I Love Financial Advisors: The Mindset Series

hi I’m Mark little and I’ve made a
commitment to do videos for professional
financial advisors on how to succeed as
a full-time professional retail
financial advisor so uh that’s a
financial advisor who serves families
and individuals coordinating their
financial affairs uh so I I committed to
doing videos on every aspect of the
business
because I love financial advisors more
on that in a minute and I noticed online
especially on YouTube there is a vacuum
out there so does content exist yes it
does but does content Exist by people
talking who have actually implemented
such a financial advisory practice no
it’s almost unheard of that uh the the
the people who are teaching how to serve
affluent clients how to put together a
uh Financial Services business serving
individuals and families it it’s it’s
almost never that the videos are being
uh conducted by someone who’s actually
been in the trenches built such a
business and succeeded and I’m not
saying succeeded like barely eak it out
I’m talking about succeeded at a very
high level so I thought well uh I love
financial advisor so I guess it falls to
me um and let me kind of talk about that
for a minute why do I love financial
advisors
well I I think it goes back to my
business coach so I was in the business
for a dozen years I had already reached
success if you count earning money as
success so I I had been been in the
business a Dozen Years uh my story is
all over the place I I’ve told my own
story a dozen time so I won’t spend a
lot of time here describing my situation
except to say I would have been the
person you met that is least likely to
succeed had you met me in my 20s when I
was working for a Wall Street based Farm
I’m I’m an introvert I have call
reluctance I would be the least likely
person that you would select to you know
succeed as a financial advisor given the
fact that for most financial
advisors it’s not really about managing
money it’s not really about wealth
management it’s not really about
comprehensive Financial Services it’s
not really about the actual what we do
for
clients there’s lots out there for
delivering the actual service and and
and how to do that no the difference is
that a financial advisor that succeeds
in our business knows how to get clients
and consistently exceed their
expectations see that’s what I did not
realize when I was in my 20s I didn’t
realize you know that they’re going to
hire me at this big Nationwide firm
they’re going to put this label uh money
management wealth management Investment
Management on my forehead
and they wanted me to get out there to
do what investment money management
wealth management no they wanted me to
go find clients so it ends up being a
whole different business for most
financial advisers it’s way more about
do you know how to find clients once you
find clients do you know what to say and
how to say it so that you uh can
determine whether what you are providing
in terms of the services that you offer
offer uh are in perfect alignment with
the affluent individual or family that
you’ve stumbled across so do you know
what to say do you know how to say it
and can you in
essence um if you if you were delivering
services that are a perfect fit for what
uh an affluent family has been looking
for do you have the skills to move the
relationship across the Finish Line can
you tell the truth in a way that the the
client gets it and says oh I get it
you’re exactly what I’ve been looking
for all these years yes I am okay well
that’s the skill and then once you have
a client you know the final skill is can
can you consistently exceed their
expectations because anybody can make
big promises to affluent clients but the
one thing that’s true about successful
affluent clients is the the more
successful they are and the more
affluent they are uh the less tolerant
they are and the Le the less patient
they are for posers like financial
advisers that talk a big game but you
know after you know the client jumps in
their canoe and starts paddling with
them you know they they recognize right
away when somebody’s faking it so it’s
really three things that you need to
master it’s it’s lead generation I call
that client acquisition how skilled are
you at getting people to the table who
approach you because they want to
explore whether it’d be a good fit to
work with you or not so it’s how skilled
are you at getting uh filling your
calendar basically with people where in
meetings who are all about figuring out
whether or not this would be a good fit
to work together so you know the metric
there is how many people have you sat
down with in the last seven days who
have the ability
to say yes or no okay so that’s lead
generation what I call client
acquisition then there’s client
conversion that’s what I’m talking about
once you’re actually sitting in front of
someone who presumably is seeking
exactly what you do really well you know
do you have the skills to make the case
that in a in a concise coherent
compelling way that we are EX exactly
what you’re looking for and uh I’d like
to invite you to join our ideal client
community and are you in a in a skilled
way able to move people across the
finish line and acquire clients and then
the third is what I call client service
it’s how good are you at identifying
what each and every client expects and
how good are you at actually
consistently exceeding that because if
you acquire a new affluent client or
family and you’re able to keep the uh
client happy for a year maybe year and a
half two years you know the question is
year after year after year after year
after year are you able to consistently
exceed their expectations not just
Dazzle them in the onboarding process
and not just initially get their
financial house in in good order but
literally are you course correcting
keeping them back on track are you
skilled at being able to hold their hand
you know in the bad times when the
markets are cratering and they’re most
vulnerable and worried whether they’re
going to make it or not are you skilled
at consistently exceeding your client’s
expectations so that you know it it they
they not only will never fire you they
are actually it’s the other way around
they’re worried that something might
happen to you because they’ve got all
their eggs in your basket and they are
really concerned to make sure that this
fragile relationship that’s really
holding everything together for them
financially that it’s it’s going to last
forever well it’s a mindset issue so I
love financial advisors why because I
became successful on my own it took a
dozen years but I was I went from being
the worst performing financial adviser
at my firm to the number one top
producer and when I got that to that
level I was never toppled I was always
the number one producer at my firm uh
the number two producer was was frankly
quite a bit farther away like not even
close and so for on my year-to date
performance I was the number one top
producer for years and years and years
and years and years until the broker
dealer which was a nationwide firm but
they ultimately got absorbed into the
mother of all broker dealers who just
acquired them uh at that point I didn’t
need a firm I was only staying with the
broker dealer firm because I felt
obligated they helped me and kept me on
board when I was starving and they
should have fired me but they they stuck
with me and I stuck with them until The
Bitter End and then when they got
absorbed into the Borg uh I didn’t make
the trip I just set up my own registered
investment advisor
and um and continued on independently so
I was successful and then I met a
business coach that changed everything
so in those three buckets of skills lead
generation lead conversion I did not
have a good client conversion process
and that’s where I brought in a business
coach that rocked my world uh if you’re
in the financial services industry you
will have heard the name Bill backrack
so Bill backrack became my coach in 1999
and it wasn’t just bill it was a team
effort Bill backrack and backrack talk
about a power couple bill was the one
that challenged every assumption I ever
had about the business and got me
thinking like not just a little
different about the business but 180
degrees different about the business and
that rocked my business and my world and
then his wife backrack uh she on her own
steam is just like the most powerful
coach out there and she is an
accountability coach and so I worked
with Bill to construct my client service
model to consistently exceed client
expectations and then an was my
accountability coach separately to make
sure that I was on track to what I said
I wanted to achieve as my goals so with
those two I would say power coaches in
place
uh everything changed for me now they
are working with a lot of other
financial advisers and even though I was
the number one top producer at my firm I
I didn’t go to a lot of conferences I
didn’t know a lot of other top
performing financial advisors like me
but in working with Bill backrack and an
backrack I started meeting other
financial advisors who were at a similar
level to me well let’s call them
worldclass financial advisers I met
people in our industry that I look at
them and how they operate and how they
think about their clients and I’m
thinking oh my gosh I’m a compared
to them you know and that’s exactly what
I needed I needed to be in an
environment where everyone you know to
the left and right of me was smarter
than me and better than me and and
that’s exactly what I did and I got to
know the industry really really well by
working with my business coaches because
they introduced me to others in our
industry and what did I learn about our
industry by rubbing elbows with people
at the top of our profession it’s that
their heart’s in the right place you
know they didn’t get into this business
to become multi-millionaires or to just
you know make money money money you know
the the uh reputation of our industry is
far different than the reality the
reality is that most people get in this
business to help clients help clients
get on track to their own objectives to
achieve their own goals their financial
goals and they want to make a difference
in their clients lives I would say those
three things were were a very common
thread that I found going through
financial advisors and what can you say
to that except I love that you know I
love our industry and and I’ll tell you
having been doing what I’m doing now
with other financial advisers since 2002
when I started actually coaching and
working with other
advisers it’s through it’s true
throughout the the levels of success
people that are let’s call it on the way
to success they’re not yet successful
but they’re they’re working on it okay
their hearts in the right place let’s
talk about people that are moderately
successful their hearts in the right
place what about people in coming from
different channels in our industry so I
came up to the Wall Street the
investment Channel but I’ve come to know
people who come up through the financial
planning Channel like certified
financial planners uh PE people that
came up through the tax Channel their
certified public accountants
or uh estate planning channel so I’ve
gotten to know people that are lawyers
you know estate planning attorneys and
so it it doesn’t matter what channel
you’re out Bank Channel Insurance
Channel you know it’s like we have all
these channels and when you get us all
together I’m not saying every advisor
I’m saying most their hearts in the
right place they want to see their
clients achieve their goals and they
want to make a difference in their lives
and so what’s not to love so even though
I will tell you that this series that
I’m doing the mindset series which is
all about how you view what you do and
how what you place as a priority so that
you can do the only one single thing
that really matters in our business and
that is to quit thinking about it quit
talking about it it’s action like when
are you going to get to the point in
your career that when you come into the
office all you do every day is the job
that it turns out is what we do it’s
finding filling your calendar with
clients who want to do business with you
actually being skilled at making the
case that you are the best option for
them and they fire their advisor on on
the spot and hire you so that’s a skill
and then once they’re clients you
consistently exceed their
expectations well I’m telling you that
um that right there uh learning how to
do those three things is not the most
important thing what I’m saying is the
mindset around that is what matters so
what made me different well I’ll give
you one little example that really means
nothing but but it tell tells you what
this mindset series is all about so I
worked for a Wall Street based firm and
they they kind of thought they had the
corner uh locked on what how to invest
clients money because I kept asking when
I was in my 20s when are you going to
teach me how to manage wealth you know
and they said oh don’t worry about that
when you get a client just send them to
New York we’ll figure out what’s
suitable and and we will manage their
Investment Portfolio in a way that that
will be suitable for them and
okay fine well that’s you know that’s
Wall Street talk for you know charging
clients fees yeah you get it it’s all
about revenue and and client acquisition
so and hey we Sunny we’ve got it from
there just let the big boys take over
the wealth management side of it so you
know I realize that that’s the name of
the game and if I wanted to stay in this
business and keep my job even after I
left the Wall Street based firm and I
began delivering Wealth Management
Services so I could now all of a sudden
do whatever I wanted in terms of
delivering at a high level like raising
the standards but it’s not how to do all
that the how to do all of the things
that I talked to you about in this video
is secondary it’s what are you doing
each and every day to to fill your
calendar with people that want to talk
and bring them across the finish line
and then once you’ve got a community of
clients that you are consistently
knocking their socks off that’s what
it’s all about and so in my little PE
brain back in my in when I was in my 20s
I finally caught on that that’s what the
business really is that as an
entrepreneur it’s more about finding
clients and keeping them happy than it
is about whatever it is that you do in
your business and so I started to gain a
little bit different mindset so uh for
me now I’m not actually recommending
this for you although I want you to hear
what I’m saying because I think there’s
a lesson in there very quickly and I
think it’s because of my scarcity um
mentality in the early days of my career
when I was being dragged into my Branch
manager’s office almost every week to to
be fired for lack of production and so
because I’m I was so afraid of losing my
career and I was so committed to this
job and serving clients that um I think
it permanently marked me you know you
you could lose this job and uh and as a
result in the early days I had a
mentality which said uh I need to make
money every week that I need to acquire
a client or in some way I need to
generate new Revenue not existing
recurring revenue from clients that I’ve
already acquired no new Revenue every
every single week I need to be
generating revenue and if ever a week
goes by that I didn’t generate Revenue
well it’s not the end of the world I’m
not going to beat myself up for not
doing it but I’m GNA feel horrible and
I’m gonna I’m going to look at that week
as though what did I do wrong like what
could I have done differently to bring
Revenue in as opposed to not bring
Revenue in do you see how it’s a mindset
issue so I didn’t kill myself if I
didn’t generate Revenue but I ramped up
my activity and I sat there and
brainstormed what actions did I not take
that I could have done a little more and
I would have had uh Revenue last week
it’s a mindset issue it’s unacceptable
to ever have a week in this business
where I don’t generate new Revenue now
is that true no no it’s not true and as
a matter of fact I mean come to find out
you know 80% of your Revenue comes from
20% of your clients or at least that’s
true for me and so you know you bring in
Revenue you bring in Revenue bring in
revenue and then you bring in a Year’s
Revenue with one client okay so I
finally figured out the real math
however it did not change my mindset it
all had to do with I’m not taking enough
action if I have a week with no
revenue and so that’s what I’m
explaining to you is this mindset series
really is the key so hey look if you’re
a young advisor and new to the industry
and you’re thinking oh Mark I’d love to
be a top producer but I’m just you know
I still am kind of working out what
should I even be doing to deliver
Services maybe you’re a broker for one
of the major wirehouses maybe you’re a
newly minted cfp right out of one of
these the it’s great that these
universities are are cranking out cfps
now so we’ve got a lot of younger people
that are wanting to be effective at what
we do and they want to be successful so
there is so much crappy training in our
industry it’s all about sales ideas and
sales strategies and sales tactics and
appointment closing techniques and yada
y y everything I rejected in my early
days there’s very
little available on the internet from an
adviser who’s actually done it to say
you don’t have to do any of that that
there is another way and I don’t care if
you’re trying to figure out how to
generate leads I don’t care if you’re
trying to figure out how to uh make the
case that you’re a perfect fit for
someone that’s been looking for someone
like you I don’t care if you’ve got
clients and all you’re trying to do is
not get fired so you know I talk about
exceeding their expectations you could
be at any stage of your career and as my
business coach Bill backra is fond of
saying we’re all running our own race
you’re running your race I’m running my
race we’re each running our own race and
so you got to pace yourself according to
where you are in your race you’re not
competing against me you’re not
competing against other financial
advisers you need to compare where you
are now against where you want to be and
my only objective in cranking out these
videos is to give my thoughts to you to
let you know there’s a better way
there’s a different way or there’s at
least a more comprehensive way and and
also to be the the voice of balance to
say no it’s not all about sales tactics
and sales techniques and you know it’s
that is a load of crap that is not true
you can acquire clients just by going
out and catching up with your friends in
volume like just meeting with people to
develop personal relationships that’s
how I did it so I’m the voice of balance
and I just want you to think about the
fact that
these mindset videos are really the only
ones that matter I mean there’s plenty
out there on how to do what we do but
when you’ve made up your mind to stop
getting ready to get ready to get ready
to think about maybe getting busy and to
succeed well then come back to this
mindset series and I am no bill backrack
I will tell you that and I will also say
the problem with people like like me is
there are not enough people like us
meaning Bill backra uh John Bowen
there’s I only know a handful of people
who are out there available to you to
get advice and coaching uh on how to
structure a high-end Financial advisory
business I mean you can I think you can
count on one hand worldwide the number
of of people who’ve actually done it who
are the ones that are providing the
training so if you can
if if Bill’s still accepting clients and
an is still accepting clients and you
can get in and work with either one or
both of them you should do that because
that’s what I did and I I’m telling you
successful people have coaches they will
get you to look at the world differently
and you may have to turn everything
upside down from what you thought it was
supposed to be but in the end you’ll be
effective and successful okay so I’m
just saying that I don’t communicate
things as well as Bill if you want to
hear what I’m talking about in terms of
mindset and you want to hear it in a
really polished articulate way that only
a worldclass speaker can articulate it
you’re talking about Bill backrack Bill
backra is the guy that can take these
thoughts that are just pop into my head
as far as advice for you and he can
polish them up and make them a lot more
coherent and a lot more compelling
because he is in a addition to being a
formal former financial adviser himself
he’s a worldclass speaker and I’m not
but I will tell you this I will promise
I always speak from the heart
occasionally you might listen to my
mindset videos and think get to the
point aren’t you talking in circles well
maybe so but I’m always getting to a
point and I will promise you this my
objective in these mindset videos is to
make sure that there is never a video
that you don’t walk away with some
little twinge of a
idea of what you need to do not if
you’re in training mode where you want
to watch YouTube videos until you
understand everything intellectually no
you’re past the intellectual stage I’m
I’m past the point of getting ready to
get ready to get successful I’m ready to
do the actions required to launch my
business to the next level and that’s
what these mindset videos are about so
um I look forward to producing these uh
I will come out with one whenever
something crosses my mind that I think
will be helpful for you but if you’re at
a different stage of your career and you
think no no no Mark I know what you’re
saying I know it’s all about mindset I
need to just decide you know that I’m
going to do whatever it takes to be
successful and to make money every month
or whatever your goal is well that’s
fine but I’m not there yet I if you’re
the one that needs to kind of see how
everything works and then you can feel
have the confidence to feel like okay
now I’m ready well that that’s also why
I’m cranking out all these videos I’m
going to make it my goal for lead
generation lead conversion and client
service that there is ample content that
I’m creating that would give you um
enough information not to know
necessarily every little specific thing
to do but to at least have faith that
there is a system that works
that when you decide to just start
taking action uh you don’t have to know
every little piece and sequence in the
puzzle no no you have faith that it
works though and that’s what gives you
though the idea that I can do this and I
will move forward and I will do whatever
it takes so uh that’s all I got for the
introduction and I wish you every future
success because I love financial
advisors