Kurt Dupuis:
Welcome to The Whole Truth, where two wholesalers help financial professionals build great practices and thrive in a rapidly changing industry. We'll bring you the stories and voices from those on the front lines of this change, and we'll have some fun along the way.
Steve Seid:
This is more than a podcast. We're building a community of financial professionals who are growing, forward thinking and want to get better. Thanks for listening and contributing to the discussion.
Disclosure:
The views expressed herein are those of the participants and not those of Touchstone Investments.
Steve Seid:
And welcome everybody to The Whole Truth from the Bay Area, California. I am Steve Seid.
Kurt Dupuis:
And I am Kurt Dupuis.
Steve Seid:
We got a really, really fun show today. Richard Weylman is on. A lot of you may know him. He's been in the industry for a long, long time. He's been a coach at all the major wirehouses, I'm pretty sure. And actually, Touchstone has a longstanding relationship with him as well. We would bring him in to do these coaching meetings. But the way we'd structure a day is we'd have individual team coaching sessions throughout the day. So, we did a pre-call with team, they'd sit down with the coach for an hour, Richard would go through and coach them on what they wanted to work on, et cetera. But what would happen was, after the coach comes in, unless you're going to pay Richard for an ongoing relationship, he's going to go. I mean, he's got things all around the country that he's got to get to all the time. And so, what I had to do is step in and actually help people to execute on what we talked about. And some of the origins of what we do were stimulated or brought forth by Richard Weylman.
Kurt Dupuis:
I only know the name and sort of the lore of Richard Weylman. But when I started going down the same coaching practice management path, we had tons of stuff on our internal drives about “Transition to advisory”
Steve Seid:
The tools, yeah.
Kurt Dupuis:
“Psychological Needs for the Affluent”, “90 day Elevation Plans”. A lot of the construct of that I think came from him, best I can tell, because there's just a treasure trove of stuff we have internally that all came from him. So, I never met the guy. And as you'll find out, I was sick for this episode, but his influence lives on at Touchstone.
Steve Seid:
And the tools are a good thing to bring up. You hear a lot of people talk about practice management ideas, but it's all in the execution. And Richard gave us all these tools to help people execute. So, that was really great. And as you'll see, if you don't know, he's a really big personality, he's a confident guy, he's got great stories, he's really, really funny. So I think everyone will really enjoy this episode.
Kurt Dupuis:
Before we get into our interview with Richard Weylman, make sure you smash that subscribe button, tell a friend. And if you have a question, comment, or critique, make sure to send that to us at thewholetruth@touchstonefunds.com. Seid reads those late on Friday night when he's alone. And without further ado, here's our interview with Richard Weylman.
Steve Seid:
Richard, I want to start with a story with you because I'm not entirely sure that you know what a humongous impact that you've had on my career, but also Touchstone as an organization. And I want to start there.
We did events, God, it was a bunch of years ago at this time, maybe four or five years ago, where we would run around Northern California, we'd line up a day where you would either do a keynote or we'd line up six or seven teams. And so, Richard would come in and he had background on the teams themselves and understood what they wanted to work on, what their challenges, what their pain points were, and he would coach them and we'd do an hour session.
The reason that you were such an impact on me was after you had identified those challenges and the solutions and what you wanted the teams to work on, you have other places to be, so you get on a plane and go. And it was up to me, through using your tools, to actually help these teams take action. That forced me, and I was going to be a consultant type approach anyways, but it really did force me to work with the teams in a consulting type relationship. And I got to tell you, it completely changed who I am as a wholesaler and who we are as a firm. So, I just got to start off and say, thank you.
Richard Weylman:
Well, thank you, Steve. It was my privilege. And yes, we had a couple of years there of running the roads pretty hard throughout the Touchstone footprints. So, thank you for that. And most importantly, thanks for following up with the teams with the tools, because to know and not to do is just as good as not to know, as my good friend, the late Jim Rohn, used to say. So, that's a good point. Thank you.
Steve Seid:
There's probably sometimes you wonder, oh, is that person going to be able to execute? Do you have a feeling about that? Do you go, "Okay, is this wholesaler going to be able to move the needle on that?" Or what's your honest assessment of that?
Richard Weylman:
I think most providers of product, once they come to the realization that building out, shall we say, a successful business is not all about the product. In fact, it's less about the product and more about the relationship.
Steve Seid:
Yeah.
Richard Weylman:
So, the more that they invest in helping, we'll say, advisors to really accomplish whatever it is the advisor want. It might be scaling the practice, growing the practice, elevating service, man, there is a whole list of things that people are attempting to solve. As long as the wholesaler has the mindset that I'm not just here to sell, but I'm here to build a thoughtful, caring relationship and help you to accomplish Mr. or Ms. Advisor, whatever you want, that just changes the game. Now to your specific question, yeah, there's lots of gun slingers out there.
Steve Seid:
Yeah. And I don't mean to beat up another wholesaler, I’m sure there’s differences...
Richard Weylman:
No, no, no. It is what it is. They're driven by the data point as opposed to being driven by their role. Because in the end, if you really look at the industry, and this applies to advisors as well as wholesalers, the truth is thoughtful, caring relationships drives revenue. Period.
Steve Seid:
Yeah.
Richard Weylman:
That's it. I mean, that is it. And I always get to that. And I can always tell because I'll mention that to a new wholesaler, and they'll say, "Yeah, but." And you are like, "Okay, this is going to be exciting."
Steve Seid:
I concur a hundred percent. And it was nice to get a head start. It seems like the industry is trying to get there in terms of wanting elevated wholesaler experiences that drive those types of relationships, but we've been doing it long time, and a big thanks to you for that. But let's jump into it. I was first exposed to you, you did a keynote presentation, I think it was a Touchstone National Sales Meeting, and you talked about your background, which was a really compelling story. So, I wonder if you can cover that background. And specifically talking about, there's a phrase that I saw in your book, which we'll get to, about how you were a student of the affluent. So, maybe if you can cover those two things.
Richard Weylman:
Okay. Just very briefly as far as background. Some people say, "Well, that was a fortunate background." But actually, I was very fortunate, in the sense that I never had call reluctance, in that regard. Because my parents died when I was a little kid. My mother died when I was five, my dad died when I was six. And so, I went into foster care. I lived in 19 different foster homes, went to 11 different schools. And so, I slept in attics and basements. I mean, they were foster people trying to move their life and your life forward at the same time. And in those days, if you got attached to the family, the social workers would move you because you weren't up for adoption. So, long story short, and I say it's an advantage primarily because my very first sales job is selling cookware door to door. And the guy said, "Now, the disadvantage of this job. You're going to have to go into strangers houses." I'm like, "Well, what? That's no big deal. I've been living that my whole life."
Steve Seid:
It's been my whole life.
Richard Weylman:
I just never had that sense of disconnect to that idea. But the key was even when... At 18, you go out of foster care, you get aged out, and they take you to a rooming house and give you a hundred dollars, and they pay the rent, $15 a week, for the next month. But what occurred to me was that if I was going to get involved in understanding the affluent or becoming affluent... Because I made a decision early in my life, I wasn't going to live in basements for the rest of my life. And I remember the decision very well. I'm not going to let this define me, I suppose, we'd say it in today's terms, but I just made a decision that someday I was not going to be living in basements and attics. And so, I became a student of the affluent.
And when I tell you that, some of the books that people know that I've read, they're like, "Who reads Julia Childs?" Who reads… I even studied what plate setting and how to set a table and how to work from the outside in and the inside out and what the fork and the spoon at the top of the plate meant and all those things. So, I really became a student of the affluent.
Of course, it served me very well as I went on later in life. I was involved in lots of door-to-door selling industrial supplies. But then of course, as you know, I got involved with Porsche. We were number one worldwide for 22 straight months from the month I took over in a dealership. And then I was with Rolls-Royce for many years. We built the third largest Rolls-Royce dealership network in the world. And on and on it goes.
I was on a plane and a guy was looking at me weird because I'm reading Vogue, but I like to read Vogue because I can see the new colorations coming and all of those things. Because these are things that people, I just think today you have to be very aware of lots of things and not the least of which is the shifts and changes in the marketplace and how people think today. So, this long answer, I hope that was helpful.
Steve Seid:
No, it's great. I love hearing your story. And I could ask you a lot more questions, but we'll transition just to... Then, how do you become a coach in our industry?
Richard Weylman:
Well, that was a great question. I am asked that a lot. "Well, when did you decide to become a coach?" I really didn't decide. And I'll tell you what I mean by that. As you know, I speak, and I speak at a lot of conferences and I've written a lot of books and textbooks and videos and all that stuff. But as a result of speaking, I speak in a topic and then it would be like, "Well, wow. Could you consult with us and help us to, whatever the topic was, execute this?" And I had about 20 something companies that when I had spoken, the CEO would reach out or the head of something and say, "We really got it, but we need to have consult and help us to put this in a strategic plan." As an example.
Steve Seid:
Right.
Richard Weylman:
Well, that was great, and I enjoy consulting. But what dawned on me very early is it's all good to share the ideas and how to do it, but what dawned on me is, most organizations really need somebody to come alongside them, not as a consultant, but as really someone that they can use as a sounding board, that will coach them and help them execute. So, that's what really moved me into the coaching. But then, of course, we've got a big platform now. We've got six full time coaches, all very senior people, they've all built their own businesses, et cetera.
But our whole objective on the coaching side is identify, first, what are the two or three or five, whatever things might be, that you as an advisor, as a business, want to accomplish. That's first. Then I set the strategy in place. Then we lay out sequential tactics to be able to execute. And we help them execute through the process.
I built my online university at The Weylman Center a few years ago. We have now 41 courses under there, Steve.
Steve Seid:
Wow.
Richard Weylman:
But I originally built it to help with coaching. Because instead of doing a coaching call, "Okay, Steve, write this down. You need to do this there big boy." And people were like, "I can't write that fast." So, I was like, "Well, wait a minute. Why don't I just put all this on video, and then I'll sign you into video, Steve, and then we'll have a call on execution."
Steve Seid:
Wow, I love this.
Richard Weylman:
Well, it was a game changer. So, that's how I got into coaching. I was just concerned that people wanted to do it, but really needed some tactical guidance on how to really execute it in their practice.
Steve Seid:
So, you've got this organization, you talked about the library, but how did you end up hiring other coaches? How do the six of you work together? How do teams communicate with you guys?
Richard Weylman:
The way I have built out my coaching division is we have a research division, the speaking community... I’ve got way too many divisions. I got to get into multiplication. But anyhow, be that as it may. But just candidly, people that I coached and counseled or consulted with or have heard me speak, and I produced lots of coursework over the years, and they would use that coursework or that workbook or whatever. And they had very substantial success. Most of them moved into leadership in their firms. Now they come to a point, they either A, had a liquidity event, or B, decided I want to get out of working for this company and I just want to coach. So, they dial 1-800-Hey Richard, can I come there?" And so, that's how it's all worked out.
Steve Seid:
Fantastic. You personally have been coaching teams for a long, long time. Maybe talk about some of the common challenges and opportunities that you've seen that are almost, I don't want to say universal, but come up the most. And has that changed over time?
Richard Weylman:
Some of it has changed. But here's the common challenges, we'll call these the biggest. Number one, roles and responsibilities aren't clearly defined in most teams. And I'm talking about a team of two where you got the advisory and the assistant, roles are not clearly defined. Awful lot of time is spent on duplication, et cetera. So, one is not clear roles and responsibility. Second, the time value of service. We developed a process where we actually help an advisor analyze the cost of servicing a client. You'd be shocked if I told you that people have C clients, people with less assets or small life insurance or whatever. And I got a team right now, they're spending over $7,000 a year servicing C clients. You can't get there from here. And so we do a full analysis of what it really costs to run that practice, let's call it that. So, one is roles and responsibilities. Two is efficiency of the practice, what are you really investing in, in terms of client service. And I use that as a loose term, it's really client experience. So, that's two big ones.
The third one that's pretty common is most firms and most teams and even most advisors, they are, shall we say, they're speaking in writing and communicating at people, not with people. So, what happens is, somebody says, "Well, why should I do business with you?" And they get a, people used to call them elevator speeches. I don't know anybody who closed anybody from the first floor to the fourth floor, but maybe that's why they call it an elevator speech. But the important thing is, it's usually all about them. And I have an RIA right now. We just looked at their... If you send in a note, I'd like to have an engagement with you in the inquiry form, you got to see the email you get back. Holy Moly Cannoli. Who would read it? Let's start off, our base fee is. That's like, okay, that's good, let's start off on price. That's always a good start.
So, the roles, responsibilities, efficiency in the practice in terms of what you're really spending in marketing and service to service a household. The fourth piece of the puzzle is really communicating at people, not with them. And the industry is rife with this. I can give you many stories and I won't, but suffice to say it's a real problem, and the consumer is really turned off by it.
And I think the other thing that we see now, a major challenge, is there's really no organized sense of giving the client an elevated experience. Most advisors that we see in teams, they think that good service is good enough. And that is a real problem. Because 2022 is an example by the major marketing firms that we have the privilege of interfacing with, I'm talking about Fortune 50 companies, all those CMOs, Chief Marketing Officers had declared 2022 as the year of the customer or client experience.
Steve Seid:
Hmmm.
Richar Weylman:
Because the matter is, people today, one bad experience, they could leave you. What used to be, Steve, if somebody was upset about what you did, they'd call your boss. Now, they're going to go online and basically, how shall we say, vilify you in every possible way as a keyboard warrior. So, reputation really matters today, and what people say really matters, and the experience that people have is really critical.
I can give you really 30 second stories. I was speaking to a large audience, doing a keynote on elevating the client experience to stand apart from the competition. I told a story that I saw on LinkedIn that morning. And I just said, I saw on LinkedIn this morning, this young lady posted about her cat. And she had placed an order with Chewy. And it was a standing order, thee cat food came every month. And it was great. Except it came in October, and she called Chewy and said, "I can't take this order because my cats died."
I said, what if Chewy's customer service rep said, "Absolutely no way you're returning that order." No way. You donate it to the shelter, we're going to give you a hundred percent credit on your bill. We're so sorry for your loss. Well, of course that was a…
Steve Seid:
Oh wow.
Richard Weylman:
…nd so, what does the audience do? “Oh my God.”
Steve Seid:
Yeah.
Richard Weylman:
Then I said, but that's not the rest of the story. Two days later, she got a bouquet of flowers and a condolence card from Chewy customer service rep.
Steve Seid:
Wow.
Richard Weylman:
I finished it and this woman stood up in the middle of the audience. She yelled, "That was my cat."
Steve Seid:
You’re kidding!
Richard Weylman:
I said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I had no idea she was here." And it was amazing. And she said, “Yes!” And I said, "You saw how many people shared that?" She said, “Yes! It was incredible!” I said, "Ladies and gentlemen, what does this tell us?" And the whole audience, I mean, we're talking about a ballroom full, start chanting, "We're switching to Chewy, we’re switching to"…
Steve Seid:
Heck yeah! Yes!!
Richard Weylman:
So, to the point, those are things that people need to pay attention. Roles, responsibilities, efficiencies, communicate with not at, really understanding a good service is not good enough, and really have a brand promise that resonates with people, that is a ridiculously unique, value proposition. People know the difference between a proposition and a promise. Let's not be confused here.
Steve Seid:
I'm so thankful you told that story because we can all think back at a brand or an experience or a company where they did that just little extra thing and that thoughtful thing, and you go, "Oh my God." I'm a client for life. How would you grade our industry? Are we doing better on client experience? Are you seeing financial professionals up their game? Or do you feel like we're losing ground?
Richard Weylman:
So, a couple of things. Roles and responsibilities, the industry's way behind. Elevating the client experience, the average advisor, I'm speaking of the average, is way behind the ball on that. Way behind. The industry is behind the ball. I mean, I still get emails that say “Best”. I'd send it to Steve and I'd say “Best”. Consumers hate that. Or sincerely yours, that's another one. The industry sends out, “Feel free to call”. Well, shut up. I'm paying you. What do you mean feel free to call? How about feel welcome to call. Would that be good? Maybe you could be a little more gracious to me. I'm not asking for much, but could you communicate with me instead of at me? I mean all these little tiny things that resonate with people...
And here's the final point on that Steve, people want to feel like they're in the right place. So, if you're communicating at them, you're not elevating the experience. You think good service is good enough, you don't have a structured experience in terms of connecting with them. Even on the service side of the business... I have people say, "I do reviews. We keep track. We look and see how long it's been since we talked to somebody, then we call them." What is that? Can't you have a structured communication plan? Little things. Send special notes on special days. People say, "I send a birthday card." Well, how about when I made my first purchase from you? "What do you mean?" Oh, I made my first investment. How about congratulations on another successful year as an investor or as a client or with your insurance policy or whatever the case might be.
How about, what are you doing for Mother's day? I got a team that we worked on down in Texas last year. "Well, we're going to send mother's day cards." And I'm like, "Why would you do that?" "Well, it's Mothers Day." I said, "Yeah, but they're going to get lots of Mother’s Day cards. Why don't you just pick up your phone and record this, “I just want to say happy mothers day to you. Thank you for all you do for your family. Thank you so much for what you do for the community. Mothers really make the world go around. And we're just so grateful to have you as a client and send it to all of your clients." And guess what? They did. They got hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of new assets. Why? Because she got it and forwarded it onto somebody else and said, “Look what my advisor did!”
These are all little things, but they're a big deal. We want to send swag with our company name on it. That's a good thing. We'll send it with our name on it. Really? Why don't you just... Look. Fourth of July's coming. Why don't you send them all ball caps with their name on it? If their name is Schwartz, send them 15 ball caps that say Schwartz on the front. So, when they have the fourth of July, everybody gets together. "Where'd you get those?" "My advisor."
I mean, all these things that elevate the industry is so far behind. We still think good service is good enough. There's not a real sense of connection with people. We meet in the marketplace, we say nice to meet you, which I can tell you from all of our work in the luxury space and the affluent space, they absolutely don't like that. Number one, they're not sure it's nice to meet you until they get to know you. But the second thing that really is important is, if you would say, “Nice to see you.” that puts people at ease, it creates a conversational point. Anyway, I could keep going for a couple of days here and I don't want to do that to you, but is that helpful?
Steve Seid:
Oh no, that's fantastic. And I have to tell you, I have never said nice to meet you again since you and I were working together. Anytime I'm at an event... And I'm bad because I can remember faces but I don't always remember names when there's a lot of people. And so, it's always “Nice to see you”. You've got me doing that. But the bigger point is, Richard's got tons and tons of tips like that. Some of this stuff is not labor intensive, to do what he was just talking about with Mother's Day. So, visit Richard's website, engage with him to learn more about that.
Let's transition if we can to your book, which is called, “The Power of Why: Breaking Out in a Competitive Marketplace”. I've had it for years. I've read it multiple times. I have copies. For anybody in the audience that wants to get a copy, reach out to me please, or the thewholetruth@touchstonefunds.com. Why did you name it that?
Richard Weylman:
I'm weird, but I can't write till I get a title. I got all this... And I came back to the park with my son, Rolex, the wonder dog. I walked in the house. My wife looked at me and said, "Aha, you got the title." I said, "Yes. I'll see you in six months." And I write every day. So, the reason I call it The Power of Why, I realized, it just hit me like an epiphany, people want to know why should I do business with you?
And it dawned on me as I was studying brands, FedEx, Fed rebranded, “When you absolutely positively need it there overnight”. Pretty clear what the outcome might be there. Okay? I looked at La-Z-Boy furniture, “Living life comfortably”. I looked at Walmart, “Low prices every day” - they're a sinking ship. They get a new CEO, “Save money, live better”. So, it dawned on me, what people want is clarity about why I should do business with you, and there was power in that.
If I could clearly communicate the power of why you should do business with me, well, that gets... Hear this. It helps you to want to engage.
Steve Seid:
Wow.
Richard Weylman:
You see today, the consumer is past convincing. What you've got to do to reach a consumer is you've got to create curiosity. How do you create curiosity? Make a statement about value, where people go, "How do you do that?" I don't know about you, but it's wonderful when they ask the question. Nothing like opting in for more information. So, that's how I came up with the title, The Power of Why. And I was thinking, but what does that do? Well, it helps you to break out in a competitive marketplace, because everybody sounds the same. We have great products, we have great service, we have good this, we have great trucks, we got this, we got that.
I looked at Old Dominion Freight Company. That young kid took over from his dad. His grandfather, then his dad. His dad died unexpectedly. He's in his early thirties. A little tiny freight company. But it dawned on him. He came to his own epiphany. And, ‘Helping the world keep its promises”, that's a big statement if you're a trucking company in Virginia, helping the world keep its promises. But today they're arguably the largest trucking company in North America. Why? Because every suppliers like, "I'm sick and tired of deliveries being late. I need to call somebody that's going to help us keep our promises. Sign me up."
So, that's why I came up with the title because I realized if people could understand how to communicate value, the power of why people should do business would be a game changer. And it's in seven languages now.
Steve Seid:
Yeah. It's a great read. And like I said, reach out if you want a copy of the book. Let's get through some of those chapters. First, you deal with “Unique Value Promise”, which you referenced before, which is an interesting way to phrase that. So, maybe talk about that for a moment.
Richard Weylman:
Two things. You need to come up with a unique value proposition. Well, unique, that very word says there's nothing else like it. Good luck. Okay? That's what the word unique really means. So, a unique value proposition. It is a proposition, it's not a promise. And what I discovered in all of our research. That people are looking for a promise of outcome.
Now, in the financial world, we say, "Oh, well we can't make a promise because compliance will beat our brains out." Yeah, but you can tell people that, "I love what I do because my clients say I help them get their financial life in balance." And that's a win. Go talk to your top 10 clients. And guess what? When that advisor interviews the clients and the guy is, "Nah, I'm not doing business with you because you give me great returns. I do business with you because you really helped me keep my financial life in balance." Or, "You've helped me manage complex financial decisions." Or, "You're always there for me when I need you." Well, that is a spectacular outcome. And individuals just like that in the marketplace, that you would target, they're going to resonate to that same message because your clients are going to speak in their voice. The problem with advisors, we speak in our voice. "I'm wonderful. You don't believe it. Check out my website."
Steve Seid:
Yeah, that's awesome. And comment on a piece of language that you use, I should say a phrase that you use, which is, “but before we get to all of that”. And that's helped so many people I've worked with because people have trouble making that transition from certain types of relationships into a business relationship. And that specific phrase is really powerful. Can you spend a minute there?
Richard Weylman:
Sure, absolutely. First thing you have to recognize is that people already have the power. You can go online today... When the internet first came out, you've typed in financial plan, you might get a hundred links today. Today, you're going to be fortunate if you can get past the first 100,000 links. So, you have to ask yourself, okay, they already got the power to get the information. So, here's why that works. You're essentially saying this conversation's not about me, Steve, it's about you. So, may I illustrate for you, Steve?
Steve Seid:
Yeah.
Richard Weylman:
Let's say this. All right. Steve, thanks for meeting with me today. I'm really thrilled we had this opportunity to have a conversation. And I really enjoy what I do because my clients say I help them get their financial life in balance. And that's such a pleasure for me. But before we get to all of that, what are three things you're most concerned about when it comes to getting your financial life in balance?
So, what have I done? I've set the table that this conversation is not about me, but rather it's about... Before we get to all of that, I'm giving them the power back. And I can tell you over the years people have told me, "Richard," they're shocked. They're like, "Oh, I wasn't expecting that." Which is sort of good.
And the other nice thing about it is if you... As an example, I enjoy what I do as a financial advisor because my clients say I, whatever, help them navigate complex financial decisions. That's called third party endorsement. For all my “reality psychology” majors, you're like, "Holy moly. That was book six." That's exactly right. So, you get implied endorsement without being implied that you're violating some rule.
But before we get to all of that, so what you're saying is, I'm going to set myself aside here, Steve. I don't want to talk about me. Let's focus on what are three things you're most concerned of. Not one thing. What are three things? Because trilogy questions are important. And pay attention to the third answer because that's the one they don't want to talk about, but it is the one that will move the needle.
I just had a situation in Las Vegas at the Four Seasons hotel. In the suite, this couple, very wealthy couple. These two advisors who we’re coaching, they got a meeting, they go. They're brothers. And I said, "Now, when you go in there and you sit down, make sure you don't start talking all about you. What I want you to do is just say, here's what we do. But before we get to all of that, turn to her and say, what are three things you're most concerned about when it comes to your legacy? Because you already know that she's the one that didn't really want to have the meeting. So, get her engaged early."
Now, they go into the suite. This is the Four Seasons, Las Vegas, where there is no gambling. It's next door through the tunnel. She's sitting on a couch in the presidential suite at 8:30 in the morning, smoking a cigarette, drinking a cocktail. She says to the guys, "If this meeting's boring boys, I'm going to go next door and gamble." They turned to her and said, "We love what we do because the families we work with say that we really help them have the legacy that they want for their children and their grandchildren. But before we get to all of that, what are three things you'd like to have as a legacy?" I won't mention names, and I'll say Mrs. Wilson. She talked for 45 minutes. She turned to her husband and said, "Honey, that money we have was over 30 million with another firm. She said, "Those people don't care about us at all. These guys, they're the real deal. You give them all the money." And she said, "Boys, I'm out of cigarettes. I'm going next door. He'll take care of transferring it for us." And left the suite.
Steve Seid:
Wow.
Richard Welyman:
Why did that happen?
Steve Seid:
Because they made it about her.
Richard Weylman:
Yeah. Now, I'll flip you another one. I had another team that flew all the way to Houston, got picked up by a client, driven to a prospect's office. Now, think about this. I fly in to Houston, I get picked up by my client who referred me, drives me to this guy, he's a CEO of a big organization there. The team, three people walk in, sit down with this CEO and what do you think they said. And he said, "Well, I'm just curious why we should do business. I know that, I'll just say, Marty said that I should meet with you. So, I'm just curious. I have about 10 million in cash, I've got stock options. But I'm just concerned. Why should I be doing business? I just want to get a sense here."
These guys talk for about 10 or 15 minutes all about, we're a firm and we have strategy this, we have that, we have this. And then he was like, "Oh, excuse me. I'm getting up." He said, "Sorry guys. I got an emergency. I've got to take. I know you flew all the way here, but nothing I can do. We'll have to reschedule. I'll get back to you."
Before they got back to the airport, they got an email from him. "This entire meeting was all about you. I thought you were here to help me. I'll keep my money where it is. Thank you."
Steve Seid:
Wow.
Richard Weylman:
They ended up losing the guy that referred them.
Steve Seid:
Oh my gosh.
Richard Weylman:
He moved his money too because he was, "embarrassed." And more importantly, really understand, before we get to all of that, what are you interested in there big boy? What are you interested in there Mrs. Wilson?
Steve Seid:
Yeah. Let me ask you to spend a minute on niche marketing. A lot of this discussion here has been about client experience and making it about them. Specifically when it comes to niches, how do you coach that? That seems like a natural way to be able to deliver the type of experience that you're talking about.
Richard Weylman:
Gosh, you're so on the money, Steve. Unfortunately, it's an unnatural way in the industry. So, we hire somebody, why don’t you get on the phone and call your friends and family. Dial 1-800,-I need the money so I can qualify. This is spectacular. Why should you focus on niche markets? Well, let's just look at the research. Forget all the rest of it. Let's just look at the consumer. Pre-pandemic 67% of consumers said they belonged to something that supported what they did for a living or recreation or special interest that could be ethnic, charitable church, synagogue, whatever, mosque. So, 67%, it's a pretty high number. And about 30, depending on which ones we pulled, it ran right into 31, 32% was the average number of people in that group. So, we got 67% said that they belonged to something. And about, we'll say a third of them said it was important to work with an advisor in their network. So, a good number, but not critical crazy.
However, since the pandemic, 87% of a thousand people we surveyed said they belong to some organizations that worked what they do for a living, recreation specially. Now, the pandemic drove that because that was the safety net for a lot of people, those networks they can do virtually. 87%, Steve. I mean, that's a 20 point jump.
Steve Seid:
Yeah.
Richard Weylman:
But here's the big number. 71% now said that they want to work with an advisor that's working with people in their network. 71%. That's a 40 point bump.
Now again, why? Number one, people think their situation is unique. They want to work with somebody that knows them and knows about them. So, this has been a massive shift. What's important is, the consumer said, I want to work with an advisor that's in my network and knows and understands me. And it's really important for advisors to carve out their niche.
Now, the question is how? And the challenge is, there are so called gurus out there that are making it so hard for somebody to figure this out. People are abandoning the idea of carving out a niche. It's real simple. The first thing you do is take your top, pick a number, we like to do 15, you can do 10. Take your top 10 or 15 clients, call them on the phone and find out what organizations they belong to, support, what they do for a living, recreation, special interest. Spreadsheet it. And guess what? You're going to uncover massive opportunities.
Like a team we're coaching in North Carolina right now, turns out her best client is a membership sheriff for the State Association of Pharmacists. It's pretty handy. It's pretty handy. You know what I mean? It is pretty handy. He's a delighted advocate. He's like, "I'll just introduce you all. I got their cell phones or email. Let's just set up a cluster. And every week I'll send you a cluster of them and tell them to respond to you." I mean, her mind's blown. She's like, "This is incredible."
I got a guy on Honolulu where I am today. And he started 18 months ago, he is got 147 doctors here in Honolulu as clients. Why? He got in the network.
So, there's a message here. The best advisors in the industry now have got two or three markets where people network and communicate. They're set. There are at least 250, 300 people in a group. And they become the go to gal or the go to guy for that organization, they become a resource, they make it a market, they get involved in the market, they join the committees, they serve, they do the things that say, “I am here for you.”
And the other beauty of it is, Steve, is once you get into, let's say in a market, whatever that might be or a network, it's very easy to get warm introductions. People today do not want to be involved in a referral process. They absolutely hate it.
Steve Seid:
Yeah.
Richard Weylman:
I don't want to get involved in my friend's financial life. We polled them, a thousand people. 16% said, when we ask the question, how comfortable are you introducing your advisor to someone that you know that needs financial advice, 16% said, I want to get involved in referrals.
Steve Seid:
That’s not surprising.
Richard Weylman:
So, then we ask the question, how comfortable would you be introducing your advisor to people in your network? 81%.
Steve Seid:
There you go.
Richard Weylman:
If I sat down and said, Steve, here's the names of 10 podiatrists here in San Francisco, California I would like to meet. You're a podiatrist. The possibility is, it's pretty likely that you might know one or two.
Steve Seid:
Right.
Richard Weylman:
And then I could simply ask the question You know, I did a whole course on this. So, what would I ask? I was just simple. I'd say, here's the names of 10 podiatrists. Who do you know? Which ones know you? You go down the list. You give me the back door. Say, "How would I go about meeting these people?" And you know what Eisner taught me? When I called Eisner, he said, "Oh, advisors asked these dumb dead stare questions. How would I go about meeting them?" And the client said, "Oh, I don't know. Suggest. Should I do a little golf, hunting? Would we do a dinner? Better yet, George, what would you do?" They go, "No, no, no. Let me tell you how we're going to do this." And all of a sudden the client's on board.
And I've got a group we're working. I mean, it's unbe... They're averaging six referrals per review, except they're not referrals, they're warm introductions. I talked to them last week and they said, "Richard, the guy sitting in the conference room, he said, well, let me just text all these guys in a group text and tell them to call you immediately." Well…
Steve Seid:
That’s amazing.
Richard Weylman:
…that's helpful.
Steve Seid:
Yes.
Richard Weylman:
Anyway, don’t get me going.
Steve Seid:
No, what I'm bummed about, is we ran out of time because I just... You're incredible to listen to. So, we're going to have to do more, not only in this podcast, but with our organization broadly. So, I just want to thank you for taking the time to chat today, to reconnect. We talked about your organization, your website, how else can people connect with you?
Richard Weylman:
They can go to weylmancenter.com. They can get a whole overview of the platform that we have. We've done the research on over 350 markets in the United States with direct links to prospects in a niche, just as an example. But the easiest way is just send an email to Richard@richardweylman, W-E-Y-L-M-A-N, .com. You can send me an email or you go to richardweylman.com and just send an inquiry. That's the way to go. So, that would be a way they could reach out. And if I can help anybody, we're just here for it. I just want you to win. That's all.
Steve Seid:
You are fantastic. Thank you to our guest, Richard Weylman. We'll be back shortly.
And welcome back to the Costanza corner and I think we're going to do another George Costanza quote.
Kurt Dupuis:
I can't believe it took us a couple years to get here, but it's taken us two years, in fact, to actually bring in George Costanza quotes into the Costanza corner. I happened to be at a regional meeting this week with partners where I got to interact with several folks that were listeners and fans of the podcast. And we were able to mix worlds and they tell their story to other folks. But, I had this buddy back when I lived in Pittsburgh that for years, we were his post-college friends and he would not introduce us to his college friends. And he was a total Costanza because he did not want to mix worlds. He was, I guess, afraid of some college stories would come out when he was now a lawyer and a little bit more reputable. But everybody does crazy stuff in college. He didn’t want those stories coming out. So, the episode and the quote in question today for our Costanza corner is, “Worlds are colliding Jerry!”
Steve Seid:
That was like... What was it? It was his wife, Susan that he didn't want mixing with Jerry and the rest of them.
Kurt Dupuis:
That's right. He wanted to keep “relationship George” and “independent George” in separate aspects of his life.
Steve Seid:
There's some other quote there, like “Two Georges together, cannot survive” or something like that. That's hysterical.
Kurt Dupuis:
Thanks for listening. Hope you enjoyed the show. And we are big fans of colliding worlds, so go collide some worlds out there.
Steve Seid:
Yes, that’s rigth. Yeah. See you next time. Thanks everyone.
Kurt Dupuis:
See y’all.
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