Episode 227 – Success is beyond the search for the next sale

Episode Transcription

This is the ultimate advisor Podcast, the podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful and scalable practice. Each week we’ll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals your team, your marketing, and your business operations, helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets and create the advising practice that you’ve dreamed of. You’ll be joined by our hosts Brian sweet, who is moving fast towards a billion dollars in assets under management, Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to improve their operations and company culture, and Draye Redfern who can help you systematize and automate your practices marketing to effortlessly attract new clients. So what do you say? Let’s jump in to another amazing episode of The Ultimate advisor podcast.

Brittany Anderson 1:07

Hello, and welcome back to your ultimate advisor podcast. This is Brittany Anderson. And once again I have with me the wonderful Brian sweet and the fabulous Draye Redfern. So today we’re going to talk about how you can lead with value or how you should lead with value. So the most successful advisors are not out there necessarily looking for their next sale, but rather how they can add even more value to existing relationships, or add value simply to a new relationship. So I want you to think about most of you, if not all of you, all of you should have this if you don’t, should have some sort of a list of people that you’d like to work with. Again, it goes back to being intentional, if you don’t have any sort of guide as to who your ideal client is, who you’d like to get in front of and who your prospects are, you definitely need to so activity number one, if you don’t have what I’m about to say, definitely create it. But the point in this is that rather saying I have a prospect list, I have by sales list. That’s not being intentional when it comes to adding value, literally title that particular list your prospect list, as who can I help next, who can I add value to it’s a, it’s a really simple thing, it might seem a little goofy off the bat. But it’s amazing at what it does for your mindset and how you actually focus on helping the people that are out there that are in line with the problems that you solve within your business. So this is this is a great exercise to go through. Because number one, it helps you get really clear on who you can actually help and whose problems you can actually solve. Because a lot of times with marketing efforts with prospecting efforts, if you’re not intentional, it goes back I use this example all the time. But it’s like shooting an arrow into space with no target, you know, you might hit something that’s of interest, but the likelihood of it is probably not, it’s just gonna go out into space, and you don’t even know where it lands. So this is all about being intentional. But again, leading with the right intention. So when you’re thinking about leading with value, this should actually be reflected not just in the title of your list, but in all of your marketing and our prospecting efforts. So this could be in your email copy, on your website on any sort of call to action or anything that you would put out into the world that would potentially cause somebody to reach out to you, you need to be solving problems, because the biggest mistake people make and Draye gives example after example of this, and what we see not just in our industry, but across the board. When it comes to marketing, if you’re just putting stuff out there about how great you are, I mean, there’s a difference between getting a little bit of PR and marketing to lead with value. So you want to make sure that you are so crystal clear on the problems that you solve. Because the person on the other end truly doesn’t care how great you are until they know how you can solve their problems, how you can actually make their life simpler. So Brian, this has been a huge premise of suite financial, this is really what we’ve built our culture around is continually looking for ways to add value to clients add value to prospects. So I’d love for you to hop in and just talk about kind of that journey and what we’ve done and what we continue to do it sweet financial.

Bryan Sweet 4:28

Brittany, I love the comment on solving problems. I think the big thing with the financial services industry and I think it’s getting better all the time, but it’s just being cognizant of this is really what we’re here to do is help clients solve a problem. And instead of you know, shoving a product or a service or something down a client or prospects throat, find out really where are there areas that they’re hurting and what issues do they have And then be a resource and how you can deliver value to help them overcome that. And I think if everybody changed their mindset and everything that they did, from marketing, as you said to just how you communicate with clients, the process of you getting clients engaged and getting them converted from prospects to clients would, would speed up immensely. And, as we’ve mentioned, we belong to the Genius Network. Joe Polish is the founder, and he has a saying that probably is really appropriate right here it says, Life gives to the giver and takes from the taker. And I think that’s so true, in that, when you do something for a client, you need to ask yourself, What’s in it for them, and not what’s in it for you. And if you always have that mindset, you’re really going to come across different than the average advisor, because they really know you care about them, and want to do what’s best for them. And the results in the business that you do will show pretty pretty quickly. And one of the things that we do is we’ve have a kind of a decision matrix that we follow. And some of the questions that we ask, actually have to do with that question is what we are about to do deliver value for a client, or does that marketing add, show value, and provide some kind of a benefit to the client, and not to us. And the other thing, I guess, it’s a very big side benefit. But a big benefit nonetheless, is if you always lead with value, one of the things you’ll find is that your client retention rates will be higher than the people that don’t. And fortunately, because this is one area that we’ve really paid a lot of attention to and spend a lot of time on, we’re very blessed to have 99 plus percent retention, while when you get paid recurring revenue, and you get to keep virtually every one of your clients that you want to keep, that really makes a big difference to the bottom line. So just real things to think about it just be cognizant of before you run and do something, is it going to benefit the client is a quick question to ask yourself. And Draye I think there’s some marketing twists or spins on that value proposition that you could probably share with us also.

Draye Redfern 7:38

Yeah, this is this is so fun, I think that this, you know, you both hit the nail on the head in a variety of ways, I think leading with value, something that I’ve preached and been a proponent of for my entire life, really, from growing up, and just seeing how my dad acted in business and watching him as one of my mentors early on, on how to go about treating people better than you want to be treated. And I think if you carry that sort of philosophy, that ideology, that way of thinking, and actually implemented in your business, everything across the business improves. So the company and culture in the business are improved, because people feel valued, and they feel like they matter. They’re excited to come to work every day. If you do that with like what Brittany recommended. The clients feel that on the other end, like what Brian was saying, just going above, above and beyond, really, people see that they feel that and it makes a difference, and you lead with value. And one of the ways that I like doing that is at least on the front end for marketing. So many at least these days, email lists or opt in for some newsletter, they’re just the most surface level, boring, just absolutely abysmal. poke your eyes out, because I don’t want to read it content that is just awful. When in contrast, it’s an amazing opportunity. If you actually like, you know, the buying cycle or purchasing cycle enrollment cycle as a financial advisor is very long. It’s not like Hey, someone just raised their hand today, or they opted in for some lead magnet, or they did something and tomorrow they become a client. It’s not that simple. So the buying cycle is long. So how can you lead with value like this in a way that actually inspires people that not only you’re the right fit, but you’re the only fit. And one of the ways you do that is it’s just ongoing marketing drip email content, but do it but content in a way that is not surface level. And a perfect example. This is the sweet team and they’ve got over a year’s worth 54 weeks worth of email content for each of their three niches. Now. I don’t I have never had a conversation with another financial advisor that goes that deep. It just the time that it takes to go into that is incredible. And then people ask what happens to the end of the 54 weeks, well, you can just recycle it, you can start come back at the big again at the beginning. But the idea there isn’t that you have to have a year’s worth of content, the idea is that the content that they are providing the content that is differentiating them, is so much different than anybody else in the market. It’s not just like, you know, surface level, this is something you may want to consider their stories interlaced with it. And it’s actual tactical advice on whether it’s budgeting, or when, you know, they have to take the, you know, actually have to take distributions, and so on and so forth. So Social Security things that are not talked about quite as often. Or maybe its idea of like, you know, actually passing down generational wealth. And what does that look like? How do you make sure that the your family’s not only taken care of, but they’re actually going to continue doing things with their life, there’s so many amazing topics and insights, that people who are in that position in life actually want to read and engage with, because it matters to them. And that is a really easy way that anyone right now can start leading with value, they start putting together information out there that actually can educate and inform and inspire people to want to work with you. And that’s one example. The other example I’ve talked about, I think a few times is like what we do and Redfern media when it comes to like onboarding a client, you can do a variety of different varieties of this and compliance. And BDS may may cause one way or the other, but we literally make custom web pages for every single client that comes up with a custom video. And on that page, it’s like, I don’t want to give the exact URL but it’s a it’s a subdomain of Redfern media.com, forward slash their name like John dash Smith. And going back, I said this many times before the the sweetest song that someone’s ears is their own name. And so using their name and a URL using their name and a video like, Hey, John Draye here, and I really enjoyed the conversation, I really so excited that we talked about Blanc de Blanc de Blanc de Blanc, here’s the next steps. And then you have their name on that page, that whole process for us, we’ve whittled it down to it takes less than 10 minutes now. And it’s not difficult, it’s not time consuming. There’s a lot of tools that are out there that you can use to make that happen. But it’s just about going that slight bit extra, the difference between extraordinary and ordinary is that little bit extra, just that little bit extra that no one else is actually doing. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be super time consuming. The sweet sequence is 54 weeks, yes. But it’s email content that is hyper targeted to their demographic, our model is hyper targeted to where they are in that particular part in our journey, you could do the same thing, you just had a meeting with somebody, maybe you had, you shoot a video like that, maybe you do something to increase the level of personalization, and lead with value. So you actually practice what you preach you It’s put up or shut up sort of thing where you actually you are the type of person that puts up, you’re not one of those financial advisors where they never hear from you or whatever it is, you’re not that type of person, you’re the one who put yourself out there. And those are just a couple of tactical things I suppose that you could use when it comes to leading with value to show that you know what, I actually heard you, you know what I am engaging with you I’m going the extra mile and lead with value showing that we actually go the extra mile or even if you don’t even have that personal relationship yet, you go the extra mile and lead with value and some of that email content like like what sweet does. So a couple of different tactical items there, Verdun, anything that you want to elaborate as far as, as far as what those two items may be.

Brittany Anderson 13:43

The whole thing, your comments, Brian’s comments, everything all together made me think of one particular phrase. I think that there is there are times when success can read entitlement, and not maybe intentionally. So I think what what the the really core of all of this, when you are focused consistently on adding or creating value for people, it’s really hard to get to that entitlement because the bottom line is, is you’re not entitled to another client, you are not entitled to close that prospect, you have to earn it, you have to earn that introduction and that trust my goodness, trust is a huge factor in our industry. And a lot of times I mean, that’s the deciding factor, the client, we hear this over and over again, they’re like, well, we just trust you, we feel like we can trust you. That is something we hear from from new clients from prospects all the time, the reason that they do business, so that is a huge factor. So just don’t get in that trap of getting to that entitlement level. Again, it’s not intentional, doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It just means you need to focus more on the value add. And this spins into something that Draye You said when you’re talking about treating people even better than than the way you want to be treated, and I’ve said this in previous podcasts, but I think there’s something to be said about treating people the way they want to be treated, I actually have come to really dislike the saying of treat people the way you want to be treated. Because how I want to be treated and how you want to be treated could be two totally different things. So when you’re focused on leading with value, and truly solving problems for people, you’re looking at what they want, not what you want to give them. Because quite frankly, they don’t care what you want to give them, they care about what they want. So I think that’s really important that it helps you get your mindset focus consistently on delivering value, and not getting in the trap of just trying to get your message across. So I think that’s really, really important, too, to just maintain focus on. And the bottom line is, is, again, if you look at 2020, and you look at all that this year has provided, we should, as financial advisors in this business, be in a constant state of gratitude, because we have been very, very fortunate to be able to continue to serve our clients and to be able to continue to add value to them. So don’t take it for granted really focused on this and make this an intentional part of your practice, it’s going to help you break through those neck ceilings of complexity. Because if you’re solving problems for people and always looking for new ways to add value, man, that’s exciting. That’s good stuff. And that’s going to keep you excited and energized as the adviser as the owner is the primary, you know, as the second in command, whatever you’re listening as that’s what keeps people energized. So before I go into the key point, wrap up, Draye, Brian, anything else you want to say across the board,

Draye Redfern 16:25

I just think that you know, the the idea of leading with value, it needs to be something then the culture queen, maybe you can elaborate on this, it needs to be something that is embodied and adhered to throughout the entire organization, no matter what you do, you lead with value, you know, maybe they don’t become a client. And you know what, that’s okay. You know what that’s it’s completely okay, if they don’t, because we did the right thing, and we’d lead with it. And the reality is Brian sort of hit the nail on the head, I think a minute ago, is that the referrals or retention rates, all of these things, all of these other numbers end up increasing as a result of it. And sometimes those just take time, but you’re not, you know, you’re in this for the long run anyway. So I think that it just the idea of leading with value, just make it just an absolute steadfast staple of what the organization believes in.

Bryan Sweet 17:18

Now, my only comment to that would be, if your one goal was anything, just be a good problem solver, and ask great questions to find out what issues clients have. And once you do that, you become invaluable to them, and they’ll never let you go.

Brittany Anderson 17:35

I think those are the both really great points. And to go back to when it looks at when you look at creating a culture of givers of creating a culture that leads with value. You know, when we interview people, when we’re bringing people on to the team, adding a new position, whatever the case is, we’re looking for people who are genuinely good individuals, who are just kind people who are givers. I mean, we asked for examples during the interview process, we asked for examples of you know, what are times that you lead with value, and how have you enhance somebody’s life, give me a couple of examples. So I’m constantly looking for those people that give me examples of how they’ve gone above and beyond for others. So that’s a great, a great action, I wasn’t going to bring that up today. But I think that’s a great way for you to implement into your practice, and to really build that culture. So we’re constantly we actually have a weekly email that goes out to our whole entire team members that I draft up each and every week. And I’m constantly giving examples that team members have shared of how they’ve led with value to a client, clients who come back to us and express gratitude for value that we’ve added. So it’s literally beat into everybody’s heads every single week, week after week, 52 weeks a year, so that people are consciously thinking about how they can continue to add even more value, because seeing the things that come across. I mean, they’re you can’t put a price tag on that. I mean, there’s nothing better than having a client tell you like, Wow, I’m so grateful for what you do. You have changed my life, you’ve impacted me in ways that I can’t even express. There’s nothing better than that. So, to round out today’s episode, there are a few key things that I think you could implement immediately into your business that will make a great impact. Number one, is to get so stinking clear on what problems you solve. What do you solve for people? What value can you add that is unique from your competitors, because we’re all we’re all put on this earth for a reason. And we have a certain potential to live up to you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t realize that potential. So decide what problems you solve and how you can impact people’s lives. Number two, I think Brian just absolutely nailed this one. And it’s asking yourself rather than saying, Well, what am I going to get out of this this transaction? What am I going to get out of this conversation? It’s going into it saying what can I give? And then what else can I give? So constantly thinking about how you can give to the others versus what you’re going to get out of it? And then finally, I think Draye really brought up some great points when it comes to creating your content, your marketing your efforts there. And it’s to decide how you can go even deeper in the content, the copy and the communication that you’re putting out. So serving people on all ends, doing the little personalizations. Those things are so simple. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of a video. Because we all have this beautiful thing called a phone that’s in our pocket. There’s only a handful of people I know that still have flip phones, I don’t even know how they got them. I think they went on eBay or something. But in all reality, we have these awesome little things in our pockets, shoot a quick video on your phone. It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be, you know, super fancy, just giving the name somebody’s name. And like Dre said they have this process dialed down to put somebody’s first name and something because there’s something beautiful about hearing your name, it just catches your attention. So those are a few key things out of today that you could absolutely implement immediately into your business that’s going to help you gain the traction that you’re looking for. So that rounds out today’s episode of The Ultimate advisor podcast. We’re gonna catch you right back here next week. Hey there, Brittany Anderson here. If you are loving what you’re hearing on our ultimate advisor podcast, don’t keep us a secret. Share us with other advisors that you think would benefit from the messages that you are hearing. The easiest way to do that is to simply send them to ultimate advisor podcast.com. And if you want to learn a few other ways that we could potentially serve you as an advisor, go check out ultimate advisor mastermind.com. As always, we are so happy to have you here with us as part of the ultimate advisor community and we look forward to a continued relationship