The Role of a Brand Evangelist in the Financial Industry with Diana Cabrices

Voice Over (00:01)

Welcome to the FAST Podcast, your go-to sourcefor financial advisor strategy talks, hosted by me, Candace Byrnes, the LeadCreative Designer on the marketing team at White Glove, and with me, I haveDean Thurman, Cofounder of both White Glove and Invest Wise Financial. Join usas we dive into valuable insights from industry experts, providing actionabletips to accelerate your success. 

Candace Byrnes (00:31)

Thank you for tuning in again for another episode of theFAST Podcast with myself and Dean. Today we have Diana Cabrices joining us.

She is the owner and founder of Diana Cabrices Consulting. So,without any more information from me, I'd love to turn it over to you, Diana,to give us a little introduction of yourself andyour company.

DianaCabrices (04:16)

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much, Candace. Thank you,Dean, for having me.

My name is Diana,founder of Diana Cabrices Consulting, and I launched a brand evangelism firmabout 15 months ago. And what that even means is I'm super passionate abouthelping brands that I truly believe in and want to get behind, amplifying theirbrand, amplifying their positioning in the market, and doing it in fun andcreative content ways.

I think in this space, financial advisors have a lot of options,and some options are great, some options are okay, but I've noticed that someof the awesome tools in this space, the services, the technology, they maybedon't get the spotlight that they deserve. And so, I said, you know what, I'm goingto launch my business. I'm going to go out and help these companies and I'm goingto act as their chief evangelist where I come in I kind of listen into what thecustomer is saying, the value that they're getting, and I amplify that again infun and creative content ways like videos and presentations and webinars.

So, I'm so lucky I got to work with companies like WhiteGlove and Wealth Tender and the AGC and worked with companies like Wealth Box. So,it was such a fun ride.

CandaceByrnes (05:28)

Awesome. Well, I think that that kind of works perfectlywith a company like us because I mean, all we're trying to do is put advisorsin the spotlight and get them in front of people. So, it really is kind of aperfect, perfect married situation to have you working with us. And we're all kind of kind of along for the same goalhere.

DianaCabrices (05:47)

Yeah, I totally agree. I think we are a match made inheaven.

Candace Byrnes (05:52)

Yes!

So, I mean, my first question for you then is it all totallymakes sense. All the brand ambassador ship, you know, everybody understands,that side of things, but I do want to understand a little bit more about howyou landed in the financial industry.

DianaCabrices (06:09)

Oh my gosh.

So, I'd have to take you back to when I graduated college in2015 and I decided I want to go to Europe. I don't want to get a job rightaway. I want to go to Europe, and it was supposed to be for three months. Isold all my stuff, my car, like everything in my apartment. And I booked aticket, went to Spain. I went all over Europe, not just Spain, but I rememberfalling in love with Spain and living there. And I didn't come home for twoyears.

During that process, I was there living there teachingEnglish and I wasn't making anything. And I was like, I need to put my businesseconomics degree to use. And so, I put this profile on this freelancer sitecalled “Upwork.com”. Maybe you're familiar with it. And before I knew it, I hadthis company called Succession Link.

They're a FinTech company reach out to me and say, hey, welike your profile. Can you send us your voice reading this script? And thescript was like, hey, are you a financial advisor who wants to sell or mergeyour business? And I was like, I don't know what any of this means, but I'mjust going to go for it. Out of like a thousand applicants, they were like, weloved your voice, which today makes so much sense, right? Like full circle forme with my company today.

So, I started working in the industry, that was back in2016. And I would smile and dial all day long to financial advisors askingthem, do you want to sell your business? And these were like older advisors,which was fun because none of them wanted to sell their business.

Like, “I love what I do”. “I don't want to sell my business”.“Why would I sell my business?” “My book runs itself”. And it helped me reallystart to learn the lingo. So, from there, it just kind of, you know dominoeffect, if you will.

I started learning the lingo, then I moved up the ranks ofthat company, and then I moved into another company and another one, and I waspitching technology all over the space to advisors, and at the same time,really coming up with my own personal brand, which has led me to where I amtoday.

So, a bit of an unconventional story.

Dean Thurman(08:06) 

Well, I think a lot of people that got into this industrycertainly didn't start out to get into financial services. There are so manydifferent supporting positions, supporting industries that help us advisors dowhat we do. And Diana, as you know, the FAST podcast is all about how can the host help advisors out there, right?

So how can, how can you help a financial advisor bring inmore AUM, take more time off, any of those types of things?

DianaCabrices (08:47)

Yeah, and I think that's an awesome goal of this podcastbecause there are so many different strategies and techniques and advisors areconstantly being pitched on new ideas. I think at theend of the day, going old school in so many ways works, right? Picking up thephone and calling your clients every once in a while, that works.

There's also thisbalance of digital where you should try to lean into tools that will help youscale your communication, scale your marketing, scale your business, youroperations, like the CRM and digital marketing tools like Nurture and Engage,for example.

So, it's thisbalance. And my goal with my business was to kind of cut through some of thatnoise for advisors and advocates for firms that I truly believe are moving theneedle in space, and it's been a fun ride.

My primary goal is education, education, education.

So, across my YouTube, my LinkedIn, my email lists, likethat's all I'm doing is educating. And I think the whole role of the chiefevangelist's right is you're not focusing on a product being sold. You'refocusing on the problem that's being solved. And that is where I really leadwith. And I think it resonates more with advisors when they can resonate in andrelate to the content because they're like, “oh yeah, I have that problem”. And“ooh, I want to learn more about this”.

Candace Byrnes (10:06)

So, then digging in on that even further on Dean's question,if a financial advisor or a firm were to hire you, what does it look like fromthat person's expectations or whatever goals are expected out of a chiefevangelist?

So, without it sounding like we're almost interviewing you,I'm just so curious of what would an individual look for from you specifically,just through Chief Evangelism?

DianaCabrices (10:39)

Well, so that's agreat question. I believe that everything we do is all about positioning. Youcan have an amazing offer, but if you can't market and position it well, you'renot going to reach half of the audience that you could if you had a strongbrand presence and a strong message in the space, and position that you take inthe industry.

So, if a firm, whether it's a tech company or an RIA waslooking to really deploy the role of the evangelist in their business, they'relooking to do three things. They're looking to create awareness, whether that'sthrough consumers or maybe because they want to recruit other advisors. They'relooking to drive leads. That's important. At theend of the day, we all must have a pipeline. If we don't, there's not really afuture ahead for our business. And they're also lookingto foster engagement and really deepen those relationships.

I always say people buy from people, not businesses, right?Relatability, like showcasing your human side, getting on video more, doingmore, you know, audio, what I call “humanized marketing”, going out and doing aseminar, shaking hands, like that is the best way to grow a brand and to growthis sort of base of fans of your business because they've really been able to feelyour spirit, feel your energy.

So again, creating awareness, driving leads, fosteringengagement.

Also, I think what makes an effective evangelist, which in away you can kind of draw a line there to like a spokesperson, is someone who iswell -spoken, someone who can get creative with content, who can say, “I'm goingto listen to all of your customer calls and I'm going to tell you what yourbest messaging points are going to be moving forward because I hear really whatyour customer is experiencing, what they're saying, what they want. And I canmatch that to what you're providing.”

So, there's so many more things I could go down with that.But again, it's focusing on the problem that you're solving, whether it's anRIA or a tech company, whether that looks like, you know, what to do with thatold 401k rollover, or “I'm a tech employee, what do I do with my equity stock?”Or it's a tech company trying to reach advisors and saying, “hey, why shouldyou pay attention to us versus our competitor down the street,” which we bothknow the tech map, the solutions provider map is growing like crazy.

So, it's really cutting through the noise and they'relooking for someone dynamic and creative that can do that.

Dean Thurman(13:01) 

So, Diana, do you work with only firms, RIAs or are youhired as an evangelist for an individual advisor ever?

DianaCabrices (10:39)

So, I have not gone the individual advisor route yet.

I have certainly had a lot of inquiries and you know, it'ssort of an interesting area for me because on the one side, I think going thatpath, like working with an RIA would be tremendous for my education, myexperience, my background, my portfolio, if you will, being able to really bein their world.

The other side of it is I'm not a financial advisor and so there'sonly so much I feel comfortable going out and saying if I'm educating theconsumer.

Where I would enter in the space and where again, I had alot of interest is helping these RIA firms up and coming who have an awesomeprocess, great technology, essentially evangelizing their brand to get in frontof other advisors who would benefit from joining their firm. So almost the recruiting lane a bit, but not being adirect recruiter again, just kind of focusing on why they're such a greatcompany, the team, the process that they put in place and why other advisorsshould know about it.

Today, primarily, I've worked with technology companies andservice providers as well.

Candace Byrnes (14:19)

So, you're really adding a voice to those who don't havemaybe the time or the want to be that voice for their own company. So, itsounds like you started as a voiceover person and then turned out to beg thevoice for a lot of companies now today, including White Glove.

So that's cool.

One thing I do want to ask you is, without having thatfinancial advisor background, and obviously you're learning a ton just being inthe industry, but what steps do you take to stay up to date on industry trendsor what's going on in the market or things that Dean could talk about in hissleep being a financial advisor, and you're going to these conferences andyou're talking to all these people and you're actually speaking in front ofthese people as a keynote speaker and stuff now.

So how is it that you stay up to date so that you can stayrelevant in all these conversations without working on it every single day?

DianaCabrices (15:19)

Yeah.

So, I read a lot, I listen to a lot of podcasts, and at theend of the day, I also live with a financial advisor. My boyfriend is afinancial advisor.

So, I'm pretty much immersed in the world all the time. Andhe's like my little, I hate to say this, but like test rabbit.

I'm always asking him questions or I'm listening to his calls,sometimes I provide a little unsolicited feedback and it might ruffle hisfeathers, but I'm like, hey, you should probably position that differently, butI asked him a lot of questions. I always like to try to tell him “You should dothis.”

But I ask a lot of questions. Read a lot, a lot of podcasts.So, I've subscribed to every single industry publication. I don't have timeevery day to read all the articles, but I do try to tune into as many articlesas possible. I read a lot on social media, I just follow a lot of advisors andI'm connected to a lot of advisors, and I get to see what they're saying, youknow, forums even that they have conversations on about their experiences,doing different types of marketing or, you know, using different technologies. “Kitsys.com”,obvious shout out because I grew up in this industry on “Kitsys.com.” Like Ihad no idea what succession planning was when I started, and I read all Kitsysarticles on it. And I was like, “all right, I'm just kind of learning the talkhere.”

Podcasts like this podcast and the last episode I listenedto was on estate planning and I learned so much. That is such an importantavenue for me as well. Like The Top Advisor Marketing Podcast is another onethat comes top of mind.

Candace Byrnes (16:56)

Yeah, I was just going to say I have no shame in throwingout some other podcasts just as resources that some other young advisors oranybody looking for more information as far as like more of that industry like,like market knowledge. If there's any of these publications that you follow orpodcasts, feel free to throw out some names here for our listeners.

DianaCabrices (17:15)

Yeah, I love The Top Advisor Marketing Podcast, I also likethe Go RIA podcast hosted by Chuck Falia. I don't know if I say his last name,right? Sorry, Chuck. But that one is cool because it's great for if you're upand coming in this space, but also if you're like moving away from the brokerdealer world for any reason and you want to go RIA, it's such a differentworld, obviously.

So, lots of different content. I'm constantly consuming andeverything that I have learned has not just been because it's worked formarketing in general, it's because I've seen what's working for advisors ingeneral.

The last thing I will add here is at the previous companythat I was employed at before I launched my business, I served in a vicepresident role over enterprise. And wow, like what an accelerator to learningabout advisors because you're not just selling to one advisor at a time, but Ihad to go out and sell to the biggest RIAs and broker dealers and IMOs in thespace.

I had to travel to their offices and meet with them inperson and have these all-day planning meetings on how we were going to rollout marketing for their advisors.

Then it became, right now you shift into the relationshipposition. So, I did both, and then it was, “all right, how is it working?”Like, “what are the check -ins? What are the success metrics? What's notworking?” And that was at scale. That was, again, not one advisor, butthousands of advisors. So, I feel like I got, again, an accelerator to beingexposed to what truly works in the marketing space for advisors and whatdoesn't work as well.

Candace Byrnes (18:569)

That's cool.

Do you have any resources that you would add that you usejust in finance? I mean, I feel like you know everything.

That could be wrong.

Dean Thurman(19:09) 

You’re exactly right. I do know everything.

Candace Byrnes (19:12)

Dean is the personthat I ask all my questions to, I love that yours is your significant other,But I throw questions at Dean all day.

I'm just curious if any of those are things that youregularly listen to or read through.

Dean Thurman(19:28) 

Financial advisors must constantly learn, or they just goout of business.

I mean, part of this podcast is I like to talk about what Isee or certainly our guests see as the future of how financial advisors runtheir practice, get more AUM, interact with their clients, those types ofthings, what's around the corner, that thought process. So, I'm always talkingto my peers, that’s usually where I get the information.

Every time I speak with a fellow financial advisor, I learnsomething.

There are so many ways to run your practice, meet withclients, split AUM with partners or business associates, or as we mentioned,succession planning, just all kinds of stuff.

You just must constantly be learning. So yeah, reading allthe publications, certainly podcasts, but interacting with people in thetrenches is what I enjoy the most.

So, Diana, I would ask you, as you interact in the industrymore on a business level versus an individual advisor level, other than yourboyfriend, of course, what have you been hearing about the trends in theindustry in a bit of a higher level?

DianaCabrices (20:46)

Yeah, there's a lot going on in this space.

There's a lot of shifts and change right now from just thenext wave of advisors that are coming in and coming up and they're leaning intodifferent ways to grow and operate their businesses. They're more heavilyleaning into technology, which I think is cool.

On the flip side of that, the older generation of advisors,I feel like they're also evolving. When I first started in this space, I waslike, man, they're super stagnant. And now I'm like, my gosh, they're usingthese same techniques and tools and technology. And so, it's beautiful to see.

AI is obviously a huge component r of this change all theway from the way advisors are operating their business using AI, communicatingwith their clients to the way that they position themselves in the marketthrough their branding and the content that they create, blogs that they arewriting. So, we are starting to see a lot more of that as well.

There's a lot of different strategies that we could reallygo down. In fact, one of the things that I talk about a lot lately just aroundthe credibility piece is testimonials. Now that the SEC marketing role andFINRA, everybody's in a happy marriage of, “yes, you can use testimonials inyour marketing.” “No, they can't talk about investment performance, but theycan talk about how awesome you are.” That is changing as well. I think a coupleof weeks ago, I maybe wouldn't have included that in this answer because Istill think it's new, but I went and spoke in front of advisors a few weeks agoat a conference called the IARFC. It's the Independent Association ofRegistered Financial Consultants. And the primary audience there was olderadvisors, And I talked about testimonials, and I had some audience engagementin the presentation. I had so many of these advisors raising their hand and saying,“yeah, I started doing it and this is what's happening.” “Here's how I got newbusiness from it.” So, again, it's the shift, but it happens quickly.

The best of the best advisors is like consuming all of that,they are making the changes, they are reading all the time, and learning newthings. That is what gets me really excited about this space.

Just what we're seeing today, but also what we're going tosee 10 years from now.

Candace Byrnes (23:06)

Yeah.

Dean Thurman(23:07) 

Whatever it's going to be it's usually somewhat of asurprise.

You mentioned AI that came out of left field, to the wholeworld, really. And where that was going is exciting and scary. Not just for ourindustry, but the world in general, right?

You know, it kind of has pings of “Robo -Advisor.” Maybe,you know, 10 years ago, it was like, “hey, Robo -Advisors are going to put usout of business. They don't need human interaction anymore.”

That couldn't have been farther from the truth. I neverfeared Robo -Advisors because, you know, you can put certain things into analgorithm or a financial planning software or something like that, but reallyunderstanding it on the human level, such as you have a special needs person inyour life or, a second marriage and all these different like kind of nuances ofthe real life or in 10 years, I think there's a 50 % chance that one of myparents are going to have to move back in with us and I am going to have toretire, You know, all that kind of stuff. You just can't put all that inputinto a Robo-Advisor type interface. So that never scared me.

The AI, I think that hits me a little bit differently for alot of reasons.

Certainly, I've played around with it a lot with writingnewsletters or content, and if anybody out there has used it, then they have beenjust as impressed as I have with it. I can really communicate very well withsomebody, but it still can't think, it still doesn't have compassion, it can'tput itself in somebody else's shoes. So, for now, I'm not worried about AIreally impacting our business in a negative way. I think there's a lot ofpositive ways that'll help us communicate with our clients and communicatebetter with our clients.

You mentioned yourself, and it comes across very well thatyou're an excellent communicator. That's probably your top skill Right, Diana?That's why you're an evangelist. A lot of financial advisors, I'll put myselfin that category, sometimes can't get the words out or wordsmith it, certainlydon't sound as smart or smooth as you, or AI.

Candace Byrnes (25:31)

Or what's happening up here.

Dean Thurman(25:33) 

Yeah.

I must ask you, you say older advisors, So what's the cutoffage for an older advisor?

Diana Cabrices (25:41)

You are not in that category. Do not worry.

No, when I say older, we had three generations of the samefamily of advisors at that conference. The oldest one was like in his seventies,then the son was like in his fifties, then the teenager coming up is in his20s.

Yeah, I was shocked.

Candace Byrnes (26:01)

I mean, even Dean, I love that you brought up the Robo-Advisorthing because that was something that got brought up in a meeting I was inearlier today and it just always comes back to the whole personality thing. Ifeel like that also is correct for you too, Diana, is that people want to hearfrom and like ultimately be sold to by people that they like and like the waythat they can present something.

Anyone can be a good financial advisor, but if you can'treel somebody in with who you are or how you present yourself, then you're justthe same as the next guy or the Robo-Advisor, you know? If you don't have thatpersonality that's a huge part along with everything you said about being ableto think about retirement in realms of maybe having a parent move back in orhaving a special needs daughter or something.

So, with all of that, it still doesn't even compare, justcan't compete with the personality part.

Dean Thurman(27:08) 

If you think about it, I mean, do people really know whatinputs to put in? Yeah, AI or Robo-Advisor can kind of go with what you put in,but you don't know what you don't know should or shouldn't be put into theproblems that you may or may not face.

So, with AI or the Robo-Advisor, there's a certain amountthat it can pull out, a questionnaire and that kind of thing, but reallyhearing the nuance in somebody's voice and the body language and understandingthat a market going down might totally stress one client and not another andthey could say, “yes, I'm concerned about the stock market going down.” Well, Ican hear in their voice what does “concern” mean to them? Some people arescared to death of it for a lot of reasons.

Other people, who are going to say, “I'm not concerned aboutit.” You know? they'll say it in a different way. if it's just an input intoAI, at least at this point, it'd be very difficult to handle those nuances andask those follow-up questions that are so important to somebody feelingcomfortable with who they're receiving the advice from.

Candace Byrnes (29:12)

Yeah, I totally agree.

With that, moving into credibility and how we talk aboutyour personality is what drives people to you. Diana, this is something Ireally wanted to talk to you about today. You obviously, like myself, are agirly girl, you have got pink in your branding, and being in the financialindustry, not saying that it's like male -led or anything, but it's a verymasculine industry, it just is naturally.

So, I'm just so curious what obstacles, or if you choose toview it with a different word, but basically that you face. Do you have anyfears like losing out on business, having such a feminine brand in themasculine world of finance?

DianaCabrices (30:09)

Honestly, I don't.

That was something I had to come to. Eight years ago, Iwould have never said that. Like I would have continued to follow whateverything else looks like in this space. But what I found is that showing upas myself, like truly myself, is how I stay authentic, but also how Idifferentiate myself. When you think about a box of black crayons and there'sone pink crayon, like that's the crayon that's going to stand out, then you'relike, “well, I want to use that crayon”, right? It's the same kind of concept.

I would say that the femininity in my brand is really whatgets people to stop and say, “who is this?” Sometimes it is for better or forworse.

I have absolutely been undermined in this space. There have beenpeople who have met me, and they don't give me the time of day then at the sameconference, an hour later, I'll get on stage and speak, and then they arecoming up to me afterwards, and are like, “hi, I'm so and so, and I'd love totalk with you.” And “that was amazing”, you know?

Just an hour or so before I didn't get the time of day fromthem. I'm just like this little petite 4’11 woman and they're like, “oh she isjust some little girl”, then they hear me speak and they're like, “okay I reallyjudged her.”

A part of me thinks that when someone undermines me, Ireally like it, you know? because it gives me a little bit more motivation tostand up and be like, I'm going to do like all the things that I want to do andlike really put my power and passion into everything that I do. Even just onsocial media, when I show up super authentically, posting myself cold plunging,or in a sauna, which I posted today, it's already blown up, or I'm going on a walk,and I just talk about walking and It's just my face. Those are my most engagedposts.

So, I just think there is this craving, especially postCOVID for authenticity and being myself. Personally, I could care less if Ideter people away from me because of the pink in my brand, I'm like, you knowwhat, then we're not a good fit to work together anyway.

Candace Byrnes (32:01)

Oh my God.

I love it because itis such a good point too. I don't even know the right words to put behind this,but you have proven yourself in the space so even, I love that you say that youlove when somebody challenges it because you can say, “all right, well, that'show you feel right now. let's see if you feel differently or maybe you do feelthe same after I get off this stage in an hour” or whatever it might be.

I just love that answer. Also, it makes me think, I mustgive a shout out to Matt Helleran. He also has a similar feeling of himself inthe industry. He is very loud and that's his whole thing. Be your own loud selfor be your own loud. I think it is.

He always says, “if I'm too much”, or I think he calls it, “ifI'm too muppety”, which is very much a Matt Helleran word, but he's like, “ifit's too much for you, then we're not meant to work together.” I love that. AndI love it for you too.

That does segue into something that Dean and I would love tohear from all of our guests at the end of our podcast episodes is, and I hopethat this isn't exactly the question that I just asked, or the same answer, butknowing what you know now, is there anything that you would have donedifferently or advice that you would have given yourself at any point earlierin your career?

DianaCabrices (33:28)

Yes, there absolutely is.

You would think that I would go more the business route withmy answer here, but I'm going to go a different route.

What I have learned and what I wish I could go back and dodifferently is prioritizing my health more. Because I am a type A personalitythere have been years of me sitting at a computer all day long, calling all daylong, sitting in meetings, working, running off black coffee, no breakfast,like barely any water all day long, typing away, like kicking ass and getting alot of work done and climbing the ranks quickly. But there was something thatsuffered there and that was my health.

Now as a 32-year-old there are things I'm working on toimprove. Like my cortisol levels, for example, and like this weight gain that'shard to like to lose or keep off. I look back to my twenties and I'm like, God,I wish I would have eaten more breakfast, or I didn't run off black coffee allthe time.

So, my answer to that would be, I wouldn't do anythingdifferently in the space of business because I truly believe everything thathas happened to me in business needed to happen because I had to grow up and Ihad to learn things and some things the hard way, but I would go back, and Iwould balance more. I would go for a walk or get some sunshine in the day. I woulddrink more water, wouldn't skip meals because I had all these meetings toattend. At the end of the day, all we have is our health.

I want to achieve big things. I want to grow and do allthese wonderful, cool things in my career, but I don't want to do it to sacrificemy health. So that is what I do.

Candace Byrnes (34:59)

But you can only do it if you have your health.

DianaCabrices (35:04)

Yeah. Yep. Exactly.

Dean Thurman (35:13) 

The only thing more important than your financial health isyour physical health.

DianaCabrices (35:15)

Exactly.

Candace Byrnes (35:17)

Absolutely. I love that.

Well, Diana, thank you so much, and on behalf of Dean and me,this was great. It's fun to get somebody who's a little bit further outside of thefinancial industry, but still in as a voice and a chief evangelist in thefield. So, I just want to say thank you so much for joining us today.

Dean Thurman(35:39) 

Thank you, Diana.

DianaCabrices (35:41)

Thank you both so much!

See you soon.

Voice Over

Thanks for tuning in to the FAST Podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Have any questions orcomments about the show? You can submit them on our website at WhiteGlove.comslash FAST podcast. The views and opinions expressed by our guests do notnecessarily reflect those of White Glove or Invest Wise Financial. The contentis provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not beconsidered as a substitute for professional investing advice. Once again, thankyou for joining us on the FAST Podcast. 

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