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: Jonathan, it is good to be back for another podcast episode of Financial Advisor Marketing, and this can be a fun one, and I was inspired to create this podcast from an article I saw floating around the web, which talked about phrases you should never use in an argument. Very interesting article there. And by the way, this is a good point that I want to share financial advisors, inspiration can come from anywhere, and I had a guy email me say, "Hey, you mail every single day and I get these messages and you don't regurgitate anything. [0:01:05.4]
Where do you get your inspiration from? How are you constantly inspired to do this?" I said, "Everywhere really." I mean all books, all TV and just thanking, taking walks. Like inspiration comes from everywhere. So even this podcast, hopefully I'm inspiring you with some good marketing ideas and helping you get more clients, you can find inspiration from a lot of places. I mean we've got a podcast episode coming up, like the next five or six episodes I think about business lessons you can learn from The Sopranos.
Jonathan: Nice.
James: So inspiration comes from The Sopranos, but Jonathan, we're going to take a look at this article here and it's the phrases you should never use in an argument, and here are the phrases.
Jonathan: Who are you arguing with? Like anybody or somebody in particular?
James: I think it was talking about like boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife.
Jonathan: I need this
James: Phrases to never yours when arguing with your better half, here are the phrases. [0:02:03.5] Number one "you're acting just like your mother". Don't do that. I personally never said that one. My woman's mother, she actually really cool, I like her a lot. If you have a girlfriend, Mitch Hedberg, he had a joke like, "I don't have a girlfriend, there's a girl that would get really upset if she heard me say that."
Jonathan: Nice.
James: "You're acting like your mother" or "just like your mother", don't say that. Another thing that you shouldn't say in an argument is "I'll talk to you when you can be rational".
Jonathan: I think I used that one today.
James: Ohh no, it's not even 11 o'clock, it's not even 12. What? Wow. Up and attem, I guess. This just sets the bomb off even more. I've said this one, I will admit, "I'll talk to you when you can be rational". Like, "Once you get your senses together, then I'll come back and I'll talk to you." [0:03:00.0] And then the big one, number three, probably the worst is "why are you making such a big deal over nothing".
Jonathan: That's a nuclear option.
James: A nuclear option, it sure is. It makes it an even bigger deal. So the minute you say "why are you making such a big deal about this", all of the sudden, the deal that you thought was gargantuan before, just wait, it just got humongous. Anyway, all this got me thinking about different phrases financial advisors should never use, and I've packaged them up and they're ready for me to instill in these advisors in podcast form.
Jonathan: Nice.
James: Let's get started. First phrase financial advisors should never use is "I've already paid my dues." And it comes from experienced advisors, and these are usually the people who don't want to grow or try anything new and they think just because they're making six figures that they can't grow. [0:04:07.1]
Jonathan: It's ridiculous.
James: Okay, like congrats, you're in the top 10% of financial advisors, congrats, but don't you want to be the top 1%? Or you're in the top 1%, don't you want to be in the top 1/10 of 1%? Growth, it's a personal choice. At some level it is really a personal choice. I mean some people, honestly, they just don't want to grow, they do want to stay stagnant, and that's cool. You're probably not listening to this podcast if that's you, but it is a personal choice. If you're okay making $150,000 per year and you don't want to make $300,000, hey, that's, like I said in the last episode, more power to you.
Jonathan: Somebody else will get that.
James: Yeah, let someone else, let someone else do it. I'll come up, I'll get it, I'll grow. But I never think that I've already paid my dues, and I really have. If you look at what I've done, like I definitely 100% paid my dues, but I don't think I have, because dues are like rent. You have to keep paying them, and rent's due, rent's die every day. [0:05:02.3] You got to keep paying them. Successful people, what I've noticed, and I've been really fortunate, really fortunate to work with some of the best financial advisors on planet Earth. Working with people like you, Jonathan, great podcast producer, high level people. I'm subscribed to Ben Settles Email Players newsletter, and by the way, that's a lesson in practicing what you preach, people complain about subscribing to my newsletter, well I subscribe to other people's newsletter, I do it. What's the problem? His is $97 a month; I shell that thing out every month, month after month after month after month.
Jonathan: Gladly.
James: Yeah. And he's the best in my opinion in the world at email marketing, right now, I should say. And I think he will be the best for a long, long time. I surround myself with these people, and what I've noticed is that people like you, people like Ben Settle, amazing guy, by the way, they never feel entitled, they never feel like they've already paid their dues, they're constantly working, constantly putting out new material, constantly making strides and constantly growing. [0:06:04.2] It's just different from the people who sit back and say, "Oh, I've already paid my dues. I can just coach now." Huge difference, huge difference. Next phrase that financial advisors shouldn't use is "I don't have time".
Jonathan: What?
James: This is a productivity issue, because when you say you don't have time it reviews your priorities. It bothers me, it really does when financial advisors say they don't have time to prospect and they don't have time to market their services, what they're really saying is is that, "This isn't a priority for me." or they're saying, "I can't properly control my time." Marketing and prospecting shouldn't be a priority, it should be the priority. Growing your business and doing good work and making things happen, it should be the number one priority. Period, Jonathan.
Jonathan: Agreed.
James: We're going to move right through this thing, here number three is "I have tons of experience." [0:07:01.5]
Jonathan: Yikes.
James: And we talked about this in a previous episode, why your certifications don't matter, why your experience doesn't matter, something like that, because your experience and certifications, I mean they literally do not matter as much as you think they do. I know a lot of advisors get butt hurt when I say that, but it's true. I mean you can have 10 years of experience and still be the worst financial advisor in the world. On the other hand, I know financial advisors who have been in the business for less than a year, like literally six months and they're absolutely crushing it because they listen and follow what I teach and they implement the stuff. That's the most important part, they implement it, they get on LinkedIn, they do the work, they go through the referral stuff. They don't even really have clients that they get referrals from, but they're still going through the stuff, they're still applying the principles, but not focus on the tactics, they're not looking for some sexy new tip. They look through the stuff, they get the fundamentals, they build their foundation and they build their business. [0:07:59.5] I mean this stuff goes hand in hand. The experience and certifications don't matter as much as you think they do. What would you rather be, let's just take a step back. What would you rather be, Jonathan? Would you rather have 25 years of experience and be broke or have five years of experience and be rich?
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Jonathan: I don't ever want to be broke, so I guess I'll just go with the five years and rich.
James: Five years and rich, sounds like the right choice for me. [0:09:00.4] So many people think that their experience is the meal ticket, they think just because I've got 10 years of experience or just because I've got 15 years of experience, that again, they say, "I've already paid my dues and I don't have time for this." They fall into this trap. And the people who say one of these things, they usually say two or three or all of them. It's really just like this never ending cyclical black hole, it just swallows them up. Number four, fourth phrase financial advisors should never use is... I can't even say with a straight face, "we offer unbiased objective advice that fits your needs". And there are several problems with this, but the first one is, like thanks for clarifying, me because I sure would hate to get some of that biased advice. You're pointing out the obvious, and this like serving lemonade and saying, "Here's your lemon, your water with lemon and sugar." Like dude, just say lemonade. You don't have to mention all the stuff. [0:10:06.9] Yes, I'm enjoying my water with lemon and sugar, thank you. Okay, you offer advice, I get it. And if you're offering biased, unobjective advice, like you should be ashamed of yourself. You need to be in this business to help other people, so if you're doing that stuff, you're doing your clients dirty, as they say in the lieu, just get out, we don't want you here. The 2nd problem with us is that everybody says it. If your financial advisor just regurgitates the stuff, "We offer unbiased, objective advice that fits your needs.", it's just cookie cutter, and client see right though it.
Jonathan: It's meaningless, I mean I don't even... When it's so bland, it's like it doesn't make an impact so you're forgotten just like everybody else.
James: Yeah, and that's what happens, it really is, it's bland, "unbiased, objective advice", and I could probably start pulling up different financial advisor websites and I guarantee within 10 or 20 of them I will find that exact phrase, like word for word literally right there in the home page, "we offer unbiased, objective advice" or there's something that fits your needs. [0:11:15.7]
I will find it, everybody says it. You don't stand out, your niche doesn't care about you as much. I mean if you work with teachers, all you have to say is something like this, "I help teachers do whatever, plan for retirement, match to for 403 B, navigate life's waters." or something, I don't know. That's a heck of a lot better than "unbiased, objective advice", the bland stuff that everybody says, doesn't make you stand out, you just fade to black, you're just part of the crowd. So those are the four things that financial advisors shouldn't, say the phrases they shouldn't use. Number one is I already paid my dues". Number two, "I don't have time". Yes you do, everybody's got the same 24 hours a day, you just choose to use it a different way. [0:12:00.8]
If you're unsuccessful, I promise you, I guarantee that you are using your time differently than a successful person. You're using your time differently than the guy down the street from you who's making a million bucks every single year, or a million bucks a month, I mean depending on the business. Number three. "I have tons of experience". Okay, move on to the next thing that doesn't matter. Number four... The experience thing kills me because aside from like some emails I sent about Donald Trump back in 2016, aside from that, I don't think I have ever gotten so much hate and so many nasty grams, as some people call it, from then when I did the whole experience of certifications that it doesn't matter.
Jonathan: Yeah, It was a good one. I mean experience doing what? Who cares? How about "I have tons of results"? Nobody cares about you. Get over it.
James: Yeah, they really don't. It's just the truth that you have to accept. In the business world, like how can I explain this, how can I put it more eloquently? [0:13:04.7] So I recently went to a grocery store and I usually don't do my shopping in person, I usually just order my groceries online, have them delivered to my door, but we were actually throwing a party and we were out of a particular ingredient, so I had to go to the grocery store and get it, because we were pressed for time. Well when I got the ingredient I didn't call the company and say, "Wait, are you guys experienced in making this? Do you have a degree in like cooking or culinary science? I need to make sure you have certifications before I buy this product." I didn't do that, I just bought the product. Why did I buy it? Because I had and need and I wanted the result, I wanted the ingredient. So getting the ingredient was the result that I wanted, and a note about providing value in people, I'm going to talk about this in later podcast episodes about the whole value trap, but that ingredient, the company, they didn't make me sit through a webinar first, they didn't make me get a free download or whatever. If they did, I probably wouldn't have bought. [0:14:07.6]
So there's right and a wrong way to provide value like that, but when you get right down to it, the bulk of the business world is about you providing result for a particular type of person who wants that result and that person, and enabling it and setting up your business in such a way where that person can easily find you, or you can find the person, vice versa. So I mean that's it. In one sentence or two sentences or how many that was, that's really what you want to do. And then number four is just the bland, unbiased objective advice that fits your needs, it doesn't make you stand out at all, it doesn't really matter to anyone. So don't use those four things those, these are four specific phrases I promised that I would give them to you in the last podcast episode, if you eliminate those four things from your marketing, I promise you things will be more effective and you will get more clients than you would have gotten otherwise simply by just eliminating them. [0:15:02.9] So you'll get more by doing less, and that's it for today, Jonathan.
Jonathan: How about next time?
James: Next time, as we've seen in this podcast, words have power and I'm going to keep the magic going next time because I'm going to talk about different productivity tips from Bill Gates, and these words are not from me, they're from Bill Gates himself. These productivity tips can help you become more productive, I mean shocker, right, help you get more done in less time, and you're learning from the multibillion dollar man himself, Mr William Gates.
Jonathan: Looking forward to that. So another financial advisor marketing is in the can, tune in next week for more.
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