Unlock Durable Growth With Digital Marketing & Build Your Unpaid Sales A-Team
"Leads and conversions are often designed for transactional businesses. Financial advisors are in the relationship business –? exactly what the Flywheel was designed to support."
This is part two in a two-part series on digital marketing strategy for financial advisors. If you haven't read the first article, I suggest you begin there. Click here to read now.
The perfect dream for a business is one that doesn't require constant marketing attention to grow.
Like with hosting regular dinner seminars, once you stop for just a month, a month's worth of new appointments and revenue stop too.?
So, what if you could build a machine, powered by marketing automation, that facilitates growth even if you're not constantly pouring marketing dollars into seminars, ad campaigns or media spots, like TV or radio.
Even if it doesn't take the burden off your shoulders, what if it gives you that much desired breathing room that allows you to focus on other things that matter.
Like your family, your staff, or your client relationships.
And a durable competitive advantage that can't be simply copied by your competitors.
Would it be worth it?
It's not an easy task, by any means. But with the right strategy, this idea doesn't have to be a pipe dream, such as the saying goes.
You might ask, “How?” Well, let's start by throwing away your funnel and get yourself a flywheel.?
What the F*nn#l is the Flywheel?
The Flywheel was developed by HubSpot that, as one of their articles explained, "..killed their funnel." So, let's look at how.
The flywheel, like the funnel, is a growth model designed to guide the marketing strategy for a company. But as you'll see below, it's a bit different:
It focuses on 3 primary phases:
At first glance, you'll see that it's fairly similar to the typical marketing funnel stages of awareness, consideration, and conversion –?but it's actually very different.
In the flywheel, the phases are defined goals, not fluffy marketing concepts. And they’re action-oriented and centered around the customer. Not the business.
My sweet summer child, it's just like marketing should be.
How the F*nn#l Does it Work?
The marketer that’s indoctrinated into Funnel-ology might look aghast when seeing the Flywheel for the first time. They even might even be asking:?
“So, how do I put the leads in?” or “where do the conversions come out at?”
The beautiful thing is that those are now irrelevant questions.
Why? Because leads and conversions are designed for transactional businesses. Think: eCommerce. Financial advisors are in the relationship business — and that’s exactly the model that the Flywheel was built to support.?
And the success of your relationship-focused Flywheel hinges on 3 main things:
First, How Fast You Can Spin It
Highly impactful digital marketing strategies that facilitate or directly contribute to amazing customer experiences increase the speed of your Flywheel.
And when successful, these experiences transform your clients into raving fans that sell on behalf of your business, i.e. referrals and word-of-mouth advertising.
The Size of Your Flywheel
Digital marketing doesn’t stop after prospects become clients. Leverage the power of list marketing (email, text, calling, etc.) to gridlock the relationships you have with your clients.
Why?
The more happy and successful your client-base becomes, the more exponential your growth will be.
Think of a marketing version of compound interest in your investment portfolio.
And Lastly, Your Ability to Gain & Maintain Momentum
Anything that disrupts a positive customer experience throughout your Flywheel causes friction, slowing down your Flywheel. Thus, should be eliminated.
Reduce unpleasant marketing experiences hitting your prospects & clients through 1) marketing automation, 2) personalization, and 3) seamless communication between teams.?
To put it simply, the more that you can invest into making your clients and potential customers as successful as they can possibly be, the more that they’ll invest back into you.?
How The F*nn#l Do I Start?
At this point, maybe you’ve ditched the idea of the funnel. And if you did, you’re no longer interested in simply “raising awareness” for our brand, hoping people will “consider” your offer, and “convert” by becoming a client.
You’re ready for something much more meaningful than that.?
With the Flywheel, you’re building a community of incredibly successful clients that will transform into unpaid sales staff to evangelize for you.
In a world with so much inherent distrust against the financial services industry and financial advisors as a whole, that’s the only way to win long-term.
That circle of life is defined by 3 on-going and synchronized phases. And here’s where we break it down Barney-style.??
Attract: Be a Magnet, not a Megaphone
Typical Funnel Marketers will yell, “Look at me!” by blasting brand impressions on Facebook or with irritating retargeting ads that follow the prospect around the internet like a creepy cyber stalker.
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I don’t know about you, but I don’t like people that shout at me or follow me around. Do you?
With the Flywheel, our goal is to offer real, genuine value. And then give it away with virtually no “ask” in return. Why?
Because our goal at this stage isn’t to engage or sell — it’s to establish authority and build a foundation so trust can thrive in next two stages.
As the renowned Dan Kennedy says, “the business who can pay the most for a customer wins.” Quit trying to rush the process and ask for their hand in marriage before the first date. Good things take time.
Here’s a few considerations for your Flywheel in the Attract Phase:
Hot tip: Asking for a name, email, and phone number for a free guide isn’t actually free. Free is when you give something away, no questions asked.
Real marketing wisdom is knowing when to ask for someone’s name, email, or phone number. It’s not the default.
Engage: No Red Tape, Just Red Carpets
At this point, your new friends have learned that you’re an expert in your industry and you’re here to help them. They’ve gotten an idea of who you are and what you’re for.
Now’s the time to personally introduce yourself and build a relationship.
Queue the List Marketing and prospect nurture campaigns.
As HubSpot writes, “focus on opening relationships, not just closing deals.” The best way to do this is to provide personalized content and seamless interactions.
Offer opportunities for your new friends to engage with you on their terms and on their preferred channels. Don't force anything uncomfortable?to them.
Not everyone likes picking up the phone right away — so cold calling them 10 times after they’ve opted in for a lead magnet might do more harm than good.
But that very same person might respond quickly to texts or use email.
Find a mix between several marketing channels (phone, email, text) and build an infrastructure that can automate, send personalized campaigns, segment your contacts, and continue to one-up everything they’ve seen the day prior.
Here’s a few considerations for your Flywheel in the Engage Phase:
Delight: Turning Clients into Cheerleaders
Now, it's game day. It’s time to exceed their expectations and help them achieve their goals.
You’ve already done the leg work; they’re primed, mentally ready to sit down and have a meaningful conversation about how you can transform their life.
When should you ask them to join you at the table?
Be proactive with your customer service by using lead scoring. Evaluate your future client’s behavior to find the optimum time to send that request to meet with you or invite them to an upcoming live workshop.
Once they do, make it seamless and painless to get them in your door, on Zoom, or the phone. Once you've sealed the deal, onboard them as a client. The more hiccups and kinks will muddy the relationship.
Remember: exceed expectations every step of the way.
And none of this stops after they’ve become a client — it’s only the beginning.
Send regular content that supports and empowers them to live their best life as your client. This includes regular market updates, invitations to client events, ambassador programs, and even “feel good” content, like birthdays and anniversaries.
Your goal should be to make your clients rockstars in everything they're looking to achieve in retirement. Even if it's not directly a service you offer, like Medicare or Life Insurance, find trusted partners that you can refer them to so that they can take care of themselves and their families.
If you do this well, your clients will be your secret competitive advantage that no other financial advisor can copy – or even knows how to. Your clients will be your advocate, your friend, and your unpaid sales team.
Then not only are you helping your business grow — they are as well.
Here’s a few considerations for your Flywheel in the Delight Phase:
Bonus SEO: Delighting your clients to can encourage them to leave more raving 5-star reviews on listings like your Google Business Profile.
Profiles with more higher reviews tend to be much more visible on localized Google search results.
Reviews are one of the leading factors that drive a potential client to pick up the phone and call one advisor over another.
Get The F*nn#l Out There!
You might be married to the funnel. You’ve been together for years. Perhaps you’re still in the honeymoon stage claiming it works “just fine.”
But in tomorrow’s competitive market, fine won’t be good enough. To be a company that’s built to last, you need to be exceptional to future-proof your marketing.
Fortunately, I’ve had a chance to work at an incredible company that has allowed me to experience this in real time.?
The length to which Advisors Excel invests in its financial advisors, not only by having industry leading marketing and operational processes, but to help them become great business owners is completely unmatched.
And the ways that the company puts this same investment into its employees is beyond anything that I’ve seen in my career.?
It’s because they’re people-first. And because of that, they’ll be first in a lot of other things too.?
If you don’t believe me, the +90% year-over-year financial advisor and employee retention rate might convince you.?
Advisor’s Excel is a Flywheel company. Whether the founders know it or not.
Oof, that was a long one. If you stuck around until the end, bravo! Future articles will align with everything I wrote about above — it's all cohesive.