EP 71 | LinkedIn101 for Financial Advisors with Brendan Barca

Brendan Barca  09:25

Sure. So the two primary ways that after a prospect accepts your connection on LinkedIn is going to be through one is your content, which essentially your marketing arm for LinkedIn. And then two is your messaging, which is a little bit more of that sales and communication are. So, yes, if you put content up on LinkedIn, let's say it gets five likes, there's a big chance that your prospects and clients may not see that because it's going to get buried in the LinkedIn feed.  Only those posts that get over 100 likes are getting seen by everyone in your network. So content is part of it. You want to be creating that content, but don't be afraid, or don't be worried, I should say, if your content isn't getting huge engagement. Because what you can do with that content is you can repurpose it into private messaging. So one of the biggest things that I teach advisors is let's say you're posting about, take the example of the financial advisor targeting pharmacists, let's say you post an article about how pharmacists can reach retirement easier. Now, if you get five likes, that's great. Maybe some people saw it, but essentially, you want to be then sending that exact post in a private message to all the prospects in your current network. So saying something like, hey, John, I don't know if you saw this article I posted up about pharmacists going to retirement, thought you might really find it beneficial. Have a great day, Brendan. So what we're doing there is not just using the content as that marketing, which may not be seen, but we’re bringing it right into their LinkedIn, and they're going to see that much more easier. And that's going to keep you top of mind for them, and that way you'll know in a month or two months, when you reach out for the meeting ask, there's a higher percentage chance they actually saw the value you sent them.

David DeCelle  10:51

So it’s funny that we're talking about pharmacists as the example because when I was an advisor, I was an advisor for seven years, and the last few years is when I primarily like niched down to pharmacists. So working with them on the clinical side in hospitals, retail, it be like the CVS and Walgreens of the world, and then industry, which are more the corporations with research and things like that. So the other thing that they can be doing, too, is trying to be like hyper specific. So one thing that I did with all those folks who I worked with is I got their benefits package, for all the different companies, and I position myself as more of a resource beyond financial planning. So as an example, if I knew, I'll use financial planning as an example, and then outside of financial planning. So, I would say, hey, did you know that CVS over the last few months just recently rolled out the option to opt into a Roth 401(k) instead of a traditional 401(k)? I've been working with a lot of folks in that transition, would love to chat with you to see if that may make sense. So it's essentially going into a particular pain point that they may not have been aware of that's specific to their business, as opposed to a general, hey, we'd love to talk to you about your financial planning. It's a little bit too intangible. So it's just going in almost like a sniper approach as opposed to a shotgun approach. And then even outside of financial planning, positioning myself as a resource, as hey, John, I see that you're working over at CVS. I work with a number of pharmacists, both at CVS and a bunch of the other retail, clinical, and industry companies out there. Out of roleplay, it's important to use your niche’s terminology as well. So they're like, okay, this person actually knows what they're talking about. And I would just say something to the effect of, primarily, I help folks with their financial planning, however, I also am privy to, based on the clients that I work with, to understand the compensation models and the benefits packages and the folks who do the hiring at all these various companies. I think it would make sense for us to connect over the phone to just learn more about what you have going on, and see if we may be a resource for one another, either now or at some point in the future. When they see that you have another angle outside of just financial planning, you're positioning yourself as a valuable resource in general, as opposed to just with financial planning. So I think it's important, again, continuing to build off of what you said, to become an expert in those industries of the folks that you're connecting with, and just making sure to continually follow up with valuable pieces of information, because you never know which ones is going to hit them at the right time.

Brendan Barca  13:29

Yeah. And that's where the power of niching down is important, not just on LinkedIn, but really just in business building in general. And that's where people are going to see the most success. And the more you can cater your language and use some of the industry jargon, they're going to see, okay, this person knows my situation, they work with people like me, maybe they were someone like me before. So they'll be much more inclined to accept your message and probably get back to you, if you can show in a very short and concise message what the needs are, and how you can provide value to help solve those. And it doesn't always have to be a way of getting their 10k roll over right away, but it could just be a way of helping them first. And then when they have something they need later on, you're the person they go to. So again, that slow burn more of a approach of service rather than approach of selling, I think is a really big way of being successful through using LinkedIn. But all these things can be used on email, too. LinkedIn is just a tool to get more information about people, have a different way to reach them through messaging. But really, the skills can be used through messaging on both email, phone calls, and LinkedIn.

David DeCelle  14:23

Before we entirely move away from the LinkedIn portion of the podcast, one of my questions in terms of how you communicate this to advisors, but I feel like an advisor who has a bad experience on LinkedIn, they do something kind of haphazardly for a few months, and then they give up. But this is a longer term play, right? So what do you share with advisors in terms of like a rough payoff timeframe, if they're fully, fully committed to the process?

Brendan Barca  14:55

It's gonna depend on their output. Just like anything, if you are making five cold calls a week versus 50 cold calls a week, you're gonna see a different return. So the biggest things is you have to set realistic goals for yourself every week on LinkedIn. With the advisor I spoke of earlier who's having success on LinkedIn in the pharmaceutical space, his goal every week was twofold. First of all, to send 25 connection invitations to prospects in his niche. And the second one is to send 25 value add messages to the prospects who have already accepted him in his network. So through those two metrics, he was able to get more of the right people in his network; and the people that came into his network, he was able to provide value or ask for meetings. So if you're doing something like that, where it's about maybe 50 per week of different touchpoints through LinkedIn, you can expect to pay off of getting some meetings within a month or two months’ time. So, just a matter of being consistent, going with the right people, and then those meetings, that's where you get to kind of essentially learn how to close the business, which is a different conversation. But, that would be a consistent approach, and you can get there if the volume is high enough, just as you would over email or phone calls. It’s just you're using LinkedIn because email and phone calls are saturated, and people aren't picking up the phone or returning emails anymore. Whereas LinkedIn, you can get some higher replies.

David DeCelle  16:12

So to transition over to, as I stated in your bio, how you teach advisors how to seamlessly enter the digital age, I guess speak to that. I know you've benefited from and I've benefited from running our businesses this way. I feel like every time we chat, we're in a different location and trying to explore as best as we can. So there's some benefits in terms of flexibility or more time with families if you're cutting out the commute, but I know that there may be some advisors who are hesitant to make that change, either because they feel as if their clients really want to meet in person, or they just haven't really embraced going fully digital. So I guess how do you speak to that in your workshops with advisors, regarding that topic?

Brendan Barca  16:55

Yeah, well, as we all saw last year, with the onset of COVID-19, everyone essentially was forced into their Zoom world or WebEx world. And the same with clients, and with advisors and prospects. And so I think there was a bit of a learning curve for all those folks of different ages who are coming onto the platform trying to learn how to communicate, and many might have found it ineffective and harder. And of course, that's because there's a learning curve of trying to sell or communicate through technology versus trying to do it in person, which many of us were doing for years and years before all this happened. I think the biggest thing though, that advisors have to understand, is that just because the world is opening back up right now, and it's going to continue to do so, it doesn't mean that this type of technology and this type of communication is going to go away. I think the biggest thing that clients and advisors have seen over the last year and a half or two years is that we all have more time in our day, as you said, but also it's just much more efficient, in terms of how to share materials with clients like sharing things to your website, you can do it through Zoom. So, it actually creates sometimes an easier platform for both client and prospecting conversations. But more importantly, I think both prospects and clients, as we go into more later generations of millennials, and the Gen X, they're going to be more inclined to take meetings through here. I know, for example, myself, I wouldn't even consider going to an office to meet an advisor I don't want to meet over the phone or through Zoom. So I think it's important to adapt for the next generation, but also understanding it can be more efficient for you, as long as you're savvy on the tip. And I think at this point, a lot of people know the basics of Zoom, but it's more of how to communicate effectively, how to sell through here, is really the next evolution of Zoom and WebEx communication.

Patrick Brewer  18:29

Hey, Model FAs, I know you're enjoying this conversation, but I wanted to take a quick break to talk to you about the Model FA Accelerator. This is a unique collaboration between us and you, where we help you build a financial advising practice that you can be proud of. We focus on the foundational concepts around how to pick a niche or a specialization, how to price your services, how to construct an offer that people are going to buy, and then how to market it and sell it in a way that will get people to sign on the dotted line and become clients of your firm, all while giving you the information to scale and set up workflows and operational processes that will allow you to reclaim your time and build a practice that doesn't run you. So if you'd like to hear more about that, go to www.ModelFA.com/accelerator or www.ModelFA.com. Hover over Work With Us and click on Accelerator. Hope to see you in the program.

David DeCelle  19:19

So I guess in your presentations that you share with advisors, are there any specific like tips and tricks that you're sharing in terms of integrating the technology into their practice beyond just like, hey, you should use Zoom? Are there any best practices that they should be exploring?

Brendan Barca  19:35

Absolutely. So one of the top things that we picked up from a top advisor team of a wirehouse last year, who was actually doing successful Zoom calls before the pandemic started, was using a virtual meeting agenda. So just like you may have had an agenda in your office that you'd slide a piece of paper across your office to be able to show your client what you wanted to cover that meeting. What they're doing is the client comes on a Zoom call, they'll pop up their screen share and have like a Word document or a PDF that has the client's name on it, it has a four part agenda of what the topic’s going to be for that day. And then in the agenda itself, there's different lines available where they can type in notes that the client is saying. So for example, if the top question is, what's top of mind for you and your family, then the client could start typing in, or excuse me, the advisor would start typing in as the client with speaking: well, we're really worried about the new president, how it's gonna affect our portfolio, our 401(k), we moved to bonds but the market’s going up. So you can actually make an interactive experience through Zoom, and that way it's a better and more immersive learning experience for the client and yourself. And the other thing too, is with this agenda, is you can have items on there that are going to point a client to different resources you have. So depending your broker dealer, you might have an asset aggregation software on your website, you could have it on the agenda, take the client in there, into the website, and show them different things they're learning on the call, but it also could be an opportunity for you to identify new assets that they may have at another shop down the street. So those are some different ideas. I think the biggest thing that we've seen top advisors, especially a wirehouse, adapt has been the agenda through the virtual screen share.

David DeCelle  21:09

So I think number one, because I have some friends of mine that I know in the industry, and they'll use a Zoom or a WebEx, but essentially, it's just, they just use it for the audio portion. And they'll use it for some screen sharing type functionality to go through the financial plan or whatever, but they'll leave off video. And sometimes they say, well, you think the clients would be more comfortable, yada, yada, yada. But at the end of the day, I think video is an absolute necessity for these meetings. And what I'm hearing is leveraging documents that are living and breathing, so to speak, and sharing your screen makes it a little bit more interactive with the folks that you're that you're meeting with.

Brendan Barca  21:50

It's a good point, I didn't even bring up the point about the video, but yes, you need to have your video on for trying to be a better communicator with clients and prospects. And what did we used to do when we're in person? People would see our face, they’d get to know us a little bit. That was part of the reason why over time, they’d get to like us more, they want to work with us more. So you need to have facetime, and just doing old school phone calls isn't going to give that same experience. So, for example, you and I have never met in person, but we've met over Zoom five times, but I feel like I know you. But if it was just over the phone, I’d be like I don't know, who's this Dave guy? Maybe I should talk to him, maybe I shouldn't. But Zoom, it's like we're in the same room almost, so you need to be able to get comfortable with that as an advisor. And if you feel like your clients aren't comfortable, I would challenge that thought. One advisor I heard from Edward Jones last year, he had some clients that were in retirement, maybe 70s, and 80s. And he was like, I don't know if they're gonna want to do Zoom. So one of the things he did was he set up a little one on one client happy hour, where he said, we're going to come on, we’re going to each drink of beer, and then we're going to just go through the Zoom thing together, so we can learn, and you'll be able to learn a few things. They had the video, they had some fun, and then he ended up closing business from that call, all because he was able to kind of teach them technology. That's a whole other element that you could do for your clients who aren't as technically savvy is show them how to do it, and they're going to like it more than you probably think they would.

David DeCelle  23:05

Are there any things that folks should be avoiding as it relates to video calls or structuring meetings in that sense? Any, hey, do not do this, or is it pretty much make sure you get your video on, make sure you're doing some sharing along the way? What are some of those best practices or things to avoid?

Brendan Barca  23:23

I would say one thing to avoid is having a distracting background or having a video angle that is not, for lack of better words, glamorous for you. So for example, we want to have our video at a good level where we're speaking to each other directly, rather than having it up our nose, or like coming down at us too far — exactly, you're moving your screen. So we want to avoid that. And I think the easiest way to do it is to prop your computer up on some books or have an elevated desk, and that's gonna be a good way for it to be at eye level. The other thing too, is I did see some people using the virtual backgrounds in the beginning because it seemed fun to be on a beach or to pretend you're in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. But I think that those can be distracting, sometimes unprofessional, depending on what they are. And also sometimes your face can get lost in the green screen and your hands will get come out of nowhere. So I'd be really careful around those and only use them when you're in a pinch, maybe say a call from your basement or from your bedroom, then you can maybe pull it up. But ultimately, what you want to do is have a good natural background that's not going to be distracting, where people can focus on you, your face, and what you're communicating, rather than what's going on behind you like a crazy bookshelf or the beach.

David DeCelle  24:31

So you had mentioned before in terms of using Google to be able to help grow business as well. What do you mean by that?

Brendan Barca  24:37

Yeah, so one of the biggest things that I've been working on in the last four or five months with advisors is teaching them how to optimize their Google ranking to get more prospects to their website. And as you may know, as a former advisor and a small business owner on Google, you can set up what's called your Google My Business listing, which essentially is a free service that allows any small business to have their profile up on Google, with their photos, with their link, their phone number. Just like almost having a Yelp listing if you're a restaurant, you can do the same thing on Google. So one of the biggest things we've been teaching this summer to advisors is how to make sure that your page on Google is showing up ahead of other advisors in your community. So for example, if you are in Oak Park, Illinois, which I think is a suburb of Chicago, then you want to make sure that if someone types into Google ‘financial advisor near Oak Park, Illinois,’ that your branch is going to show up higher than the other competitor broker dealer down the street. And the way you would do that is through a few simple optimization tips that I teach in some of these seminars. And we can kind of go into those if you want, but essentially, that's what we're teaching. It's not really a prospecting play, like we're not actively going out and prospecting through Google, but rather a marketing play of trying to get more discoverable and get more people to your website so they can get familiar with your brand. Which is important for both the vetting process if people are trying to check you out, but also for prospects who may want to look for an advisor in their area.

David DeCelle  25:59

Is there anything that you're helping advisors with regarding the transition to more of the digital age that I have not asked yet?

Brendan Barca  26:09

That's a good question. I think the primary items that I've been working on in the last year or so have been LinkedIn, have been virtual meetings, and it has been the Google, which has been the newest one. So those are the three primary focuses that I've been sharing so far. So I think we've covered them.

David DeCelle  26:24

Awesome. So one of the things I want to transition to before we end up signing off is, as you know in working with advisors, advisors typically spend a lot of time learning and staying up to speed with current events and planning topics and investment strategies, and a lot of their learning is within the confines of our industry. But, as we know, there's a lot of other great ideas that are not related to our industry that can ultimately be applied to our industry. So part of the reason why I ask our guests what your favorite book is, or one of them at least, is to promote learning outside of the industry. So the one that you had made a note on is The 4-Hour Workweek, and I'm pretty sure that's Tim Ferriss, and I had read that; that was a beast of a book. It's like the size of the Bible. But I guess with that being said, what made you pick that book and tell me a little bit about the impact that it's had on you?

Brendan Barca  27:14

Yes, so I was reading that book, I think about five years ago, when essentially I was trying to figure out what I want to do with my career, figure out how to maybe start a business. And, for me at that point in my life, I think the book really opened up a lot of information and ways of doing business that was different than what I traditionally been taught both from school and also from sort of the corporate world. And essentially, if you haven't read the book, what Tim Ferriss teaches is how to start what he calls like a lifestyle business. So essentially being able to work and run a business fully remotely, and to be able to mix and marry work life with personal life. And he also gives a lot of strategies, essentially how to do that. So whether you are an advisor who's trying to get more time back in your day because you have so many clients to work with, or you're someone who's trying to start their own practice or their own business, I think this book could be really impactful as it's going to really teach you some new ideas that probably you haven't thought of before. I know for me, it really was the beginning of starting to think differently and create something from scratch. And I still bring that book with me on my travels. It's funny you say it's as big as the Bible because actually, I don't think it's that big. It's just a normal size book. You might be thinking of a different one of his; he has some bigger ones. But it's something you can travel with pretty easily as I take it with me to Costa Rica and back. So it's worth getting.

David DeCelle  28:28

Because that book has what like orange and yellow sort of color scheme, if I'm not mistaken. I think it's called Tools of Titans. That's the one that's really big. Just to clarify.

Brendan Barca  28:39

Tools of Titans is Tim Ferriss, one of his more recent books. The original book he wrote was The 4-Hour Workweek. So that was back in 2008, I think, but this one came out maybe a decade later. So that was more of a brick that would be hard to travel around. The 4-Hour Workweek is much more digestible. So I'd start there, for those of you trying to look for new creative ways to either run your own business that exists now or a new business.

David DeCelle  28:59

Well, what I think is cool, just for everyone listening, haven't gotten to know Brendan a little bit over the past four or five months or so. But it's been cool to see remembering what I do from The 4-Hour Workweek that you're actually to a degree living that. Not literally working four hours a week, but the idea of flexibility, the idea of leveraged products and services, the idea of speaking to a group of 100 people at a time as opposed to 100 different meetings with individuals. So it's just cool to see that there's ideas outside the industry that you've consumed, taken action on, and are now benefiting from the flexibility in this case. So for those of you who are listening, whatever aspects of your life that you think you can improve or that you want to maximize, go and learn about it and take action on it and in a short amount of time, you can start living that to a degree. So it's just been cool to see that from my perspective, Brendan.

Brendan Barca  29:52

One more thought around that from the book itself. I was talking to advisor from a wire house recently and one of the challenges he's had, he's had a really successful career, over a billion dollars in AUM. But one of the things is that all these different clients, whether it's 401(k) clients or its individual clients is that he's lost a lot of time in trying to manage the entire book of business. So, one of the concepts they talked about in The 4-Hour Workweek is the 80/20 principle, which comes from actually a few centuries ago, which essentially says that 80% of your happiness, or 80% of your income, comes from 20% of your output. So if you think about as an advisor, that 20% of your book that's probably getting you the 80% of your income, what you should be doing is doubling down on those folks and working on ways to almost offload the other people that may be weighing you down from a time standpoint, or aren't giving you the income that you want to create the life that you desire. So that's just one great concept you can get from the book, or just Google 80/20 principle, and you'll learn all about it, because it's really from another philosopher from a few centuries ago.

David DeCelle  30:51

Love it. So if some folks would like to learn more about what you have to offer, maybe dive deeper on some of the stuff that we talked about today, where would you like to direct them?

Brendan Barca  31:01

So people can find me in two places. First of all, I am as LinkedIn advocate, I'm all over LinkedIn. So you can just search for my name, Brendan Barca, and you'll find me there, or my website is just BrendanBarca.com. And on the website itself, there's probably two ways to get to know me a little bit better. First of all, I do have a blog that is actually unrelated to LinkedIn or Google; it's more just about personal development, and different ideas. Like just like those ideas we talked about with the 80/20 principle. So I do have a blog from our website you can subscribe to. I also do have a LinkedIn online course for those who are looking to try to go deeper into LinkedIn and learn on your own. So either LinkedIn or my website, BrendanBarca.com.

David DeCelle  31:39

Awesome. And those will be linked in the show notes as well, if you scroll down on whatever platform you're listening to. But with that, for everyone listening, we appreciate you taking the time to do so. Please go ahead and click the Share button and share this with some folks that you think may find some value in this as well. Any folks out there who are still resistant to becoming a little bit more digital, this may be the episode to share with them. So we'd really appreciate that, and we'd love your feedback as well. So with that being said, Brendan, I appreciate the time today, and I look forward to our continued collaboration.

Brendan Barca  32:15

Yeah, thanks so much, Dave. This has been fun and hopefully everyone gets some great tips out of today's episode.

David DeCelle  32:20

Awesome. Take care.