BAI Advice: Turn OFF, completely OFF, your website!
CA: What!!! But people need to find me online or I will be out of business, won't I?
BAI: NO!!!!! We challenge you to show us analytics that prove that your website is getting you Ideal Clients. You can't do it, can you? What you can do is tell us about all the time you and your team waste trying to build and manage a website that will actually bring in Ideal Clients. Furthermore, your website just makes you look and sound like every other FA on the planet who is trying, and failing, to look and sound different. Therefore, when you get referred and the referral goes to check you out online their worst fear is validated: "This is just another FA trying to get my business!" You can't explain an experience. You can't explain an experience. You can't explain an experience. If that was possible we would provide you a website template with the copy explaining what you do. If we can't do it, what makes you think you will be able to do it? You won't. You will just inflict unnecessary brain damage on yourself and your team. STOP IT!
CA: But don't clients want access to their accounts and other information online?
BAI: What kind of clients? Websites, by design, are for do-it-yourselfers or financial collaborators. You have invested in a business model to serve mass-millioniare ($2 - $20M) Financial Delegators. Financial Delegators don't need or want access to their information on your website. Having a website sends financial delegator prospects and clients the wrong message about who you do business with. Stop the insanity! Turn it off!
CA: What will my team do instead?
BAI: They will master their role in Ideal Client Service, do their part to build and lead your Deliverables Team, and become brilliant at delivering the Values-Based Financial Planning™ Client Value Promise.
CA: What will I do instead of the mental masturbation of working on silly things like my website? (or the many other low payoff busy-work activities I like to call work, but are not making me better for my clients or growing my business)
BAI: GO GET YOUR NEXT IDEAL CLIENT!! Master the referral conversation experience... to the point where every Ideal Client becomes a raving fan and staunch advocate who is eager to introduce you to ALL of their friends, family, and colleagues before you close the doors to your Ideal Client Community. Master the art of the introduction to your referrals, the follow-up phone call experience, the phone consultation experience, and the Financial Road Map® interview experience, including an extremely powerful and compelling offer to join the Ideal Client Community during Commitment to Hire.
CA: Should I have any presence online?
BAI: Yes. A short and sweet LinkIn Profile as follows: ___________ [Insert first name] specializes in helping financially successful people achieve their most important goals that are aligned with their most deeply held values. He / She has been in the financial services industry for ______ years and accepts new clients by referral only.
Along with an excellent, professional photo of yourself. Men, preferably not wearing a tie. Women, preferably not dressed in a way that makes you stuffy.
CA: Do I need to keep my website up for my non-Ideal Clients?
BAI: No. Switch it OFF! Because as long as it's up your future Ideal Client prospects will find it and it will slow your progress to building your Ideal Client Community... for the reasons already stated.
CA: What about any other crap that surfaces during a Google search that makes me look and sound like a traditional financial advisor?
BAI: I wouldn't burn too many brain cells on this, but you might have your Administrative Manager hire one of the firms that specializes in online reputation management to cleanse all of that crap out of the system and / or make sure your LinkedIn Profile appears at the top of the search page.
