Episode 247 – The Client-Centric Approach: Stop Talking, Start Listening

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 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 into another amazing episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast.

Brittany Anderson 1:07

Welcome to the ultimate advisor podcast. I am Brittany Anderson.

Draye Redfern 1:13

I’m Draye Redfern.

Bryan Sweet 1:14

And I’m Bryan Sweet. 

Brittany Anderson 1:16

Today, we are going to talk about why nobody cares about you. Right? That’s a little punch in the gut. But we’re gonna get real here we’re gonna talk about, essentially, how do you make your marketing and your messaging impactful. And that is by making it all about your target audience. I’ll speak from experience here that literally does not matter what kind of awards or accolades or accolades you have behind you. What matters is that you’re solving people’s problems. So while you can use some of the recognitions that you’ve had over the years, as a credibility built, what it boils down to is people don’t care about that they care about how you can service them, how can you serve them? And how can you help solve their biggest problems. So today, that’s what we’re going to dive into and talk about the importance of your messaging strategy. Before we get into anything about engaging your team, before we get into anything about building up a second in command, anything about automation, marketing, systematization, you really need to understand this core principle when it comes to deliver your message within your business. So Bryan, I want you to talk a little bit today about how this has been such a differentiator for for you within sweet financial and just for how you communicate to prospects and clients by focusing on them, versus what matters most to you.

Bryan Sweet 2:41

Thank you, Brittany. Yeah, I think, you know, focusing on the client just makes you look so much more attractive, because the reason clients or prospects come to you is that they’ve got a problem. And hopefully, you can be a resource to solve that problem. But today, what happens is, if you look at everybody’s websites, and advertising, everybody looks about exactly the same. We all deliver great service, we all have diversified portfolios, and to the client, it doesn’t look any different. Because you’re selling products, or you’re selling an investment process, or you’re selling service. And so when you start leading from what’s in it for them, versus here’s why you should come to me because I’m so great. That’s a differentiator. And it really stands out. And so one of the things that we really try, and we’ve actually got filters that we run things through is in our communication, is it about the client, and you want to make sure it’s all about the clients and their problems? And getting them to understand, yes, I do have that problem. And yes, it would be great if I could find somebody that would help me solve that problem. And that’s where we spend literally all of our marketing efforts on trying to be that differentiator and look different, sound different, speak different, but making it all about the client, and how we can be their resource to overcome whatever issues that they have. Draye I think you’ve got some interesting examples that might share that with better with others. 

Draye Redfern 4:41

Yeah, you know, I think that, you know, having worked with a variety of types of financial advisors and companies in sort of a different perspective. And no, I think Brian, you’re exactly right. Everyone thinks that they’re doing something that is unique, but if you would really take a step back at it Almost everyone is saying the exact same thing. And I say this, but no one necessarily like believes me. So in a recent conference, we won’t say which one I did had done a basic Google search for financial advisor ads. And then we pulled up about half a dozen ads. All of these ads said practically the same exact thing. It was planned for your financial future. I mean, that’s, that’s great. And you want to help people do that. But there’s not enough like of a pain point addressed to that you’re just sort of blanketing the market hoping that this planning for your financial future is enough to compel someone to work with you. In reality, all of these ads that we pulled up, they all said the same thing. The people were different. Maybe the skin color was different on some people, the headlines was basically the same, the pitch was basically the same. And the supporting copy was basically the same. And we see this all the time across the financial advisory industry, because, yes, there’s FINRA, and yes, there’s compliance. And you don’t want to like push back, you know, and you don’t want to upset the applecart without to abide by all of the rules. But just because you have to abide by the rules, doesn’t mean that it has to stifle the creativity. And this is a real important thing, when it comes to really creating that differentiation in the marketplace, making it about the client and not you, and really taking it to the next level. And so another example here, and that Brian sort of initially touched on is that most advisors, websites are just really pretty and often really expensive business cards, where they say how great the lead advisor is, or how great the firm is, and it’s essentially all about them. Now, that was okay, 510 years ago, but it’s not okay anymore. And it’s really sort of, you know, to really just call it what it is. It’s an ego play, where the lead advisor that the company wants to say or beat on their chest of how great they are. But it’s not really doing anybody any favors whatsoever. So if we take that, and we flip it on its head, and we really start to address the fact like, the potential clientele the prospects don’t give a darn about you, they want to make sure that they’re going to be diversified. Yes, they want to make sure that they’re going to be teed up for retirement, they want to make sure they have a good financial plan. Yes, any advisor can do almost all of those things pretty quickly and easily. But how do you make it about the client? What is the real differentiation? Not just like we have a planning session? And that’s great. How do you use your website and your marketing, to initiate that conversation and make it about them, and not about you. And whether that’s a story process, whether that’s like a client onboarding process, or prospect onboarding process, whether that’s free downloads, or complimentary downloads, you can have on your site, where you can start educating the client about the pain points they might have in the future, that you already know about. And so as a perfect example, if you are working with a, you know, one of your niches was women and transition, wonderful. Well, we know that if women in transition, they are maybe recently divorced, or maybe recently widowed, having seen many cases of this, you most likely know the emotional journey that this woman may be going through down her path. And as such, if you can take her by the hand, via your website digitally or in person for a meeting, you can walk her through, this is one thing you may want to consider next, or having this just happen. We you know, after you know, working with people, just like yourself, we know that you may be experiencing this or feeling this next. Now, if you take that approach, right just like that in an initial prospect meeting. And you compare that to the Joe Blow advisor down the street, who says, well, we help with planning, and we’re diversified. And all of the other jargon that most advisors throw into this. And then they have someone who who’s addressing where they’re at, who’s talking about their experience, who knows what they’re going to be feeling or experiencing next. It’s a game changer difference. And all that really happened was is changing the sort of dichotomy and moving it away from the traditional all about us as an advising practice, and switching it to more about the client, their emotional needs, where though their need to go next, and how you can help them execute on their visions. And if you can change it that way, it becomes a complete game changer in your business by making that very simple and subtle shift to really take it to the next level. 

Brittany 9:31

You know, Draye You said something interesting to me the other day, we were talking about, you know, our messaging strategy within suite financial services. And you know, what’s on the website for our target audiences? And you made a comment you quoted that a website isn’t necessarily gonna make you money, but it can cost you money.

Draye 9:51

100% Yeah. So, you know, there’s a lot of stats these days and analytics do we have to support this? And it’s not necessarily the website but the home page. And most websites, like I said, are just very pretty business cards. But if your homepage doesn’t do a really clear and succinct job very quickly, saying, you know who you are in like a sentence, but more importantly, how you can help your target market achieve their dreams, goals are their ambitions, those people are gone. And so if your homepage, it may not necessarily make you sales, but it will absolutely positively cost you sales, and we have the data to back it up. And it’s really worth advisors, like we’ve talked about already having that conversation, be more about the individual, not about you about them, and then having that reflected in your website in your promotional materials.

Brittany 10:45

Yeah, and I want to touch on something else, too. Draye, you brought up a point about making sure that the ego doesn’t get in the way. So that’s one thing that I’ve seen as I’ve, I’ve worked with other financial advisory practices all across the United States. So it doesn’t matter what part of the country they’re in. But that can be a big obstacle to overcome, because they think that Well, in order for a prospect to trust me, because trust is so huge in this industry, I need to show them upfront what I’m about who I’m about what my strategy is, how I can help them, right, so I knew who I am as a person. But the bottom line is, is in order to build trust in this industry, because as you well know, as an ultimate advisor, if you’re listening to this, you know darn well that you have to build trust in order to get prospects, even if you’re a high referral based business. So if you get the majority of your business, from referrals or word of mouth, it’s because you’ve built trust with your existing client. And they’re then transferring that trust on to somebody else that they love and care about, because they know that you’re going to be able to help them right. So it’s all about, Hey, your client, your niche, your prospect base, they have a need, you need to address. So I can’t stress enough, you have to set ego aside and understand that speaking to your target market, you have to address their fears and their biggest concerns because that’s the only way they’re going to engage with you. If they feel at all, like you’re being salesy. If they feel at all like you’re trying to pressure or to really tout your own ability or capability, that’s going to be a problem, that’s going to be a blockade for you. And I want to give an example, I’m going to I’m gonna use Brian as an example today. We actually for the past couple years at Sweet financial, Brian has made the Forbes best in state wealth advisor list. So actually, he is the only advisor outside of a metro area that was recognized and put on this list, which is huge, right? That’s a huge accomplishment. But here’s the deal. He’s not walking around, telling everybody in his path about how wonderful and how smart he is, because he made this list. So literally, when we create our messaging strategy, and we’re putting things out there, all of that is that that little Forbes logo, that little recognition, it goes at the bottom of an ad, it goes in the email signature, it goes on some of our collaterals it goes on direct mail pieces. But you know what that is? All that it is, is it’s a credibility build. That is absolutely not what the message that we’re delivering is about. So we’re not sitting here writing an article saying, hey, guess what prospects, guess what community, we made this list, we are so great, you need to work with us, because we’re clearly the best, we’re clearly the best for you. That is not the message. The message is geared towards Hey, you know, Mr. prospect, here’s a fear that we know you have, this is something that you that’s been stewing in your mind, here’s a concern you have, you’re afraid that you’re not going to be able to retire and do all the things that you want to do in retirement, you’re afraid that your advisor maybe isn’t diving as deep as they should they’re not doing as comprehensive research or do their due diligence, you’re afraid that you’re not saving enough money in taxes, because you’re paying, you know, so much every year, whatever the case is, whatever is their underlying fear. That’s what your messaging strategy is about. So when you talk about your website, it’s all that value add up front, right? And you’re not giving away the farm necessarily, but you’re giving them valuable information that’s going to help build trust, because they’re looking at it saying, Wow, Mr. or Mrs. Advisor, you gave me some awesome information before I even had a chance to meet you. All of a sudden I’m trusting you before I even have that handshake. So that’s something to understand is that that ego thing, you have to set that aside. And we know I mean, you’ve worked hard and you’ve built this business and you’ve poured your your sweat your heart and soul into it. So we want to acknowledge the successes that you’ve encountered and acknowledge the accolades you’ve received. But have that as a secondary and a support to your credibility and not what your messaging strategy is all about. So again, you know, Bryan, I don’t know if there’s anything you want to add there just with how you’ve really, you’ve really mastered this especially In recent years, I mean, you’ve we’ve shifted our whole mass messaging strategy. And I think that’s where we’ve seen some major success in some of the things that we’ve done at Sweet financial. So if you want to talk on that a little bit, yeah,

Bryan 15:11

I think you’ve had some great points, Brittany, and most of us, obviously get referrals, because people, you know, react or interact with us one on one. And that’s a great way of building trust. But if you’re trying to attract people, via automated marketing, social media websites, it’s really critical that that’s set up and establish correctly because that’s a whole different medium. And if they can’t gain trust, or confidence in the initial impression that they get, or that you’re different, or that you solve a problem, they’re never going to get to the second step, where they give you a call even to test the waters. And that’s why this is so important that you really think through that because you got a short period of time to make that first impression. And if that’s not a positive, where they want to dive deeper, you know, you’ve just lost the opportunity. And so always thinking and having filters that we’ve actually created, that force you to make sure that is this about the client is this about the problem that they have, really does make you stand out. And when you stand out, people like that difference, people like that ability to go someplace and know, hey, I’ve got that issue, here’s the only person I’m hearing that talking different and talking about how I can do that, and not tooting their own horn, they’re tooten, about what I have got wrong, and what I want to have different. And so it’s just been extremely conscious of it. And, you know, Draye has been great in helping us automate that so that that message gets delivered continuously. So I don’t know, Draye, if you’ve got any other add ons you want to make to that. But so, so, so important, 

Draye 17:14

You know, I can’t, I can’t stress it enough. And I think the interesting thing here is that, like, Let’s call a spade a spade, what we’re talking about, now, there’s going to be a certain contingent of people who would just say, I don’t need this, or it’s not important, or whatever else, let’s just start talking about like culture or your second and commands, liking, like, take more vacation, or tell me about the marketing or automation. So I can like automate this whole stuff. And that’s great. And we’re gonna get to all of that in the coming weeks. But the problem is that if this part right here, the part that we’re talking about right now, like changing the conversation about them, and not you, if this is not figured out, then all of the marketing, all of the automation, all the technology, like all of the other systems will fall flat on their face. And you’ll most likely have wasted a ton of money on stuff that would work, but you didn’t take the ground or the time and lay the groundwork upfront, to actually get this stuff dialed in ahead of time, because you want this to be the golden thread across all of your marketing or automation or technology, you want it to really appear not only appear, you want it to be the real thing, that you care about them, and not necessarily about yourself, and we can really help you dial that in ahead of time, then that golden thread, whatever it may be for you and your practice could be the same thing and the same piece of content messaging us through the marketing and the messaging and the automation. And that can trickle down into so that your culture really embodies that. So that really anyone that whether they come in for the first time in for a meeting, or they come in for the first time on your website via some funnel or marketing or automation, they feel like, Ah, I’m I’m home. This is where what I’ve been looking for. This is the type of advisor that I’ve wanted my entire life. Where was this firm when I needed them, I’ve had so many bad experiences. But oh my gosh, I am so glad that I found you. And I did. And I can’t wait to tell all my friends about you. That is the conversation that we want to have. We want them to feel like they are an extension of the family. We want them to feel like you have taken them under your wing, that you’re not only their financial advisor, you’re a trusted adviser. And they can look to you for all of their financial needs, whatever that may be, regardless of where they are in their their frame of life. And when we changed the topic of that we changed the conversation. It opens up so many possibilities. And it really gets a lot more of those word of mouth referrals which we know is the lifeblood of this business for many of our listeners. But also we use that like I said, to really leverage it through all of the marketing technology and then syncing it down into the culture so that this whole process, everything that we’re talking about, literally just oozes that you are client centric, you care more About that client first. And that comes through with your team, your marketing, your website, and everything else that we’ll talk about in the coming weeks. 

Bryan 20:07

Yeah,  let me give you an example of that Draye. It’s a personal example. And I’m saying this, to make a point not to say brag, but we’ve really focused on this the last year or two. And prior to that we were okay at it, I think we’re getting exceptional at it. But because of the focus on the client and their problem, and not necessarily us, we had the best year in bringing in new assets. And actually, it was just mind blowing from my standpoint, but we brought in over 170 million of new assets. So I know this stuff works, because that’s the result that we got. And that’s a lot more than we’ve ever brought in before. And literally, you know, that’s one of the major changes that we made. And everything else that we’ve been doing is literally somewhat similar. So I can’t tell you, it’s 100% attributable to that. But that had a big, big effect on generating that many extra new assets that we were able to manage for clients. 

Brittany 21:20

And Bryan, I want to add to what you just said to, you know, as Draye, as you were talking about, making sure that it’s that it’s all about them. And having this such an integral part. I liken this to the courtship period, when you’re, you’re dating somebody, right? Or you’re trying to date somebody, if you go on a first date, and you’re with somebody, and they literally talk about themselves the entire time, right? I would guarantee that just about everybody listening has had an experience like this, whether it’s with a significant other, or you’re in a courtship period with a potential business partner, whatever the case is, but when they talk about themselves the entire time, you’re literally like ready to pull your hair out, or it’s your skin off, because you’re like, get me out of this conversation, right. But on the flip side, if you go on a date with somebody or in your in a courtship, or whatever that is, and they’re talking all about you and they’re asking you a ton of questions, trying to get to know you really trying to peel back the layers per se, right. That’s a different experience. And that’s what you’re trying to do in your messaging. You’re making it all about them. And when Brian was talking about having our best asset you’re ever one of the things we really drill down on for our existing and for prospects is figuring out what was most important to them. Right and consistently delivering that experience. So that is the whole point of today’s podcast is is really trying to get down to that what matters most to them. And I thought of a quote as Brian was talking, the quote goes something like this, I’m sorry if I butcher it, but it’s something along the lines of people will forget what you do. They will forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel. So that is the core of this message. Right? Make it all about them. Appeal to what their needs are. Appeal to what they are wondering what’s keeping them up in the middle of the night stressing about when it comes to their finances when it comes to their money, that thing that they’ve worked so hard to accumulate over the years. Those are the things you need to focus on in your messaging.

Draye 23:31

Hey there Draye Redfern here. And before you go, we just wanted to say thank you for listening to this week’s episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast. If you enjoy this episode, then please subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play stitcher or Spotify. And if you would like to access more of the show notes additional resources in our free premium content, then please visit ultimate advisor podcast.com. We look forward to seeing you in the next episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast. We’ll see you there.