Episode 256 – Quantifying Your Worth: Leveling Up Your Value Proposition with Leo Pusateri

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.

John Moshides 1:07
Welcome everyone to the continuing Ultimate Advisor Coaching podcast series designed for advisors who are committed to growing their practices, and more importantly, in my mind growing both professionally and personally. Because in the end, it’s all about the value that we provide to our clients. I’m John Moshides. So I’ll be your host today on part of the faculty at ultimate advisor coaching. And this has been a tremendous ongoing series of podcasts from some of the leaders in our industry, today’s theme will be based upon value. And I’m delighted to have the leading expert on value creation in the country today, Leo Pusateri, from Pusateri Consulting, Leo and I go back over 30 years, both having a personal relationship and a professional one. I’ve been a student of his teachings for many years. And he happened to have in front of me his first book, Mirror mirror on the wall, am I the most valued of the mall? How do you differentiate yourself from a very crowded marketplace? So Leo, we’re so happy to have you today, your continued growth speaks for itself. So welcome to the program.

Leo Pusateri 2:23
Thank you, John, absolute pleasure to be here and in the work that you are doing is just phenomenal. It’s going to change the lives and the careers of the people that are privileged to work with the four of you guys in your vision to make a difference. So congratulations to you folks, as well. Thank you. And

John 2:40
I always look back very often, even at this stage of my career, on your seven step value ladder, the questions that are in the minds of prospects and clients before they’re really choosing to develop that deep relationship with you. And I think that was just such a great design that has helped so many advisors, maybe you could talk a little bit about what went into your thinking when you put that together.

Leo 3:05
Well, it all started with my belief system. John, what I was running into after I started my company well over three decades ago now in realize that this revolution of value is taking place as being led by clients. It was causing a dilemma these in these clients were changing. They were becoming more sophisticated, there was more complexity in their lives. And all this stuff was going on. And when the competitive options were being confronted, or folks like yourself had to figure out ways to just elevate your game is to say, man, we got to get better. We’ve just got to eradicate this one illness that I call from all my travels globally, was I called lenita. What were they winging where they’re winging the way to differentiate themselves to distinguish their teams in themselves. And I realized they needed to answer seven seven remarkably elegant, stunningly simple, John, but deceptively difficult questions to answer. Who are you? What do you do? Why do you do what you do? How do you do what you do? Who have you done it for? What makes you different? And why should we do business with you? And for each one of those questions, John, from my research, I realized there was some strategic rationale that these changing more sophisticated clientele prospects, looking for someone to entrust the oversight of their wealth planning to one an answers to an ask you Who are you tell me more about your background background of your organization, your team, yourself to be able to do this and elevate your game and maybe come out look somebody in the eyes and net this out. When they ask you John, what do you do they want to know what’s your value proposition in a different way. You’ve got to be able to Open up your file drawer and pull out your compelling story, the beliefs that drive what you’ve learned from helping your best clients achieve their wealth goals. When they ask you how they want to know what your processes shot and look them in the eye, they want to know how many steps if therefore, if they’re five, they want to know where you know, now I know who you are and what you do and why. How do I experience this, they want to know who some of your best clients are, or not to know, confidentially names per se, but stories that mirror themselves, their companies, their families, whatever, when they ask you what makes you different, but you better be on your game. It’s like an umbrella three ways over your head. They want to know what makes your company different. Your solutions, most importantly, you and your team, what you folks stand for? And ultimately, why should they do business with you? They’re thinking this or asking it in one way, shape form or another, what’s the real value? They want to know what the impact how you’ve measured the work that you’ve done for other like minded clients over the years. So John, seven questions, deceptively difficult that I said, what I do is, in my own ways to challenge serious dedicated, committed professionals like the ones you’re coaching, to raise the vibe and elevate their game to be more blackbelt Navy SEAL Olympian are a world class entertainer, someone who’s gone from good to great, extraordinary and answering these questions to be in their very best. And that’s why I’m in business, to help people to be the best version of themselves, especially in the way they can differentiate themselves to distinguish themselves to compete on the philosophies of value. It all starts with those seven questions.

John 6:40
And Leo, aha moment for me over the years has been, as you’ve indicated, people don’t often directly ask you those questions. Right? It’s incumbent on us to feel it in also to address it in our own respectful and tactful way. Because that’s how you especially with new prospects, that’s how you start to develop a long term relationship.

Leo 7:05
That’s exactly right, John, and think about all the success you and your in the leaders of ultimate advisor coaching have had with, with Brian and Brian and Ron, for instance, the remarkable work that you’ve done in delivering value to your clients over the years, many times a client scenario is like, you know, after an opening report, whatever is would you like me to take a couple minutes, just to properly introduce myself and my team and our history and our proposition and what we’ve learned from working with people like yourself, and if anything, you know, yeah, I’d like to hear that story. And it’s funny how some advisors job over the years and say, no, no, no allele. It’s not about me, it’s about my clients. It’s about them. I see. Yeah, I know, you got two ears and one mouth, but it’s a sign of professional respect. If someone’s got $1,000,000.10 million dollars $100 million, a billion dollar multi generational family, you better be darn well on your game, to properly introduce yourself to be able to talk about your story as it relates into a consultative q&a with that prospect and family members there’s a little give and take in at some point you know, tell me more what you’re trying to accomplish or what are you trying to achieve? We’re not teaching John people to be robots or mechanical or handcuffing them with like, Okay, I gotta go who what why and how who what why are you in this in this order? I want you to be fluid. I want to feel like you got a imaginary file drawer cabinets. In all these answers are in in like, whether you’re pulling them from the cloud, or from folders in my filing drawer cabinet behind me, you’re opening them up, I’m call on demand as you need them in a dialog. And as you said, John, you picked it up. You know, expertly that many times, they’re not going to say well, what why do you do what you do? But but it might come up in a different way were you might have in your probing, found out that maybe they’ve lacked a financial plan. Or if they’ve lacked someone to to be more sensitive to the needs of their children or they’ve lacked the requirements to talk philanthropically or other interests besides just their money per se. You might open it up and pull one of those answers out. And that’s when you get really, really good at this, John, is when you realize that the answers to those seven questions can help you to raise your confidence, John, to find more passion, just naturally because you’ve got your game in order. And it’s like you feel like you just you can come at me in any way you want. And I can just be, you know, in the mode with the client, I can be low key I can stand I can sit, I can be around a conference room table and know that at any time I’ve got prepared answers because As I know my story so darn well, that I’m just ready for any potential question that could come at me, rather than feeling that sensation. And that’s what we’ve done for skilled people like you and in your partners in driving the ultimate advisor coaching curriculum,

John 10:16
why do you feel that even accomplish advisors have such a difficult time articulating their value properly? And you’ve often said you need to be able to do with, I believe it’s confidence, speed, passion, those are some of the attitudes that you use, could you comment on that a bit

Leo 10:33
Some people get comfortable, John, it’s really easy. They get proud and plateaus, the become better, they think they’re better than they really are. They start to make a few bucks, they have a few clients, they charge a fee, all of a sudden, they’ve got a quarterly hip coming in. And they say, Hey, you know, I’ve been through training in the past, or I don’t know, if I need to go through this, again, I got a nice lifestyle in my community. And all things are well guys like yourself, and what I love about working with you and your study group, and you know, the folks that have started ultimate advisor coaching is such a lifetime commitment to, to development, professional development, you, all of you guys are so committed to intellectual curiosity, of becoming the best version of yourself. So you guys are an anomaly. Quite honestly, there’s a lot of folks like yourselves that have been pretty much said, you know, what, I’ve been there, done that done, you know, just, I’m okay, I don’t need to have somebody put a finger in my face and challenge me to be the best version of myself, I’m already doing well. And so they’ve just reached a point of just comfort John. And so I just like to work with people that are just, as I say, committed, dedicated and serious about going from good to great, or great to extraordinary, where people get goosebumps in your presence, or they leave an office like yours, and say, Man, that team like John’s put together with his organization, or Brian’s or Brian’s neurons, these guys are just on their game, and they’re so committed to excellence. And so the people that you’re training, I know that you’re doing your best to raise the bar for them, to make sure that they’re elevating their ability to be excellent in their own way. But some people John, they’re just not as committed to the cause of being extraordinary be in their best. In that’s just the you know, it’s like that in any walk of life. And so I urge the people listening to this is to embrace what ultimate advisor coaching is doing. Because you and your partners in this in this business, you know, endeavor of trying to impact the careers in the lives of other people to be surrounded, by the way you guys think. And what you’ve learned, is a remarkable opportunity to pick the brains of some people who are truly committed to excellence, as you guys are. So some people just are,

John 13:04
yeah, in your evolution, I believe one of the more valuable things you’ve created is helping advisors price their value properly, in be able to I don’t want to use the term defend it, but at least be able to communicate properly, how the fee was arrived upon and what people will receive for the relationship and the pricing metrics. So many of us are in the asset management business. And I’ve probably determined our pricing structure based upon others that we know and we’ve just kind of fell into line. Can you comment a little bit on how you view the whole pricing thing as it relates to asset management, and financial planning and the whole relationship?

Leo 13:49
Yeah. What we realized John, after many years of partnering with folks like yourself, was that there was an eighth question. We’d launched the seven questions of our value lender, in think about the flow of this, you know, tell me John, a little bit more about you and your team, your history, your emphasis, your value proposition, your beliefs, your process, I’m repeating myself, right. The success is what makes you different, why people should do business with you. Guess what, there’s an eighth question. There’s another question, what’s in the minds of people’s like? She says, How much is this going to cost? I wonder if I give John my million dollars or $10 million, or 50 million or 100 million or whatever. I wonder how they’re going to charge for the value that they are talking to me about it. So that that prompted us to literally to develop a whole nother program called seeking your value. And it builds on my thinking, John, that you first you have to know your value. You’ve got to have those answers to those first seven questions. John, if you properly do not know your value, you’re always going to have difficulty in pricing your bill If you can’t price your value, John, you’re going to have difficulty in properly selling your value to do that, so knowing leads into pricing Pricing leads into selling. It is one of our C suite executives, CEO of one of the other major global brands that we’ve been privileged to work with in North America says, if you lose control of your pricing, you start to lose control of your business. So what we’ve done in our pricing program is help advisors to look at the relationship John between value and the price that they charge. And I start with them with a quadrants to have them think about you think about a quadrant if we draw me a four different quadrants. And I challenge them to think about jeez, can you think of anything in your life that you purchased? That didn’t cost you a lot? In you know, you didn’t get a lot of value from it? I get them out of the advisory business, right, the wealth advisory business, to have some fun? Can you think of anything, the second quadrant? Anything you purchased that? Well, it didn’t cost you a lot, but you got a lot of value out of it? That’s interesting, isn’t it? Well, that might be one of my cases, my iPad, or maybe our phone or something like this? Can we go to another area? We’ll see. Can you think of something in your life you paid a lot of money for, but you didn’t get a lot of value on? This, like I’m remember that Oh, my God, I don’t know if I would do that again. And then the last one is like you think of something, you paid a lot of money for it, you got tremendous value out of it. Maybe this experience with your family a trip, my daughter’s wedding, your daughter’s wedding, you know, something that we’ve done this, an experience with our clients or something like this. And I get people to think about plot yourself, where are you and you’re in your business? If someone left your wealth management office? Where would they plot you in one of those quadrants? Are you low price, high value? Are you high price? Not a lot of value? Are you high price, high value? Or which quadrant Do you want to move into in the next one to three years? Now we will apply yourself, think about the value provide the price you charge how people perceive it. And John, what’s come out of this is some phenomenal discussions of helping individuals like yourself as skilled as you are, with your decades of experience and success. It’s still challenging you to think about your best clients, and how your pricing strategy aligns to your value proposition. Because it should nourish your strategy for how you think and the people you want to attract going forward. So we give advisors and think about their emotions, regarding pricing, what challenges concerns, frustrations, opportunities, needs, do you hear we get I’m thinking we introduced the concept of pricing power in it’s led by, you know, educated thinking around cheese by God, what do I mean by that? Is that, do you have something that’s, you know, differentiated, that you can do that as earn it, that’s one way you get pricing powers on differentiation, you can prove elements of uniqueness or competitive advantages that your wealth management practice brings to the table that maybe someone else down the street doesn’t offer, the way you do planning, the way you integrate certain elements of the way you think with risk insurance as a relates to broader investment decisions. What So is there something you’re doing is highly differentiated? Is there something based on scarcity? Meaning, hey, you’re at a level now you only work with 100 clients? Or are these the other 250 clients or whatever the number is, and there’s only so much you do? And there’s a level or the third one John is provable value. You can look at a prospect, it’s coming in a business owner, let’s say and they got a 401k requirement or they got other needs. They got an upcoming liquidity event. They got other issues relative to their family, in that there’s provable value of similar scenarios in your, in your clients successful there’s of the of the numbers that you have to say, we’ve done this before for individuals and families like yourself. Yeah, there is an investment. Yeah, there is a cost associated with our services are all of a sudden, John, you’re going forward in your chair, rather than going back we’re saying, Oh my God, here comes the pricing question again. You’re feeling good about it? Because you know how you’ve saved maybe millions of dollars for some of your best clients. Yeah, you need to pay us $10,000 a year, or 50,000 or 100,000 or a quarter million dollars. It’s aligned to the justification of the value we will deliver to you and we’ve done it for Other individuals or families or companies like yours. So pricing, John gets into a lot of categories like that. And then we’ve coined a term called pricing integrity. And we coach advisors to get comfortable getting these words off the tip of your tongue. And pricing integrity is threefold that there’s fairness, fairness to that client, fairness to the individuals or solutions that you’re bringing in, in fairness to the overall organization that you work through, to do this, that the pricing is consistent. So you can go to a cocktail party at your country club, and run into 10 of your clients, hypothetically, in an event in real life, if they were talking about you, on the side, in a pricing, you know, if it came up, that you’re feeling that there’s consistency, in that you’re not thinking, Oh, my God, I gave that guy a big break, I gave them a discount I gave him that was a perception, and that there’s transparency. And so I like to get people when they say, Well, geez, how much is this going to cost us now? And I like to say, well, the best part regarding a potential partnership with us, is the way that we priced our value. We believe this is quite honestly the best part. Or if someone starts questioning you on this and saying, Well, John has a lot of money, I don’t think it’s going to cost me 1% Or, or more, or you’re going to place the plan separately, then the the investment work and stuff. This is adding up into saying, Oh really, when you really look at this, that we really feel quite honestly, it will sit down and prove this to you that we’re when you look at all the metrics and the numbers and the work and the value we’ve delivered to your family. We’re quite honestly underpriced. And the only way you can get to that point, John, is we’ve we’ve come up with a methodology, we call it the real value audit. It’s a methodology of helping advisors to quantify their value in preparing themselves for strategic decisions. I’ve got a coaching call with an advisor group felt tomorrow, they’ve got a client $20 million, they got opportunity for another $10 million. And the client is looking for new pricing. So the first thing we’re doing with this team is putting the true quantifying your value exercise a real value audit to prepare them for a meeting next week in California, with this client that they got, they don’t want to lose the client, is it all connected. So we make sure when we’re coaching teams, that we cross the t’s and dot the i’s, so I want people just feeling like the highest level of like we are so on top of our game in China, I hate to say it, I sad to say I should say it’s better use of words here. Some people just don’t take it as seriously as they need to. And they wing it

John 22:56
really well said and these are thoughts that I’m confident go through the minds of all advisors, irrespective of what level of experience you have, because we all struggle with how to price and how to communicate and how to continue to provide value, especially as you get into a more fluent marketplace. So really well sadly, oh, and your latest work, which I was lucky enough to go through last year, which was the most important part of life is living your value. Right. So we talked a little about the project you experience. And I was in a group of 15. And it was directed at people that have had an element of success in their lives. And we’re starting to do that inner reflection on the important parts of life, what was next? How to impact and perhaps live your legacy during your lifetime as opposed to just leaving it behind. So can you comment on that experience, please? Yeah,

Leo 23:56
I mean, that one just makes me glow John at a different level that’s like the epitome to me of my life’s work and my calling based on feedback I received over the last few decades, from successful advisors like yourself, when they went through the introspection, of thinking about their businesses and how to differentiate themselves and their firms, their teams and things as they were going through our methodology. People will start pulling me aside John, they say, Leo, you’re making me think well beyond my wealth management practice. You’re making me think about who I am, is I you know, I’m not only just a business owner, I’m an advisor within a successful team here are the owner of a practice of serving clients and delivering copy a comprehensive financial planning or investment management work. I’m a father, come a mother. I’m a husband, I’m a wife. I’m a daughter. I’m a son on the grant. From the grandmother, I’m a community member. And they started seeing you’re making me think well beyond the workout providing to clientele. How do I come out to become the best version of myself in is I’ve gone from survival, lot of people that you’re coaching those early folks that are trying to get the direction from you and your partners, I said, we go from survival those first few years, the hard years of really making it work, to some sense of security, my gosh, we’ve closed down a few clients, we got some assets that are building up. We’re being called now for future opportunities. Guess what we got married, I bought the car I wanted, right? We bought a house had our first kid survival to security to success in at some point, John, the issues of significance come into play, where guys like yourself, realize what a journey you’ve been on, in your soul committed to not just excellence in your practice, but excellence in your life, there’s issues that hit us in a tipping point, finally hit me, instead, I’m going to do something about something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve helped advisors to, to know their value to price, their value to sell their value. The ultimate now was to help them and their clients, John, valued clients of yours that are going through retirement life issues, longevity, aging, whatever you are dealing with, in your confidential discussions with your clients. And I said, they want discussions to center around significance, or regrets or abundance, gratitude perspective, being the best version of themselves, is you said living your legacy. And so we created the next big project, as you experience off of one of my book projects, affectionately named as well, your next big project is you. So John, I feel like I’m living my legacy, quite honestly, by being privileged to have guys like you, other individuals attend our cohorts, now surrounded by, you know, 10 to 15, other like minded folks in as you said, color what you want, what’s next, second mountain, second half, of third period, fourth quarter, next season, I know there’s there’s people all over the globe, with their own interpretation of what they’re doing. And I applaud them, because they’re on to something that we’re on to as well just our version is called your next big project is you is designed to pull the zipper down in your chest, to reach into touch your heart and soul, after we’ve already done it on business, introspection and personal introspection to define yourself, now we’re doing it for you, personally, to do it to become the best version of yourself. So you can become, you know, looking back on this, that you know that you’re on a pathway of truly making a difference in the lives of others beyond just managing their wealth to do this. And so that’s where my heart is these days. And, you know, looking to impact young advisors, because some advisors have said to me, she’s I love Leo’s work, but I’m not ready for this yet. And I said, Well, what point do you think you’re going to be ready? I said, are you ready to talk to clients that are 55 or 65 years old right now? Right? Are you talking to them right now? Are you having conversations with people like that? Are you just talking to them about investment management? about asset allocation, diversification, money, managers, mutual funds? Is that all you’re talking to them about? Do you think they have issues? Is a 55 year old person dealing with a liquidity event selling your company? Do you believe that 65 year old person is thinking about the next decade of their life? Are you talking to them about issues important to them their heart or soul their families? Are you not I saw what at what point are you? Are you telling me you’re not ready for this until you are that age? Or you think by being prepared to think about how this can add to your arsenal. Another arrow in your quiver, in your probing your questioning techniques to pull it out on call demand in a conversation will help you to be a better adviser. John, I’m sorry, I’m biased. I do. I don’t think you should wait to your 55 or 65. In some of our clients for said it’s been proven by my largest corporate institutional client, where they’re now sending younger leaders to the program because they said if we can help them to be the best version of themselves, they’re going to be a better leader management coach in our organization. And it’s funny John when I when I doing this now and after thinking back It’s funny how value propositions change. And I urge advisors to think about this as a summary point when I wrote my first value proposition, and I’ve coached 1000s of advisors around the globe and developing their story, as you know. And I said, Geez, we empower organizations and individuals to discover, articulate to capitalize and other unique value. And then the more I put my mask on, the more I talk about the principles behind me, I said, No, our proposition needs to change, because we have made a meaningful and significant difference in the lives of advisors and their clients, in helping them to not only to build better practices to distinguish themselves to differentiate themselves, but now to lead lives with significance and to live their legacies now. So I urge the folks that you are coaching, and training to think differently about their value. It’s not just trying to get their clientele base your built up, but to think about asking better questions, to be more curious, to be more mindful, to elevate their discussions beyond just Investment Management, or to think like, Oh, my God, there’s another $2 million, I got a chance to bring this in. If I charge 1%, holy cow, there’s another 20 grand right there to stop thinking to degree about that, and thinking about how they can change someone’s life, how they can bring value to someone’s life. And the more they think like that, the clients and the prospects will feel your genuine interest to change and to make a meaningful difference in the lives of other people leave the candy, or some of your solutions in your back pocket a little longer. Don’t you need to talk about that investment management, that design or the mutual fund or the insurance product? Or what’s your thinking, dig deeper, ask some more questions about their future, how they visualize what’s important to them, what significance means to them, bring these questions into your arsenal, and the other stuff will come along. Someone just said to me recently said some of our people need some help with a closing skills programmer, could you help them I said, they don’t need help with closing, they need help with selling. They need help with being a better advisor. Because John, my best clients, your best clients knowing you, they close me and they close you. They don’t look for you to say per se Well, so what do you think? They literally say, John, we’re comfortable, we’re ready to go. Or they look at me and they say, Leo, are you available? In these upcoming dates, we’d like to proceed, your best clients will close you without you even having to ask board if you’ve done your job of knowing pricing, selling and living your value correctly. I can’t say any better than them.

John 32:57
Yeah, and you hit on such a critical point I find at this stage of my career, with my existing clients and new folks that I meeting in folks that have a fluence, sometimes the less I talk about the steps of our financial planning or investment management process, in the more we talk about life, important life events in the next chapter in having experiences in health and longevity and the legacy and helping develop your kids to be a good steward of the wealth as opposed to talking about the process. This is how you engage people in such a way intellectually, that it’s just a logical conclusion, you’re going to choose to do business and close us. So you couldn’t have said that any more. Perfect. Thank you for sharing those with us. And for those in the listening audience today. As you think about your professional development, please recognize it’s not always about the X’s and O’s of looking at a portfolio and putting the right asset allocation together. It’s about connecting with people on a level where they know that you care, they know that you have a heart they know that you have experience. They know that you’re going to be there for them in a time of need. And you become a go to person for them in so many aspects of their life because our business is unique in that the experiences that we have not a lot of people have and to share those with those that are looking to you for guidance is just so valuable. And you heard it from the master today. So Leo, thank you for being with the ultimate advisor coaching podcast program today. Enjoy your material very much in continued success to you and your team.

Leo 34:50
Thank you John and continued success to you all the best to you guys. Thanks for having me on.

Brittany 34:57
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