Episode 267 – How to Leverage Automation to Connect with Perfect Clients?

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 to create the advising practice that you’ve dreamed of. You’ll be joined by our hosts Bryan 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.

 Draye Redfern 1:07

Hey everyone, Draye Redfern here and welcome to the ultimate advisor podcast where in this episode, we’re going to talk about automating your avatar. Now, what does that even mean? Well, we’re going to talk a little bit more about your avatar that that ideal client, that perfect client for you and your business, and then how you can more or less automate various facets in the way that you market to them. So lots to cover in this episode and excited to dive right in. So I’m going to lead it off talking about how you can essentially position your messaging to attract more of those right fit clients and repel some of those wrong clients. So how do we do that? Well, first off, Brittany used a great story from one of her coaching clients, and that they basically are the number one producer for their broker dealer. They have a very, very successful business. However, all of the messaging on their site was about them. So they were not very clear about their avatar and the way that they could best communicate that to the person how they can actually help them. Huge, huge, important factor to really knock out first and foremost. That being said, how do we then build relationships and rapport with these different niches that you serve. And here’s the easiest way about that. So we know and we use some examples in the last episode of How sweet financial a very successful business set separates some of their niches, women transition, and business owners, just two of them. And if we use those two, as part of the example here, we also know that women and transition want to be communicated to differently than a small business owner. So what you do is you have email, autoresponder sequences, or email drip campaigns, or email automation, it goes by 10,000 different names, but essentially a way that you can automate your email correspondence to them to drip it out over time, to help you build a relationship with them. Now, I’m sure you’ve probably seen some of those stats that on average, it takes like, between 18 and 27 impressions on a client or on a prospect to convert them to a client. That’s true. But most of those stats are largely in the product based sectors, not necessarily financial services sectors, especially where trust has to be much higher for someone to trust you enough to move their assets, their portfolio, and then maybe their net worth over to you to manage. So obviously, we’ve got a lot more barriers to cross. And as a result, we have to have more touches and impressions because it simply takes more than that 18 to 28 impressions. So how do we do that? Well, the simplest way is to use an email, auto responder service, there’s a ton out there, one of the ones that we use and recommend is just because it’s it’s simple, it’s easy, it’s affordable, it’s called Get Response, where you can get as little as $15 a month. And that helps you to automate much of your email sequences. So once someone opts in for a list, maybe they’ve shown interest in a meeting that you’ve had, or an event that you’ve hosted, you can enroll them into this list, and then it could be every day, it could be every other day, it could be every week, they automatically get these emails from you. And that’s literally a single service. Most of these services are approved by a variety of broker dealers. There’s some of the other big ones out there Constant Contact. Some of the more robust platforms are fusion soft and HubSpot. It just depends on us more or less what your needs are. And there’s literally a service to fit whatever that need is. That’s just some of the low and mid end and high end services out there. What once you have that done, once you at least have the framework done then you’ve actually got to write the emails for these niches. And again, if we know what those niches are, it’s easier to write that content so you can talk to much more of the emotional side of things for a woman who just maybe just lost their husband. You can touch on more emotional things of feeling is and experiences are uncertain. Maybe the husband managed all of the finances, maybe that, you know, she’s out of the loop. Or maybe she doesn’t feel, you know, certain in her financial future now that the primary income provider income earner is now deceased, that is a really emotional time right there that you don’t want to like, basically use that as an admin, you know, to try and manipulate their fields, but you want to let them know that there’s certain things that they may not necessarily consider yet, that if you have these answers, and you can genuinely help them, and you can genuinely add value, that you can dramatically change their life during this difficult time. For the better. Now, if we take that, and we flip it on its end, and we have a business owner, who is used to being like, in and out and, you know, I’m like, I’m running 1000 miles a minute, I just need quick answers and quick information. This is what I need. If that’s your avatar, great. But that person is not going to want, you know, long, more emotional, more thought provoking content that really helps you know, a woman specifically, there are two completely different people that this is like the next step, we have defined those avatars. And now we want to custom our messaging our communication, specifically to them. So if you didn’t download that, that example, Avatar worksheet in the last episode, go to ultimate advisor podcast.com, go down, download that avatar exercise, because that may be helpful as you develop some of these processes. Because again, you want to make sure that your communication is specifically tailored to them. Now you have this awesome email sequence using a get response or Infusionsoft, or HubSpot or Constant Contact, there’s a ton of them out there. Now, how do you get people on that list? That’s the next question that a lot of people usually then want answers to. And there’s a variety of ways and there’s no, there’s no right or wrong. But there’s a variety of ways. We’ve talked with some advisors in the ultimate advisor coaching program, who just do a lot of events, and they just you know, someone attends an event. And they just enroll them onto their email list that way to build rapport over time. We’ve got other you know, advisors who are running paid traffic and paid media, and maybe they’re doing Google ads, and they want to add, run traffic run in basically by clicks from Google to a landing page. And that landing page could be a checklist, it could be a download, it could be all sorts of information that helps that avatar address their specific problem. So again, these downloads are going to be tailored specifically to your avatar. So if you’re catering to women in transition, you know that basically you need to have more emotionally driven content, maybe your lead magnet or your download is the 10 things that you need to consider after a spouse passes away or the 10 financial things that you need to consider after a spouse passes away. I’m just ad libbing. But that’s a simple title that caters directly to that specific need, that someone is experiencing. If they’re a business owner, it could be the five things that most business owners overlook when planning for their financial future. Things that actually create curiosity that then cater to their specific need or pain point. These things are very easy to use, and very easy to set up. And almost any software service that you use, can plug directly into your email autoresponder, that Constant Contact or HubSpot, or get response any of those. And so what this does is is if you know those avatars, it makes it significantly easier to then cater to that specific person’s needs in the messaging and the way that they like to be communicated to, and then automate each of those facets, using some of those software’s to really build that trust, build that rapport, and then really have as many more of those touches, largely almost entirely automated, so you don’t have to necessarily worry about it. So what it does is the benefit, you build this trust, you build this rapport, but you also lower the operational load. So you don’t have to calendar all of these things out or pen them out to manually follow up with them every so often, it can be almost entirely automated. So what that does is it pulls a lot of that burden off of the advisor or the support staff, and automates that helps to build that trust in order to really take that to the next level. All of that being said, there’s a lot to sort of digest there and probably on top there, Brittany, and I know you’ve got a lot of things to weigh in on that, especially when it comes to the actual creation of it, the copy of it, and then how once it’s done once, you can actually use that to then repurpose it over and over again.

Brittany Anderson 9:29

Hey, Brittany here, stopping and pausing for a moment to talk about something that we’ve had so many of you inquire about and that is our ultimate advisor, mastermind. Now I’m going to start by saying if you are not a growth minded individual, if you are not somebody who’s focused on taking your business to the next level, if you’re not focused on engaging your team, and helping them to help you in turn, level up the business The service model, how you provide that wow experience to clients. If those things are not your focus, just fast forward right now, because the ultimate advisor mastermind would not then be for you. However, if you are looking to take your business to the next level, if you want to experience exponential growth and feel supported along the way, if you want to start working smarter and not harder, if you want to help your team members to work within the God given talents that they were provided, and use those skill sets in a way they haven’t yet to help support you in your business, to help them realize their biggest goals, their biggest dreams. If you want creative approaches to marketing, I know that can be an intimidating word. But we’re not talking here about the fancy Facebook stuff, or you know, the latest and greatest, but rather looking at how you can market what you do, how you can express how you’re different, and how you can truly differentiate yourselves in a crowded market space. If those are problems you’re looking to solve, then you absolutely want to go check out ultimate advisor mastermind.com To learn more about how we can help you on your path and journey to growth. Yeah, Draye Actually, you made me think of something while you were talking. And you know, everybody’s heard that saying of treat people the way you want to be treated? Well, I would like to say that is incorrect, right? You want to treat people the way that they want to be treated. So one of the most important whys and Draye, you did, I think you did a great job of touching on this just a minute ago. But really, the reason that the core why for identifying your avatar is because you want to be able to solve their problems. So that’s what copy or messaging is all about. It’s really about solving people’s problems. You want them to read what you have to offer to look at what you have to offer. And to have that automatic head nod of Yes. That’s what I need. Yes, they can help me. Yes, that’s the problem that I have. And they’re my solution. So that’s why it’s so important to get to that core of that avatar. And then to be able to, like Draye talked about consistently nurture that right? consistently give them information, to have them getting those head nods. So when we look at the purpose and having coffee, right, so at speak financial services, we’ve actually hired a copywriter to get really deep with us to really draw out what our core is, who is it that we want to help so even us who we eat, sleep and breathe this right, we know the avatar, we know who our market is, we wanted to get even clearer with that. So that’s what we did. That’s the route that we went down. Now, the other thing that we’ve seen quite a bit in working with financial advisors, and this is actually something we encounter in all facets. So it doesn’t matter what assets you have, what your production is, we see this kind of across the board, is that a lot of times advisors have great resources or great tools at their fingertips. But maybe it’s buried on their website. And maybe it’s in their onboarding packet that only touches you if you give that Yes, right. If your prospect gives that head nod saying yes, I want to at least have a conversation, that’s when they get some of these great resources. But otherwise, they’re buried. So part of what you can do through this sequence through this direct messaging is you can actually uncover or unbury some of the great content that you’ve already built. So one example that we’ve done as the Financial Services is through these nurture sequences through these, this automated communication, automated emails that we go have going out on a weekly basis, we actually have links that go into our website that draw them directly to what can solve their problem. So that might be we have something that we call the retirement readiness center. So within that it’s like a toolbox of these rich tools that people can use to prepare for retirement. Now it’s buried in our website. So unless we’re telling people go here to solve this problem, nobody would know about it. So that’s part of why we’ve decided to create the nurture sequence that we did to have that weekly communication to both prospects and actually existing clients as well. Because there’s tools, there’s resources that they can use to solve some of their biggest problems. So that’s the importance of having solid copy of having that consistent communication going out. Because the bottom line is your prospects and your clients alike. They don’t know what they don’t know, right? If you have great content buried in They’re not going to be searching for it right, they’re not going to waste that time. So you have to tell them where to go. You have to tell them that the tools that they can use to solve their biggest problems. So Brian, I want you to weigh in a little bit. I think that that you have really gotten deep in this in the last couple of years within the business. And it’s just been so exponential to us being able to say no, when it fits, and for us being able to say yes, when it fits also. So I think you should talk a little bit on that, and how that’s really impacted our ideal client.

Bryan Sweet 15:30

You bet, Brittany, I think the our three niches or our three avatars, as Draye alluded to earlier, are a concept called smarter business, which is dealing with business owners and entrepreneurs, a concept called Women forward, which is dealing with women in transition. And then our financial planning process is called the dream architect. And the dream architect is really for people five to seven years from retirement or those in retirement. And we try to draw from a radius of 60 miles because we found that people will come 60 miles or drive 60 miles to experience what we do, because it is so different. But a couple of interesting things that take off on what you said is, those are really the only things that we actually put out into the public, that give us our message. So we want people when they think of sweet financial to think of dream architect, business owners, or women in transition. And we have just found that when you have that very clear message, and that’s why we use a specific copywriter for each of those niches is, it’s easier to work within each of those niches, as they each have the similar problems and similar concerns. And when you get that message really clear that drills down into what issues and problems and things that you can do to help them overcome concerns and problems that they have. They may not want to work with you today. But if you do this drip campaign that Draye alluded to, it’s an amazing scenario that once they lock in or opt in is the official term. It’s an automated sequence where every so many days, they get some message that’s crafted to that specific niche, they can click and do some things. But there’s a sequence that dependent on it, if they elect Option A or Option B, then they’ll continue to get messaging. And as Draye alluded to one of the crazy things that happens. And I think one of the reasons advisors don’t have as much success as they should, is they give up too soon. And a don’t follow up, or they don’t have the contacts with clients because it takes lots and lots and lots of follow up for a couple reasons. One, they got to trust you as Draye alluded to, to, they’ve got to have one of the problems that you’re able to solve. And so you might get a message out in front of them. But at the moment, they hear you for the first time, they don’t have that issue. But if you have a way of continuously getting that information in front of them, when that problem comes up, they’re gonna go, Oh, I think I heard sweet financial, once they the ones that could help me solve that. And that’s when they would engage with you. So the more you can keep your message in front of your avatar, when they’re ready, you’ll be ready. And the great thing about automating is, is that it’s literally once you set it, you can pretty much forget it. Now you want to make sure that the messaging works. And there’s different things where you cross test and do things like that, to make sure that your message is working. But it does allow you to get whatever it is that you are trying to attract in front of people on a continuous basis. And it also then repels people because if they don’t have these problems, or that information isn’t fit with what your particular message is, there’s no way that they’ll call and as the other episode alluded to, it’s so much more fun working with your ideal clients. And as Brittany alluded to, you know, we all have big pain points when you lose a client. But if you really look at it, when you do lose a client, I would tell you most of the time, it isn’t going to be your avatar or your ideal. And if you know that up front, and you don’t collect any new clients that don’t fit that the chance of you having to have a client leave or having to ask a client to leave really gets minimized. So Draye Any other comments that you have on that? 

Draye Redfern 20:04

think there’s a lot a lot there, and I think you’ve hit the nail on the head is just really being clear on who you serve. Because, you know, it’s so much more fun when you work with people that you actually enjoy spending time with, and enjoy working with. And that’s, that’s certainly one portion of it. But by automating a lot of these things, by automating the communication with your avatar, it really does go a long way to have more of those deep, long lasting rapport builders. So you can induce more of that rapport and and that reciprocity as you continually share more value, give more value, to really show that you are actually an advisor who does go the extra mile, whereas every other advisor they’ve probably worked with or talked to say they do, but actually don’t really do that much, especially in order to build enough rapport, that you would then be built by doing something like that. So it really does go a long way, not only to create additional differentiation between the rest of the other advisors out there, but you’re doing it in a way that creates that attraction to those right clients repels the wrong clients and really helps you create more of an automated system to build your advising business. So that being said, hopefully you got a lot of value out of this episode. And in the next one episode, we’re going to be talking about how you can automatically nurture more of those clients and prospects using very clear and simple ways to tee you and your business up for success. So we look forward to seeing you there.

Brittany Anderson 21:30

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