Advice Line: How to Get Prospects To Act Without Being Pushy (Ben Galloway)

Summary

Advisor Marketing Made Simple: Episode Summary

Title: Advice Line: How to Get Prospects To Act Without Being Pushy (Ben Galloway)
Hosts: Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright
Guest: Ben Galloway
Release Date: October 16, 2024

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of Advisor Marketing Made Simple, hosts Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright welcome Ben Galloway, a certified financial planner from Baltimore, Maryland. Ben seeks expert advice on motivating engaged prospective clients to take action without employing aggressive sales tactics. The conversation delves deep into refining marketing strategies, defining ideal clients, enhancing sales processes, and creating authentic content that resonates with target audiences.

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Ben's Challenge: Encouraging Client Action Without Being Pushy

[00:28] Ben Galloway:
“I have a prospective client that sees the value in what we do. They're pretty engaged. They're the ones that reached out to us, and they're not acting, though. And something about people not experiencing the consequences today of not acting yesterday has me wondering, is there something that I can be doing or what should I be doing to encourage action and urgency without scaring them or selling people hard?”

Ben describes a common scenario where qualified leads express interest but fail to proceed to the next steps. His primary concern is fostering a sense of urgency and encouraging action without appearing overly aggressive or salesy.

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Defining the Ideal Client: The Foundation of Effective Marketing

[02:40] Taylor:
“If you had to narrow that down a little bit more, what would it look like? Because the needs and pain points of a 30-year-old are very different than a 55-year-old...”

Taylor emphasizes the importance of clearly defining the target demographic. Ben initially describes his ideal client as creatives and business owners aged between 30 and 55, particularly those within the LGBTQ community facing significant business transitions such as exits or liquidity events.

[03:44] Ben Galloway:
“...people who also are asking for accountability and asking for a trusted network, and then are engaged and interested...”

Ben further refines his ideal client, focusing on younger professionals around 35 who are actively seeking accountability and are in meaningful business transitions. He highlights the significance of serving the LGBTQ community, aiming to connect authentically with peers who share similar experiences and challenges.

[05:55] Taylor:
“...if we're not clear on who we're targeting and we don't truly understand exactly what those pain points are, then, yeah, we are going to have problems getting that person to move forward...”

Taylor underscores that without a precise understanding of the ideal client's specific pain points, marketing efforts may fall short, leading to lower conversion rates.

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Enhancing the Sales Process: Building Trust and Accountability

[10:59] Kendra:
“Let's pretend we're going to select your ideal client right now... John Smith, we're going to market to.”

Kendra suggests creating a fictional ideal client persona, "John Smith," to tailor marketing and sales strategies effectively.

[12:24] Taylor:
“If that pain point doesn't exist, like nothing's gonna happen. We have all... what are those three things that are keeping someone like John awake at night.”

Taylor advises Ben to identify and address the top three pain points of his ideal client, ensuring that marketing messages resonate deeply and prompt action.

[15:16] Ben Galloway:
“You're sort of getting to that. No faster. But you're also almost doing it by negative consent at that point.”

Ben reflects on the strategy of setting boundaries in follow-up communications, fostering a sense of responsibility in prospects to make informed decisions without pressure.

[16:36] Kendra:
“A great question to ask yourself is what problem does this piece of content solve for my ideal client?”

Kendra highlights the importance of aligning content with the specific problems of the ideal client, ensuring that every communication piece serves a purpose.

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Authentic Content and Storytelling: Standing Out in a Crowded Market

[17:06] Ben Galloway:
“...create financial education content. That skill is so rare. There are so many advisors we talk to that don't really understand how to stand out...”

Ben shares his approach to creating unique and authentic content, emphasizing storytelling and relatability to engage his target audience effectively.

[18:53] Kendra:
“I love a little bit of feedback on how to tell better stories.”

Kendra encourages Ben to leverage storytelling as a powerful tool to differentiate himself, suggesting that authentic narratives can significantly enhance client engagement.

[21:54] Ben Galloway:
“Absolutely, yeah. I do have some kind of tactical, actionable ideas for you...”

Ben acknowledges the value of tailored content strategies that not only entertain but also educate, reinforcing his expertise without overtly selling his services.

[24:06] Ben Galloway:
“I think it's... not the center line, that need a lot of help and they're looking for a voice that is approachable and also topical...”

Ben emphasizes the balance between personal touch and technical expertise, aiming to make complex financial topics accessible and engaging for his audience.

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Actionable Takeaways: Strategies to Motivate Client Action

1. Refine Your Niche:

   • Clearly define and narrow down your ideal client to understand their specific needs and pain points.
   • [04:38] Ben: Emphasizes focusing on a specific demographic within the LGBTQ community to enhance connection and relevance.

2. Build Authentic Relationships:

   • Create personas like "John Smith" to tailor your marketing efforts and ensure alignment with client needs.
   • [10:59] Kendra: Suggests using a fictional client to streamline marketing strategies.

3. Develop Targeted Content:

   • Use storytelling and ultra-specific content to stand out and resonate with your ideal clients.
   • [19:00] Ben: Highlights the importance of blending personal interests with professional expertise in content.

4. Establish Boundaries in Communication:

   • Implement respectful follow-up strategies that empower clients to make their own decisions.
   • [15:49] Taylor: Advises reframing growth goals in terms of achievable revenue and client capacity.

5. Leverage Peer Insights:

   • Learn from other advisors and professionals targeting similar niches to refine your strategies.
   • [30:20] Taylor: Encourages connecting with peers and learning from their experiences to enhance your approach.

6. Continuous Evolution of Your Niche:

   • Recognize that defining your niche is an ongoing process, allowing for adjustments as you gain deeper insights.
   • [29:18] Kendra: Advises that niche development is a progressive journey, requiring continual refinement.

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Conclusion: Embracing a Strategic and Authentic Approach

Throughout the episode, Taylor and Kendra provide Ben with a comprehensive framework to enhance his marketing and sales strategies. By refining his niche, creating authentic and targeted content, and establishing respectful communication boundaries, Ben can effectively motivate prospects to take action without resorting to pushy sales tactics. The conversation underscores the importance of understanding client pain points, leveraging storytelling, and continuously evolving marketing strategies to achieve sustainable growth.

Notable Quotes:

• Ben Galloway [00:28]:
  “I have a prospective client that sees the value in what we do... encourage action and urgency without scaring them or selling people hard.”

• Taylor [02:40]:
  “If we don't truly understand exactly what those pain points are, then, yeah, we are going to have problems getting that person to move forward...”

• Kendra [10:59]:
  “Let's pretend we're going to select your ideal client right now... John Smith, we're going to market to.”

• Taylor [15:49]:
  “I'd be careful with going too far down this path... weaving in some entertaining content can also serve a purpose.”

• Kendra [27:15]:
  “What problem does this piece of content solve for my ideal client? ... it should solve a problem or give them a little bit of a preview.”

This episode is a treasure trove for financial advisors seeking to refine their marketing strategies, offering practical advice grounded in real-world experience. By applying these insights, advisors can cultivate meaningful client relationships and drive growth with confidence and authenticity.

Transcript

[Kendra]

Hey, it's Kendra and Taylor, and we're here to make advisor marketing simple. All right, everyone, welcome to the show. We are so grateful that you're with us today. There's a lot of places you could spend your time and the fact that you're hanging out with us, we're really excited and grateful for that. So today we have Ben on the show. Ben, just to kick us off, can you tell us your name, your firm, your location, and that one question that you'd love to dive into Taylor and I today?

[Ben Galloway]

Sure. My name is Ben Galloway. I am a certified financial planner in Baltimore, Maryland. My firm is Greenspring Advisors, and big question I have today is I'll paint you a picture. I have a prospective client that sees the value in what we do. They're pretty engaged. They're the ones that reached out to us, and they're not acting, though. And something about people not experiencing the consequences today of not acting yesterday has me wondering, is there something that I can be doing or what should I be doing to encourage action and urgency without scaring them or selling people hard?

[Kendra]

When you say they're not acting, can you paint me a picture of what that looks like? Does that mean that you're getting qualified people on a call that you would love to work with and then they're just not going to the next step?

[Ben Galloway]

Yeah, it's qualified people who are interested. They've either found me or we've made some sort of a warm connection. It's not usually cold, but they've come to me with a problem that they need solved. They're saying, I need help. I've heard those words specifically. And we kind of talk through what the priorities are. We talking about what a structure looks like, what expectations look like, and then what next steps. If we were to move forward and then their timeline, follow up, email. Yep, I'm interested. Yep. Let's set up another call. Things happen. People get busy. I know, but there, it seems like, you know, I'm on the other side of a goat situation sometimes, and no one likes to be ghosted. We've all been there. And I don't want to pastor, but I would love to meet people where they are. If they're asking for some accountability and they'd like to move forward in some way, like to not lose that momentum that they have generated. I would like to do that tactfully, respectfully, and effectively.

[Kendra]

Awesome. I know, Taylor, you've really broken down a lot of pieces in your sales process, and I think there's some Sales pieces coming up here. What's popping up for you?

[Taylor]

I just want to better understand your ideal client. I mean, you mentioned kind of roughly who this person is. They're busy, you know, they, they haven't taken care of things they need to take care of. They want to take action, but they're not. But like, who are these people? Like, tell us a little bit more about your target demo.

[Ben Galloway]

Yeah, yeah, great question. So, ideal client between the ages of 30 and 55. It is someone who is either an executive, an entrepreneur, someone with a very busy lifestyle too. Someone who values the outsource. I've done a lot of work in equity cob, but also a lot more work more effectively in the business owner space. So. But specifically creative business owners. So that could be designers, content creators, entertainers, people who are often not wanting to do this or deal with it. And so they recognize a need, but then might not see this to the finish line or will choose to outsource.

[Taylor]

Okay, if you had to narrow that down a little bit more, what would it look like? Because the needs and pain points of a 30 year old are very different than a 55 year old. And even if they're the same today, when you meet these people, they're going to change as they age. That 30 year old's going to run into new problems in their 40s, that 55 year old's going to run into new problems in their 60s. So it's a pretty wide net still. So if you had to narrow that down, what would narrowing it down look like?

[Ben Galloway]

Yeah, narrowed down. Ideally, younger. 35 would be my sweet spot. One, I think. I haven't been retired yet, so what retirees are going through is a little different than what I'm going through. And so I resonate and connect well with the people who are like me. And so people who also are asking for accountability, asking for a trusted network, and then are engaged and interested, but also are trusting to say, I'm choosing to offload this, but again, that 35 year old, they are either growing a business or in a transition out of that business in some way. So there's some exit or some liquidity event coming that they're preparing for. And then I shouldn't have forgotten to mention this, but LGBTQ specifically, that would be ideal. I am part of the LGBTQ community myself, and if I can connect and help my own community in that way, who are going through a pretty big business problem, then that's what I want to focus on as well.

[Taylor]

Okay. Anytime I hear an advisor when they're explaining to me their ideal client, anytime I hear them say the words but. Or also it signals to me that they're not crystal clear on their target demo. And even as simple as saying either somebody starting a business or exiting from a business, like, to me, those are two different people with two completely different set of challenges and pain points. I heard you say equity comp. But also people in the business owner space, but also creatives, entrepreneurs. Like, so big part of this is getting more clear. And this goes back to your question. I'm not, I'm not veering from. It goes all the way back to your question because if we're not clear on who we're targeting and we don't truly understand exactly what those pain points are, then, yeah, we are going to have problems getting that person to move forward because we're not really addressing those direct pain points. We're not showing them exactly how we can solve them and the value that we can provide enough for them to move forward. And so we are getting ghosted. And so it all kind of does lead back to that challenge that you're having. Once we do get crystal clear and you start getting in front of those people like, oh my gosh, Ben, Ben is the, the guy who can help me solve this. Like, you're going to see a lot more conversions at that point. So I think there's some work to do there. And I know we're not like in the space of trying to figure out, help advisors figure out their niches, but I think there, there's a lot there. There is some work to be done there.

[Ben Galloway]

Yeah, no, makes perfect sense. I think we're, we're often trained as generalists and we, we begin to focus later. And so I, I have, I have a lot of clients who have, who have a lot of those components and few probably that fit that exact characteristic. And so as we often hear, saying yes, this sliver of a community means saying no to a lot of others potentially. But that's okay. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing by any means. I'm okay with that. There's a little, I think, intimidation stepping into that space very exclusively and feeling like I'm the expert in those things. And so what I've done is probably worked with clients with a couple of these other areas and I feel good about that. But not every, you know, that like you said, that's, that's unfortunately then a little too broad.

[Taylor]

Yeah. And the way I frame it for myself, because it is hard there's this like fear of missing out or oh my gosh, that could be a great opportunity. I don't want to pass on this, but the way I frame it for myself to keep myself on track is I'm doing. So let's say 30 year old walks into my office and has a $50 million liquidity event. Oh my gosh, that has a lot of money. I'm doing that person a disservice of trying to help them because I don't have the expertise to help that person. I don't have clients like that person. I don't have systems and processes in place to serve serve that person. So I would be doing them a disservice if I attempted to take them on as a client. That's the way I frame it to avoid getting distracted by this. I'd rather help that person find the right advisor to help them create more space for me to serve the people that I want to serve. The benefit to you potentially is you haven't mentioned this, but you work for a large firm. Your Firm is a $7 billion firm. So if you talk to or attract people that you aren't interested in serving, potentially you can still refer them inside of your firm. So we don't need to go down that path. But potentially that's an opportunity. Where I would like to go is ensuring that wherever you land with this niche still meets your growth goals. A big part of the reason you joined us today is like, hey, right now I've got about 50 clients, $60 million, but five years from now I want $180 million. That was your AUM goal. Your five year AUM goal. What's that big goal?

[Ben Galloway]

Yeah, that's great though.

[Taylor]

I love it.

[Ben Galloway]

So.

[Taylor]

But we want to, I love establishing where do I want to be in five years and then what is it going to take for me to get there? So a big piece of that is your fee structure, right? What sort of fees am I charging? What's the average fee or the minimum fee? And then how many clients is it going to take for me to achieve my, you know, five year revenue goal? So I just want to make sure that's being considered here. A 35 year old with more than a million dollars. Because that was something else that you had mentioned in the notes here. Do you feel like your niche can help you achieve those growth goals? There's not a lot of 35 year olds that maybe meet some of your criteria. I'm not saying they're not out there, but are you on board with finding those that are out there.

[Ben Galloway]

Right. There are fewer of them probably than the older clients that have the established assets already, which I understand. And I think at the moment my client base looks a little barbell, so to speak. So my older clients with the assets established already have multimillion dollar accounts. And then my younger clients might not have quite that asset base yet, but they have a much higher income at this point too. So they can at least support the fee structure and are in a position for higher growth more quickly in the next five or so years that I'm anticipating or that if they're onboarding, we are incorporating that planning into the relationship. We sort of are knowing that something is coming.

[Taylor]

And yeah, perhaps you reframe your growth goals in terms of revenue. You know, I read my revenue goal is, you know, a million and a half in revenue. Okay, what's my minimum fee or my average fee? It's $10,000 per year. Okay. Can my 35 year old business owner making $300,000, can that person afford and be okay with paying 10 grand a year? Like, I don't know. That's an exercise to go through because we don't want to like have this growth goal, but then start going after clients that can't support that growth goal. Or we need, you know, 300 of these clients in order to reach that growth goal, which is not sustainable. So. Correct. Just kind of keep that all in mind.

[Ben Galloway]

We have a, we have a client cap of a hundred clients too. So that's something else we're mindful of. And so which, which to us feels great because it means we can commit to, you know, a smaller number. But that also means that we are selective in our marketing as well. Or intent. Not selective, but maybe intentional is the better is the word I probably choose. Yeah, So I like that.

[Taylor]

Yeah.

[Ben Galloway]

I mean, there are these constraints that we're kind of, we're working within. And so, and as someone, I've been in the business, you know, now seven years, I went from the wirehouse world for about three, and I've been here for just over four. So it's, it's been, that was a big shift and a great shift for, for me for what I was looking for. But then it allows me to ask questions like this to become a better advisor for the clients I'm working with to make this experience more remarkable, which is often not a very remarkable experience. So we're students of the craft and of the industry. And you know, this is, this is great. This is humbling and it's it's hard to be vulnerable, but I think we don't grow if we. If we.

[Taylor]

So absolutely, yeah. I do have some kind of tactical, actionable ideas for you to address your core question here, but I'm going to give Kendra an opportunity here to jump into some questions and thoughts.

[Kendra]

Yeah, I just have one quick thing, and I think this is how we can help you get the most out of this call, is let's pretend we're going to select your ideal client right now. So every conversation we have going forward here, we can apply that ideal avatar. And no matter what, if it changes later, you'll still know what that looks like. Because I think an avatar, like, as an analogy is an avatar is your bullseye and your marketing is the arrow. So we need to make sure that we are shooting in the right direction. The bullseye can be anywhere, but depending on the avatar, like, we're going to shoot this arrow, totally different. So from what you told me, let's just make a quick decision here together. You can change it later. Your avatar, let's just say, is a creative business owner. Would a business owner in the 35 to 45 range who is exiting a business in LGBTQ, would that fit your mold for profit?

[Taylor]

Yep.

[Ben Galloway]

I've got someone in mind specifically. So, yeah, that's. That's exactly.

[Kendra]

All right. What's that client's name? Like, you can make it up if you want. Make up a name. Who's this client going to be?

[Ben Galloway]

This guy is going to be John Smith.

[Kendra]

All right, John Smith, we're going to. I want you to think about John as we go through this process. We'll talk about the tactics right next, right after this. John's going to be who we're going to market to. All right, Taylor, take it away.

[Taylor]

I know John.

[Kendra]

This is going to get good.

[Taylor]

What am I taking away?

[Kendra]

I thought you had some tactics here. Oh, I just want to make sure that we are all focused on who we're actually talking to, because I know you're going to lay down some smart stuff. But I want to make sure that Ben knows how to apply those tactics to John Smith.

[Taylor]

Yeah. And my couple ideas to share with them weren't necessarily specific to the person. But I think what you're getting at is uncovering what John Smith's, you know, key pain points. Like, what are those problems they want to solve? It's not like I'm busy. I have too much going on. I don't know what. I don't know. Like, we need to understand Truly, what drives John? Like, what's keeping him up at night? What those big questions are, those big unanswered questions. If that pain point doesn't exist, like, nothing's gonna happen. We have all. I grew up in the wirehouse world as well. And the big word when I was there was money in motion. Right? Money needed to be in motion. You want to be like in the middle of that. You know, big events, divorce, inheritance, things like that. So I know we're not going there, but like, what are those things, those key things? I like to narrow it down to three. What are those three things that are keeping someone like John awake at night? So again, it's not broad. It's not like, oh, I'm just a busy business owner. It's like, no, I'm a business owner, I'm having success. And these are three things that are really keeping me up at night. So one reason why people aren't taking action with you is you're not clear on who you're targeting and what those key challenges and pain points are. And then two, the other thing is how you kind of handle people through the sales process. I love what you said. I don't want to sell hard, right? How do I encourage action without selling hard? And so a part of that is, again, properly showing your value and addressing those key pain points and showing them exactly how you can help solve them. But two is how you communicate with them through the process. I don't want to twist somebody's arm and convince them to become a client. I think I have enough sales skills where if I wanted to, I probably could twist people's arms more than I do. I could probably convince people to hire us that really don't want to hire us. I don't want to do that. I've done it before. You end up with clients that are not good fits and they're not good long term relationships. So I want to ensure that they make this decision on their own. And one way I do that in the follow up, if they're not. If they're not, like two thumbs up, like, hell yes. Like, where do I sign? They need time to think about it. We follow with them once. Hey, just checking in, see if you have any questions. What's a good next step? It's not uncommon that we get ghosted from that email. Our second email is, hey, we're checking in again. In an effort not to be a pest, we will refrain from reaching out to you again until we hear from you first. And that's it. And that's my magical sentence that I include in those emails. It does one of two things. Either again, we get ghosted, fine, whatever. We don't hear back from that person or they quickly make a decision, oh, sorry for the delay. Like, you know, I'm, we're not going to move forward or oh shoot, I'm now, this person's now realizing, I'm not going to babysit them, I'm not going to reach out to them, I'm not going to check in every month. I'm not going to try to twist their arm. It's on them to be an adult here, to make an adult decision. So thinking about how you're communicating with people through the sales process in a non salesy way and ensuring that you're attracting people that are truly ready to hire you and they're making the decision decision, you're not twisting their arm. Right.

[Ben Galloway]

You're sort of getting to that. No faster. But you're also almost doing it by negative consent at that point. You're saying we are taking ourselves out of the equation until we hear from you. Now you sort of put your own boundaries in place first and I think that goes a really long way. It's like going to a wedding and people are like, what do you want me to do? People just want to be told what to do sometimes. Don't give people so many options and that's okay. It's okay to limit the options then and saves you and your own practice and your own headspace too. You, you've sort of put your own boundaries in place, which I think is super valuable.

[Taylor]

Yeah. And if I'm ever on the, the phone, sometimes it's a phone call where that prospect reaches out to ask a few questions and they'll start to like, like, yeah, you know, like I really like you, I like what you offer. Like, you know, I'm like just on the fence. I'll say to them, I said, look, if it's not a yes, it's a no. Like I truly mean, like, if they're not like fired up to get started and hire us, I don't want them to hire us. So again, maybe kind of reframing this and putting some of those boundaries in place and really owning them and using some of that language can be really beneficial. But you also have to go back to the beginning here and ensure that we're attracting the right type of people. We're, we're clear on, you know, John Smith and what his, you know, pain points are. We're addressing those through our sales process, we're clearly showing our value. And then, yeah, there's going to be a percentage of John Smiths out there that just like, they're not going to hire you. And that's fine.

[Kendra]

I love it. So we've, we've covered a few things here. I feel like we tackled a bit around if the client ghosts on you what to do, how we could proactively address that further upstream. So after that, would you like to take the path of, you know, you mentioned representing yourself more authentically online and also how to do it in an efficient way? Real quick, is there one of those paths or something else that we could touch on quickly to just be helpful for you as far as the concept of getting some attention of these ideal John Smiths online with your digital efforts?

[Ben Galloway]

Sure, sure. So for context, too, I have put myself out there a little bit more from a personal standpoint. I am part of the LGBTQ community as a gay advisor. I don't only work with LGBTQ clients. There's a fine line. I sometimes have ridden that fence, and I think that is one. I think there's some imposter syndrome in that. I'm not sure if I'm the one who should be representing our community at large. And I've gotten out of my own way there because one, if I'm not saying it's, my audience might not hear it at all. And I'm not going to have all the answers. And I need to be okay with that. But I also need to champion and be an advocate for my community because I tried to be the person I needed to see when I was younger, too. And someone needs to take the first step. And so I'm taking that first step with my audience. And it has really opened the door to incredible opportunities across the country for people finding me making great connections. It's been incredible. I want to keep doing that without feeling like I am only connecting because we have this in common or. And so I'm finding that not only do I have this in common, but I'm trying to then solve the problem that they're faced with. And I think that goes back to our other question too, of how creating the urgency and actionable items very clearly defined. I'm the one that needs to define that, saying, you know, you're not going to call my plumber when I need a new roof. So it is being explicitly clear for the audience, so it makes it easier for them to say when it's time or if I need help, I know exactly who I'm going to go to. But I think showing up authentically is. And I think part of that is maybe sharing better stories. I love a little bit of feedback on how to tell better stories.

[Kendra]

So I have a couple of thoughts here. I worked with a OGD pq. I got. I just like those letters.

[Taylor]

I just.

[Ben Galloway]

Alphabet soup.

[Kendra]

Soup. I have worked with an advisor who did target that demographic. And what's really fascinating about this demographic is they face challenges that others do not. You know, for example, like how to pay for adoption fees, how to pay, pay for IVF and surrogacy. And there are a lot of really fascinating planning pieces that are radically different. So in my head, from a messaging standpoint and an avatar standpoint, a question that you're going to need to answer is, am I brave enough to make a choice, go one way, the right, you know, this path, or not? Do you want to go in on that market? I think, like, the way you just talked about that was so inspiring. And I just like, I mean, if I can make the question for you, it is like you are the person. Ben, you are great at this. I can tell by the way you talk about this. We often be that advisor that you needed that voice, and not everyone's going to work with you, but you can be that piece of financial education that they get. And because you are doing things like publishing on LinkedIn, which I'm going to talk about next, you're going to be helping those people and you are going to be an advocate for this incredibly important part of our population. So that's on the avatar front. I'd make a decision. I'm going to pretend to make it for you. Let's say we go down that path and you asked a little bit about representing myself authentically and this is what I believe. And I, I feel like one of my zones of genius is messaging and copyright. And my personal belief is that voice isn't created. It's embraced a lot of times to be authentic, we have to unlearn caring so much about what other people think. And I would like to bring to the attention of our listeners, which I'm going to link this in our show notes because it's friggin awesome is the fact that you put a piece of content out that said 10 things I would do with the $200,000 of prize money from RuPaul's Drag Race. Okay, first off, that's hilarious. Second, the post is great. It's so good. And this is how you stand out. You know, we talk about differentiation and as advisor a little bit in a few other episodes. But the first way you stand out as advisor is I want you to think about what every other advisor is talking about and say none of it. And this is a perfect example of content because you do go into some of the technical pieces of this and I'll link it in the show notes. The one piece of feedback I would say is you do start it with, you know, build your dream team of advisors and lawyers. I would put that at the end because people are going to feel like they're getting sold to. I think it's accurate. But a couple of things you say that are really great is like separating personal, professional cash flow. If you're working with a creative entrepreneur who's up against an exit or a big influx of cash, they may not know those things. We also talk about cutting the check in half for taxes. Really thoughtful. So I think that as far as being authentic, it's. You're always going to feel scared when you press publish. And that's just a sign that you have heart and soul in what you do and being actionable and practical and swerving out of the lane of obvious into the non obvious. I mean, I think you're already there once you just tighten up that avatar a little bit and you start to weave in those stories.

[Ben Galloway]

Yeah, super helpful. Thank you. I think it's, it's worth taking the risk because, you know, my goal isn't to just blend in. We've all, you know, I think I've. It's. It's easy to blend in and. But I think it's. There's a lot of value on the fringe there too. There's a lot of value. People who need help, who don't always gravitate towards that center line, that need a lot of help and they're looking for a voice that is approachable and also topical, something that. That is interest, of interest to them. I might not go hunting and fishing with my clients, but I might watch, you know, Bravo or track race with stuff, you know, during the week. You know, that's, that's. There's value to that too, and kind of a personal touch, while also incorporating some of that technical as well.

[Taylor]

Yeah.

[Kendra]

And I think it takes some courage to make a choice and be who you are on the Internet. And I faced this even with my own agency early. When I rebranded, I was like, am I going to be a little rock and roll? Am I going to play it safe? And I was like, well, shoot, I am kind of rock and roll. I have a background in rock and roll, and that's how I show up. You see me online and it was in the same position as you. And I think in a lot of advisors are. It's just like, what's authentic to you? And you know, what's kind of like, how are you going to bring your personality into it? Another way to do that is ultra specificity. So this is a way to differentiate yourself. You know, a lot of advisors. I was looking at one of the advisors that came in the other day, they talk about they want to go to the, you know, like, their hobbies, right. And one person, like the average advisor says golf. No, no offense, Taylor. The average advisor says they love golf. If I could rewrite a bio and it would say something like, hey, you know, I. One of my personal goals is to play a course in all 50 states of golf. You know, like, I would tie a very specific thing to it. So a way to differentiate yourself. Another example is I saw this on one of the advisors bios that was just on the show and they said, I like to hit the gym because I have to counteract my sweet tooth. There was like ultra specificity there. It's like telling me, you know, hey, yeah, most people say, I want to work out. No, it's like, I'm a fat kid. I like it. I like to dive into a pile of cupcakes. Okay, cool. I'm like, I like this guy. Okay. He also said, huge dog lover. So your dog is welcome in our meetings or something like that. It was really fun. I was like, this is a perfect example of how to stand out. Find your voice. So be. Be ultra specific in the examples, the stories you tell. Be a little vulnerable and like, your. Your storytelling is already going to be ahead of the game.

[Ben Galloway]

Awesome. Thank you so much, guys. I cannot thank you enough. This has been super valuable. And Ash, the other advisors who are on here who are getting feedback are lucky to have you. And the audience is really going to benefit from all this. So thank you.

[Taylor]

Ben, a few quick final thoughts before we part ways. Kendra gave some phenomenal feedback there, and I want to make sure it's actionable and you've got some. A path forward. 1. We don't know your niche as well as you do. Right? It's not my niche. Dan Sullivan wrote a good book. Who not how. I mean, you don't have to read the book to understand the concept of it. But what other advisors out there are targeting your same niche and what can you learn from them? Either by, you know, creeping on their websites and creeping on their content or reaching out and having a one to one conversation and learning more about what they're doing and how they're doing it. Maybe they're further ahead than you. So what mistakes that they make that you can avoid, I would highly encourage you to spend some time on that. Who not how concept and reaching out to those people and learning from them. 2. Interviewing John Smiths so can you find 5 to 10 John Smiths that who cares if they ever become a client or not, but they are more or less your target demo. Go take them a coffee and just like get curious and ask them questions and start to try to uncover what these key pain points are. And then lastly, I don't want you. I would be careful and Kendra may disagree just based on some of her comments. I'd be careful with going too far down this path with this LinkedIn article about the 10 things what you do with the prize money. Because what struck me initially is this really what John Smith is worried about. Gosh, if I had that 200 grand, what would I do? Like is that, is that keeping John Smith up at night? Now it might be that John Smith is interested in this topic and it's an entertaining topic that also teaches John something along the way. I think weaving in some entertaining content, some clever content like this is certainly beneficial and serves a purpose. We want to be careful about doing this in every single article that we write. We want to think more about addressing those pain points and challenges as well. One idea too, to potentially tweak this a little bit is instead of 10 things I would do with this prize money, if you do end up if John Smith is a creative entrepreneur or an entrepreneur or business owner, the title could be something like what, you know, 10 things entrepreneurs could learn from the prize money that RuPaul won. Right. And now I'm an entrepreneur. I like RuPaul and drag racing and now like things are coming together even more. So that makes sense.

[Ben Galloway]

That's great. It's a little like little tweaks that can really make a huge difference.

[Taylor]

So yeah, thank you guys.

[Kendra]

Yeah. And you dive into something that I love there, which is when we think about content. A great question to ask yourself is what problem does this piece of content solve for my ideal client? And if you have a list of those pain points, let's just say you make you have your top three that you know are like the ones that are literally keeping them up at night, literally what is keeping them awake at night staring at Their ceiling, because there are a few of those, and then there's probably, let's say, another seven to 10 more that are kind of secondary. Look at that list. Which problem would this piece of content solve? One of the things I wish advisors understood more is like, let's not just create content for content's sake. It should solve a problem or give them a little bit of a preview.

[Taylor]

Of how to solve that problem. Yeah, yeah.

[Ben Galloway]

Makes total sense.

[Taylor]

Thank you, guys.

[Kendra]

Awesome.

[Ben Galloway]

Appreciate it. This is great.

[Taylor]

Gosh, I could talk to you all day, and we could talk about this all day.

[Kendra]

Yeah, I love it, actually.

[Taylor]

We are talking about it.

[Ben Galloway]

That's hilarious.

[Kendra]

We are, and I really appreciate. One of the things I really like about what you're doing here, Ben, is you're just really branching out and looking at a different way to create financial education content. And that skill is so rare. There are so many advisors we talk to that don't really understand how to stand out. And you're doing it and, like you said, perfectly. You know what? I'm actually rocking this pretty well. I need to dial in a bit on my ideal client. I might need to tweak the content topic, and I love Taylor's rework there. Excellent. And then just, you know, you're rocking and rolling, so I think that's going to get you headed in the right direction, and I can't wait to see where you go.

[Ben Galloway]

Thank you guys very much. I think the focus is really helpful. Otherwise, it can feel a little random. And if we can hone in that focus, it helps everybody involved. Clients, respective clients, me, all of us. So thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

[Kendra]

We love it. And we'll link to the 10 things I do with the $2,000 of prize money from RuPaul's brag price in the comments or in the show notes, you'll be able to see what it looks like. And you can also check out Ben online. All right, everyone, thanks for tuning in. Keep doing the great work that you do. Taylor, today I hit a bucket list item. Do you want to know what it was?

[Taylor]

I do.

[Kendra]

I got to say RuPaul's Drag Race in an episode about advisor marketing. I love that we went there and it's really exciting. I am micro obsessed with advisors who just think outside the box. They try new things. And I think Ben's discussion and conversation is a really beautiful example of, like, how do we take piece of content like that and just tweak it so that it also hits our marketing needs? You know, it's like, we can have fun with marketing. We can stand out, and what problem does it solve for our ideal listeners? So I'm pretty excited. Check that one off the bucket list.

[Taylor]

What else is on your bucket list? If that's on your bucket list. Now I'm really curious. What else is on there?

[Kendra]

Well, you'll have to listen to here. I'll slowly unravel them on the show, and we'll cross them off together. The thing that came up for me on this conversation with Ben is that a niche is a work in progress. I feel like so often advisors and, you know, they look at creating their ideal client or getting clearer, and I just want to remind everyone that they're not uniquely broken. This stuff is challenging. It's hard for everyone, not just you. And if you can't really just dial it in, asking yourself, how do I get 5 or 10% more clear? You know? And the conversation that we have with Ben, even kind of narrowing it down to the decade. And we went to a creative business owner that was going after an exit because as you point out, growing a business and exiting a business, two totally different people. Two totally different, you know, pain point stacks. You know, stacks of pain points. So I think that over time, you know, you will narrow down, and I think we're going to have some really good examples as we talk to advisors on what that looks like in action, how we narrow that down.

[Taylor]

Yeah, I love what you said there about niches. A work in progress. We've talked a little bit about this in other episodes, but it reminds me of Dennis Moseley Williams, and he probably years ago now, he was on Michael Kit podcast, and he has this term that he coined, what she calls niche. Niche. Weird. There's multiple layers to your niche. It's like, okay, retirees is a big part of my niche. And then it's like, you know, retirees over a certain age, potentially. And then there's like this weird part, like my retirees, you know, play golf three times per day. So that is illustrating that that kind of niche, that's a work in progress. One thing I didn't realize about my ideal client that now I do just after going through this process, is both. They're mostly DIYers. Most of them have never, ever, ever worked with a financial advisor ever before. Kind of a weird part of the niche that now all of a sudden they're hiring somebody and paying them 20 to $50,000 per year, and they've never paid somebody before. It's kind of a weird part. But I've leaned into it. I've learned a lot by that. So, yes, your niche is a work in progress. You don't have to, you know, fully understand it on day one. But I like your point about just getting a little bit better every day. I also want to highlight too and expand on, you know, he had mentioned initially was in the age group between 30 and 55. Kind of pointed out that like those are, that's a big range. One thing I want to highlight is a lot of times we get stuck on thinking about age. My clients are in their 40s or their 50s or they're over age. 50 is a as a popular one. It doesn't have to be an age thing. Part of his niche is around business owners. At least that's what he said a couple of times. It could be that, you know, LGBTQ business owners that pay $500,000 or more in taxes every year, right. That could be a 30 year old. It also could be a 55 year old or that John Smith, who has a certain amount of revenue and a certain number of employees at their company, that person could be 55, they could be 75, they could be 25. So it could be something else that describes your niche. It may not be the age. So sometimes we get stuck on age one. Highlight doesn't have to be an age thing. It could apply to people of all age groups. But that pain point, I pay $500,000 in taxes per year and this is keeping me up at night. Like, how do I lower my tax bill? I could be 30, I could be 50. And then the last thing I want to say, we've touched on it a little bit. But do not underestimate your peers and colleagues as you work through these problems. I, there is no way I would be where I'm at today if it wasn't for the amazing peers and colleagues around me. I have an amazing mastermind group that's been around for I don't know how many years now, seven years or so. I regularly connect with other advisors one to one to learn from them. So do not underestimate your peers and colleagues, even if you don't know them. You know, Ben had mentioned there he'll see us at Future Proof. Go to Future Proof and like shake people's hands and learn from them and ask questions and be curious. Also, people outside of our profession, there are other professions and industries out there targeting Ben's ideal niche. What are they doing? How are they reaching those people? What sort of activities and tactics are they using? What are they? How are they creating their content? You can learn from these other people. I do not discount that.

[Kendra]

I love that. And you heard it from Taylor. It gets a little weird on the niche front. Niche, niche, weird. Hey, you're on the right track and don't forget to call an advisor friend on the way. Check in and while you're there tell them, hey, are you listening to Taylor and Kendra? Because they have a rocking podcast and you should check it out. So thanks for listening today. We love what we shared with Ben. He's a really relatable advisor and keep doing all the great work that you do. We're excited that you're listening and we'll talk to you soon. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. To get the resources shared or sign up to join us as a guest on one of our advice line episodes, check out the links in the show notes. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.