Read The Transcript Of The Episode:

Speaker 1:

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 your hosts, Bryan Sweet, who has more than half a billion dollars in assets under management; Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to hire, improve their operations and company culture; and Draye Redfern, who can help you systematize and automate your practice's marketing to effortlessly attract new clients. So what do you say? Let's jump into another amazing episode of the Ultimate Adviser Podcast.
 

Brittany Anderson:

Hello, and welcome back to your Ultimate Advisor Podcast. This is Brittany Anderson, and once again I have with me the wonderful Bryan Sweet and the fabulous Draye Redfern. So we are really excited to continue the conversation where we are talking about how you can continue building your business during challenging times.

 So 2020 has brought us some things that we could not have expected, so we thought let's continue the conversation. Let's keep a positive perspective, and let's give some mojo going in the business. 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. 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 would 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 my 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 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.

 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 might hit something that's of interest, but the likelihood of it is probably not. It's just going to go out into space and you don't even know where it lands.

 This is all about being intentional but, again, leading with the right intention. 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/or prospecting efforts. 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 in 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.

 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, Bryan, this has been a huge premise of Sweet 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 talk about that journey and what we've done and what we continue to do at Sweet Financial.
 

Bryan Sweet:

Brittany, I love the comment on solving problems. I think the big thing with the financial services industry, 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 shoving a product or a service or something down a client or prospect's throat, find out really, where are their areas that they're hurting, and what issues do they have, and then be a resource in how you can deliver value to help them overcome that.

 I think if everybody changed their mindset in 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 speed up immensely. 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." 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.

 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, the business that you do, will show pretty quickly.

 One of the things that we do is, we have a decision matrix that we follow. Some of the questions that we ask actually have to do with that question, is what we are about to do deliver value for our client? Or does that marketing add show value and provide some kind of a benefit to the client and not to us?

 The other thing I guess is 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.

 Well, 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 and just be cognizant of before you run and do something, is it going to benefit the client, is a quick question to ask yourself. Draye, I think there's some marketing twists or spins on that value proposition that you could probably share with us also.
 

Draye:

Yeah, this is so fun. You both hit the nail on the head in a variety of ways, I think. Leading with value is something that I've preached and been a proponent of for my entire life, really, from growing up and just see 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.

 I think that if you carry that sort of philosophy, that ideology, that way of thinking, and actually implement it in your business, everything across the business improves. 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 Bryan was saying, just going above and beyond, really people see that, they feel that, and it makes a difference, and you lead with value.

 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 it's just awful.

 When in contrast, it's an amazing opportunity if you actually... 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. 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.

 One of the ways you do that is just ongoing marketing, drip email content, but content in a way that is not surface level. A perfect example of this is the Sweet team. They've got over a year's worth, 54 weeks worth, of email content for each of their three niches.

 Now I don't have and never had a conversation with another financial advisor that goes that deep. The time that it takes to go into that is incredible. Then people ask what happens at the end of the 54 weeks? Well, you can just recycle it. You can start them back 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 surface level, this is something you may want to consider. There's stories interlaced with it, and it's actual tactical advice on whether it's budgeting, or when they actually have to take distributions, and so on and so forth. Social security things that are not talked about quite as often, or maybe it's idea of actually passing down generational wealth, and what does that look like? How do you make sure that your family is 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. You start putting together information out there that actually can educate and inform and inspire people to want to work with you. That's one example.

 The other example I've talked to, I think a few times, is like what we do in Redfern Media when it comes to onboarding a client. You can do different varieties of this compliance and [inaudible 00:11:28] may cause one way or the other, but we literally make custom webpages for every single client that comes on the custom video. And on that page, it's like, I don't want to give the exact URL, but it's a sub domain of redfernmedia.com/their name, like John dash Smith. And going back, and I said this many times before, the sweetest song to someone's ears is their own name. So using their name in a URL, using their name in a video like, "Hey, John. Draye here. I really enjoyed the conversation. I'm really so excited that we talked about blank, blank, blank, blank, here's the next steps."

 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.

 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 shoot a video like that. You do something to increase the level of personalization and lead with value, so you actually practice what you preach. It's put up or shut up sort of thing where 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 puts yourself out there.

 Those are just a couple of the 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'm engaging with you, I'm going the extra mile, I'm leading with value, showing that we actually go the extra mile. Even if you don't even have that personal relationship yet, you go the extra mile, you lead with value and some of that email content like what Sweet does.

 So a couple of different tactical items there. Brittany, anything that you want to elaborate as far as what those two items may be?
 

Brittany Anderson:

The whole thing, your comments, Bryan's comments, everything all together made me think of one particular phrase. I think that there are times when success can breed entitlement, and not maybe intentionally. So I think what 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. A lot of times, 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 new clients, from prospects, all the time, the reason that they do business.

 That is a huge factor, so just don't get in that trap of getting to that entitlement level. Again, it's not intentional. It 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 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 truth [inaudible 00:15:12] 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 and 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 to just maintain focus on.

 The bottom line 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 focus on this and make this an intentional part of your practice.

 It's going to help you break through those next 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 advisor, as the owner, as the primary, 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, Bryan, anything else you want to say across the board?
 

Draye:

I just think that the idea of leading with value, it needs to be something that, 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. Maybe they don't become a client, and you know what? That's okay. It's completely okay if they don't, because we did the right thing and we led with that. And the reality is Bryan 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. Sometimes those just take time, but you're in this for the long run anyway.

 So I think that just the idea of leading with value make it just an absolute steadfast staple of what the organization believes in.
 

Bryan Sweet:

Yeah. 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. Once you do that, you become invaluable to them and they'll never let you go.
 

Brittany Anderson:

I think those are both really great points. To go back to when you look at creating a culture of givers, of creating a culture that leads with value, when we interview people, when we're bringing people onto 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. We ask for examples during the interview process. We ask for examples of what are times that you've led with value? How have you enhanced somebody's life? Give me a couple examples.

 I'm constantly looking for those people that give me examples of how they've gone above and beyond for others. That's a great action. I wasn't even 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.

 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've come back to us and expressed 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 thanks that come across, you can't put a price tag on that. 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 is nothing better than that.

 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 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 Bryan just absolutely nailed this one, and it's asking yourself, rather than saying, "What am I going to get out of 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.

 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 those 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 super fancy. Just giving the name, somebody's name. Like Draye said, they have this process dialed down to put somebody's first name in 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.

 That rounds out today's episode of the Ultimate Advisor Podcast. We're going to catch you right back here next week.

 Hey, Brittany here. Before you go, we wanted to share with you that we are running another Ultimate Advisor Summit coming to you September 21st through the 25th for a mere $97. That's right. Five days of killer speakers, killer content, that's going to help you to continue optimizing your practice during a really interesting year. So go ahead, hop on over to ultimateadvisorsummit.com and grab your seat today.