Editor’s Note: This article is based on Steve Sanduski’s podcast interview with Steve Woodruff, the “King of Clarity.” To access more than 100 interviews with industry leaders, subscribe for free to Steve’s podcast, Between Now and Success by clicking here.
Many advisors don’t do a thorough enough job defining themselves to an ever-more-crowded marketplace. “We help you achieve your financial goals” might fit well on your website’s masthead, but does a phrase like that really say anything meaningful about who you are as an advisor, what kind of value you bring to the planning process and who your ideal clients are?
I didn’t think so.
5 Questions
Steve Woodruff, the “King of Clarity” and author of “Clarity Wins: Get Heard, Get Referred,” joined my podcast and we discussed the five questions he believes all business owners need to ask themselves about their branding and messaging so people will have a clear reason to hire you.
1. What?
“What exactly is the thing that you do? The product that you have, the service that you have, the knowledge that you're imparting, what's the thing? It's got to be in very practical terms that any human being can understand,” said Steve.
We only have a few seconds to grab a prospect’s attention before their brain gets bored and they click over to the next search result. That’s why a bland jumble of what Steve calls “commodity language” on your website can be such a mistake. There are probably dozens of financial advisors in your town who can help clients “plan for the future” or “achieve their goals.”
“That's what I call a factual statement,” said Steve. “It's factually correct, but anybody could say it. It has zero differentiation, and it's boring. So what we have to do is take things like factual statements and turn them into something that has more personal emotional content.”
A glance at your website should let prospects know what you’re best at. Do you specialize in high-net-worth clients? Estate planning? Life-Centered Planning? Do you have a professional headshot and an introductory video that communicates, “I’m nice, I’m going to be fun to work with, and I can help?”
The often overlooked part of your “what” is what you want prospects to do. That requires a clear “call to action” in a prominent space.
On my website, my call to action is very clear—I want visitors to share their email address and signup for my weekly email letter. When you click on the prominent Start Here button, it immediately takes you to the letter signup.
As Steve said, when designing your website, the goal should be, “What do I want them to do, and how quickly can I get them to do it?”
2. For Whom?
Focusing on your ideal client has turned into a major theme this year on my podcasts and in conversations I’ve had with successful advisors. Smart advisors are starting to worry less about being pigeonholed and focus more on mining those niches for gold.
“You need to love your pigeonhole,” said Steve. Some of you might think that getting too focused on a niche will cost you other opportunities. Yes, it will and that’s a good thing. “You want to lose the wrong opportunities, and the way to lose the wrong opportunities and to help others recognize the right opportunities is to spell out your sweet spot, your pigeonhole.”
3. Why?
One key to future-proofing your business and increasing your value proposition is really understanding who your clients are, why they’re coming to you for help, and why they have the attitudes they have about money. Your client’s “why” could be a feeling. It could be a problem like job loss or paying for college. It could be a goal. Or it could be an unhealthy reaction to a money issue they experienced as a child.
“We need to understand what the client needs, what's their pain, what is it that is driving them to make a decision,” said Steve. “The why is the emotional, personal, existential lever in the client that we want to push, and it's going to be different for different groups of people. But if we know what it is, then we can aim our message correctly instead of having a website that says, ‘financial planning for the masses.’”
4. How?
Whether you know it or not, you have a superpower. It’s that thing that sets you apart, that stops a prospect from clicking to the next site, and it’s the reason that your best clients refer you to everyone they know.
Any competent advisor or robo app can manage a person’s portfolio. It’s how you approach the tricky areas where your clients’ money and lives intersect that makes you, well, super.
Steve shared an example of a superpower he uncovered during a recent clarity session with someone contemplating a career change:
“This individual had this unique skill combination that I've rarely come across, sort of the conductor role in an overall symphony. But he was stuck in a particular role in a particular sector of the market where he was defined by one thing. It was obvious that the way he's wired, his DNA, his superpower is he doesn't look at things in little isolated buckets. He looks at the big picture and figures out holistically how to make lots of things and people work.”
Seeing the big picture, keeping all the moving parts oiled—sounds like financial advisory is one area this person should investigate!
What’s interesting about this superpower is that the individual didn’t seem to realize he had it. If you’re unsure what clients value the most about you, try asking them. Send them a survey. Talk to a longtime client you have good rapport with. “You might be surprised that your differentiation point is something entirely different than you thought,” said Steve. “Your customers may be the ones that give you the clues as to what your real message is.”
5. Where?
“Where can be both virtual and literal,” said Steve. “The literal where can be are we local, are we regional, are we national, are we global? The virtual can be are we in a specific market sector or domain, like automotive or financial services or health care?”
Just don’t overlook the where right outside your front door. Recent podcast guests Dennis Morton and Katie Brown blew up Morton Brown from $0 to $120 million in AUM in just over a year by forging strong bonds with their “hometown” community in Allentown, Pa. Advisor Bill Keen is thriving in the Kansas City metro area because he’s relentless about hosting local events and putting out weekly content that appeals to his niche.
Maybe the most important thing that advisors who are succeeding at this level seem to have in common is: they love what they do.
And that might be the biggest benefit that achieving clarity offers you as the business owner. Not only will you be broadcasting a better, more-focused marketing message, but that message is going to attract exactly the kind of people you’re going to enjoy working with, and exactly the kind of people to whom you can bring the most value.
Action Step
Answer the five questions above for your business. Then incorporate the answers in the design of your website and in your messaging. With this new clarity, you’ll start attracting more clients and shorten the time it takes to go from prospect to happy new client.
Steve Sanduski, CFP, is the founder of Belay Advisor; the CEO of ROL Advisor, a discovery process technology system; a New York Times bestselling author; host of the Between Now and Success podcast and a financial advisor business coach.