On Episode 15, I speak with Chris George and Marc Schouten of Broadreach Strategic Planning. They share the story of how they came into financial planning as a second career and quickly learned that having a retail practice wasn’t going to be for them. We discuss how they narrowed in on millennial dentists as their niche, how they did that even when they didn’t have a single dentist on their books and how despite sheer persistence and consistency, it took them at least 4 years to really establish themselves amongst dentists to that point where now clients regularly find them. You’ll want to listen closely for all the marketing nuggets they share as well as learn what it takes to become a technical specialist working with a niche market such as dentists.

Episode Highlights

14:40 → You're going to have to specialize. The importance of specializing in the market. 18:00 → How long did it take you to formulate? How the process of specialization works - an example in practice. 19:26 → Build a brand and a reputation that they trust. 22:06 → Collect information like a crazy person - get to know your clients’ financials. 23:16 → Stay consistent with your messaging and marketing. 24:04 → Ask to see any legal documents and get to know your client. 25:59 → How do you break into a new target demographic? 29:00 → How we get our clients: Referrals and presenting. 31:58 → Get your finances and your funds in place. The importance of cash flow. 37:11 → Offer to do financial plans on spec - learn to back up your word. 39:17 → Get the information out there - present relevant and relatable information. 42:11 → Search for the organizations you can grow to be a part of. 44:15 → Paying attention and placing yourself in your client’s shoes. 46:34 → Implement a service mindset. 48:58 → The most powerful thing you can say to clients. 52:41 → How to structure a client meeting. 56:59 → Specializing really helps. 58:15 → Low barrier of entry into the field. 1:01:35 → Our industry is fueled by compensation and it influences service. 01:04:09 → Go after the proper designations, go after the market and go after the clients.

On Episode 14, I speak with JR MacDonald, a 41-year veteran lawyer whose practice exclusively focuses on succession, estate and tax planning for business owners. This episode is for those of us financial advisors who are building or want to build a clientele of highly successful owner-managers. Although our conversation gets a bit technical at times, listen in for the anecdotes and insights from JR’s experience. He shares how we as advisors can truly be the quarterback in helping these owner-managers. By the way, the conversation also lends itself to advisors who are looking to create their own succession plans.

Episode Highlights

00:00→ Shyam welcomes JR MacDonald; JR’s background; finding success as an owner-manager

05:30→ The importance of goals and plans to achieve them; communication between owners, accountants, and financial planners for business succession

09:00→ Building client knowledge; tax planning; the importance of a good financial planner

15:00→ Get to know your clients and get to know their advisors

22:00→ What constitutes a successful business that can begin restructuring

30:00→ Different trust-related tax changes

36:00→ Closing thoughts

In this episode, Grant shares some really valuable insights on capacity planning and marketing. He specifically walks me - and by extension, you - through a couple of exercises on how to design your practice, add more value while optimizing your own time, take 8-12 weeks of vacation a year, and create an advisory practice that won't just sell for two times revenue but 5-10 times multiple. On marketing, we talk about how to segment clients more effectively, what to look for in an ideal client - beyond their net worth or investable assets - and how to acquire larger clients because, let's face it: if your practice is growing, primarily through referrals. Your best clients have $1M of investable assets. They aren't referring you to clients with $5 or $10 million. This is one of those episodes that you may want to listen to more than once.

Episode Highlights

4:38 → How financial planning has changed over the decades 8:55 → The best practice-management strategy and how to implement it 11:42 → Creating goals for your clients and your own personal practice 16:09 → Expanding your practice and attracting the ideal client 43:57→ The ideal business model 46: 30 → Marketing and generating more ideal leads