In the competitive world of financial advising, the choice of growth strategy is pivotal to an advisor's success. Two primary approaches are commonly used: relying on referrals or implementing marketing and prospecting strategies. In this blog, we'll explore the pros and cons of these approaches, with a focus on choosing between referral marketing and seminar marketing to fuel financial advisory growth. We'll also highlight the remarkable journey of Kurt Stahl, a small firm owner who, against the odds, achieved significant growth by exclusively using seminar and webinar marketing through White Glove.

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Relying on Referrals vs. Seminar Marketing: A Choice for Financial Advisors

Financial advisors face a fundamental choice when it comes to growing their practices: relying on referrals or leveraging marketing and prospecting strategies. Let's delve into the pros and cons of each, and how these strategies impact the growth of a financial advisory business.

Relying on Referrals:

Many financial advisors opt for the referral-based growth model, and there are good reasons for this. Referrals are often seen as a testament to your expertise and the quality of service you provide.

Pros:

1. Trust and Credibility: Referrals come from satisfied clients, establishing trust and credibility right from the start.
2. Cost-Efficient: You don't need to spend much on marketing or lead generation, making it a cost-effective approach.
3. High-Quality Leads: Referred clients may have similar financial needs and goals as your existing clients.

Cons:

1. Limited Growth: Relying solely on referrals may limit the rate at which you can expand your business. Organic growth through referrals may be acceptable for advisors who are coasting toward retirement or exit themselves, but this method of growth is insufficient for most expansion goals.
2. Vulnerability to Economic Cycles: A downturn in the economy can reduce the number of referrals an advisor receives. A bear market poses many challenges for financial services professionals, and among those is having happy, confident clients sharing their financial success with their friends and colleagues.
3. Lack of Control: Financial advisors have no control over when referrals will come in, making it challenging to proactively drive growth. Once an advisor has exhausted their personal network, they are at the mercy of their clients’ whims in order to grow, and they could be left wanting when their goal is to expand.
4. Inconsistent Lead Quality: Not all referrals may align with your ideal client, potentially leading to less suitable prospects. While some advisors have indeed built a well-designed referral machine that consistently generates ideal referrals, most advisors have experienced receiving a referral that was not a match, resulting in the advisor taking on the referral as a favor to the client.
5. Hope Is Not a Growth Strategy: Ultimately, relying on referrals to grow your business is more of a hope than a strategy for growth. Successful advisory firms create marketing strategies that align with their business plans, allowing them to get in front of prospective clients when the timing is right for them.

Seminar Marketing:

Financial advisors who employ marketing and prospecting strategies often use educational seminars and webinars to connect with and engage prospective clients. These events provide an opportunity to showcase your knowledge and attract individuals interested in financial topics.

Pros:

1. Scalability: Marketing efforts, including seminars and webinars, can reach a broader audience and facilitate faster growth.
2. New Prospects: This approach allows you to continually attract new prospects, even in slow referral periods.
3. Education-Based Trust: Educational content establishes your authority and builds trust, as prospects appreciate your expertise.
4. Control Over Growth: Hosting seminars or webinars provides control over when you bring in qualified prospects, enabling you to take proactive steps toward growth. Perhaps you're planning to add on junior reps in the next quarter. Host a seminar to generate leads that will feed your new reps and allow them to build or expand their book of business.

Cons:

1. Higher Costs: Marketing and prospecting strategies can be more expensive compared to relying on referrals.
2. Initial Effort: It may take time to establish your marketing and education initiatives and see results. Most advisors see conversions from workshop attendee to client in 30-90 days, largely dependent on the timing it takes to meet with the prospects after the event. Once advisors close a few clients, they are ready to re-invest in more workshops to continue adding more prospects to the pipeline.
3. Varied Lead Quality: Not all attendees may become clients, leading to mixed-quality leads. While targeted marketing will generate many qualified prospects for your workshops, there will always be attendees who aren't a match for you. However, the ROI of closing even one client in the room is usually enough to cover or even greatly exceed the cost of hosting the event.

The Kurt Stahl Case Study: Seminar Marketing in Action

Kurt Stahl of GulfCoast Financial started his career in finance working under a Certified Financial Planner. However, after two years, he realized that it wasn't the right path for him. His ambition led him to set up his own financial advisory firm in Florida. By 2017, he was facing the challenge that many advisors encounter – finding clients in a new location.

Turning to White Glove, the industry leader in workshop marketing, Kurt exclusively relied on their seminar and webinar programs to fuel the growth of his business. Notably, he avoided using any other forms of marketing to test the effectiveness of this approach.

Kurt's Seminar Marketing Success: The Numbers

Over the last six years, Kurt has consistently invested an average of $53,000 annually in White Glove's seminar and webinar marketing programs. Here are his yearly averages:

• $53,000 annual marketing spend
• Average of 23 workshops hosted per year
• Average of 289 workshop attendees per year
• Average of 145 appointments booked per year
• Average of 122 appointments held per year
• Average of 34 new clients per year (excluding referrals from clients acquired through workshops)

Kurt's firm is relatively small, with only three employees, including himself. This fact emphasizes that seminar marketing can be a powerful strategy for businesses of all sizes. While $53,000 is undoubtedly a large budget to spend on marketing, Kurt averages an 8:1 return on his investment. This is impressive when considering this ROI doesn't include the referrals generated from his workshop attendee clients, nor does it take into account the lifetime value of a client. This 8:1 ROI is based exclusively on the commissions on products sold and assets under management for the first year.

Kurt's Remarkable Growth: A Chart of Success

The real testament to the effectiveness of seminar marketing is the significant growth that Kurt's firm has experienced. Below is a chart outlining his total production year to date:

• 2017: $4 million
• 2018: $10 million
• 2019: $19 million
• 2020: $12 million
• 2021: $56 million
• 2022: $36 million
• 2023: $43 million

As we can see, the growth has been both substantial and consistent, with Kurt's firm experiencing a remarkable 975% increase in AUM from 2017 to 2023. It's worth mentioning that Kurt, like nearly everyone, suffered a setback during the beginning of the pandemic, but he was able to reach his target audience via webinars when they most needed the advice and guidance of a financial professional. The result: 5X growth year-over-year in 2021.

What Can We Learn from Kurt's Journey?

Kurt's journey illustrates the potential of seminar and webinar marketing to transform the fortunes of a financial advisory firm. Here are some key takeaways:

1. Focused Marketing: By concentrating exclusively on seminar and webinar marketing, Kurt maximized his investment and reaped substantial rewards. Kurt could have chosen to mix and match a variety of marketing strategies, but he was able to humanize his marketing with seminars, resulting in significant growth when he was ready for it.
2. Consistency Pays: Consistency in hosting workshops and webinars allowed Kurt to establish a solid presence in his target market, ensuring a steady stream of leads and new clients. It also allowed him to hone his skills as a speaker and his ability to pivot successfully from a financial workshop educator to the expert capable of managing his clients' financial needs.
3. Referral Snowball Effect: Kurt's workshops not only attracted new clients but also generated referrals from the clients he acquired through workshops. This compound effect enhanced his growth on the timeline that works for him.
4. Adaptability: Regardless of the size of your firm, workshop marketing can be a scalable and flexible strategy to attract new clients and foster business growth. Some of the most ambitious White Glove clients combine in-person seminars to reach people in their local communities with webinars that allow them to expand further into their region, across the state, and even into multiple other states where the advisor is licensed. Several have leveraged this approach to open new offices in markets where they see demand and opportunity.
5. White Glove's Contribution: Kurt's success would not have been possible without the support of White Glove's workshop marketing programs. Their turnkey solutions provided him with the tools and expertise to efficiently run workshops and webinars, ultimately driving his business forward.

In conclusion, Kurt Stahl's remarkable journey from a small startup in 2017 to a thriving financial advisory firm generating over $43 million in assets under management in 2023 demonstrates the potential of seminar and webinar marketing for financial advisors. The numbers don't lie, and they tell a story of consistent growth, adaptability and a focused approach. In a world where referrals and marketing are both crucial, the seminar approach is a game-changer.

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