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 went back and forth with myself about whether or not to create this podcast episode. I worried for a little bit that maybe this would be too controversial and that it would turn people away, but then I realized that this message needs to be said anyway. In fact, I don't think it's controversial at all, and I don't think it should be controversial, but I think some people are going to interpret it that way. Thankfully, I don't live my life according to what other people think. [00:54.4]
So, let me start with a sentence that should not be controversial yet somehow is to some people—there is no such thing as being too early for marketing, and yet I keep hearing this phrase from financial advisors who say it with a straight face, as if they've just shared this deep insight with me instead of a confession about who they really are.
They say that they're not ready or that they need to get more established, or that they want to wait until they have more experience, and every time I hear this, I feel like I'm watching someone refuse to plant seeds because the crop is not tall enough yet. No wonder the crop is not tall enough. There is no crop, because you haven't planted any seeds.
So, today I want to talk with you about why not being ready for marketing is one of the silliest, most self-sabotaging beliefs you can possess. It is actively destructive and extraordinarily expensive. This belief exists because it protects people from discomfort and responsibility. I'm going to tear this idea apart from every angle. I'm going to absolutely shred it.
I'm going to tell you why advisors who say it are usually the ones who need good marketing the most, which is really sad. The people who think this are the ones who need good marketing, so fair warning—this episode may make you uncomfortable, but I'm doing it because I genuinely care about financial advisors. I truly want to help them. [02:10.0]
Let's begin. I received this email from a financial advisor and it is a contender for the dumbest email a financial advisor has sent me in a long time. Here it is:
Hi, James. Please cancel my membership to the Inner Circle. The information was great, but I'm too early to be looking into marketing like this. I was still able to take away some helpful things, so thank you. I understand you're going to blacklist me, but hopefully, that policy changes as I would love to join in a year or so when I'm more established. Thank you for your understanding.
Oh, my goodness, I have done a pretty good job. I'll pat myself on the back for this. I've done a pretty good job of surrounding myself with winners and go-getters and intelligent financial advisors. Unfortunately, every so often, someone who is not quite at that level slips through the cracks. This is one such example. [03:01.7]
Let me get this straight. The material was great. The information was great and it included helpful things. Therefore, the logical thing to do is leave? I must say that this is not your average everyday kind of silliness. That sort of silliness happens when financial advisors say stuff like direct mail doesn't work when it obviously does, or buying leads is a good idea when it obviously isn't.
That's just your average run-of-the-mill stupidity. This is way deeper. This is concerning, because this is like the advisor who has been brainwashed into believing that he's doing the right thing, and it's honestly scary. It really is. It's scary to me and it should be scary to you as well, because it's hard to fathom that financial advisors would honestly believe they're too early for marketing. Marketing is the lifeblood of a financial advisor's business. How in the world can you be too early for the literal root cause of your business’ existence? It is the first thing that needs to happen. [04:00.3]
What's especially impressive is the confidence that people have when they say this, especially this guy. This guy is so sure that marketing is something that he can sprinkle on later, like it's parsley at the end of a meal, that once the real work is done, or at least what he believes to be the real work, as if clients just appear out of thin air.
The advisors who think they're too early for marketing, they're usually the exact ones who need the help the most. They need good marketing the most. Instead, they cope by saying they'll do it once they're more established, but the Catch-22 is that marketing is what establishes you. Again, it is the first mover. That's kind of like waiting to get in shape before you go to the gym. You would never do that, so why would you say, “I'm going to market later”? No, marketing is the thing that establishes your business.
And, sure, maybe in a year, he'll feel more ready, I don't know. Probably not. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But that will also mean another year of the same invisible positioning, the same hope-based growth strategy and the same confusion about why nothing seems to change. [05:00.8]
The truth is that marketing rewards people who start before they feel ready, and I would argue that you're never truly ready for anything meaningful in life, things like marriage and having children, and sobriety and health and wealth. You are never ready for any of those things, at least, not as ready as you want to be. You can be somewhat ready, but you're never as ready as you would like to be. Why in the world would it be any different for building a successful business?
I shared this email online, and a couple of financial advisors told me that he's probably not talking about readiness. He's probably talking about something else. He's using this vague code excuse. He's probably talking about fear, being afraid, and I think they're onto something, because a lot of financial advisors are afraid of what happens when they finally get serious and step into their goals. They have the fear of being visible, the fear of saying the wrong thing, the fear of being judged by other people, the fear of putting something out into the world and not getting applause in return. They're addicted to that positive feedback. [06:00.8]
So, by saying that you're not ready, it's a socially acceptable way of saying that you don't want to risk looking foolish, and I get that, but the crazy part is that the financial services industry, the financial advice profession, enables this mindset, because advisors are trained to believe that they need credentials, a lot of authority and permission before they speak publicly, before they do any marketing.
They think that marketing itself requires a whole bunch of stuff before the actual marketing effort, and it does not, so they delay. They tell themselves that they need more experience and they need to buy another course, or they need to read another book or listen to another podcast, and they never do the actual thing that moves them towards what they want.
Lots of financial advisors have this imaginary timeline in their heads, and it goes something like this. They need to get good at the technical aspects of being a financial advisor. Then they magically become established somehow. Then marketing becomes easy and natural for them, so clients show up effortlessly—and that timeline has never existed. [07:04.0]
Listen, I have helped more than 50,000 financial advisors get more clients. I'm telling you right now, there is no secret phase of a financial advisor's business where clients show up because the financial advisor waited long enough. That does not happen. There is no invisible threshold where the advisor suddenly feels 100% ready to do anything meaningful. You can do a lot of activities that don't mean anything, but you never feel 100% ready to do the meaningful stuff. I'm talking about real needle-movers like good marketing.
Another reason why financial advisors say they're not ready is because they treat marketing like it's some personality test. They think marketing is something you either have or you don't, like charisma, although I would argue that you can build charisma, too, or extraversion or being naturally good at anything, and that belief is poison, because marketing is a skill. [07:56.6]
You do not wake up one day as a marketing person. You build the skill. You build marketing ability the same way you build other skills. You do it through repetition and feedback, and small failures and time. You put in the work. If you quit, you will never build that skill. [08:13.9]
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.
I would much rather have you try for a year or two and not be very good at the end of that year or two than to never try at all, because then two or three years down the road, when you think you're ready, even though you won't ever be ready, you'll be even worse than you were on day one. It's just opportunity costs. Why would you rack that up?
Here's why I say that I believe this is a much, much deeper level of silliness, to the point where it seems like the advisor has been brainwashed, because being early to marketing isn't a disadvantage at all. It's actually a humongous advantage, because earlier marketing has lower stakes. Not as many people are going to see what you're doing. You can send emails. People aren't going to see your emails. You can post on social media. People aren't going to like and engage with you. You can try stuff. You can experiment. It gives you room to make a whole bunch of mistakes and screw things up without severe consequences. That is awesome. That's not a bad thing. That is a great thing. [10:08.7]
When you have fewer clients, when you have less pressure, you can afford to try things. You can develop your voice and refine your positioning without much to lose, and if you wait, you remove that luxury. You are removing the ability for you to experiment with marketing tactics and strategies with less pressure, and you don't want to do that. You're basically saying, “I'm going to wait until the stakes are much higher to do something I've never done before.” It is absolutely ridiculous if you believe that.
Whenever financial advisors say that they want to wait until they're more established, I always want to ask one question—established according to whom? And what does that even mean? Does it mean more clients, more revenue, more confidence, more certainty? Because marketing is how those things happen. [10:53.5]
I already said this before, but waiting until you have results is like waiting until you're in shape to go to the gym. It's like telling your fireplace, “Okay, you give me some heat, and then I'll give you fuel. I'll give you wood.” No, you don't. It doesn't work that way. You have to put in the fuel in your fireplace first, and then you get the heat. That is the way it is. The advisors who are already established did not get there by avoiding marketing. They marketed through uncertainty in early-stage confusion. Establishment is the by-product. It is not the prerequisite.
Another reason why this belief is so dangerous is because it teaches people to outsource responsibility to timing. If something doesn't work, then they say it was too early. If growth is too slow, they say it's not the right time or the right phase, and that mindset is goofy because it prevents learning. Marketing feedback is how you improve. Avoidance teaches you nothing. Even though it might feel safe, it gives you zero data about what to do better. [11:52.0]
Every year, you delay marketing, you pay compound interest. You lose time you can never get back, and worst of all, you reinforce the habit of waiting for permission. That habit does not disappear once you finally decide to market. It follows you into everything. It's like trying to get cigarette smoke out of a house. Years later, it can still seep through the walls and you can never get it out, and then you scrub and scrub and scrub. It's still going to be there.
If you feel like waiting before getting serious about marketing, please listen to me. Please heed my warning. It's one of the most expensive mistakes you can make. So, if you get nothing else from this, just listen to James here and don't wait until you get serious.
As for the blacklist, the guy talked about my blacklist, oh yeah, I'm 100% blacklisting this guy. The blacklist exists for exactly this reason. The Inner Circle is only for serious financial advisors. I don't think I've been this enthusiastic about a blacklist in a long time, because the Inner Circle is not a museum. You don't wander through, glance at the exhibits, and then go through the gift shop telling yourself that you had a meaningful experience, but you'll be back later. No, no, no, it is a working room. It is a place for people who show up, ask questions, get uncomfortable, and actually use what they paid for. [13:07.8]
The saddest part is how many doors were open to help him, because at any point, he could have emailed me for help, because Inner Circle members get direct email access to me for the questions. But did he do that? Nope. He could have also attended the monthly Office Hours sessions where I'm live on camera with my microphone on, ready and willing to help financial advisors work through their marketing challenges. Did he attend any of those Office Hours sessions? I don't think so. If he did, I certainly didn't see him. He didn't engage. That tells me everything I need to know. I actually didn't even recognize his name. Legitimately, that's how little he engaged. I did not recognize his name at all.
I've also done a lot of thinking and a lot of research into the psychology of quitting and why people quit things that are helpful for them, because I've always thought that was odd. I always assume that people want to get better. I always assume that people want to improve their lives and be successful, and be healthy and wealthy and happy, and all of those things, but it's just not true. [14:06.2]
There are people out there that do not want to be happy. They do not want to make more money. They do not want to be fitter, because the results don't show that. They quit, and I just can't relate, so I had to do research on it. Here's what I discovered. Quitters tie their self-worth to potential, like what could be rather than performance. As long as they are, in theory, capable, they get to feel competent, despite not actually ever demonstrating competence in the real world.
The moment they fully engage and apply themselves, that comforting ambiguity disappears because results are either there or they're not. Results become measurable. Progress becomes observable. They like to stay in theory land and think about what could be for them. They could have done this. They could have done this. So, they exit before they ever actually have to do anything, and that allows them to keep saying that they could have done or they could have been instead of “I tried and failed,” or “I tried and succeeded,” and that comes with its own set of problems. Psychologically, that's a bargain that many people gladly take. They would rather be comfortable living in the “What Could Be” land. [15:17.1]
Another key driver that I figured out by researching quitting and the psychology of quitting is that it's ego-protective storytelling. Human beings are incredible narrators. When people quit, they almost always replace the real reason with a socially acceptable one or one that won't damage their egos. They say things like they were too early, too busy, too advanced, too discerning, too good. Insert your excuse here, okay?
Whatever it is that didn't work for them or wouldn't have worked for them, yet worked for thousands of other people, they make some excuse. Rarely do they say the quiet part out loud, which is that the effort made them uncomfortable. The effort exposed gaps they did not want to confront. Quitting becomes a way for them to leave with dignity, at least according to them. I mean, it's not dignity for anybody else, but the story they tell themselves cushions the blow. [16:10.2]
I want to help financial advisors deeply. That is the entire point of what I do, but I cannot want success for advisors more than they want it for themselves. So, let me leave you with this—if you're telling yourself that you're not ready for marketing, understand what you're really saying. You're saying you would rather protect a story about yourself than build something real.
Marketing is the thing that establishes your business. It is the first mover of the things that need to happen in order for you to become a successful financial advisor. The cost of waiting is far, far higher than the cost of starting imperfectly.
I really hope this episode helps someone, because, like I said in the beginning, I was on the fence about recording this. I didn't want people to take it the wrong way, but I care too much about financial advisors to not spread this message. Thank you so much for listening, and I will catch you next week. [17:02.7]
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