Tag Archives: Prospecting

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Episode #61 Becoming Fluent with The Language of Referrals – A Special Episode with Bob Burg Interviewing Bill Cates



Announcing! Bill Cates’s Newest Book…

The Language of Referrals: The Words & Scripts Financial Professionals Use to Gain More Ideal Clients.

Every financial professional understands the power of referrals and personal introductions.

Marketing experts extol the virtues of building a referral-based business. However, while providing overarching strategies and concepts, they don’t tell you how to actually create results.

In this exclusive interview, Bob Burg (author of Endless Referrals and The Go-Giver Series) interviews Bill Cates – widely known as “The Original Referral Coach” in financial services. 

While discussing the release of Bill’s latest book, The Language of Referrals, Bob and Bill explore the core principles and practical strategies for mastering the art and skill of building a referral-based business. They offer insights into promoting introductions, overcoming objections, effectively getting introduced, and more!

Bill and Bob discuss: 

  • Bill’s motivation behind writing The Language of Referrals. “Does the world need another book about referrals?”
  • The self-talk and mindset required to produce more and better introductions to quality prospects. 
  • The important difference between “referrals” and “introductions.”
  • The challenges and misconceptions around asking for referrals and how those can impact an advisor’s ability to produce results. 
  • The language of promoting introductions to generate high-quality unsolicited introductions
  • The importance of being specific in asking for introductions and the language that can be used to make a focused request.
  • Understanding and addressing client reluctance to providing introductions. 
  • The language of turning a client’s willingness to refer into introductions and solid connections
  • …And more!

 

Resources: 

Connect With Bill Cates:

Connect with Bob Burg: 

 

About Bob Burg:

Bob Burg shares how a subtle shift in focus is not only a more uplifting and fulfilling way of conducting business but the most financially profitable way, as well. For 30 years he’s helped companies, sales leaders, and their teams to more effectively communicate their value, sell at higher prices with less resistance, and grow their businesses based on Endless Referrals.

Bob has regularly addressed audiences ranging in size from 50 to 16,000 — sharing the platform with notables including today’s top thought leaders, broadcast personalities, Olympic athletes, and political leaders including a former United States President.

Bob is the author of a number of books on sales, marketing, and influence, with total book sales approaching two million copies.

The American Management Association named Bob one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders and he was named one of the Top 200 Most Influential Authors in the World by Richtopia.

Bob is an advocate, supporter, and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve.


Episode #59 Strategic LinkedIn Prospecting for Financial Advisors with Armando (Mando) Sallavanti III, CFP®, CLTC®



Are you producing results with LinkedIn? Or do you wonder why you even have an account?

I’ve run into very few advisors who are seeing a straight line to ROI with their activities on LinkedIn.

Mando Sallavanti is clearly an exception!

Effective LinkedIn prospecting for financial advisors requires more than just creating a profile and posting content. It also requires a strategic approach to engaging with your target audience, building relationships, and converting prospects into clients.

In this episode, Referral Coach Bill Cates interviews Armando (Mando) Sallavanti III, CFP®, CLTC®, SaaS’s Financial Planner. Mando shares his journey to success as a financial advisor using LinkedIn. Mando emphasizes the power of authenticity and active engagement on the platform, making 70 comments per day to attract potential clients. (Say what?) And he focuses on creating conversations and building relationships by engaging with influencers in his target market.

Bill and Mando discuss:

● His experience of pursuing his natural market, hiring a marketing agency, and using automation on LinkedIn, which didn’t yield results.
● His decision to shift how he approaches LinkedIn prospecting for financial advisors, and how he discovered his target market in the tech sector.
● The importance of using real-life scenarios and examples in content to make it relatable and resonate with the intended target audience.
● The strategy of making a high number of comments on LinkedIn as a prospecting method to generate opportunities.
● How LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards commenting activity and the importance of striking up conversations with others on the platform.
● Tips on identifying influencers within his target market.
● …And more!

Resources:

● RapidFire Referrals
● Ep. #49 – LinkedIn for Financial Advisors: Insider Strategies for Getting Your Posts Seen with Richard Bliss

Connect With Bill Cates:

● BillCates@referralcoach.com
● Referral Coach Homepage
● Hire Bill for Coaching
● Enroll in The Cates Academy™

Connect With Mando Sallavanti III:

● LinkedIn: Mando Sallavanti III
● asallavanti@financialguide.com

About Mando Sallavanti III:
Mando Sallavanti III is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) based out of MassMutual Greater Philadelphia. Mando made a mark as the youngest-ever Blue Chip Council qualifier in the company’s history in 2021. His notable accolades include securing titles such as “Rookie of the Year” and “New Advisor of the Year” in 2021. With a primary focus on serving individuals in the Tech sales or SaaS sectors, Mando has skillfully leveraged LinkedIn as a pivotal tool in his professional journey, boasting an impressive following of over 19,000 individuals.

Armando Sallavanti is a registered representative of and offers securities and investment advisory services through MML Investors Services, LLC. Member SIPC. Supervisory Office: 2 Bala Plaza, Ste 901, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004. Tel: 610.766.3000. Sallavanti Financial Services Co. is not a subsidiary or affiliate of MML Investors Services, LLC. or its affiliated companies. MassMutual refers to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Springfield, MA 01111-0001)


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Episode #58 Building Connections that Turn Into Clients Through COIs, LinkedIn, Target Marketing, and Podcasting



Alice Tang, a highly successful financial advisor known for her passion for supporting millionaire women and helping the next generation achieve financial success.

It’s no secret that the affluent women’s market is a lucrative, ever-growing niche in the financial industry. This episode touches on this topic AND a whole lot more!

In this episode, Bill Cates interviews Alice Tang, ChFC®, MIM, Vice President and Partner at BPG Wealth Management LLC. Alice is a highly successful financial advisor known for her passion for supporting millionaire women, and helping the next generation achieve financial success. 

This interview offers valuable insights into leveraging Centers of Influence, LinkedIn, strategic networking, and podcasting. Alice and Bill dive into the importance of strategy and discipline when targeting this unique demographic, and Alice shares practical advice for building authentic connections, creating impactful conversations. and nurturing relationships.

Alice also shares her inspiring personal journey from growing up in Hong Kong to becoming a successful financial planner in Oregon. She reveals how her podcast serves as a relationship-building tool with clients and shares tips on leveraging LinkedIn for business growth.

Bill and Alice discuss: 

  • How Alice’s journey led her to focus on successful women and inspired her initiative, Women’s Million Dollar Conversationsfeaturing interviews with affluent women ($1M+) sharing insights on finance and empowerment. 
  • Using podcast interviews as a way to build relationships with potential clients, and how it can lead to clients becoming guests (and vice versa). 
  • Strategies to help financial advisors successfully monetize a podcast. 
  • Her systematic process for maintaining productive relationships with key centers of influence. 
  • The importance of having a strategy and being authentic on LinkedIn. 
  • The need for discipline and consistency for engaging on LinkedIn, and creating meaningful conversations with others in the community. 
  • … And more!

 

Resources: 

Connect With Bill Cates:

Connect With Alice Tang:   

About Alice Tang:

Alice Tang started her second career as a financial advisor in 2000. Many of Alice’s clients are female business owners and executives. She strives to be a leader and inspiration to professional women. Alice helps her clients define their relationship with money with a goal to achieve financial freedom by executing her financial planning process and leveraging tax-advantaged strategies. Her vision is a community full of confident and happy retirees, and it starts with women taking charge of their money. Alice has frequently spoken on the topic of “Why Women need to be In Charge of their Money” and “Your Network Your Prosperity – How to Build a Strong Network by Paying It Forward”.


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Episode #56 A Simple Weekly Strategy for Elevating Financial Advisor Productivity with Brian Margolis



It’s not an accident that Productivity and Proactive start with the same three letters. 

Pro can mean For and Forward. I’m all for moving forward, how about you?

If you’re like most advisors, there are days where you feel very productive and know that you are moving your business forward. You probably have other days (too many?) where you’re simply being reactive.  You’re doing things you know you need to do, but those days don’t often feel as rewarding.

Is it possible to go from a reactive practice to a proactive practice? 

Is it possible to decrease your time working, while simultaneously increasing your revenue?

In this episode, Referral Coach Bill Cates interviews Brian Margolis, Founder of Productivity Giant and author of “The Index Card Business Plan.” 

Brian and Bill explore the power of using pillars to maximize financial advisor productivity. Brian explains the three categories of pillars and shares strategies for overcoming internal resistance. He also emphasizes the importance of focus management and shares real-life success stories of advisors who have implemented The Pillar System.

Bill and Brian discuss: 

  • The three pillars essential for financial advisor proactivity: activity/consistency, learning/effectiveness, and strategic.
  • How to identify skills with the highest ROI – so advisors can make intentional choices related to focus and skill development.
  • The role of support staff in helping advisors maintain the right habits for success.
  • The concept of focus management, which emphasizes the need to protect and manage one’s mental energy.
  • Real-life case studies of success where established advisors have transformed their businesses by focusing on specific pillars adapted to them – including one advisor who doubled their yearly AUM growth while working one less day per week.
  • The value of the Friday night feeling, indicating the satisfaction of completing key tasks as a reliable measure of success
  • …And more!

 

Resources: 

Connect With Bill Cates:

Connect With Brian Margolis:

About Brian Margolis:

Brian Margolis is a former environmental scientist turned entrepreneur. He is the founder of ProductivityGiant.com and author of the book “The Index Car Business Plan for Sales Pros and Entrepreneurs”

Brian’s Pillar System helps sales pros and entrepreneurs create a strategy so simple, it fits on an index card…but so powerful it’s helped create 7-figure earners and has been licensed by some of the largest companies in the world to train their teams.

Brian has been a partner or consultant in multiple ventures ranging from startups to national brands. He has worked with everyone from Shark Tank Entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. Both his accomplishments and failures span a variety of industries.

In addition to his above work, and appearances on some of the largest business and sales podcasts in the world, he is still in the trenches having done thousands of individual coaching sessions with sales pros and entrepreneurs.


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Ep. #14: Financial Advisor Best Practices – What’s Working (and What’s Not)?



Despite all the challenges in reaching qualified prospects, some advisors are doing quite well, while others are not rising to the challenges that we all face. So, what are the financial advisor best practices that separate the wheat from the chaff?

In this episode, Bill Cates interviews Mark Williams, president and CEO of Brokers International, to discuss what we need to think about and do to connect with more Right-Fit Clients™.  Mark speaks to hundreds of financial professionals each year, so he’s in a unique position to see what’s working and where advisors are wasting their resources of time, energy, and dollars.

Bill and Mark discuss:     

  • The top 3 challenges that financial professionals face in terms of client acquisition today.
  • The financial advisor best practices that he believes are gamechangers.
  • Is LinkedIn the “New Cold Calling?”

Connect With Mark Williams:

Connect With Bill Cates:

About Our Guest:

Mark Williams is the President and CEO of Brokers International, one of the industry’s largest field marketing organizations — providing annuity and life insurance solutions to independent insurance and financial professionals across the nation.

Few executives have Mark’s breadth of experience as a differentiator and success across every aspect of the industry. He grew up in an insurance family and has licensed, sold and had exposure to almost every financial vehicle that can be used as a solution to a customer need. He has held crucial roles as an agent, stock broker, independent distributor, captive agent, and head of an FMO.

Mark has a proven track record driving transformation, having helped transform companies such as Allianz, The Hartford, and GamePlan from the inside out. He has spent his career leading sales growth in fixed indexed annuities, life insurance and fixed universal life products as well as directing mortgage leads, developing marketing programs for independent financial professionals and leading strategic initiatives.

Currently, Mark is focused on the future of the insurance industry: from the disruptions of InsurTech and robo-advisors to the changing demographics and needs of customers. He also is an avid mentor helping financial professionals navigate the industry.

 


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Ep. #11: How to Grow Your Business Without Prospecting With Randy Carver



Stop prospecting … and let your clients prospect for you! 

Creating great relationships with your clients who value the work you do and value you as a professional will open up the doors to many more in-segment clients.

In this episode, Bill Cates speaks with Randy Carver CRPC®, CDFA®, President and CEO at Carver Financial Services, Inc. Randy discusses how he and his team have brought in 25 new relationships along with $100 million in assets over the last three months without doing any prospecting.

Randy discusses: 

  • How he has found incredible growth in his business over the last few months
  • Why it’s important to differentiate yourself from other investment firms
  • How to get your clients to do the prospecting for you

Resources: 

Connect With Randy Carver:

Connect With Bill Cates:

About Our Guest:

Randy Carver was born in New York City, grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and spent his teen years in Toronto, Canada. As a teenager, Randy started and ran several successful businesses, including a catering firm and two home renovation companies. He attended Oberlin College where he earned his degree in economics. Upon graduating in 1987, Randy opened a branch office for a regional brokerage firm in Mentor, Ohio. The office became one of the company’s most successful within three years.