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

Introspection Is The Key

Sep 23, 2019

It's All In Your Head

Introspection The Key To Your Survival

This is why introspection and value development are the keys to your survival in a robo-world.

It’s not leads… it’s not marketing metrics…  it’s not a sales funnel… it’s not copying what other successful advisers have done…

The key to your survival already exists… the big question is…

Do you have the ability to discover and define it?

In a robo-world where change is exponential you do not have the luxury of time to eventually discover your authentic relevant value, you must discover your value immediately and proactively define and design that value for digital consumption so it can be made available 24 hours a day.

One luxury you do have made available to you, is the opportunity for introspection 24/7 offered exclusively here…
it’s the express lane for advisor survival in the digital age of financial services.

Take a look at the infinite progression of advisor introspection made available exclusively for you.

You must be proactive in the development of your own relevance to survive in a robo-world.

Nobody else is going to do it for you.

It’s nobody’s business but yours.

Be proactive and take advantage of the opportunity in front of you right now.

You Have The Answers

We Have The Right Questions

Advisor Cookie-Cutter Content

Sep 9, 2019

Own The Words

Why your cookie-cutter social media posts are killing your brand and your business

The Advisor in the future must demand more independence when it comes to sharing the behavior they can promise, the experiences they have encountered and their opinions about their profession.

To remain relevant and become irreplaceable the Advisor in the future can’t continue to rely on the cookie-cutter content that (literally) every other Advisor is publishing. Your content can’t be straight off the shelf.

If you continue to post the company message masked as your Advisor Alpha, the standard by which your value is measured will be controlled by the firm (the industry) and not you… this is a fatal mistake.

You can’t afford to become known for the company catchphrase.

Your very existence depends on your ability to differentiate yourself from your competition (in-house too). You must be able to remind your clients of your authentic relevant value while at the same time exuding your Alpha for ideal prospects to discover. This is a 24/7 endeavor.

You can’t continue to rely on industry standards to deliver your Alpha for this simple reason… your clients and prospects will never be able to differentiate you from your competition (Price becomes an issue in the absence of value).

In A Robo-World

In the digital age of transparency and in the era of the 24 hour client experience it is critical that your value is distinguishable as being special. This is your livelihood… if you get complacent with your reputation by trusting the industry to define your value then you will be replaced by the industry.

If they need you more than you need them you are irreplaceable. If you need them more than they need you you are replaceable.

You can make your Advisor Alpha tangible regardless of where your desk sits

If you can’t publish your beliefs about the industry, document your experience and make statements about the behavior you can promise then you will be replaced.

You must become known for the quality of your curiosity... This is about more than asking clients great questions… this includes asking your firm questions about compliance and the parameters of your business as it pertains to your brand. Don’t leave your reputation in the hands of others to define… Own the words, own your Alpha, own your brand and own your destiny.

 

Content That Matters

Own Your Destiny

The Advisor in the Future

Sep 6, 2019

Future Advisor

How the digital age of transparency is disrupting the long-time cryptic industry of financial services and exactly how the advisor in the future will create a competitive advantage.

 

In a robo-world… change happens quickly. Advisors of today must prepare to adapt proactively to become advisors in the future.

Top Down concerns… Shareholder vs. Client-The inherent conflict between shareholder value and client value has never been more readily apparent.  (the Goldman rules) Advisors could have both shareholder and client value working seamlessly, but this can’t be accomplished with the status-quo,  this paradoxical dilemma will be solved by looking at the business from another dimension… Antiquated industry standards are not cutting it… which is why advisors today are looking for answers to better questions. How can we create shareholder, enterprize or lifestyle value by actually putting the interests of our clients in the forefront?

Client-centered reality… They are picking you… and they are armed with knowledge… In the power shift created by over-empowered investors, how will advisors create a tangible demand for wisdom? The cornerstone of the foundation of the advisor business in the future must be a client-centered purpose… without it advisors don’t stand a chance… Advisors in the future will create powerful purpose statements which differentiate them from advisors who continue to use catchphrases, value props and elevator pitches.

Sales or service… Product sales has its place but not in the collaborative world of wealth-care… Always be closing??? or Always be Collaborating? The days of clients and prospects being sold on advisor selling capability are waning… The advisor in the future will sell the appointment, not the product…

The elevator pitch is being replaced by the appointment script… because prescription without thorough diagnosis is malpractice… advisors in the future will not waste time selling products or services to prospects without first setting the appointment. For the advisor in the future, the appointment is the first “yes.”

Collaboration over consulting and sales… Advisors in the future will be collaborating with clients who are considered trusted partners. The success or the failure of the client portfolio leading to goals and aspirations is a shared responsibility… this is why… The days of selling products in a vacuum are over…Unfortunately, digital marketing of advisor services lands in a category which is being confused with sales… antiquated top-down thinking has created marketing monsters that try to close the deal on contact, putting the reputation of the advisor at great risk in the process. The reality of the digital age of transparency unveils this fundamental truth, the receiver of your digital marketing material doesn’t care about the sales pitch… they don’t even care about the solutions (yet)… they care about their issues.

The digital marketing progression for gaining interest from ideal clients is straightforward… here are the issues, here are the options, here are the solutions… If the issue is real to me, then I (the prospect) will discover your options… then (call to action) I may chose your solution if, and only if, it is a good fit for me. Advisors in the future will acknowledge this fundamental truth... they can’t be all things to all people. Advisors in the future will be leveraging this fundamental truth by first defining the solutions they provide when they customize their advisor alpha. Bottom line… there is too much digital noise to “think and do” any other way… there simply isn’t enough time.

Authenticity Integrity Trust and Accountability…  The advisor in the future will understand… they must own perception of their authenticity by owning the words… Not “owning the words” that define their authentic value is tantamount to shuttering their business tomorrow. Their behavior will hold them accountable to the words they own in the digital age of transparency… their digital footprint will become a critical aspect in demonstrating their accountability as part of her or his expected behavior. The advisor in the future will realize…This is the greatest opportunity in the history of time to maximize her or his brand and reputation with a touch of a button…

…this is also the greatest opportunity to ruin a reputation… it takes 1000 Tweets to build a reputation and 1 Tweet to ruin it…

The advisor in the future will customize a formalized progression to develop the content they publish in all forms… the content they publish will be in complete alignment with their beliefs, opinions, values, principles and client-centered purpose… and it doesn’t hurt if it leads to their solutions.

The How… The advisor in the future will become keenly aware of industry issues or “the what.”  The web is full of “the what.” In the future there will be a premium placed on understanding and leveraging the HOW. To accomplish this, advisors in the future will require a trusted collaborative partner who can help them with The How by simplifying the complexities that are inherent in the digital age of transparency. Leveraging Tangible Alpha gives advisors in the future a competitive advantage with the opportunity to own the perception of their customized value by creating a filter to turn down the digital noise masquerading as potential tactical solutions.

The advisor in the future realizes…It all begins with a client-centered foundation. Having a strategic foundation in place is a requirement for advisors who wish to avoid old-school tactics that can lead them down multiple paths and put their business at undue risk. To get and keep ideal clients in the digital age of transparency advisors in the future will be leveraging business development tools that simplify “The How.”

It is crunch time for advisors… The advisor in the future understands…To remain relevant and become irreplaceable in the digital age of transparency their competition will be leveraging the Robo Advisor Coach to create customized solutions for their business development needs. They also realize that time is of the essence. Robo Advisor Coaches that recognize the genuine concerns of Advisors and can also provide The How will become an essential component in helping the advisor in the future get and keep ideal clients in the digital age of transparency.

Keep it Tangible,

Grant

 

 

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