to show you that I'm someone who knows what he or she is talking about, and I'd love it if you would consider working with me,” then that will work better than believing in true reciprocity where you give without asking for anything in return. In a lot of ways, it just comes down to being upfront about your intentions.
That is not true reciprocity. It does come with strings attached and there are so many marketers out there who just say, give, give, give with no strings attached, and they just believe that it's something that will make money rain down from the sky. I think the reason that this myth gets perpetuated is that it leads to a very small percentage of results that could otherwise be captured. That is why I talk about mowing your lawn with scissors. Yes, it is possible to mow your lawn with scissors, but there are so many better alternatives out there. [08:57.5]
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's move down the bestseller list on Amazon. $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi is on there. [10:02.5]
I like Hormozi. He's obviously a sharp cookie. He is better at marketing to the masses than I am or ever will be. I readily admit that as well. But the truth is that making good offers is something that even rookie-level marketers and copywriters learn on day one. Actually, you don't even have to wait for the first day to get finished. It's hour one.
It is the marketing equivalent of someone writing an entire book about this awesome newfangled gadget called “the computer” and how everyone needs to use this awesome newfangled thing in their businesses. You would be like, Um . . . okay, the computer has been around for decades. It's not anything new, but thanks.
That sounds like I'm bashing the book. I am not bashing the book. I think it's an okay book, and even the Bible says there is nothing new under the sun, so I certainly can't criticize something for not being new, because I definitely rehash old concepts. I definitely repackage them in new ways. So, for me to use that as a criticism would be like the pot calling the kettle black. I don't want to do that. I repackage stuff all the time. But still, I want to explain how this type of thinking, the concepts in the book, can hurt financial advisors. [11:09.3]
In the book, $100M Offers, Hormozi explains that one of the ways to make an offer better is to decrease the amount of time it takes people to achieve a desired result. To be fair, this sounds good. If you're Uber, you want to decrease the amount of time it takes to pick up riders. If you're Apple, you want to decrease the amount of time it takes for your computers to load. But that is a horrible strategy for professional services, and here's why. I'm going to prove it to you. This is not my theory. This is not my opinion. This is based on psychological and scientific research. There's something called the effort heuristic in psychology.
The effort heuristic says people tend to judge the value of something based on the perceived effort put into it. If it looks too easy, they may feel it's not worth the price, even if the outcome is superior. For example, locksmiths who can open a lock quickly and without damage often face dissatisfied customers. They have people who are unhappy because they open the lock too quickly. The customers feel like they're being overcharged because the job seems too easy and it took very little time. They don't like that. [12:14.2]
On the other hand, when locksmiths were less experienced, this is real research, they took longer and they even damaged the lock. Customers were more satisfied with the service and they felt like the fee was justified. Do you get this? Are you picking up what I am putting down? Locksmiths who were experienced, who did the job well, quickly, and who did not damage the lock had more dissatisfied customers than locksmiths who were inexperienced, took longer and actually damaged the customer's property because of the effort heuristic.
So, if you were to take Hormozi’s advice and make your offer look quick and effortless, you would likely have dissatisfied clients. In professional services like financial advising, the time and effort spent working with clients actually enhances the perceived value of the service. Clients want to feel like you've taken the time to fully understand their situation. [13:12.7]
You should, by the way. I mean, it's just good business practice. You should take the time to analyze their financial goals. You should carefully craft a personalized plan. If the process is too quick, they might question whether you're really paying attention, whether you're really putting in all the effort necessary to handle their finances. Don't hate me. I'm just a messenger. I'm telling you about real psychological research. The real thing is called the effort heuristic.
That's why the effort heuristic is so important in industries like the financial advisor industry. The more thorough and personalized the service appears, the more clients feel like it's worth the investment. They don't want speed. They want depth, care and attention to detail. When you spend time understanding their unique circumstances, when you provide detailed solutions, even if it takes longer, clients walk away feeling like they've gotten their money's worth, even if the solution itself could technically be delivered faster. [14:04.6]
Do you understand that? Do you understand that I'm trying to explain to you how blindly following popular marketing books can work against you if you're a financial advisor? I hope you do. I'll give you one more example. Another book on the bestseller list is Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, again, an excellent book by itself. I like it. I'm not bashing the book. Producer Jonathan has even hired Donald Miller to help his team members become better creators. He hired him and had his team members go through the StoryBrand stuff, and it worked for them. He's super happy. He loved it. However its advice can wreck financial advisors businesses and I will prove it to you.
In the book, Miller advocates for businesses to clarify their messages by framing them around stories where the customer, the client, is seen as the hero, and while this approach can be highly effective in many other industries—again, it's okay in plumbing and cookies and shoes and software—it can be problematic for financial advisors. [15:02.8]
Why? Because . . . okay, I want to make sure you get this . . . clients hire financial advisors to be the heroes. Clients want their financial advisors to be there for them, save the day and make things better. Financial advising is a profession built on trust, expertise and authority. Clients seek advisors who have confidence. They have knowledge. They have the ability to lead through complex financial jargon and landscapes, and all of the complexity that comes with something being complex, I suppose. I'm sure there's a better way to say that, but the financial advisors are the heroes.
By positioning yourself merely as a supporting character, even if you are the guide—he talks about the customer being the hero and the person selling the service should be the guide. The hero, the guide, that sort of story—even if you're the guide, you risk diminishing your perceived expertise and authority. There is a right way and a wrong way to be a guide. [16:00.7]
I actually believe that financial advisors can be guides. I think it's one of the most powerful metaphors that financial advisors can use in their marketing. But the specific bone I have to pick right now is that if you make the client the hero of the story, you are almost certainly going to hurt your conversions.
In essence, while storytelling is a very powerful marketing tool—I love stories. I love storytelling—financial advisors need to approach the methods in this book with caution, especially the stuff about making the client the hero, because the traditional Hero's Journey framework may not align, and almost certainly does not align with the expectations and needs of clients seeking financial advice, because financial advice is nuanced.
Again, I am not knocking any of these books. I am not bashing them. I think they are excellent resources for other industries, just not for financial advisors. So, be careful which books you read and really think twice before you blindly apply marketing advice, simply because it was in some bestselling marketing book somewhere. [17:02.6]
Financial advisors operate in a highly-regulated, relationship-driven, trust-based industry. They're not selling products people buy on a whim. They're offering something far more complex and personal. They're offering financial security, stability and peace of mind. It's just more abstract and more in depth than just widgets. That's why generic marketing strategies often fall flat for financial advisors. What works for someone selling shoes or software isn't going to resonate with someone who's trusting you with his or her life savings, retirement planning or investments.
I hope you believe what I'm telling you here, because it can save you a ton of wasted time and money. If it helps just one financial advisor avoid the headache that comes from using generic marketing strategies that don't work for financial advisors, then I've done my job.
Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate it, and I will catch you next week. [17:58.0]
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