How do you go beyond the common marketing tactics to really get deep and connect with clients? Sara Grillo is a financial advisor turned marketing consultant and has a solid philosophy on accomplishing this goal. She’s a special guest on the show to share her strategies and explain the program she offers advisors.  

 

About the Guest: 

Sara Grillo is a financial advisor turned marketing consultant and you can read all about her here. 

 

About the Show: 

Over the past few months, people have been sending Dan articles from the same person. As he began reading through them, it became evident that this person had a lot of the same beliefs as we do at Renegade Advisor.

So Dan decided to reach out to Sara Grillo and have her come on the show to discuss these ideas a little deeper. As you know, we don’t bring on guests often so that should tell you how highly we regard her. You can read all of her stuff and watch here videos at SaraGrillo.com but we wanted to use this episode of Profitable Advisor to pick her brain on a few specific topics.

First we wanted to discuss the idea of profitability and why advisors struggle so much with making that the priority. Many people assume that production automatically leads to profitability but that’s not always the case. Let’s talk about that and get Sara’s opinion on what advisors should be doing in their practice to make profitability the main focus.

Then we move into a lengthy conversation on utilizing LinkedIn as a tool for getting deeper with clients. You might have heard Dan talk about the social media platform previously as something he hasn’t completely grasped as a tool, which is why he wanted to really drill down on this specific area. Sara shares some great insight into how to effectively communicate with people on LinkedIn, strategies you should implement, and why their messenger is so valuable.

It's a great conversation and one we’re glad we had. If you haven’t checked out Sara Grillo’s content before, take some time to do so after you finish listening to the show.

For more on this topic and other strategies to growing your business, join us over at RenegadeAdvisor.net.

 

Today's Rundown: 

1:50 – Some background on an article from Sara Grillo that I received from a number of you.

3:03 – After several months of reading her material, I wanted to bring her onto the show as a guest.  

3:47 – Advisors start their year with production goals rather than thinking about profitability. Why don’t we think about profitability more?

5:10 – Our industry defines success by volume/revenue rather than profit.

6:17 – People are failing on a $35/month payments for a service and that undermines your own credibility.  

7:23 – What should advisors be doing in their practice to move to a profitability focus?  

9:22 – What we’ve found from people we work with at Renegade Advisor that end up costing advisors.

9:52 – It’s not about getting clients with huge a net worth but get all the money of a smaller client.

12:18 – If advisors began the year by determining how much they want to bring in and then work backwards, they’d be more successful.

14:12 – Lifestyle is such a valuable benefit to being self-employed but we don’t always pay attention to that.

16:08 – Sara has a strong philosophy about marketing on LinkedIn and she shares her thoughts.

18:54 – Why Sara decided to leave the financial advisor business.  

20:22 – She originally had a YouTube channel that produced very well for her.

22:17 – Introverts make great sales people.  

23:04 – Strategically, how should advisors be using LinkedIn?

25:25 – Focus on how you can help someone else’s business as much as what you will get out of it.

26:02 – If you want to be successful with people, you have to understand them. Regardless of the medium.

27:40 – How much time each day should advisors spend on LinkedIn each day?

29:19 – What about the tactic of sharing articles and videos you think people will be interested in?

32:21 – Is there a recommended number of times you should reach out to someone in a given month?

33:09 – Begin with a list of 20

33:45 – Do you wait for them to express an interest in your business or should you take that leap?

36:33 – These auto-messaging services can work but they will turn off a lot of people along the way.

40:05 – Don’t abandon other forms of marketing. Social media should supplement what you’re already doing and take the conversation to a deeper level.