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🥗One Lousy Lunch

A customer just filed a lawsuit against the chain restaurant Chopt over a salad that wasn't exactly made to order.

According to the lawsuit, a manager accidentally severed a piece of her left pointer finger while chopping arugula. The manager went to the hospital, but her finger went right into a salad.

Chopt was fined $900 and the customer is seeking additional monetary damages.

No word on who's ultimately going to take the blame for this one but hey, we're not pointing any fingers!

- The Advisorist Team

In Today’s Issue 👇️ 

• How to attract clients instead of chasing them

• Why you need a "not-to-do" list

• The money that would buy Americans happiness

And all of the week’s biggest headlines to make you the smartest advisor in the room. Let’s dig in!

🏃 Give Up the Chase: How to Attract Clients

Tired of chasing clients? 😅

A little marketing strategy known as AIDA, which stands for attention, interest, decision and action, could do you a solid when it comes to prospecting.

Understanding its basic four principles will have you chillin' like a villain as new leads come rolling in. 

Like any sales and marketing technique, the key with AIDA is consistency. The strategy is a super-simple concept, but you gotta do the work. 

Now that the PSA is out of the way, let's dive in!

🌪️ Through the Funnel

Implementing AIDA is a four-step process, based on each letter of the acronym:

1. Attract: In this stage, the focus is all about grabbing a potential client's attention with a unique value proposition or specific niche. This might mean narrowing down your target audience to a specific profession, age group, or investment strategy.
   

2. Interest: Now, you'll shift your focus towards drawing in clients with your brand and reputation. Many advisors do this through writing books or hosting a podcast or radio show. If you work with a larger firm, they might even offer support in these areas.
   

3. Decision: This phase is where you test out the strength of your lead generation program. At this point, you've already attracted the prospect and captured their interest, they just have to pull the trigger. To help folks at this stage of the funnel, make sure it's easy for potential clients to get in touch with you through your website, social media, etc.
   

4. Action: It's game time. Here is where you convert the prospect into a client.

🤔 Maybe, Baby

Not every client will make it through the AIDA funnel. However, it's important to make sure you aren't the one causing the jam.

It's tempting to start chasing clients once they get to the decision phase, but don't overwhelm them. 

Don't bombard prospects with too many spreadsheets and charts. 

Instead, shift your mindset.

🔑 Key reminder: Your experience and advice are the solutions, not the products you offer. Focus on your prospects' challenges and save the fine print for after they've said yes. 

Trust the process!

Sponsored 

Where should I invest my marketing dollars for maximum ROI? – Mason L, Dallas, TX

Truthfully, there are plenty of ways to win with marketing.

But if you want the highest ROI, the data is pretty clear…

The average ROI for email marketing comes out to $36 to $40 for every $1 spent.

That means if you invest $250 per month into email marketing, the average return will be somewhere in the range of $9,000 - $10,000.

If you think about it, it makes sense…

You can send emails out to thousands of people, but all it takes is one new client, a big annuity sale, or a connection with a COI, and it’s all worth it.

❌ But there’s a big problem…

Most advisors are never taught how to write high-converting emails.

So they rely on stale templates from their FMO, IMO, or BD. (Which don’t work!)

Let’s change that…

I want to give you 20-pages worth of my top, highest converting email templates for things like:

• Cold outreach

• Warm followup

• Webinar promotions

• Open enrollment

• Estate planning

• Annuities and life

• Referral requests

• Client nurturing

• And more…

It’s all inside the December edition of The Virtual Advisor, which is our monthly print marketing playbook that we ship out to all 50 states and Canada.

For new subscribers, this month’s playbooks is FREE – just cover the shipping cost!

We are sending this issue to print this week, which means you have to sign up by Tuesday at 5PM EST to secure this issue!

👉 Click here to get this issue FREE (plus $3,013 in bonuses)!

P.S. Were you previously a subscriber and want to rejoin? Just reply to this email and we can get you back on our mailing list! 

Headline Roundup

🏠 Affecting Your Clients

• Women's Number One Stressor is Money [CNBC]

• Mortgage Rates Drop for Fifth Straight Week [CNN]

• Survey: Student Loan Payments Make Holidays Unaffordable [FOX]

📈 Markets & Economy 

• Coinbase Up Over 60% as Crypto Founders Head to Prison [CNBC]

• SEC Meets with Grayscale, BlackRock about Potential Bitcoin ETFs [CNBC]

• Dow Jumps Over 500 Points as November Closes [Y!]

💼 Industry Roundup 

• BofA Securities Fined $24 Million for Fraudulent Trading [FA]

• Survey: Investors Worried about 2024 Election Impacts [INN]

• SEC To Make Marketing Rule a 2024 Priority [TA]

📝 To Do, or Not to Do

Forget adding to your list of things to do. Let's talk about what you shouldn't do instead. 🙅🏻‍♂️

Creating a not-to-do list helps you keep your sights set on what matters and cuts down on background noise. 

Here's a little more about this backwards method and how it can help you make the most of your day.

🚫 Let's (Not) Do It

A not-to-do list consists of tasks, activities, or habits that you want to avoid or eliminate from your routine. 

In a way, it's a time management tool that allows you to create boundaries and save energy for those high-priority, meaningful tasks. 

When you take the time to identify and eliminate low-value or non-essential activities from your day, you reduce distractions, increase your efficiency, and boost your focus.

🗒️ The Short List

So what typically goes on a not-to-do list? Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Checking social media during working hours

• Attending non-essential meetings

• Constantly checking and responding to emails

• Doing non-work related tasks during working hours

• Having an open door policy

• Procrastinating on important tasks

Time management is tough. However, with a trusty not-to-do list, squeezing every last drop of productivity from the day is a whole lot easier. 🍋⌚

🧮 By the Numbers

$1.2 million 

That's the price Americans put on happiness. 

A recent report revealed that 60% of Americans believe money can buy happiness and achieving a certain net worth is the key to contentment.

With cost of living on the rise, record credit card debt, and over half of adults nationwide living paycheck to paycheck, Americans say they'd need to earn $284,167 a year to be happy.

🗓️ Upcoming Industry Event Calendar

• Dec. 4-7: Market Council Summit

• Jan. 8-12: 58th Annual Heckerling Institute On Estate Planning

• Jan. 13-15: Global Financial Planning Institute’s CONNECT 24

✌️Good Vibes

Did you hear about the landslide in India that caused a portion of a tunnel to collapse, trapping 41 construction workers inside? 

The landslide blocked off a huge section of a path as long as two football fields to the exit. 

The workers survived on food and oxygen sent through narrow steel pipes and over a dozen physicians monitored their health.

The workers were able to finally escape through pipes pushed into the debris by hand-drilled tunnels. 

(Yep, you heard that right. Hand drilled.)

Once all 41 workers got out safe, their families and loved ones were there to greet them. 

Government officials are also providing financial assistance to all trapped workers and they're also footing the hospital bills. 😌

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.