Build On Purpose (3/3)

Oct 28, 2019

Building On Purpose

Part Three of Three
G

Building Your Business On Purpose Empowers You

 

In this three part blog post I am attempting to simplify what I have known to be fundamentally true about advisor value design for the past three decades… It can be tricky sometimes to simplify the complex.

 

This is part three of three. We pick up where we left off in part two…

 

A big part of what I do is trying to simplify what I have learned over the past 30 years in the financial services industry. The models and slides that I share freely can be the biggest piece of the puzzle for some advisors looking to break out of the opacity of the industry designed “black box” that defines advisor value. Building on purpose is a metaphor for doing the right thing all the time but it also can be physically modeled to demonstrate how a progression of value design can justify value while empowering advisors to take complete control over how their unique value is perceived. The big picture for advisors in the new digital age is control over perception… if you are an advisor you must become responsible for the definition and perception of your advisor alpha (advisor value). If you are counting on the industry to do this for you, you will be replaced by the industry.

 

Previously in parts one and two we touched on the purpose driven model to demonstrate exactly how advisors can ultimately promise their behavior.

Your relevance hinges on your ability to promise your behavior. By promising your behavior you are able to get and keep ideal clients with your digital filter. By promising your behavior you’re able to control the perception of your relevance. By promising your behavior you’re able to demand reciprocal actions from your trusted clients. By promising your behavior you’re able to gather feedback that matters. Your promises tied to behavior leads to the value that you control the most which allows you to take complete control over the perception of your value.


Earning trust controlling perception and creating collaborative relationships are the three main elements that are required for survival in a robo world.You must be able to promise your behavior to create that culture by design.

The progression of infinite advisor alpha empowers advisers to promise their behavior so they may remain relevant in a robo world.

We are now shifting from the slides that model how to earn trust by promising behavior to the infinite progression of advisor value development which empowers advisors to get and stay exactly where the want to be… a state of perpetual relevance.

 

Amplify the value that you can control. Take complete control over how that value is perceived. And maximize your relevance to get and keep ideal clients in a robo world.

This is what it means to build on purpose.

Earn trust, promise your behavior, demand reciprocal behavior, create trusted partners as clients, make your value tangible, gather feedback, continue to amplify your value and your business, and live your preferred life.

In order for your business to have a positive change 30 days from right now, you must start making incremental changes daily. And those incremental changes must add up in a way that makes sense. Your focus must be appropriate the system you choose to maximize your relevance must make complete sense and you must carry the discipline that it takes to make incremental improvements daily.

Organized
Efficient
Simplified
Driven
Realistic
Interesting
Fun
Adaptive
On-point
Relevant
Healthy

It’s all about you.

This is where you want to be.

Ultimately you are earning trust by becoming accountable because you’re able to promise the behavior that leads to the value that you can control the most. Which is exactly why your ideal audience should be paying you.

 

Build your business on purpose.

 

Discover more.
Part Two of ThreePart One of Three

Advisor Benchmarks

Oct 23, 2019

The New Digital Footprint

Originally Published 12.27.2016

Building a digital footprint is critical in the era of collaboration.

Everything that you publish, whether it be in the form of comments as in this article, or in the form of blog posts as seen here on this blog post… or a combination of the two, curated to bring meaning to my beliefs and opinions in a tangible fashion. This blog post is a working example of HOW to leverage your digital footprint by exuding your authentic value 24/7. Your ideal audience will find you so you had better be publishing with a purpose.

 

The Future for Advisors is about proving value. 24/7.

When Advisors allow any other entity besides themselves to define their authentic value they diminish the chances of survival and hinder their plans to thrive in the digital age. You mustn’t allow your plans to thrive in the digital age be undermined by anyone… much less yourself. Avoid self-sabotage by reading on…screenshot-2016-10-04-at-11-11-48-pm

The advisor in the future must look beyond industry standards and minimum antiquated regulation to demonstrate in a tangible fashion why anyone should do business with them Pertaining specifically to this article, (Original Article from RIABiz.com) the advisor who relies on the industry to demonstrate his or her value through a benchmark is more likely to be replaced by the industry.  Advisor autonomy goes beyond the realm of value props.. In order to thrive in the digital age of transparency advisors must own a “client-centered purpose.” Technology and transparency will weed out the ne’er do wells. It’s already happening without (and in spite of) regulation. Clients are becoming more empowered through transparency and technology , which is a beautiful thing. Advisors must also leverage the same transparency and technology to empower themselves.

You can’t police advisors into stewardship roles.

Any form of industry standard benchmark weakens the advisor… it does nothing to empower the perception of value, which is under the complete control of the advisor… more specifically, the advisor who owns a client-centered purpose. – Most advisors are good.-(Especially those advisors who subscribe to RIA Biz.) More industry drafted oversight is only adding to the digital noise. Advisors must become empowered through autonomy to thrive in the new collaborative world of 24/7 advice. My opinions about the facts in this article are backed by my conviction about HOW advisors can and should become empowered. Advisors must be afforded the opportunity to exude their authentic value through – ownership – of the perception of their value.  Acquiescing to antiquated industry standards that limit the ability of the advisor to own the perception of his or her value, in my opinion, is a catastrophic mistake that can and should be avoided. Now, more than ever, investors are searching for a trusted source of wisdom. Advisors who are empowered through autonomy will be more likely to exude that wisdom than those advisors who agree to become suppressed by industry created benchmarks. ((BTW, this is a great article that shines a much needed light on the difference b/t portfolio alpha and advisor alpha. Keep ‘em coming.)) This article is an important component in moving the conversations away from the “what” that most RIABiz readers are already well aware of.

The comments after the article (found in the link above) are nearly 2 years old… and there they sit… Conveying my unique beliefs and opinions about this business.


If advisors rely on the industry to define their value will they be replaced?  

Who do you trust?

Who should your clients trust?

Better conversations start with questions that lead to better definitions which lead to better solutions that can truly make a difference in the lives of trusted clients…  

 

By posing these questions I am reminding my current ideal clients of my authentic value while exuding my alpha to a new audience who is looking for a trusted source of wisdom to help them see hear and feel about their business in a different dimension. The perception of my value is entirely up to me. There has never been a greater opportunity for advisors to take advantage of technology. By ignoring this statement you risk extinction… discover as much as you can as soon as you can.

#TangibleAlpha

Always available when the time is right for you.

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Meaningful Engagement

Oct 15, 2019

More Content That Matters

The content that you publish must be relevant to your ideal audience…

That’s it.

You don’t have time to generate siloed content to put behind gated walls to gather emails (spam emails) of potential clients to put in a sales funnel to harass with an email campaign that creates a cost center for your business.
Those days are over.

Your content must create meaningful engagement for clients and prospects in one fell swoop.

Your published engagement must cause action… the action for your clients is to stay and continue to pay you. The action for prospects is to leave their current situation for your unique services (if they qualify).

Your position as a trusted wealth steward allows you to publish your beliefs and opinions without hesitation. Your client-centered purpose guides you in the direction of what topics to publish. Your behavior must be promised to elicit reciprocal actions (you promise yours, they promise theirs).

The topics you publish have been designed to lead the engagement to your unique value, but moreover, the unique value you control the most (no compliance required).

The way you see marketing must be different than what we have been taught.

Your marketing campaigns must generate revenue… not leads.

There is no time for legacy tactics in a robo-world.

The progression to generate meaningful engagement can only be found here.

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Stay Relevant

Oct 14, 2019

Advisor Icon

7

Discover define design deliver remind and refine… not just good ideas but a taxonomy for advisor value development that takes your business to another dimension.

It’s not a checklist… it’s a progression.

The next dimension of your business requires your complete attention… we afford you the opportunity to give your business the attention it requires to survive in a robo-world.

Advisor Icon

Be There 24/7

The Twittersphere

Oct 9, 2019

I Tweet Therefore I Am

3

Twitter for Advisors

Your ideal audience is looking for solutions to their problems 24/7.

It is absolutely critical that they are able to find you and your brand across a multitude of mediums in the digital world. They must be able to access your tangible value 24/7 from their device of choice. Most likely, this will be the smartphone.

Twitter is ideal for staying relevant if you use it with wisdom…

Your purpose, values, principles, beliefs, opinions, experiences, expertise, promises, rules, philosophy, and distinctive questions must all be accessible to your  ideal clients and prospects.

 

How Do I Tweet With Wisdom?

Discover How

Three Reasons Sales Funnels Don’t Work Anymore

Sep 25, 2019

Sales Funnels Are Dead

 

Legacy sales practices are quickly becoming obsolete for financial advisors.

 
 

The three main reasons sales funnels don’t work anymore:

 

  • Time

  • Product Focus

  • Transparency

 
 

Time

There simply not enough time to try and be all things to all people in a sales cycle in which 50 no’s will render you one yes. Your website must become more than a mechanism to gather leads. You must design a user experience that overlaps the client and the prospective client journeys. Treating your engagement hub as a trap for gimmicky sales practices is a death sentence for your reputation. The marketing sales concepts that are being pushed on you (as an advisor) by marketers, are the same types of sales rhetoric you were probably taught in your rookie advisor training classes. The gimmicks they are peddling are built on a foundation of lies and opacity. You don’t have time to gather the metrics they need to justify their existence when they should be helping you discover the metrics you need to survive in a robo-world. There is no time for awareness, interest, decision, action… that mode of lead generation is no longer relevant because you are not selling products… which leads us to reason number two.
 
 

In a robo-world there simply isn’t enough time to compete in the arena of product sales for shrinking commissions.

 
 

 

Product Focus

You are not selling products in a vacuum behind a curtain of opacity surrounded by smoke and mirrors. The focus of the modern advisor must be on the services that he or she provides that are unique to the individual and relevant to his or her ideal audience. People can buy products from their smart phones Clients don’t need an advisor for that. They don’t need you to “sell” them anything anymore. What clients need is a trusted source of wisdom… which is what you are. Obviously, a trusted source of wisdom would never use anything as shady as a product sales funnel to convey their client-centered focus to their ideal audience. Because that would be impossible. Which leads us to why that would be impossible to pull off in the modern era of financial services… transparency… reason number three.

 

 

Transparency

 
In the digital age of transparency clients can see exactly where they are in the process of your sales funnel. They can see how full of shit you may or may not be… and they can see through your smoke and mirrors sales pitch as well. In a robo-world you have to become authentic. You must be able to convey your genuine concern for your clients 24/7.
 

 

Do you think you can convey that message?

In which you are using obvious sales tactics?

By using sales gimmicks from the late 1990’s?

Gimmicks to fill your sales funnel with leads?

 
They can see right through that… it’s not that hard to see your obvious lead generation and “sales marketing prowess” when you lock content behind gated walls on your website to gather email addresses.
 

The same transparency that is killing the sales funnel and traditional lead generation can make you irreplaceable if you understand how to leverage it for the good of your clients and for yourself.

Who you follow and what you like on social media is indicative of the type of services you offer your clients. If you are following sales gurus and liking their content, it is very simple for clients and potential clients to discover – what drives you is the commission – and not the well-being of the client.
 
It is this digital transparency that will be your end if you don’t walk away from the antiquated lead generation/sales funnel concept.
The same transparency will help you build filters to discover reputable digital marketing experts to guide you to the metrics you must gather to survive in today’s robo-word.

 

 

 

 

So What Can You Do?

Be proactive… be responsible… be yourself.

Your digital footprint tells your clients and your prospects exactly where you stand in relation to their well-being versus your sales commission. In a robo-world advisors must think differently and act accordingly, because sales funnels are dead. Advisors must first understand and identify their authentic relevant value before they can become and remain relevant to their ideal audience.
 

Right now we live in the greatest era of opportunity for financial advisors. WHY? Because… Your ideal audience is seeking a trusted source of wisdom… and that is YOU.

 
Discover more about how to shift your focus from sales to service, leverage your time efficiently, and take complete advantage of transparency to survive in a robo-world. You must become empowered to think differently about the value you provide. You must be able to rethink what might be considered as acceptable practices in the new era of financial services. Sometimes you just have to let go of the past to stay relevant.
 
 
One final thought from the author… If you don’t say goodbye to legacy concepts like lead generation and sales funnels, you can kiss your assets goodbye.
 
Keep it Tangible,
 
Grant

Your Future Awaits

Build My Filter