Advisor Opacity

Jan 1, 2020

Transparency

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…

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Get Tangible

The Greatest Opportunity for Advisors

Oct 17, 2019

Transparency

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The Greatest Opportunity for Advisors

The Advisor in the future understands that the position of “Financial Advisor” is completely replaceable by the industry. Institutions have proven this to be true year-over-year by paying a price for all assets acquired. For every asset that comes in the door there is a percentage paid… This is a net interest margin industry and the net interest margin is partially controlled by dropping the laggard advisor or restructuring of payout packages and compensation grids. That is the way the game has always been played. It’s all about net interest margin. If the institution can increase NIM by replacing you with a robot they absolutely will not hesitate to do so. Your position in this industry is not a job in which your employer wants to help you by giving you a salary for a job well done so you can live comfortably and provide for your family. The industry is concerned first with shareholder value (or enterprise value) and getting higher valuations as well as increasing net interest margin. It’s just business. Capitalism in it’s purest form. When you come to terms with this concept you are afforded the clarity necessary to see your business from a perspective that crystallizes your unique opportunity in the financial services industry.

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This industry offers the greatest opportunity in the history of the world for the serious steward of wealth because you can create your own business from any vantage point by which you see fit. As long as you can gather assets you can play in the game. You can gather assets in an unlimited amount of ways… ways which are innumerable… uncountable… the opportunity is only limited by your creativity. Which is why it is so critical to look at your business from a fresh perspective from time to time. Think about this statement for a moment… transparency is not solely for the good of the client. We will come back to this statement.transparency

 

To be offered the opportunity to create your own business after you pick up your licenses is one of the rarest opportunities in this world. It’s beyond special. You are in an elite category of individuals that have ever been charged with the stewardship of the well being of your fellow man. Big shoes to fill… great responsibility… Let’s look at your business from a fresh perspective again… Think about this… If you are not willing to invest in your business what does that say about the quality of your commitment? We will come back to this. 

You owe it to your clients to remain relevant but you owe it to your clients and yourself to become irreplaceable. If you are not able to focus on how you will remain relevant and become irreplaceable in this industry you will become lost… you will become commoditized… and you will be squeezed out. Capitalism in it’s purest form. So often advisors are focused on the daily mechanics of doing business that they become lost… unable to focus on the activities that create demand for their services advisors can easily get caught in a deadly trap which creates stagnation due to a myopic perspective they have about their business. Think about this question… Are you willing to let your clients be led astray by a self-serving advisor who simply sells products in a vacuum?
The opportunity to see and feel your authentic relevant value and create a sustainable business model designed around the well being of your clients is available. You can become the master of your destiny if you are willing to take a step back from your business and see it from another dimension. If you agree that being a serious steward of wealth is the greatest opportunity… in the greatest business in the world… in the greatest time to be a financial advisor that has ever existed… then you can and should become irreplaceable. If you are willing to see transparency in the digital age as resource and not a liability… then you can and should become irreplaceable. If you are inclined to invest in your business and you agree that you must  invest your time before you invest your money… then you can and will become irreplaceable by becoming a serious steward of wealth. You will be enabling yourself to give the care and the commitment your clients rightfully deserve. To become a serious steward of wealth, by design,  you must own the words that define your authentic relevant value. Take a minute to become irreplaceable for the good of your clients and for the sustainability of your business by taking full advantage of the complementary Tangible Alpha minute modules and notebook available here.

 

Keep it Tangible,

Grant Barger

 

Take A Minute

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

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