Marketing To Gen-Z: What Works And What Doesn't (With Ben Phillips)

Most financial advisors believe that there’s a one-size-fits-all solution to marketing.  Not only is this true, but it’s dangerous.  Why?  Well, it results in smart, hard-working, and honest financial advisors falling victim to marketing myths that, at best, cap their wealth, and at worst, sabotages their entire business.  In today’s show, I’m revealing the 10 most popular marketing myths financial advisors believe, so you can avoid them and prevent the deadly consequences that follow when you believe these myths.  Listen now.  Show highlights include: How being an introverted financial advisor is a cheat code for marketing (even if you think the best advisors are extroverts) (3:20)  The weird “psychic energy” secret to apply to your marketing to magnetize your ideal prospects to your calendar (5:19)  The most neglected, yet effective marketing channel most financial advisors ignore (11:15)  Why having this fear sabotages your impact, legacy, and bank account more than any other fear (13:24)  3 “hidden” ways to follow up with prospects to actually turn them into paying clients (13:52)  The “Angel Investor” method for turning your online ads into a repeatable and scalable marketing strategy (14:43)  Why treating your LinkedIn profile like a resume almost guarantees your ideal clients will never find you (and the 3-step process to follow instead) (17:51)  How “Repulsion Marketing” where you dissuade people from working with you limits your headaches while growing your bottom line (19:38) Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

As a financial advisor, no matter how experienced you are, it’s always easier to learn from others’ mistakes than commit them yourself.  The same is true for learning from other advisors’ successes too.  That’s why I invited Elliot Kallen on to today’s show. Not only does Elliot have 30 years of experience of being a financial advisor, but he’s also built three successful businesses, including Prosperity Financial Group.  Elliot has racked up a lot of marketing wins and losses over the past 30 years—and he’s sharing the most pivotal ones in today’s episode.  Listen now.  Show highlights include: How simply being a good friend can fill your calendar with highly qualified appointments (4:38)  The “4M Motivations” each of your clients will have (and how to uncover their motivations before they even do) (10:48)  How to prepare your clients for downturns in the market so they can take advantage of them (12:27)  The “for” question that calms your clients’ anxious and worried minds in an instant (even when their investments keep losing value) (14:22)  This one controversial phrase ethically forces your clients to trust you even when you’re losing them money (17:13)  How the overlooked “their world” marketing strategy can improve the success of every marketing campaign you run (21:12)  The single most important “skill” for determining your long-term success and wealth (32:17)  Here’s the advice a 30-year financial advising veteran would give to himself if he were a first-year advisor (38:03)  Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle. Want to learn more about Elliot and Prosperity Financial Group? Head to their website here: https://prosperityfinancialgroup.com/  Do you have a teenager or know one? Head to Elliot’s non-profit, A Brighter Day, to help raise awareness about teenage suicide here: https://abrighterday.info/ 

Most financial advisors, especially American advisors, complicate their marketing strategies to the point that they never implement them.  But marketing can be simple. And the simplicity of your marketing strategy actually increases the chances of its success.  Don’t believe me?  Well, in today’s show, I’m sharing 3 simple and realistic marketing strategies you can start using today to add $100,000 of revenue to your business within the next 365 days.  Want to see how simple marketing can be when you peel back all the unnecessary complexity?  Listen now.  Show highlights include: The bizarre reason American advisors have a harder time achieving success than other countries (2:45)  Why adding an extra $100k to your bottom line is actually simpler than you think (4:46)  The exact number of appointments you need each month to add an extra $100k to your business (it’s smaller than you think) (6:55)  How to add an extra 200 people to your LinkedIn connections every month (without spending all day on LinkedIn) (11:07)  Is your website generating 119,000 visitors in three months? If not, drop everything you’re doing and listen to this… (12:15)  A few real life examples that show you how powerful—and profitable—building multiple marketing strategies can be (14:58)  Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

Most financial advisors rob themselves blind every time they meet with their best clients because they don’t simply ask for referrals.  Why don’t they ask?  Well, most advisors don’t know the correct words and phrases to say to make their clients want to send you referrals. But once you figure this part out, the rest comes easy. In fact, it could even help you land your largest client this year.  That’s why I invited Bill Cates, The Original Referral Coach for financial advisors, onto today’s show to reveal some of his best-kept referral secrets.  Want to grow your client base in the easiest and most reliable way possible?  Listen now.  Show highlights include: How to double your referrals this year (even though it’s never been harder to reach interested prospects) (3:38)  Two words to say to satisfied clients that makes them want to send you highly qualified prospects (3:58)  Why asking for referrals is the quickest way to make your referral pipeline dry out (4:54)  The 2 most common objections your clients have when you ask for referrals (and how to overcome each one) (7:51)  How strictly should financial advisors stick to their referral script? A referral expert answers… (12:42)  Use this 7-word phrase whenever you’re in a tricky sales situation to position yourself as the expert authority (14:49)  How asking this simple question can land you your largest client by the end of the year (20:55)  The advanced “Double Readership Path” copywriting trick for transforming your website into an appointment-setting machine (27:35)  Need more help turning your business into a referral machine? Order Bill’s newest book, The Language of Referrals: The Words & Scripts Highly-Successful Financial Professionals Use to Gain More Ideal Clients, here: http://languageofreferrals.com/.   Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

There are downright shocking statistics about how much debt the average person has… and you’d be mistaken if you think this also doesn’t apply to financial advisors.  It's the height of hypocrisy when you’re teaching others how to manage their money, but can’t manage your own. And yet, I see advisors’ credit cards declining almost every day when they try to buy my Inner Circle Newsletter.  But here’s the silver lining if you’re a financial advisor up to your ears in debt: It’s never been easier to get more clients from social media. Especially when you implement what I reveal in today’s episode.    Want to turn your social media posts into client-getting machines?  Listen now.  Show highlights include: How simply knowing your audience can triple your webinar attendees almost overnight (6:23)  This weird “Open Rate” trick for email marketing can help you land more clients by trying to get lower open rates (9:11)  The single biggest social media mistake financial advisors make which makes your ideal clients physically nauseous (9:49)  Why disobeying this “law of marketing” on social media magnetizes your ideal clients to your calendar (11:24)  Most financial advisors completely neglect this obvious approach to marketing… Here’s how to avoid making this costly mistake (12:10)  The “Two-Way Street” secret for posting engaging social media posts that actually fill up your calendar (14:32)  How to make LinkedIn help you grow your influence every time you’re at the doctor’s office or waiting in line (16:41)  Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

Many financial advisors are, to put it bluntly, terrible at marketing, which means I give the same marketing advice to advisors again and again and again.  That’s why I gathered the most common—and most effective—marketing advice I give to advisors and put it into a single episode.  If your marketing doesn’t keep your sales pipeline filled to the brim or help you unlock financial freedom, you’re probably making one of the several mistakes I reveal in this episode. Want to grow your business so rapidly it doesn't seem real?  Listen now.  Show highlights include: The insidious “Marketing Sugar Crashes” trap financial advisors fall into which makes it almost impossible to achieve true financial freedom (0:54) How being busy prevents you from being productive and building real wealth through your business (2:07)  Why blindly believing marketing gurus enslaves you to your business (and how to make your business work for your lifestyle instead) (5:42)  The single most important piece of marketing advice I can give to financial advisors (6:27)  How adding several marketing strategies to your marketing plan actually saves you time (even if you’re dreading more marketing mediums) (6:58)  The easiest way to give yourself a pay raise by the end of this week (8:25) Why “Probabilistic Thinking” can double, triple, or quadruple your conversion rates overnight (without changing anything else in your marketing strategy) (14:53)    How to set a cascade of abundance that you never thought possible into motion from your marketing within the next 7 days (17:47)  Need help crafting an email marketing strategy for your business that keeps your calendar full and your wallet fuller? I'm offering one-on-one intensives for financial advisors where I’ll help you build your email marketing from scratch. But it’s not cheap. If you're interested, you can book your spot here: https://theadvisorcoach.com/intensive. Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

I have been using ChatGPT since the very first day it was released to the public: November 30, 2022.  At the time, I said that financial advisors who use artificial intelligence will run laps around financial advisors who don’t. And yet… more than a year later, most financial advisors didn’t listen and still aren’t using ChatGPT.  Why? Well, most financial advisors suffer from what Charlie Munger called “mental bias.” This disease is so strong in the financial advisor industry that a financial advisor still in college but who isn’t afraid of AI can run laps around you as soon as they graduate.  After using AI for more than 12 months, I’ve also discovered what it’s best—and worst—at.  In this episode, you’ll discover how to use AI to transform your financial advising business. And you’ll get a much-needed reminder that it’s time to start using AI.  Listen now.  Show highlights include: A cool way to use AI that has absolutely nothing to do with financial advising or marketing but will improve the quality of your life (1:43)  Why trying to do too many marketing tactics scares away your best clients (5:50)  The insidious “mental bias” most financial advisors have that keeps you stuck in mediocrity (6:46)  How to quickly save at least $20,000 per year by simply using AI (8:39)  Why simply paying more attention to your money can drown you in spoils (9:24)  How using ChatGPT to edit your copy makes it less persuasive than the original (even if you’re not a copywriter) (11:51)  A simple little ChatGPT trick to improve your writing without sacrificing your time or persuasion (12:40) The wrong way to prompt ChatGPT to do your bidding… and the best way to prompt ChatGPT to do your bidding (16:15)  I even wrote a little PDF called how financial advisors can get clients with artificial intelligence. If you want to download that you can grab it at the advisor coach.com/ai.  83% of financial advisors make plans for their clients, but don’t make a plan for their own business. Isn’t that wild? If you’re one of the 83% without a marketing plan, I created one for you. Get it here: https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/marketing-plan   Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

I’m acting like a mad scientist in this episode: I’m attempting to form the perfect financial advisor based on the HEXACO personality typing test.  Why?  Because some financial advisors should, frankly, try something else. There are several crucial personality traits that all the top financial advisors have.  But more importantly, there are many financial advisors who shy away from their true personality because they don’t realize it gives them a bona fide competitive edge.  Plus, you’ll see how you can base your marketing strategy and business plan around your personality, so you reap the competitive-nuking rewards of it.  Listen now.  Show highlights include: The most important attribute on the HEXACO personality test (4:08)  How taking a HEXACO personality test will make you a wealthier financial advisor by the end of this episode (5:32)  Want to improve your marketing but manipulating people makes you recoil? Listen to this… (7:46)  The weird reason financial advisors who can’t tolerate physical pain aren’t as successful on average (11:57)  The equally weird reason anxious financial advisors are more success on average (13:05)  Why public speaking is a “force multiplier” for the growth of any financial advisor (16:23)  The single easiest way to solve any marketing problem (and why many financial advisors struggle with this) (22:53)   83% of financial advisors make plans for their clients, but don’t make a plan for their own business. Isn’t that wild? If you’re one of the 83% without a marketing plan, I created one for you. Get it here: https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/marketing-plan   Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

Some people are fish. And other people are birds.  But financial advisors sabotage their marketing efforts and even put their business at stake if they’re fish trying to fly or birds trying to swim.  The point? Everyone has a unique personality. But most financial advisors shy away from their natural personality and try to sweep it under the rug, instead of embracing it.  Why? Well, financial advisors shy away from their personality because they don’t think it’ll unlock more business success. But this isn’t true. In fact, by embracing your personality, not only will you improve your business, but you’ll increase your daily happiness too. That’s why I’m explaining the different personality traits in this episode, and showing you how to base your business around your personality instead of the other way around.   Listen now.  Show highlights include: Why personality-based marketing not only increases your results, but also skyrockets your happiness (1:43)  How Jeff Bezos’s physics failure can jack up the success of every marketing campaign you try (2:57)  Why ignoring or abandoning your weaknesses unlocks an unfair advantage against your competitors (6:49)  The single best personality test for building your financial advising business and improving your marketing (7:49)  How tweaking your business to better fit your strongest personality traits makes it impossible for your clients to leave you (and how to do this for all 6 personality traits) (12:23)   The fatal flaw of relying on a single marketing channel that puts your entire business at risk (16:03)  The “Pollard Principle” which explains why promoting internally usually backfires on you (23:56)  83% of financial advisors make plans for their clients, but don’t make a plan for their own business. Isn’t that wild? If you’re one of the 83% without a marketing plan, I created one for you. Get it here: https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/marketing-plan   Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.

A lot of financial advisors struggle getting clients. They can (usually) keep them once they find them, but finding them is a constant uphill battle. Why?  Well, after helping thousands of financial advisors, I’ve realized there are 7 fundamental reasons why financial advisors struggle to get clients.  If you don’t fix these 7 mistakes, you will struggle to get clients forever. Sounds harsh, but it’s true.  The good news is, if you listen to—and implement—everything in today’s episode, you’ll never starve for clients again.  Listen now.  Show highlights include: The “inversion” secret that twists your failures into raging success stories (1:01)  Survey finds 83% of financial advisors are hypocrites… Find out if you’re one here: (1:43)  Why only relying on outbound marketing makes your business slowly wither into oblivion (7:27)  The “MMS” philosophy for marketing that keeps the appointments rolling in (7:57)  How building a “Marketing Asset” brings in consistent cash flow like a high-paying dividend  (9:48)  The single biggest mistake financial advisors make when picking a niche that forever stunts their growth (11:34)  How traditional lead gen companies subtly cripple your business from the inside out (12:40)  The “Charlie Sheen” secret for making your competitors utterly irrelevant  (13:45)  4 ingredients for creating an infectious value proposition that your ideal clients can’t resist (only 26% of Baron’s Top 100 even do this!) (17:10)  How changing a few words in your vocabulary can be the difference between landing a new client or watching them slip through your fingers (18:4I love 5)  83% of financial advisors make plans for their clients, but don’t make a plan for their own business. Isn’t that wild? If you’re one of the 83% without a marketing plan, I created one for you. Get it here: https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/marketing-plan   Go to https://TheAdvisorCoach.com/Coaching and pick up your free 90 minute download called “5 Keys to Success for Financial Advisors” when you join The James Pollard Inner Circle.