Turning Your Online Testimonials into an Evergreen Source of Digital Referrals

Voiceover: Welcome to the FAST Podcast, Financial Advisor Strategy Talks with Lara Galloway, SVP of Financial Education at White Glove. Lara provides advisors with an opportunity to hear from some of the best minds in the business, follow along to learn quick tips to help you grow your business from gaining new leads, to keeping current clients engaged and everything in between.  

Now onto the show.  

Aric Johnson: Hello, and welcome to the FAST Podcast with your host Lara Galloway from White Glove.

Lara, how are you?

Lara Galloway: I'm great. Just got back from an awesome visit with my family down south. How are you?  

Aric Johnson: Oh, that is fantastic. I love awesome visits with family. I'm glad to hear that it went well, and I know that you have a guest on the show today.

Lara Galloway: I do. I have Brian Thorp with me today and let me tell you a little bit about Brian. Brian is the founder and CEO of Wealthtender, an industry leading digital marketing service that's dedicated to helping financial advisors get more clients online at an affordable monthly cost. And Brian founded Wealthtender in 2019 after a 22-year career with Invesco, where he led the US National Account Team responsible for wealth management firm partnerships representing over 100 billion in assets.

On a personal note, Brian and his wife call Houston, [00:01:00] Texas home. But they are digital nomads and their lifestyle has taken them to places like Mexico, Miami, and their next step, Santa Monica. So, I'm just trying to keep up with you, Brian. Welcome here to the FAST Podcast.

We're so glad you could be here with us.

Brian Thorp: Thanks so much for having me, Lara. It's tough keeping up with our own lives.  

Lara Galloway: Well, you and I first met a while back and I've really enjoyed seeing what you've been doing with Wealthtender and just what you're making available for financial advisors to help them build their practices.

And I just want to talk a lot about that today because I think it's a lot of stuff that financial advisors don't know since there's some new developments here. So, let's get into it. But before we do, why don't you just give us a little bit more about your background on you, so our audience knows who we're listening to.

Brian Thorp: Sure. That sounds great. I really appreciate it. And you mentioned being down south. So, you know, I grew up down south and am currently visiting my family just east of New Orleans. So also, in the south. And you know, I've spent my life really focused in financial [00:02:00] services the last 22 years, as you mentioned, was leading the key account team at Invesco.

Really terrific experience there. A lot of wonderful people. But I knew I wanted to pursue an entrepreneurial venture, and I had the idea for Wealthtender. So back in 2019, as Invesco completed its acquisition of Oppenheimer Funds, I was able to put my hand up and had the idea for Wealthtender to get started.

And it's been a lot of fun ever since. And as you mentioned, the digital nomad thing, it didn't necessarily come up intentionally. But as Covid kicked in, we don't have kids, we didn't have any obligations in Houston, so we just picked up and left.  

We found ourselves what we thought would be just for a few weeks in Tulum, Mexico, a little bit south of Cancun and as Covid continued and continued, we just ended up staying and sticking around longer.

So, it ended up being a total of 18 months over the last two years, along with the stent in Miami. And then next up, we're heading to Santa Monica, California. Primarily because my wife's company did a reorganization and her new [00:03:00] boss is based out there.

So, we thought we would go ahead and just give that a shot for a few months and then we'll see where life takes us after.  

Lara Galloway: You know, I'm jealous because Tulum Mexico's been on my list forever and you're one of those people we've been all reading about in Ink and Forbes and where did everybody go during covid?

I've got employees all over the world and it's amazing to hear, and see, and know somebody that's actually doing it. So good for you guys. That's fantastic.

Brian Thorp: I appreciate it. And you know, I think it really shows just how easily people today can work very successfully remotely. As long as you have a stable internet connection, there's a lot you can accomplish from wherever you are.

And, and I think we'll talk a little bit more about that today as well, in terms of that trend of both advisors and the clients they work with. Being able to work with each other no matter where the advisor or their clients are.  

Lara Galloway: Well, that's absolutely right, and that's something we've been really focused on at White Glove.

Certainly, during the pandemic, we had to do a big pivot to [00:04:00] all webinars online rather than being in person. And you know, that just lends itself to digital marketing. It lends itself to connecting with people virtually. There's a lot we can unpack there. So, tell me just a little bit about Wealthtender specifically.

What is wealth tender's primary purpose?  

Brian Thorp: Sure. So ultimately, we want to help American’s enjoy life with less money, stress, and by that we really believe that people can enjoy life more if they're working with a financial professional who understands their unique circumstances and can take a lot of that burden off their shoulders.

And so, with Wealthtender, what we wanted to do was really reevaluate the way that people connect with advisors. We saw a lot of advisor sites out there that start by saying, “put in your zip code and we'll help you find the three best advisors for you.”

A lot of those sites also immediately start by collecting information from consumers right off the bat and it can feel a little bit intimidating asking for how much assets do you have [00:05:00] available to transfer to an advisor, and a lot of information that's useful for advisors to understand about that prospect.

We wanted to flip that narrative and really provide an opportunity for consumers to visit a website where they can learn more about personal finance topics across a broad range of topics. And in the process, get to know the financial advisors featured in our community who offer opportunities to be visible in various directories and resources provided on Wealthtender, as well as opportunities to get quoted in articles and guides on Wealthtender. As well as other popular finance websites, we work with sites like msn.com as well as the Associated Press.  

So, we're providing advisors with a lot of great opportunities for visibility on Wealthtender, as well as through several of our publication partners and in the process creating a much better experience for consumers, so ultimately consumers can feel more informed and educated.

Their ability to identify advisors who they [00:06:00] think are best fit for them, and empowering consumers to then reach out to the advisors in our community that they ultimately believe are going to be a good fit. So really turning the tables where advisors may not necessarily have as much information about that consumer when they reach out.

The flip side is the consumers that are reaching out to advisors have essentially pre-qualified themselves. They've identified advisors that they feel are a good fit based upon what's important to them, and by providing advisors the opportunity to showcase their areas of specialization and what really helps them stand out.

We're creating a great opportunity for advisors to really succeed with digital marketing in ways that they haven't been able to before. And we'll talk a little bit more about the regulatory change, which we think really is a game changer for advisors to get started with testimonials as well.

Lara Galloway: Okay, so I just want to back up a second.

You made a really great point that I think is just so important here. In all the other models that [00:07:00] help people who need financial guidance connect with people who offer financial guidance. It's kind of like putting hung meat out to the wolves. And it's very invasive, as you pointed out, where the sites collect all this information about the consumer and then share it with advisors and let advisors come and say “Hey, pick me. Pick me. I'm the best.”

And you know, they get to do their pitch and I love how you just flip the script and put the power in the hands of the consumer by saying, “look, we want to help the people that need the advice, get connected with the right people who for them can give it with the people they choose to empower, to give it to them.”

And I think there's a really important psychological piece there when we hand that information to the consumer and say here are some people who are thought leaders. Here are some people who are experts in the areas that you are considering and say, go ahead and take a look. Review these people, [00:08:00] vet them if you will.

Here's some things you can understand about them. You know, here's some experiences, what resonates with you? Maybe there's a background connection, something like that. And then letting them make those choices. I love that it's like what we do on Amazon when we go shopping for a commodity.

We look at what the available options are, we compare them side by side, and by the time I go to the person to make that click and put it in my cart. I'm very decided. But there's this piece in there too that I, again, I want to bring up.  

You just mentioned the SCC regulations, which have recently changed, and I'm sure advisors have heard about it, but they might not be that aware of the impact, the significance, Brian, that brings, because like I do on Amazon, I read reviews before I make a purchase.

I feel much more empowered as a consumer when I can hear what somebody else is saying about an advisor or about a company, a product, than just hearing the [00:09:00] person that is trying to sell me something say how great they are.  

So maybe you could just take a moment and talk to us a little bit about what those SCC regulation changes are and the impact that they have on advisors.

Brian Thorp: Absolutely and truly believe this is a game changer when it comes to advisor marketing, and importantly, a game changer for consumers who finally can evaluate financial advisors in the same way that they've evaluated trust-based professions in other industries. So, whether it's doctors or lawyers, trust is an important factor and online reviews that consumers can read can really create an emotional connection.

Helping people understand the experience of clients who have worked with that doctor, have been a patient of that doctor or worked with that lawyer, and now have the opportunity for advisors to leverage that in their marketing activities is really powerful.  

Online testimonials essentially have been prohibited for the [00:10:00] last 60 years. So up until just this year, the SCC said financial advisors are now able to solicit reviews or ask their clients for testimonials and publish them online or use them in any activity to promote their business. And so essentially what the SCC acknowledged is we realized that consumers, whether they're looking for a restaurant, a hotel, a doctor, a lawyer, or a financial advisor can really benefit by reading online reviews to make a more informed and educated decision in their hiring process.  

And a lot of the reason for that prohibition, historically, was around concerns that reviews might be promissory, or testimonials might be suggesting this advisor can deliver 200% returns year in and year out.

And obviously the SCC wants to make sure that type of language within an online review or a testimonial is prohibited. So of course, there are prescriptive regulations and rules to follow for [00:11:00] advisors to get started, but fortunately the SCC, I think, did a very nice job of not making it overly cumbersome.

They've provided essentially a blueprint that we've distilled into a playbook to help advisors get started, and it's as simple as updating your policies and procedures. Most firms now have incorporated that if you're an advisor working for a larger firm, your chief compliance officer (CCO) has generally now updated those policies and procedures.

However, it's still important to ensure within that policy and procedure framework, you're being very thoughtful as to how you go out and request reviews from your clients, or the SCC also permits reviews from acquaintances. So, people who have never been a client, but maybe able to vouch for your character or provide insights into what it's like working with you if they've maybe been a former client. That would also be considered something that the SCC will allow for.

Or it could be relative even. But what's important to the SCC [00:12:00] is that there's disclosure to indicate whether a review was written by somebody who is a client, if they've never been a client, whether they were compensated in any form, and if there are any material conflicts of interest.

But importantly too, the SCC didn't say we expect those disclosures to read like a pharmaceutical ad in a magazine where you have a full page of disclosures. Rather, they did a very nice job of saying we expect and in fact, require that these disclosures when they're published alongside a review be distinct or be very succinct in that the reviews indicate very clearly and very briefly whether that review was written by a client, whether they were compensated or not, and whether there are any material conflicts of interest.

So very short and sweet. And I think that provides a better experience for consumers reading reviews. But of course, it does mean that there are some stipulations that advisors need to consider in terms of where and how they both collect reviews and promote the reviews.  

Lara Galloway: Can we just pause for a minute, and everybody take note that Brian [00:13:00] Thorp just gave the SCC kudos for being succinct in its regulatory.

Wow. I mean, how often do they get thank yous? Right? To be clear, it took them 403 pages to prepare this rule, but within that rule, they did say the disclosure should be very succinct. Credit to the SCC. Well, they did their job, and we appreciate it because no doubt you have to, as a financial advisor, always take into consideration compliance and make sure you understand it.

And thank you for distilling that 403 page document down and making it easy for us to tell advisors the easy way to collect. But, you know, let's dig into that a little bit more too, Brian. What is the recommended way to go about getting these testimonials or referrals that you're mentioning? Are there specific tools that help advisors do this?

Because I know that you know that they've got to be excited about the opportunity to get some of their raving [00:14:00] fans, their fabulous clients, to share the wealth and say hey, let me tell you how great my advisor is. They got to be excited about that. But at the same time, having had, you know, the handcuffs on for so long, the thought of stepping into that and getting hit with compliance or doing it the wrong way, getting any issues has got to be a little scary.

Brian Thorp: For sure. One of the things that we really focused on at Wealthtender was establishing our platform as the first financial advisor online review platform designed to be fully compliant with the SCC marketing rule. And of course, we didn't build Wealthtender predicated upon this new rule.

So, a lot of the advisors today are taking advantage of a lot of the services and the benefits that we were talking about earlier. And the online reviews feature is an optional benefit that they can activate. And when an advisor gets started with reviews, one of the first things we recommend, whether they look to a platform like Wealthtender, or they're focused on just adding reviews and testimonials to their own website.

It's [00:15:00] important to first reach out to all of your clients. The SCC wants to ensure that advisors are not cherry picking, meaning advisors are not reaching out to just their handful of favorite clients to say, Hey buddy, can you write me a great review? I really appreciate it. And then putting those out on the website without also asking all of the other clients to write a review as well.

So, the SCC and what we recommend is to go ahead and when you're getting started, send an email to all of your current clients. That should ensure if the SCC comes in and does an exam or a sweep, that you're going to have that on file to say, absolutely we did this. They also don't want you steering people to write a five-star review, so it should be an email that's very straightforward to say, Hey, I would be interested and appreciate you taking the time to write a review about your experience working with me or working with our firm.

But not leading the witness, if you will, to write a five-star review. And it doesn't have to necessarily be an email that goes out to all clients. If you have a client newsletter that reaches all clients, you can include an [00:16:00] invitation to write a review within the email, and that would serve the purpose as well.

That's really kind of a onetime thing, though. Once that's accomplished, the go forward opportunity for advisors is to incorporate the ask of reviews into their daily activities, and that could be following the creation of a financial plan. Once that's delivered, you've gone through it at an appropriate time asking that client if they would be interested or willing to write a review and finding just generally those moments in time.

You know, it could be under your email signature, it could be in various newsletters that go out, providing those opportunities for people to write a review and then incorporating that, whether it's through a site like Wealthtender or onto an advisor's website, is a great way to get that visibility.

Now we can get really technical. There are some things that the SCC requires to ensure that any reviews that come in are being displayed thoughtfully and not discriminating against just those positive reviews. So, the way we designed Wealthtender as an example, is [00:17:00] to ensure any reviews and advisor receives are going to be published in chronological descending order.

So, in the order of those that have been most recently received, they're not just all five-star reviews at the top or just limited to any particular subset of reviews, but really ensuring that we're living up to the SEC's expectations that consumers can read all of the reviews in one place.

With that said, another opportunity for advisors is to selectively pull-out certain reviews that they can include on their website. The SCC does require that there needs to be a link from those selected reviews to a list of all the reviews so a consumer can always look to see all of the reviews. So, if you, for example, on your homepage of an advisor's website, wanted to just highlight three to five reviews that may in fact five-star reviews, as long as you include a link back to a location on your website or a site like, well, with all of your reviews, you're going to be in good shape from a compliance perspective as well.  

Lara Galloway: [00:18:00] If I could just dig into that too, Brian, it sounds like an advisor can show I'm being compliant to the SCC by showing that they've got the journaling I've got and here's the copy of the email that I sent out.

Here's every time I send it out. But it also sounds like there's some software technology on the back end that has a record of all the responses that come in, because how can an advisor prove that they aren't being selective with the responses they get?  

Brian Thorp: Yeah, so what we recommend at the outset, because that's really where it's going to be most important to avoid that cherry picking concern, is sending out an email using that CRM technology that an advisor generally has in place to ensure that if the SCC were to come in, you can show from your CRM email records that that email did in fact go out to all current clients.

Or leveraging your email system or newsletter generation system to ensure that the [00:19:00] invitation to write is made available to all clients. So that's a great way to do it. And then it's less of an issue on a go forward basis, but especially at the outset as advisors are getting started, that's going to be a thoughtful approach to ensuring that there's no cherry picking.

And then separate from asking clients for reviews, there is not a similar stipulation around acquaintances or centers of influence, as an example, who may be able to provide a thoughtful review or what the SCC refers to as an endorse. Versus a testimonial, testimonial being defined as a review from a current client, whereas a review from any other non-client, whether they're a friend, family, or an acquaintance would be considered endorsements, both of which are permissible.

But they all do require those disclosures just to indicate that transparency, that a consumer can best understand the nature of the review or who wrote it.

Lara Galloway: That's super helpful and I think Wealthtender does a lot of this [00:20:00] management for them, right? I mean, I know that you do a lot of thought leadership and ways of helping the advisors be, you know, top of mind and able to be vetted and visible to the consumers.

But also, that's part of what you guys do, is provide that whole journaling tool of all of the different referrals and testimonials coming into your site.

Brian Thorp: For sure. So, when an advisor turns on the online reviews feature what we refer to as “certified advisory reviews” from Wealthtender, consumers can write a review directly on the profile page of the advisor, or we also have an embeddable widget that advisors can place on their own website that can include the ability to both collect and promote reviews, and it's really up to the advisor as to how they would prefer to approach it.

But in either scenario, individuals can write a review within that widget or on the Wealthtender profile page. Once that review is submitted, it's not immediately published. Instead, an email is generated to [00:21:00] the advisor letting them know that they have a new review. Within that email, there's a link that the advisor can click and read, read their pin, read the details of the pending review, and then provide those disclosures that the SCC wants to see the review to ensure that once that review is published, it's always published in a manner that's fully compliant with the new rule.

And that email also includes the details of the review, so you'll always have the record keeping benefit of those resources from a compliance perspective, and happy to say we've received some great feedback from Chief compliance officers at several firms with the approach that we've taken, so feel very good about the way that we've designed the platform to ensure that reviews are compliant.  

One thing I would also add, if advisors have reviews on a site like Google, if they're unsolicited, that's perfectly okay. Where it starts to become a gray area is if an advisor requests somebody to write a review on Google, that can start [00:22:00] to become problematic. And so, one of the other ways that we're helping advisors that reviews trapped on a site like Google or on Yelp, where advisors are unable to tell a prospect, hey, go look at my Google reviews because that will get you in trouble.

Since sites like Google and Yelp don't have disclosures, the SCC wants to see a company that reviews for it to be deemed in advertisement of the firm. What we can do is work with an advisor to import the reviews to Wealthtender where the disclosures can be added alongside any reviews that they collect organically on the Wealth Standard platform.

And that essentially ensures that those reviews from other platforms that aren't compliant with a new rule can still provide a benefit to the advisor. And again, whether it's on their Wealth Standard profile page or used within a widget or on their website, a great way for advisors to get visibility there as well.

Lara Galloway: You know at White Glove, we are very prejudiced towards the done for you side of things. That's what we [00:23:00] do for advisors is take some of that work off, take some of the risk off, take some of the figuring it out off the advisor's plate. I love what you just said about Wealthtender and having seen the site a while back I really appreciated how simple and easy and portable that information was and how you make sure that you're staying on the right side of compliance. You're helping advisors do that. So really appreciate that done for you aspect and not leaving it upon the advisor to make sure they're compliant.

And also what you said about the trapped Google or Yelp reviews, finding a way to actually import those and be able to use those if advisors have been getting them even without asking for them. They've just been doing a great job. People have been raving about them and you know, now they can make use of that and build that into their marketing.

That's, that's so smart. So, I wanted to segue to the next thing you know, just at White Glove, our core business is all about [00:24:00] workshops and financial education for consumers. And do you see a, a very obvious link, I think I do, about how advisors might be able to leverage some of these testimonials to up level their workshop practice.

Brian Thorp: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think a lot of what we're doing at Wealthtender is helping consumers feel more informed and educated about the advisor that they're looking to work with. And that's exactly what a workshop or a webinar accomplishes. It's a great opportunity for a prospect that generally doesn't have a solid grasp or knowledge about an advisor to walk out of that webinar or that seminar feeling impressed by the advisor, their knowledge, their aptitude around a particular topic.

And that's exactly what reviews can help accomplish and reinforce. So as an example, if an advisor is conducting a workshop at a local library, and they have reviews that they've collected online, a great opportunity to consider is when prospects walk into the room, they [00:25:00] sit down on the chair, there's a flyer in the chair, and it has a QR code that links to the wealth center profile page.

We've created a mobile widget that is very attractive, that shows the advisors reviews right there. So even before the seminar begins, the prospect can pull that up, start to read reviews written by clients of that advisor that could even very specifically be focused on those reviews that are relevant to the seminar topic and starting to realize whether it's related to social security or estate planning.

Here are reviews from clients that have worked with this particular advisor showing that they're very knowledgeable in providing that emotional connection, as well as that kind of social proof that there are other people who have worked with this advisor and feel very strongly about their skills and knowledge in that area.

So that's one opportunity. Another opportunity is even before a prospect shows up at the seminar, using those reviews in some type of promotional activity that could be that invitation [00:26:00] to participate in the workshop or show up to the seminar and the opportunity to see those same type of reviews.

It could be another way to just convert a prospect from browsing and thinking about attending when they're reading that email to instead saying, wow, you know, here's somebody again that really knows what they're talking about. And probably creating a greater conversion rate of prospects that read that email or see the invitation to that workshop, to those that actually decide to show up and take advantage of the opportunity to meet with the advisor in person.

Lara Galloway: I love this. I mean, knowledge is power, and the more we know about the people that we choose to give us that financial guidance, it was like, we need the information, but we also need to know a little bit about the expert that's sharing it. So all these testimonials, the regulations, changing Wealthtender, making it super easy to grab these things, making sure that you're compliant, get that on your site and into the workshops.

I absolutely [00:27:00] love that idea so that people know that it advances moving forward in that like know and trust factor that is critical for advisors to getting those people that are coming to their workshops to convert and become clients.

So, Brian, I think we could talk about this a lot longer, but I'm going to have to wrap up. So I just want to ask you, I always like to end the podcast episode asking a little bit about what my guest definition of success is. So I'd love to hear from you what your definition of success.

Brian Thorp: Sure. I believe success shouldn't be viewed as simply the accomplishment of an end goal, which at times can often feel distant and out of reach.

So rather really looking at success as something to be measured incrementally whether that's based on small wins or progress towards a larger goal. Or major milestones. So just using Wealthtender as an example. Ultimately, we want to be the most popular website among Americans who are preparing to hire a financial advisor and looking to Wealthtender to make [00:28:00] more informed and educated hiring decisions.

But clearly that's a long term goal and I look forward to achieving that level of success in the future. But in the interim, a lot of the success that I can measure includes anecdotal feedback from advisors that are getting prospects that they wouldn't have otherwise had access to if the prospect hadn't found them on Wealthtender or seeing the reviews that advisors are collecting, starting to appear in Google search results, that is helping them gain greater visibility with consumers that are looking for them on Google or looking to find an advisor that has that reputation that meets their needs.

For me, it's really all about looking at the big picture, but also keeping that near term view in mind throughout the process.  

Lara Galloway: Ah, smart. You get to the big goals by completing some of the little goals, right? Indeed. I love it. Brian, tell our people how they can find out more about Wealthtender.  

Brian Thorp: Sure.

The easiest thing is to visit [00:29:00] us at wealthtender.com and you can also reach me, Brian, brian@wealth.com. When you visit WealthTender as an advisor, you'll find a lot of great information out there to learn more about the various benefits that are available to advisors in our community. And if you sign up with the code glove, GLOVE, we're also happy to offer 50% off the first two months for any advisors that are listening to this podcast.

Lara Galloway: What a deal. Brian, it has been an absolute pleasure. We'll make sure we get all those details about contacting you and the special offer on our website when we post the podcast as well. But I want to thank you for being a part of the FAST podcast today, Brian, and good luck to you and your wife and your travels out to Santa Monica.

Brian Thorp: Thank you very much, Lara. I really appreciate it.

Aric Johnson: Hey Brian, this has been fantastic. Brian as a consumer, I have to tell you what you were talking about early on struck a nerve with me in a very, very positive way. You were talking about how people search out and want to find information, but they have to put so much information maybe into a website and it feels a little [00:30:00] invasive.

Remember back when everybody was refinancing their houses? I did that and I got suckered. I'll tell you honestly, I found a site that said, well, you can compare apples to apples, compare all these different companies and you can pick one and put your information in there. And I did. But that website sold my information to all 12 of those companies that were on the website wasn't just the one I selected.  

And within three minutes, literally three minutes, my phone started ringing and it wouldn't stop for a couple months. Oh, I was so angry, so infuriated by that. So to hear something like that from you is very refreshing because nobody wants that.

Nobody wants to be targeted and I think Lara, you said, hung out there like a slab of meat, which is exactly how I felt. So that was fantastic. Brian, thank you so much. Lara, people need to know more about White Glove. How do they get ahold of you guys?  

Lara Galloway: You can always find us at info@whiteglove.com.

Aric Johnson: Perfect. Again, thank you both so [00:31:00] much and of course, our last thank you goes to the listening audience. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to the FAST Podcast with Lara Galloway. If you have not subscribed to the podcast yet, please click the subscribe now button below. This way, when Lara comes out with a new podcast, it'll show up directly on your listening device, and we humbly ask that you share this podcast, write it, and leave a review as this actually does help others find the show.

Again, thank you so much for listening today. For everyone at White Glove, this is Aric Johnson reminding you to live your best day every day, and we'll see you next time.