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Tom Hegna and Jeremiah Desmarais are hosting a 1-day Mastermind experience in Puerto Rico on March 8.

The last time they hosted a mastermind, one advisor from North Carolina said, “This could easily add $100,000 or more to our business this year.”

👉 Click here to apply! (Limited to 10 spots)

🛸 Calling All Aliens

One Kentucky city is testing out a new way to draw in tourists…from another planet.

The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau used an infrared laser to send a message into space, hoping to reach extraterrestrial travelers.

The message includes a description of Kentucky's signature bluegrass landscape, its famous bourbon, and tips for lodging, dining, and shopping.

According to the visitor's bureau, it'll take around 40 years for the message to reach its target audience, and potentially another 40 to get a response.

While they're waiting, they'd still love to host some plain old human travelers. 🙋🏼‍♂️

- Team Advisorist

In Today’s Issue 👇️ 

• The 5T's of word-of-mouth marketing

• Do's and don'ts for handling trusts

• Details on an exclusive mastermind experience

🗣️ How to Come Highly Recommended

Even though today's fancy marketing tech has changed the game, nothing beats word-of-mouth advertising. 📣

When people get a recommendation from family or friends, they're much more likely to trust their opinion on a product or service over a traditional ad. 

No matter how hard we try, good old-fashioned trust just can't be bought. 

Take a look at these powerful word-of-mouth stats:

• 92% of people trusted recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising when making a purchasing decision.

• 1 in 4 people will completely avoid a business if someone they know shares a negative story.

• 20% of North Americans who learn about a product via word-of-mouth advertising instantly buy it.

Wondering how to make word-of-mouth marketing a stronger strategy? Consider the 5T's: Talkers, Topics, Tools, Taking Part, and Tracking. 

All word-of-mouth marketing campaigns share these five basic steps. Here's how to identify them and put them into practice:

Talkers: People likely to relay your word-of-mouth message.
Pro Tip: Learn to identify the right core group, then give them a topic that they are willing to talk about.

Topics: Simple ideas and concepts that are word-of-mouth friendly.
Pro Tip: Choose interesting topics to motivate your talkers, then provide tools to help them have a conversation.

Tools: Techniques and tech that make it easier for word of mouth conversations to happen.
Pro Tip: Leverage blogs and online communities. Keep the conversation going by taking part in it yourself.

Taking Part: Participating in word-of-mouth conversations and engaging in a genuine back-and-forth.
Pro Tip: Track the conversations you have and use them in your overall marketing plan. 

Tracking: How you measure your word-of-mouth conversations.
Pro Tip: Review your data and look for key trends and patterns. This kind of consumer feedback is worth its weight in gold. Use it to build a stronger practice.

Headline Roundup

🏠 Affecting Your Clients

• Costco Is the Latest Company to Crack Down On Membership Sharing [MW]

• Tax Identity Theft Continues To Be a Huge Problem [CNBC]

• Tech Sector Pouring Billions into AI, Laying Off Humans [CNN]

📈 Markets & Economy 

• Commercial Real Estate: ‘Most Acute Area of Risk’ Right Now [MW]

• Nasdaq Surges as Chipmakers Shine, Apple Pops [Y!]

• Dow, Small Caps Fall After Fed Official Warns On Interest Rates [IBD]

💼 Industry Roundup 

• DOL Approves New Rules For Pension-Linked Emergency Savings Accounts [FA]

• Morgan Stanley Traders Fall Short as Wealth Unit Outperforms [AH]

• NY Regulators Focus on Potential for AI Discrimination By Insurers [INN]

📑 A Matter of Trust

We're currently living through a monumental time for wealth transfers. 

Right now, the Silent Generation is in the process of passing down roughly $12 trillion in assets to the Baby Boomers. 💰

Over the next 30 to 40 years, another $30 trillion will transfer from Boomers to their heirs. 

Roughly 86% of heirs will choose a new advisor to handle their inheritance versus working with the one their parents used.

Bottom line: it pays to know how to handle trusts.

If you're feeling a little rusty in the trust department, here are some quick do's and don'ts:

DO:

• Educate your clients on why it may be better to choose a corporate trustee over family or a friend. Using a corporate trustee takes away emotional issues and have the expertise to manage trusts

• Form a relationship with an experienced trust partner to help you administer your clients' trust assets. 

• Lean on your experienced trust partner to help you build relationships across the entire family. Include spouses and future generations to aid in client retention.

DON'T:

• Get intimidated or feel like trusts are too much to handle. Tap into your network and recruit experienced folks to help you with what's out of your scope.

• Feel like you have to go with a big bank trust company that wants to control the client relationship. Work with a trust partner that lets you hold the reins.

• Let your clients procrastinate when it comes to planning for the future. Show your clients you're with them for the long haul by providing resources around drafting a will, business succession planning, and estate planning.

Remember, you don't need to be a trust expert to help your clients in this area. Instead of getting blinded by the tricky parts, build out a network of trust professionals to help you shine. 💫

Could 1 Day Could be Worth…$100k/yr?

Back in November, Tom Hegna and Jeremiah Desmarais hosted a powerful in-person Mastermind experience with an intimate group of advisors in the Financial District of New York City.

They took an entire day and covered some of the top trends affecting advisors + proven strategies for generating leads for selling more annuities, bringing on AUM, and more.

Chris from NC was one of the advisors in attendance and he said, “This could easily add $100,000 or more to our business this year.”

The success of the event got Tom and Jeremiah thinking…let’s do it again.

(This time with some warmer weather 😎)

Tom and Jeremiah are excited to announce a brand new Puerto Rico Mastermind Experience happening on March 8 in sunny San Juan. 

Here are some of the details:

• VIP access (limited to 10 individuals) to intimate, in-person coaching from Tom and Jeremiah.

• Private VIP dinner the night before the mastermind event for networking and sharing top-performing ideas

• Million-dollar breakthroughs tailored to the specific issues you’re facing right now in your business

• Micro-presentations from special guests, including best-selling author and economist Harry Dent

• Insider knowledge on what's working now in advisor growth strategies, modern selling, whole life, AUM, annuity sales, business building, profit increasing strategies, and AI uses in financial planning!

This is an extremely limited offer with just 10 spots available.

If this is something you’re interested in, fill out an application right now to ensure you’re one of the first to get your name on the list.

Click here to learn more and apply!

P.S. Early bird pricing is currently 33% off – so make sure you apply soon!

🗓️ Upcoming Industry Event Calendar

Jan 29-31: Elite Wealth Advisor Symposium

Feb 7-8: Retirement Plan Advisor Summit - Southeast 2024

Feb 11-13: Exchange: An ETF Experience

🧮 By the Numbers

714,176

That's the number of active US housing listings in December 2023, a noteworthy decrease from pre-pandemic when numbers were over one million.

Experts don't think 2024 will be the year the housing market improves by much. Higher interest rates don't give homeowners much motivation to move, or lose their current (lower) mortgage rate.

✌️Good Vibes

In Austin, TX, a husband and wife decided to place a community fridge outside their restaurant to feed the hungry.

The fridge was a lifeline in the local area and always fully stocked.

Unfortunately, over the summer, the restaurant was shut down due to an electrical issue. 

Because so many in the community depended on their resources, the couple started a GoFundMe. 

In just two days, they reached their $80,000 goal and were able to resume operation.  😌🙌

Sharing looks good on you.

When you copy that link at the bottom and share it with a few financial planning colleagues, you look like the smartest advisor in the room by keeping them informed.

Plus, you earn rewards. Sweet.