Read the Transcript Below:

Amber Kuhn  

TPR nation, this is Amber Kuhn. Thank you for joining me on today’s Fallow up Friday, where I’ll be recapping this week’s episode highlights and action items. On Monday, Matt and Micah were talking about marketing, and if you missed this episode, you have to go back and listen to the opening quote. Or for those who have Matt’s book, check out page 84. All of this was to point out that fancy graphics and splashy websites are not going to get you all the clients in the world, and that’s because it’s playing office and you’re missing the core essence of your prospects questions. The guys pointed out that this is the case when you look at something valuable for clients, such as when Micah is presenting buckets. The team could make a fancy illustration of this, but really the core of why that tool is so beneficial is how it’s articulated to clients. Now the reason they wanted to talk about this, what as soon as airing in August, is because by now you should have done your mid year review, and you need to remember that there’s a lag from prospecting and marketing to getting new clients onboarded. And for the guys, they said that that time period is about 18 months. So there’s no excuse to not be doing marketing and looking at how you’re going to practice and whatever you’re doing, you need to commit to it for at least a year. Matt and Micah took some time to talk about their marketing channels, and the first was social, and they said this is a do what works question, and they wanted to point out the difference between advertising and marketing, or with advertising, you aren’t expecting a direct return on your dollar. With marketing, you are expecting return to come in, and social needs to fall into that category, because you aren’t supporting the cause of Instagram. For Micah, YouTube ended up being something that worked for him, but the guys pointed out that you have to be careful with social because it’s a place where people can just sit and play office. You need to be able to show that you’ve been able to bring clients in from social media. So for marketing activities, you need to have a number associated with it. So how many podcasts are you recording? How many centers of influence are you calling? And social media needs to have a time cap. The guys talked about their goals related to marketing and how everything needs a path. Ultimately, you need to have a call to action, get people off of someone else’s platform and onto yours. So with Rebecca, he wants to transform lives, and he knows he needs to also give those who are listening to him or watching him on YouTube a lead magnet to get them to a site and get their email address. And with the content he’s creating, he’s essentially trying to establish that he has more expertise than anyone else, and that’s why having a niche is so important, if you try to talk to everyone, you talk to no one with marketing. You also need to have a sounding board instead of KPIs and what your range of success looks like. And remember, you need to have a time period along with how much money you’re going to spend. The guys also said, You need to look at how much time you’re going to invest in being the best at whatever channel you’re focusing on. Micah then shared how once he’s driven people to his website, he’ll then start reaching out with either lead magnets or for in person events, and with how he’s doing all of that. He said you have to try different avenues for him. He sometimes has to mix it up. And this is all a part of the data that he’s building to see what works. Now, just to be clear, this is all a lot of work, and you have to decide whether you’re committed to being successful, and some of the work can be incredibly tedious. You need to do what works and be intentional about what you do. The guys wrapped up by talking about doing in person presentations and how you have to be able to give your presentation at a subconscious level, because if not, then you’re only thinking about what you’re going to say next. In order to deliver value, you have to be able to connect with people. Let’s get into action items. Put the designated activities each week on your calendar that will move your advertising and marketing forward and measure what matters. Write down what you’re doing, the time involved and your expectations, so that you can see your success rate and how to improve. On Thursday, Jamie was talking about how to grow your business and where you are in your career. She said there are three stages you can go through as an advisor, which are growth, freedom and enterprise stages. Now with this, she said, don’t judge yourself compared to where other people are. Focus on where you are and what matters, and don’t forget that it’s not all about the growth. You can’t forget that you’re helping real people with their entire life savings, and they’re solving so that they don’t outlive their retirement savings. Jamie spent Thursday focused on the growth stage, when you have less than 30 million assets under management and about 30 to 50 households. She said the only thing you should be focused on is growing your practice. So you need to look at where you are, where you want to be, and what steps you need to take to get there. You need to look at your calendar and see how much time you’re spending in your email or just getting more and more credentials that’s just playing office. You need to look at your marketing and do everything you can to bring on more clients. Look at what’s already working for you and where your clients are coming from. From there, you can start to do a trends now. Jamie shared an exercise on this, which is figuring out who you’re speaking to. And as Matt and Micah mentioned on Monday, if you’re speaking to everyone, you’re speaking to no one. So for this exercise to first decide which planet you want to target, then which continent and which country, in state and so on, until you really build to the location, then look at the clients you already have, because those are the ones who are willing to pay for your services. And keep going layer by layer to get clear on who those people are, their ages, relationships, where they work. And from there, you can start to develop your niche. So with marketing, you really need to narrow this down and focus consider how you can establish a reputation that is so profound that business is attracted to you. Now, what about outsourcing your marketing? Jamie said, every time you hire a marketing agency, you’re going to pay a ton of money and they’re still going to ask those same questions. She mentioned, they’ll want to know your target audience and your avatar, so you need to go through all of your data. Now, one of Jamie’s biggest tips was to look at what kind of recreational activities do your clients participate in. She said doing the things that you enjoy doing with your clients is a profound referral source. She also said that in this stage, Centers of Influence don’t know how to refer to you. You need to empower them to know how to talk to you, so invite them to the activities that you’re doing for your client and talk to them about a random case study. You have to teach Cois and people in your network how to mention you without it being awkward, and the best ways to help them understand what you do. Now, once you’ve narrowed down who you should be working with, then you need to focus on the topics you feel you can develop an expertise on and that you have an interest in. You want to become that go to person on a particular topic. And when you do that, you’ll also just naturally get a lot of happenstance knowledge. Once you have this, Jamie said thing, go write all your content on this. Remember everything you’re willing to work in marketing will work. So when you’re in this growth stage, Jamie said you need to be refining your client presentations so that clients leave your office wanting to refer someone else to you because of the value you’ve delivered, and you need to go on your marketing and help you grow your practice. That wraps up this week’s recap. So TBR nation, if you’re looking for more resources, or if you have a question, be sure to email us at lifestyle@theperfectria.com. Thank you for joining me, and please share this or any of our episodes with another advisor or team member who you think might benefit from listening. And be sure to subscribe to The Perfect RIA Podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Until next time, happy planning!