Between Now and Success

Your business success boils down to three things: 1) the right people, 2) building, selling and servicing the right product, 3) at the right price and cost structure to generate acceptable profits. In other words, it's about people, product, and profits. The great auto executive and commercial pitchman Lee Iacocca got it right when he said: In the end, all business operations can be reduced to thr...

After reading about a new digital platform for financial advisors that builds traffic on the other company's website I thought, 'This is not a good way for advisors to build their digital presence.' So, in today's podcast, I'm going to walk you through a three-step digital marketing strategy for building a digital presence that drives traffic to YOUR website, that builds YOUR leads pipeline, and t...

Why are only 23% of CFPs women? Why are even fewer women in leadership roles? Why aren't more women entering the business? What can existing firms and leaders do to encourage more women to become financial advisors and help them through the tough early years? Those are just a few of the questions Eleanor and I discussed on today's show about how to hire and train women financial advisors. All firm...

Technology is changing at head-spinning speed and it's easy to get confused about which technology to implement and how to go about being profitably innovative. Betting the farm on a certain technology direction is usually not the best idea. But what can you do instead? In today's show, I have a conversation with Lex Sokolin, co-founder of an early Robo Advisor called NestEgg, and now a partner an...

How do you influence people to take action? How do you get people to follow you, rally behind you, and take your advice? Robert Cialdini wrote the seminal book on influence and I encourage you to read it (or checkout the highlights here ). But in today's show, I want to share a few more tips that come from an article written by United Capital founder Joe Duran ( see my earlier interview with him h...

It was a great week for podcast recording. I recorded several episodes with people from as far away as Sydney, Australia and as close as 30 minutes from my house. And each of them generated numerous insights and on today's show, I'm going to share 3 of them. I close the show with a quote from Buckminster Fuller on how to make change. This quote is particularly relevant to the financial industry ri...

Can you get a true understanding of a client's risk tolerance and place them in a portfolio with the appropriate portfolio risk by asking a few simple subjective questions? Robo Advisors Betterment (see my interview with Betterment founder Jon Stein) and Wealthfront believe they can but today's guest, Aaron Klein, co-founder of Riskalyze, believes those firms have it all wrong. Aaron's firm tackle...

We all love great stories and in today's podcast I share some insights on why stories are better than facts when it comes to influence. You'll also hear my conversation with academy-award winning producer Ed Saxon, as we discuss the power of story. But wait, there's more! At the T3 Technology Conference I also talked to Jay Jay French, a founding member of the popular band Twisted Sister. And you'...

This is a jam-packed episode filled with my takeaways from the T3 Technology Conference as well as interview clips from six industry leaders. I cover four themes that emerged from the conference including: enhancing the client experience, offering a client portal, delivering a quality financial planning offering, and using big data to make better business decisions and personalize the client exper...

I just got back from the TD Ameritrade National Conference and in today's show, I'll share a few quick comments from the event. Yes, the conference covered the usual slew of technology sessions dedicated to robo advisors and scaling your business. But what I found most interesting was the theme of putting the "human" into finance. TD Ameritrade clearly understands the importance of the "human" in...

Podcasting is a great way for financial advisors to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. My good friend, Bill Keen of Keen Wealth Advisors, joins me in the studio for today's podcast and we discuss how he got into podcasting and how it's working for him. Bill is one of a small number of financial advisors who are pioneering the use of podcasting as a way to educate investors and expa...

“All the world’s a stage” said William Shakespeare. Turns out we’re all actors playing multiple roles in our business and the better job we do “acting” in each of these roles, the more deeply we’ll connect with other people, says Steal the Show author Michael Port. On the surface, thinking of yourself as an actor playing a role sounds like I’m asking you to fake it, to be someone you’re not. Actua...

Optimism is only half of the equation to overcoming a tough situation. Regarding the current volatile financial markets, I hear many advisors talking right now about staying the course, we're in it for the long-term, "this too shall pass," and other similar comments. Intellectually, that makes sense as over the long-term, the odds are high we'll hit new all-time highs in the market again. But if t...

With the turbulence in the financial markets and client accounts running near the flatline over the past couple years, it’s easy to get discouraged. Yet now more than ever it’s critical that you maintain one key characteristic. The importance of this characteristic was driven home to me during an interview I did last week with Sheldon Wolitski. Sheldon is a hugely successful entrepreneur (Inc. 500...

Can you organically grow a multi-billion dollar RIA? Many of the large RIAs you read about got there because they acquired firms or they were part of a banking, accounting, or law firm that fed them a large number of clients. Today's guest, Scott Hanson of Hanson McClain, built the firm with his partner Pat McClain the old-fashioned way--one client at a time. Using gorilla-marketing tactics, a rad...

Well, it's been an ugly start to the New Year in the stock market. And in today's episode, I share three things financial advisors can do right now to prepare for the next bear market. Whether what's happening now is the start of one, nobody knows, but the top advisors are doing a "bear market drill." I also share an idea on how to move beyond the "overwhelming tasks" that probably are lining your...

Welcome to 2016! This is the perfect time to look back on the past year and forward to the New Year. In today’s show, I cover three topics related to looking back and forward. Three key questions to ask yourself as you reflect on 2015. Yes, it’s important to look back so you can use the year’s experience to propel you in the New Year. Use the year ahead to “risk walking new ground.” Three importan...

How will you succeed in the years ahead? Multiple trends are shaping the industry and how advisors respond to those changes today will determine whether they thrive or just barely survive over the next few years. Will Robos drive down pricing and push mainstream advisors out of business? Will Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, and TD Ameritrade grab the lion’s share of the mass affluent market with their...

What is the most important part of a happy retirement? Here's a hint--it's not financial security. A recent study from Age Wave said 81% of retirees felt health is the most important part of a happy retirement. That was followed by financial security at 58%, family and friends at 36%, and having a purpose in life at 20%. In today's show, I discuss the idea of helping your clients take more control...

Are you feeling too busy? Not enough hours in the day? The problem may not be your level of productivity. The problem may be you’re doing way too many activities that bear little fruit. Instead, in today’s show I share one question you can ask yourself that will force you to zero in on the leading activities you need to do to get the results you want. In addition, I discuss a simple three-step fra...

The unstoppable pace of technology innovation and market competition could put you out of business unless you take steps today to add value far above and beyond traditional investment management. Robo advisors, Vanguard's Personal Advisor Services, and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios are just a few of the firms who are transforming the delivery of financial advice. And these firms have bigger brands...

Is it a good idea to set stretch goals? Yes. Stretch goals, set and managed properly, could catapult your business 10X. Stretch goals make you realize you have to change your level of thinking. With stretch goal thinking, you have to ask yourself, “What new strategy or business model could enable me to grow 10 times bigger than I am today?” Clearly, the answer involves leverage—not financial lever...

Here’s a short but very powerful exercise. What three words could you come up with that would set the course, give you direction, and totally excite you as you move through 2016? In my financial advisor coaching, we dig deep to get focused on the key things that will make the desired outcomes happen. This three-word exercise is one simple way to help the focusing process. In this episode, I discus...

Do you know where your new revenue will come from in 2016? When I coach financial advisors, I often find they have a goal to generate a certain amount of new assets under management. What's frequently missing, though, is a detailed breakdown of where those new assets will come from and a specific plan on how they will be generated. In this episode, I discuss how to specifically identify where your...

In addition to volatility in the financial markets, financial advisors have to worry about other threats to their business including regulations coming out of Washington and cyber attacks. Today’s guest, Skip Schweiss , keeps a close eye on all these non-market related issues and we go through the list and discuss simple steps you can take to mitigate the risks. Skip is responsible for TD Ameritra...