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: In this episode, I'm going to drop several pieces of wisdom about how financial advisors can avoid becoming commodities. There is no one right way however. In fact, there are dozens and dozens of ways you can do it, and those ways usually present themselves at every step of your client experience. I'll explain a little bit more as I go along. These lessons will be embedded, no pun intended, in the story I'm about to tell you. [00:57.3]
But first, I want to make it clear that everything in this podcast episode reflects my personal experience and my opinions about what happened to me. I make no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of any of these statements, which are based upon my recollection and the documents I have. Since my opinion is protected by the First Amendment, I am going to share my opinion in this episode. It will be about my experience with a mattress company and the mattress I had from them and the mattress replacement I eventually got. I'm not even going to use the company's real name. I'm going to make up a completely fictitious name called “Massper.”
Back in 2019, I bought a mattress from Massper. That mattress had a 10-year warranty. Actually, hold up, this is a good lesson that I can put in here already. Nearly all mattress companies that I know of have 10-year warranties, so if you have longer, but they're super-duper expensive, then they're not really applicable to the general market. The warranty itself is a commodity in the mattress business. A company could easily stand out by offering an 11- or even a nine-year warranty. [02:09.0]
That's right, they could get more customers by offering a shorter warranty, especially if they framed it like this: “Our warranty is shorter because we use the highest quality materials, like A, B, and C. If you know anything about A, B, and C, you know there's no free lunch, and their excellence is at the cost of their lifespan. So, if you'd rather have nine years of the most amazing sleep in your life versus 10 years of mediocre sleep from the other guys, then you know where to find us.”
I just gave you gold. That is how I would use the psychological and evidence-based marketing principles in order to sell mattresses. Anyway, they had a 10-year warranty, like I said, and their warranty explicitly said if the mattress sags more than an inch, they will give you a replacement. It was warrantied for one inch of sag. There were a few nights in a row where I started having hip pain, so I decided to research Massper and figure out if there was anything I could do to improve the situation. [03:09.4]
That's when I saw the warranty and realized I was probably a candidate for a replacement, and I definitely was still under the warranty, because it's a 10-year warranty. I got the mattress in 2019. It's 2025. That's six years, not 10. So, I took a photo of an unaffected area on the mattress, like near the foot of the bed, and I put a weight on it, and I had a level showing that the mattress was level and that it was flat elsewhere. I used a tape measure to show how it was completely fine there. There was not an inch of sag there.
Then I went to where the mattress was sagging. I put the same weight on it. I put the same level on it. I showed that it was level, that the mattress was flat, and I used the same tape measure, and I showed that it was sagging more than an inch, okay. From the unaffected area to the affected area, there was more than an inch of sag. I figured that would be more than enough to get a replacement under the warranty, because I had the photo evidence and I was in the warranty period. It seemed so incredibly black and white, cut and dry. [04:14.2]
Oh, how wrong I was. That's when I went to the Massper website and I chatted with Massper support. I sent over the photos. I told the representative, “Hey, I want a warranty replacement because the mattress, as you can see in these photos here--” I tried to make it as easy as possible for them to understand. I literally had measurements. I had a level. I had a weight, the exact same weight. I controlled the variables. That way, they knew there were no shenanigans happening, because I can imagine that some people will say, “Oh, look, it's sagging,” and they press into it and all that. No, no, I didn't do any of that. It is what it is, it's sagging. The mattress is faulty. Give me a new one. [04:51.3]
Then the representative told me I didn't qualify because I didn't use the right foundation. Keep in mind the warranty itself doesn't specify that you have to use any specific sort of foundation. The warranty says, and I quote, I'm reading this directly from their warranty, “Mattresses are designed to work on a firm, solid surface, on a bed base that is structurally capable of supporting the weight of the mattress and users.” So, if you really want to go there, that's your warranty. That's the text. I had a firm, solid surface.
Still I was told, and I quote, this is directly from the representative—I have screenshots of this. I have documented every step of this process—“I know this was not the response that was expected and I'm truly sorry for the way we've let you down.” This was absolutely absurd to me. The warranty said one thing and the customer service at Massper said another. So, now we have two more ways for financial advisors to avoid becoming a commodity. We have two lessons advisors can apply. [05:57.8]
The first is this. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and I'll assume that they're right about needing a foundation or the correct foundation for the correct mattress, which, to be fair, I totally agree with. I am so into sleep. It's one of my hobbies. I like sleep tracking. I'm into tracking how much deep sleep I get, how much REM sleep. I know having a good foundation can make a huge difference. I like choosing the right foundation for the right mattress. I agree with that. I agree that foundations are important, but their warranty said nothing about using a specific foundation. It did not say, if you have mattress B, you need to use foundation B, or if you have mattress C, that you need to use foundation C. It didn't say anything about that. It said, “Firm, solid surface on a bed base that is structurally capable of supporting the weight of the mattress and users.” That is what I had. I met those terms.
But one way to differentiate yourself in a competitive marketplace is to simply offer a better product. That's one of the reasons my Inner Circle has done so well. It is, quite simply, a better product than everything else offered in the financial advisor marketing space. There is nothing else in the entire world that gets financial advisors results like the Inner Circle does. [07:10.6]
If you take the time to create a better product, you will stand head and shoulders above everyone else, because that better product would avoid the warranty claim in the first place. It kind of made me feel—again, this is my opinion. This is my experience. You should not take this as fact. I am merely sharing my opinion of this fictitious company named Massper—it kind of feels slimy and sleazy to me. It's almost like they knew they were putting out a low-quality product, and then when people complained about the low-quality product, they would just nitpick and try to get them trapped in a corner in every which way, and just bring it. “Oh, well, you didn't do this so. Did you use the super-secret massage oil on your body before you got into bed? Well, if you didn't, then, no, you won’t qualify for this warranty.” It just felt slimy. [07:57.1]
The second way to avoid becoming a commodity is by offering an amazing service. This is already being done in actual commodities markets, because all else being equal, people do business with people they know, like and trust. Even in my own life, I have tons of choices for goods and services, but I'm at a point where I would rather deal with people I like. I will purposefully pay more money for the exact same product, just so I can stick with someone who makes everything easy for me, who is pleasant to deal with, who I enjoy being around. That is differentiation.
Every client interaction and prospective client interaction you have is an opportunity to set yourself apart from everyone else. It's a way for you to show that you care more about other things. Yes, you care about the money that you're making from them. Obviously, it's a business transaction. You're in business to make money, but you care about the other things, too. It's a way for you to show that you remember the little things. You anticipate their needs. You make every touch point delightful. People should leave their interactions with you feeling better than when they walked in, or made that phone call or sent that email. [09:00.5]
You should think of your service as your secret sauce that nobody else can copy overnight. Your competitors may be able to match your fees. They may be able to match your deliverables, but they cannot replicate how much you care about your clients—and, in my opinion, Massper completely dropped the ball here.
So, I became a Karen. I complained to the manager, and you know what? Here's the crazy part. I ended up purchasing a completely different mattress anyway. If Massper was simply nice to me and didn't lie about it—again, that's my opinion. That's my experience. That is my opinion that they lied—then I would have let it go. But because they were such jerks about it, I decided to fight. Was this the best use of my time? No. Was it a hundred percent optimal for my business growth and was this a great strategy for me? No, no, no. Was this a silly, little petty ego thing? Yeah, probably. But the facts were, the facts to me. [10:00.5]
I had a mattress that didn't live up to what it said it would, in my opinion. I was within the warranty period. I wanted a replacement, period. I didn't care if I wasn't going to use it or not. The sun didn't go down on me before I ordered another mattress that was $4,748. I spent nearly five grand on a new mattress when the Massper one was only $1,399. To me, it was principal. If you say your product is going to do something well for 10 years and it doesn't, you need to replace it. [10:34.2]
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Like I said, I put on my Karen hat. I became a big old Karen, and I complained to the manager. I complained on May 16 and I didn't get a response, an initial response, mind you. They didn't solve the problem. The first time the manager reached out to me was on May 21. That's five days. I am sorry, but no manager outreach should take five freakin’ days. That's your job. Your job is contacting and engaging with customers and solving problems. If you're a client success manager or whatever silly title your company gives you, that is what you do. If that takes you five days, then you are screwed beyond belief. [12:12.6]
Oh, and guess what? This is yet another way to avoid becoming a commodity. Speed, doing stuff fast. You can just act faster, because all else being equal, the person who does stuff faster will likely succeed more as well. I say this frequently on the podcast—it shouldn't take you six months to create a landing page. It shouldn't take three weeks to write a direct mail letter. It shouldn't take a year to put together a Facebook ads campaign. This is something I see among unsuccessful financial advisors and I almost never see it among the successful ones, because the successful financial advisors just get stuff done. They don't sit around waiting. They don't take forever to do things, even if that means locking themselves in a room and not letting themselves out until it's done. [12:57.0]
Anyway, back to the story. The manager emails me five days later and ask me for a good contact number, a phone number. Oh, boy, this is another lesson. Listen to me, meet your prospects where they are. If I email you, I probably want to email. If I call you, then I probably want to call. I want to talk on the phone. If I call you, then that's what I want. If I email you, that's what I want. But because at this point, I kind of want to talk to a real person anyway, I really want to speak to someone who can hear my voice and listen to me, and we can solve the problem together instead of just hiding behind a screen, because people tend to be a little tougher behind a screen, I gave him a phone number.
He eventually calls me back—actually, not back. He just calls me for the first time—and I missed the phone call. I call back within 15 minutes only to find out that the phone number goes to a phone tree where I have to select which option I want, like, press one for this, press two for that, press three for this, and then I speak with another representative. [14:08.8]
When I finally get to the representative, after going through the freakin’ phone tree, I say something like this, “Hey, I just got a call from the manager”—I gave the manager's name—“less than 15 minutes ago. I'm calling back. Can you please direct me to him?” to which the representative says, “No.” What in the heck? What is going on here? How bad does your company have to be for a customer to return a call from a manager and say, “Hey, your manager, blah, blah, blah, just called me less than 15 minutes ago. I'm returning a call to him. Can you please put me through?” because his objective was to contact me, and he didn't accomplish that objective, I'm trying to help him accomplish that objective now, and you say no. It's just ridiculous. [14:52.0]
I don't remember word for word what the representative said, but it was something about it being against company policy at Massper to transfer customers to managers. I told her once again that I am returning a phone call from the manager who just called me. Alas, she still refused, and at this point, I feel like they're trying to piss me off.
Okay, look, I just checked my emails. I paused this podcast for a little bit. I want to give you just some context here. These are the actual times. The manager emailed me at 5:19 p.m., saying he tried to call me. I emailed him back at 5:30 p.m., saying I tried to reach him. So, that’s 11 minutes, okay? So, 5:19 p.m., he's like, Hey, sorry I couldn't get in touch with you. I get back to him at 5:30 p.m., saying, “Hey, this is a general service line. What in the heck? Can you please give me a call back or whatever?”
He gets back to me the next day through email, mind you, and tells me we can continue with email. So, the whole phone thing, “Give me your contact number. What's the best time to contact you?” all that trying to get on the phone, that was pointless. They could have just done it through email anyway. Lesson there. [16:05.5]
So, I say, “Fine, we can continue this through email.” He doesn't get back to me until six more days later. Honestly, if you're thinking about buying a mattress from Massper, which, again, is a fictitious name and all this stuff is my opinion, this one thing alone should turn you away from them. It should not take six days to get back to a customer who is trying to process a warranty claim—and this is not six days from start to finish. This is just six days after I say, “Sure, we can continue this through email.” It’s six days after that to get back to me.
That is absolutely insane. If anything, you should process your warranty claims as quickly as humanly possible so you can get them over with and move on to the stuff that actually makes you money. But, no, not at Massper. Massper likes to waste time and money, and not just their time and money either, but yours. Again, my opinion. [17:00.8]
The manager tells me that they've agreed to process my warranty claim, which, of course, they would, so, hallelujah, I love it, because it's their warranty and their product, and of course, they would, right, like I said, duh. He then tells me that in order to process the warranty, I need to take photos of the labels on the mattress, and when I took those photos, I was absolutely astonished to find the following sentence. I'm going to read this word for word. This is directly from the label on my mattress. “This mattress is intended to be used without a foundation or with foundation.” My head nearly exploded. The whole reason I took it this far was because, according to them, I didn't use the right magical foundation when this entire time on the label on their mattress, it says as clear as day, you don't even need a foundation. [18:02.7]
It took everything inside of me to avoid drafting an email back to the manager and saying, “You crooked imbecile, your company tried to deny a perfectly valid warranty claim on the basis of not having the right foundation when the label itself says I don't even need a foundation for this mattress.” It is sheer insanity. But there's a silver lining in the clouds for you, my friend, because it illustrates some more lessons on how to avoid becoming a commodity in a crowded marketplace.
Lesson 1 here. I'm just going to give you three more and then I'll close up the episode. Lesson 1 is to be crystal clear in your agreements. Massper’s own label directly contradicted their support reps. If you're going to promise something, whether it's a 10-year guarantee on a mattress or something else entirely, then train your team and yourself relentlessly so nobody gives out bad information. Fight the incongruence. [18:57.4]
The second lesson here that I want to give you, and this is not just the second lesson, it's the second lesson in this little section, right? Honor your word immediately, because even when Massper finally, quote-unquote, “agreed” to honor the claim, they still dragged their feet by demanding more photos of labels that didn't even matter. Maybe they mattered to them, I'm not sure, but it shouldn't have taken that long.
As a financial advisor, if you tell a client that you'll do something, whether you'll send a proposal, you'll adjust a portfolio allocation, you'll waive a fee, whatever it is, do it within your promise timeframe, even if it's inconvenient. A fast done beats a perfectly polished later. I would rather have stuff done. The perfect scenario for me would have been had this been completely solved in the chat.
When I reached out to the representative on the very first day and I said, “Hey, here are these photos I took.” I was proactive. “I want to show you that this mattress is out of spec where it doesn't meet what you said it would meet. It sags more than an inch.” If that representative said, “Oh yes, I see. I see that this does not meet our warranty, so I'm going to ship you a replacement. Is this the correct address on file?” [20:05.7]
That would have been phenomenal. That would have been amazing. I would have raved about Massper. I would have said, “Massper is the best mattress company out there. They have phenomenal customer support. I got a mattress from them and it was sagging, but they fixed it, and now I have something amazing that I'm still using.” No, no, no, no, no, none of that happened. They dragged their feet and they tried to piss me off, at least it seems like that, at every step of the process. So, here I am on a podcast with thousands and thousands and thousands of listeners, talking about how absolutely horrible Massper, this fictitious company, is.
Lesson 3: empower every touch point. Here’s what you can learn also. Massper’s little hierarchy forced me to jump through phone trees and all this little footwork and all the details in order to have more success in your business. You want to empower every team member and every channel to solve client issues up to a clear threshold. Don't break any laws and don't go against what your compliance tells you, but don't make people jump through hoops just to talk to a supervisor. It should not have taken five days and then six days to hear back from the supervisor. If a client reaches out, let the first person they reach have the authority and information to help, or at least to escalate everything transparently. [21:22.7]
Those lessons like I'm sharing with you—empower every touch point. Honor your word. Be crystal clear in your agreements—those are in addition to the other ones I've talked about so far. I can't believe I had to go through this, but here's the good news. Since I already bought a new mattress for nearly $5,000, I have a perfectly good, brand new Massper mattress that I am donating to a family who needs it. I'm just going to give it away, no strings attached, because I want to help someone in need. So, all’s well that ends well, I suppose. A family gets a new mattress. You get to learn some lessons, and that is good enough for me, I guess.
Thank you for listening to my little story. I hope you differentiate yourself so you can stand out more, and I will catch you next week. [22:05.2]
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