Advisor Opacity
The opacity or lack-of-clarity that is inherently developed by the average financial services professional has been developed over decades by an industry counting on that lack-of-clarity to increase demand for services… that model is done… it is no more… If you don’t leverage transparency to your advantage in the form of Tangible Alpha, you will become extinct… your services will become commoditized and your clients will become enemies. Price only become an issue in the absence of value… you must make your authentic relevant value Tangible…
Build On Purpose (2/3)
Trying to Break Down the Fundamentals of Value Design Can Be an Overly Complicated Endeavor…
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 two of three. We pick up where we left off in part one…
After you are able to define your client-centered purpose and publish your values and principles, as well as document your beliefs and opinions about your unique value… (seems complicated but we make it easy). You are ready to share your experiences your expertise and promise your behavior.
These are the activities required to connect the dots between the collaborative behavior required by your trusted clients and the behavior you can promise as a trusted advisor. Remember, this is about three main things.. Earning trust, controlling the perception of your value, and setting collaborative rules to remain relevant.
The progression of your value development must be acknowledged as part and parcel with your value design… in other words, how you design your value becomes a part of your value design.
The simplification of the Infinite Alpha Progression allows you to make incremental additions to your overall success by continuing your exponential engagement with clients and prospects.
Each one of the elements shown on the slides included is a fundamental discipline that requires your attention daily to meet the demands of exuding your value exponentially every day. When combined in a variety of ways, the disciplines of your value are the building blocks of your relevance. They work together in conjunction to empower you. The progression gives you the luxury of saved time while you attend to the daily actions required by you to survive, while giving you the opportunity 24/7 to build your business on purpose.
Advisor Benchmarks
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…
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.
Meaningful Engagement
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.