Financial Advisor Success in 2024

hi this is Mark little I’ve been asked
to do a short video covering uh two
issues specifically number one I’ve been
asked to describe what in my view are
the required uh skills and elements uh
for success for a retail financial
adviser in this current environment uh
I’ve been a retail financial advisor for
over 40 years serving individuals and
families coordinating all their
financial affairs so I will go through
that the other issue I’m going to cover
is just how we what we do and how we
recommend financial advisors uh you know
in essence train themselves for success
in this current tumultuous Market where
we’ve got political turmoil we’ve got
world events are in turmoil the
financial markets are uh tumultuous to
say the least uh so so what is a fincial
advisor to do to succeed now I’ve got
four slides I’m going to cover I’m going
to start with this one these are the
three critical skills required of a
retail financial advisor if you’re going
to be successful the fir it’s a lead
generation lead conversion and client
service so what is lead con lead uh
Generation Well I call it client
acquisition this involves you know how
many potential clients uh Are you a able
to uh fill your calendar with uh to to
in essence sit down and explore doing
business together so if your calendar is
filled with ample people that um you
know want to sit down and explore doing
business with you well then client
acquisition lead generation is not an
issue for you uh lead conversion we call
this client conversion so what is that
well let’s say you’re sitting in front
of a uh potential client exploring doing
business and it becomes apparent that
for that in your interview of them they
actually do fit the profile of the
client that you serve best so client
conversion is your skill your ability to
convert a potential ideal client into an
actual paying client so that’s client
conversion if you’re skilled at that and
you have no issues around that well then
you don’t have any issue around client
conversion uh finally client service we
call this exceeding client expectations
so the moment a client hires you and
that’s the moment where consideration is
passed where you’ve been paid now this
is a client of yours uh you made some
promises uh at the beginning of the
relationship to them so the ongoing
expectation is that you will exceed
those expectations that’s my definition
of client service if if you have clients
and you’re exceeding uh all of their
expectations well then you’ve got that
one nailed so my point on these three
skills is uh if if if there’s just one
or two that you need to focus on just
focus on those uh if you if you have
none of these perfected if you have not
mastered any of these then start with
client acquisition move in sequence to
master client conversion and then Master
client service or exceeding client
expectations so what’s next all right so
after the the three skills let’s talk
about and this looks a little busy but
calm down I’ll walk you through it uh
these are what in my view are the eight
essential elements of an effective
client conversion process so you you’re
ex sitting down in front of someone
you’re exploring doing business together
and uh what is that process so that you
can discover whether they do or don’t
you know fit the profile of the client
that you serve best well you book the
meeting now for me this is all one
meeting it’s uh what we call the initial
client interview for some of you it’s a
it’s a multi- meeting process where
you’re trying to uh in essence determine
if this is the type of client that you
want to work with and to establish uh
whether they fit the profile of the
client that you’re willing to work with
and if so how do you convert a potential
ideal client into an actual paying
client well these are the essential
elements in my view it should be a
single meeting and it should be less
than two hours it should be a compelling
experience which means that the meeting
that you’ve scheduled as the initial
client interview is uh compelling that
when they walk out of the meeting at the
end of it they go wow that that was that
was definitely worth the time and uh and
and it was compelling emotionally to
them uh the next thing is it should have
a valueable outcome so so the the point
of this is you’re in my view and what’s
worked for us for all these decades is
if the initial client interview is
valuable whether or not the client ends
up working with you long term or not so
it’s a valuable outcome we charge for
this process this client conversion
process but whether you charge or don’t
charge uh the to Be an Effective client
conversion process uh it helps if it’s
valuable whether or not you work
together why because then if they if you
decide not to work with them they will
leave the meeting thinking this is
compelling this was valuable and I will
refer other people into this client
conversion process because it’s it’s
valuable and compelling uh an an
effective client conversion process
should have no ulterior motives I never
enter into this initial client interview
with any ulterior business motives I
don’t think oh this person’s a
multi-millionaire I’m going to get them
as a client none of that I literally
come in with an open hand open mind I’m
just trying to establish whether or not
this individual is a good fit for the
clients uh for the client profile that
we have uh and and I’m trying to create
a compelling and valuable experience no
ulterior motives whatsoever also no
Rapport building so you know that part
at the beginning of the meeting oh I see
you’re from Chicago I love Chicago so uh
nice weather we’re having and then you
talk about sports for five minutes none
of that that that for an effective
client conversion process you want to
radically differentiate yourself in the
marketplace get straight to business
have a professional client conversion
process where there’s no fat it’s a lean
and muscular meeting and when they sit
down you get right to business um the um
the rules so there are some ground rules
for a an effective client conversion
process for me and and you need to
establish what those ground rules are
Upfront for me uh it’s a it’s a
professional meeting in my office in
other words I’m not going to their house
I’m not going to sit at their kitchen
table like life insurance salesman in
the 1950s no I’m not doing that it’s
it’s a meeting in my office both spouses
must be present and that’s a requirement
for for me why because it’s a compelling
experience it’s a valuable outcome and
my process requires both spouses put
another way there is a valuable agenda
for each spouse in other words if just
one spouse showed up we wouldn’t have uh
as as good an outcome because the pro
process should and does require both
spouse’s input and not to mention that
marriage is a team effort and if you
agree with that which most married
people do then uh you know uh they
should both be there because marriage is
a team effort and the other ground rule
is you bring all your financial
documents
why because I’m a financial adviser
you’re seeking Financial
advice what what would be the
alternative of course you bring all your
financial documents that’s how we
determine uh what the issues are and you
know whether or not we’re going to move
forward or not so I’ve already talked
about that the agenda needs to require
both spouses after you’ve gone through
all of this then you’re at the point of
of being able to assess at that point
and I’m talking about you as the
professional whether this is going to be
a uh a good fit or not and if you
determine that what you provide as
services are exactly what they’re
looking for and they fit the profile of
the client that you serve best uh which
is your ideal client profile well out
that’s outcome number one uh you meet
their profile they meet your profile so
you invite them into your ideal client
Community now in our world if we’re
training you you’re going to charge your
client families between 25 and $775,000
per client per year uh I I charge 45 but
that’s somewhat irrelevant it’s entirely
up to you I just don’t think uh an
adviser who’s delivering truly
comprehensive Financial Services should
be charging any less than 25,000 and
we’ve got uh advisers that we’re working
with that charge more than 75,000 so I’m
not saying there’s a top end I’m just
saying for most advisers just focus on
at least being in that range for now
okay so if they do not meet your ideal
client profile what then well let’s say
they meet your non-ideal client profile
in other words you’ve got some sort of
minimum standard uh even for working
with anyone now for us it’s that they
that they have
$20,000 of of of of in of
non-required funds and and not money
that’s required for cash reserves either
they have $220,000 of discretion
discretionary funds sitting somewhere in
one of their accounts that’s a minimum
for us and and if they don’t meet our
ideal client profile but they do have at
least $20,000 sitting around uh then
they meet my nonideal client profile why
20,000 well because outcome number two
is I will offer uh not to work with them
ongoing but I will offer to create a
comprehensive written lifetime Financial
strategy for them and overarching plan
uh uh the reason 20,000 is because we
charge 20,000 to create this plan now uh
I know most advisers charge less than
that for a financial plan but this is
not a financial plan what we train and
we have the format for this and we’ve
got you know data on what it needs to
look like to be worth 20,000 but you
shouldn’t be charging less than 20
$10,000 uh if if if what you’re
providing is actually worth 20 and we
and we have evidence that that what we
are teaching as far as the format of the
plan uh is worth $20,000 so if they
don’t meet the ideal client profile but
they do have at least 20,000 sitting
around we will offer to create the same
highlevel overarching plan that we
create for our ideal client community
it’s just that we will create the plan
it takes 104 days to create this
strategy and then after that uh we will
hand over all the require all the action
items and and recommendations to the
client uh along with the plan and um and
there’s almost always somewhere between
40 and 50 action items and
recommendations that we have generate
our team is generated in order to uh for
a client to improve their financial
affairs and to get on track with their
goal RS and then number three is uh
outcome might be they don’t fit either
they they don’t fit the ideal client
profile they don’t fit the non-ideal
client profile so what now in my case
I’ve charged $500 for this client
conversion process what what do you do
in that case well if there’s no fit to
work uh in the future then I do try to
point them in the right direction I try
to give them a referral somewhere else
but the main thing is if they’re paying
me for this client conver verion process
my Integrity says that the process needs
to be at least worth at or more than
what we’re charging so e even if we’re
not able to refer them somewhere uh I am
confident that this client conversion
process uh exceeds the value of the what
we’re charging and in our case we
guarantee that a uh person going through
this process will have a breakthrough of
clarity over whatever their highest
priority significant financial issue is
in their mind so if a if if a potential
client comes into this process with a
significant financial issue that they
think is a high priority I will
guarantee that they will have a
breakthrough of clarity about
that and they’ll know precisely the next
step to take whether I refer them
anywhere or not they will walk away from
my process knowing precisely what the
next step is even if the significant
financial issue has uh has they’ve been
struggling with it for a long time maybe
it’s been keeping them up at night
worrying for months I guarantee that
they will walk out with a breakthrough
of clarity and knowing precisely what
the next step is so that’s the eight
essential elements of an effective
client conversion process now um let’s
say they do meet your ideal client
profile and you decide to work together
long term uh what what does that look
like well we recommend that you provide
what we call truly compreh prehensive
financial services this is a trademarked
term uh We’ve trademarked it any adviser
working with us is free to use our
trademarked terms you know you’re you’re
licensed to use those while you’re
working with us but it’s a four-step
process and and we just walk we have a
lot of training on this but this is what
we feel if if you’re offering
comprehensive financial services this is
what and this is a data driven uh
statement that I’m making these are the
four client expectations
these are the four steps to to to
deliver on truly comprehensive Financial
Services more defined in the client’s
mind than in the industry’s mind so uh
this idea of comprehensive Financial
Services there is no industry agreed
upon definition of that so what did I do
I went out and studied clients and what
do they mean by this and we are
delivering on that and so the four steps
are you build a team of five and I think
more apt said you have an expert in five
areas so uh so you have expertise and
it’s a team it’s not just a oneman Bann
financial advisor who’s got a certified
financial planner designation no you’ve
got a team I’m I’m recommending a team
of five in what financial planning money
management Insurance estate and tax so
you have a chartered financial analyst
and money management you have a
certified financial planner in planning
you’ve got a certified public accountant
on your team in the area of tax you’ve
got a lawyer on your team in the area of
estate planning you have a team of five
and that’s that’s the the that’s the
first step in truly comprehensive
Financial Services is having a team and
having expertise in those five areas
number two you have 10 client
deliverables which is to say you have
comprehensive deliverables in those five
areas in other words you’re not you have
a process guaranteeing that nothing’s
going to fall the through the cracks in
these five areas and then and in our
model we have developed 10 client
deliverables across these five areas of
personal finance that we just discussed
number three you develop all this around
an extraordinary client experience we
have a documented process called the
three meeting process but whatever it is
you need to uh to deliver an ex not just
a a good client experience you need to
deliver an
extraordinary client experience and
that’s required in this environment and
then fourth and final you make a pledge
to each and every one of your ideal
clients we call this your advisor packed
and the this advisor packed packed is an
acronym and it covers the four client
expectations that we’ve discovered over
the last 40 years uh this is what
clients expect and if I were to put it
another way these are the four things
that client had hoped for but have long
ago given up on because they literally
cannot find any firm at any price to
deliver on all four of these things now
they can find a firm that maybe delivers
on one possibly two but almost never
three and never ever all four uh what is
the acronym for packed it’s protection
attention coordination and in full
transparency to the client so we we have
lot of training on this so I won’t cover
it now but but these you know these are
the these are the four ways to be
successful in this industry and so
what’s the process that will allow you
to take what I’ve just described the
developing of the three skills having an
effective client conversion process then
exceeding client Expectations by
delivering on uh truly comprehensive
Financial Services well going back to
the client acquisition piece how how do
you have an ample number of people uh
who want to sit down with you and
explore doing business with you and and
it is these four Essential Elements must
be in place you have to have ample
people to talk to if you don’t well you
got to work on that that’s first place
we start with our clients if you don’t
have enough people to talk to we have to
fix that and uh and I developed a way to
do all this client acquisition that
involves no sales techniques no sales
tactics no no closing techniques no
appointment setting techniques I I am an
introvert I back in the 80s when it was
not popular to be an introvert uh I had
call reluctance so I refused to do cold
calling or any of that so I had to
invent a client acquisition process that
was not uncomfortable to me so I’ve
developed ways where uh if you’re like
me and you’re an introvert you can have
Le people to talk to even if you hate
idle chitchat and and don’t like you
know cold calling or sales techniques or
anything like that it’s a very there’s
very comfortable ways to go out and
build ample list of people to talk to
and every significant Pro process begins
with a list all right so now you have
ample people what then well you’ve been
you’ve got to be interacting with enough
people on a weekly basis to make a
business out of this so when I say
weekly moment
I’m
saying of the ample people that you’ve
got to talk to you need to be talking to
a minimum of 10 per week we teach that
the the target should be 20 non-clients
a week that you’re rubbing elbows with
you’re interacting with them uh so let’s
say more than 10 and and the target
really should be 20 to achieve uh weekly
momentum that’s required to actually
make a business out of uh your client
acquisition process and uh and the third
thing is marketing 101 relationships how
do you establish what I Define as
marketing 101 relationship so what’s
marketing
101 I don’t know about you back but when
I was back in college marketing 101 was
this how many potential clients in your
community know your name and know you
exist know what you do and know what
makes you better than others at what you
do so how many of all the potential I’m
going to say ideal clients in your
community what percentage of them or how
many of them know your name know what
you could recite back what you do and
could recite back what makes you above
average and I what if I were to tell you
this of all my friends of all my
colleagues of all my associates of all
my people that
I’ve created relationships in charitable
organizations or Chamber of Commerce
what if I were to tell you if I’ve met
with an individual at least four times
and I’m not talking about for business
I’m talking about just catching up as
friends if they’ve met with me four
times what would you say if I were to
guarantee you that if you were to come
across them on the street they would
know my name they would know be able to
articulate reasonably what I do and what
makes me better at what I do I’m
saying everyone that I’ve met with four
times I can guarantee you they will be
able to recite all that back to you
about me can you say the same so I took
marketing 101 seriously I I made it my
job to go out into my community and
start making sure that my potential
ideal clients at least knew who I was
knew what I do and knew know what makes
me better okay so that’s the uh third
essential element of the client
acquisition process and then fourth is
as you’re interacting with people let’s
say you’re meeting with 20 people a week
non- clients you get out of the office
and you meet with 20
people you can never miss an opportunity
you can never miss an opportunity where
they’re trying to give you a hint that
they’ve got some significant financial
issue and sometimes it’s very oblique I
mean when you’re catching up with a
friend they could say something as
subtle as oh oh yeah my my wife and I
have been really arguing over Financial
issues lately do you recognize that as
potentially an opportunity where they
might be asking you uh uh to help them
could be a cry for help so you never
miss an opportunity and you ha have the
skill to stop the conversation and just
see if if that’s what they’re meaning or
not if that’s what’s going on here so
you have ample people you have weekly
momentum you’re meeting with enough
people every single week you have some
sort of a marketing 101 strategy where
your your potential clients in your
community
uh are uh in a very organized way be
becoming aware of you and what makes you
better and you never miss an opportunity
and so if you have all these four in
place that’s an effective client
acquisition process and if none of this
is a good fit my point is you you need
to tighten up your process and for us
you know if if an advisor comes in and
they’re lacking any one or more of the
things that I just talked about we have
training systems and processes uh to
tighten it up so uh anyway those two
birds with one stone that’s what I think
it takes to be successful in this
environment uh as a retail financial
advisor to families um as opposed to
corporate finance a and and this is what
we train this is what we do this sort
training these skills in these critical
uh processes