🐼 ‘Something’s Not Quite Right…’

Visitors to a Chinese zoo were confused lass week after discovering that Zoo officials tried to pass off black-and-white painted chow chow puppies as…baby pandas. 🤣 

Visitors were charged 20 Yuan ($2.75) to see the exhibit.

Talk about being bamboozled!

- Team Advisorist

In Today’s Issue 👇️ 

• An alternative approach for advisor growth

• 3 questions everyone should be able to answer

• The financial product that surged in Q1 2024

📈 The Alternative Approach Successful Advisors Are Taking for Growth

The formula for success as a financial advisor is simple. (Though…it’s not always easy.)

You generate leads, turn those leads into clients, make those clients happy….rinse & repeat.

It’s a self-feeding growth cycle.

But here’s the thing about this cycle…

While we’re conditioned to focus most of our energy on the lead generation phase, there’s power in starting with wowing clients.

When you overemphasize wowing clients, you don’t have to focus as much energy on generating leads – they start coming to you.

This is something financial advisor Christine Timms spent her 33-year career doing.

Her theory was that leading with customer experience makes the challenge of generating leads a moot point.

So she decided to build a team that would make this possible.

At the start, she was sharing an assistant with 3 other advisors. 

By the time she retired, she had her own team of 6 ½ assistants.

“I believe my practice would have plateaued at about 20% of its final revenue and AUM if I had not grown my team beyond one assistant,” she says. “Most, maybe all, successful advisors I have met over the years were growing their teams.”

According to Timms, there are 7 primary client benefits associated with having a support team:

• Increased accessibility

• Faster responses (think: Usain Bolt meets email)

• More communication

• More services (like the Swiss Army Knife of finance)

• Multiple relationships

• Continuous service

• Better advice

And when you add all of these together, you get happier clients who are more likely to leave positive feedback, talk about you, and refer you to others.

So while I’m all for investing in lead generation strategies, don’t forget about the real ace up your sleeve…

…a team that blows people away with A+ client satisfaction. 

Headline Roundup

🏠 Affecting Your Clients

• 10 Cities Where Home Prices Increased the Most This Year [CNBC]

• Millennials, Gen Z are 2X as Likely to Get Financial Advice Online [INN]

• Education Dept. Announces Highest Fed Student Loan Rate in a Decade [CNBC]

📈 Markets & Economy 

• GME, AMC Stocks Soar After Meme Trader’s Social Post [CNN]

• Inflation Outlook Rises; Fueled By Increased Housing Costs [CNBC]

• Ether ETFs Not Likely to Arrive This Month; Legal Battles Ahead [MS]

💼 Industry Roundup 

• DOL’s new Fiduciary Rule Under Fire [BP]

• AI May Not Replace You, But Someone Who Uses it Can [CNBC]

• More Advisors Than Ever Considering Crypto for Clients [IN]

🤔 Can You Answer These 3 Questions?

For millions of Americans, financial stress is like a migraine that won’t go away.

And it’s a self-feeding cycle of despair…

The more one of your clients worries about money, the more it makes them anxious about their financial future…and so on. 

It’s kinda like how downing a big bowl of ice cream makes you feel bad, so you fix yourself another bowl to make yourself feel better.

 (Not that I know anyone who’s ever done that.)

According to a FINRA study, a whopping 41% of adults in the U.S. are feeling the double-whammy of anxiety and stress when they think about their personal finances. 

But researchers say basic literacy is the answer to calming these emotions and helping people feel more in control.

Specifically, people should be able to answer these 3 questions with no problems:

A. Suppose you had $100 in a savings account, and the interest rate was 2 percent per year. After 5 years, how much do you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow?

1. More than $102

2. Exactly $102

3. Less than $102

B. Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account was 1 percent per year, and inflation was 2 percent per year. After 1 year, how much would you be able to buy with the money in this account?

1. More than today

2. Exactly the same

3. Less than today

 C. True or false. Buying a single company’s stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.

Takeaway: If you want to help your clients escape the weight of money stress, it starts with equipping them with some basic financial concepts.

🗓️ Event of the Week

Power Hour: Today at 12pm EST / 9am PST

AI thought leader and growth expert Michael Bresler joins Jeremiah Desmarais today for a live discussion on:

• How AI technology is shaping financial services

• Powerful ways financial advisors can adapt to new AI trends

• Why advisors should embrace AI (rather than be afraid of it)

Click here to join for free!

🧮 By the Numbers

21%

That’s the amount annuity sales were up in the first quarter of 2024, according to a new report by LIMRA.

✌️Good Vibes

In a display of raw kindness, 10-year-old Catalina Campos set off on a Mother’s Day mission this past Sunday.

Her goal was simple: make sure every senior citizen at nearby assisted living facilities felt special and loved.

Hundreds of women received flowers – showing that a small act of kindness can go a long way.

“It was nice to see them smile,” Catalina said afterwards.

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.