Financial Advisor Success Podcast - Full Episode Archives

#FASuccess Ep 434: Attracting HNW Clients By Focusing Not On Estate But Legacy Planning Instead, With Vanessa N. Martinez

April 22, 2025 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Vanessa Martinez Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 434th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Vanessa N. Martinez. Vanessa is the CEO of Expressive Wealth, an RIA based in Chicago, Illinois, that oversees $135 million in assets under management for approximately 70 client households, including 10 'core' ultra-high-net-worth families.

What's unique about Vanessa, though, is how her firm, in addition to ensuring clients have established a 'traditional' estate plan focusing on the efficient transfer of their assets, works with its high-net-worth clients on what Vanessa calls "legacy planning" in order to not only pass down their assets to the next generation, but also the parents' family values that generated their wealth as well.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Vanessa engages in a multi-meeting discovery process with clients (to first understand where they stand today with regard to estate planning and intra-family communication, and then to dig deeper into what the client wants to achieve through their legacy), how Vanessa has clients consider their family values for each of the accumulation, preservation, and distribution phases of their lifetimes (leaving room open to amend these values as their life and financial circumstances change over time), and why Vanessa has clients write down their values and legacy goals both to ensure their permanence (and to prevent misunderstandings that can develop when values are simply communicated verbally like the telephone game down the family tree over time).

We also talk about how Vanessa's intimate involvement in her clients' lives (from attending major life events to supporting family members going through life transitions) helps drive client referrals to their friends in similar life (and financial) situations, how Vanessa uses neighborhood-based client events (such as a 'stocks and sip' evening of financial education and wine sipping) to draw in a select group of clients and their friends (without having any awkwardness for not inviting her full client roster that don't live in that neighborhood), and how Vanessa has found success holding client events on Thursday nights given that attendees are often a good mood (with only one workday left in the week) while also avoiding filling up a valuable weekend night that prospects may not be willing to let go of to meet her.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Vanessa shares how she uses a practicing psychologist in a "Chief Clinical Officer" role to provide personality and communication assessments for her team and to facilitate communication when she brings together clients and their children in a family meeting to discuss the results of her legacy exploration exercise, how Vanessa has found that getting clients to focus on their legacy while still alive can allow them to answer questions from their children and to eventually deepen their relationship with their kids before any wealth is inherited, and why Vanessa ultimately views legacy planning as a way for clients to share their stories with the next generation so they value not just the dollars they will receive but also the emotional and intellectual wealth being passed on to them as well.

So, whether you're interested in learning about the difference between estate and legacy planning, how to engage in deep legacy planning conversations with clients, or using intimate client events to attract new prospects, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Vanessa N. Martinez.

#FASuccess Ep 433: When You 10X Your Advisory Firm To Over $20M Of Revenue…And Want To 10X Again, With Cameron Passmore

April 15, 2025 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Cameron Passmore Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 433rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Cameron Passmore. Cameron is the CEO of PWL Capital, a wealth management firm based in Ottawa, Canada, that oversees just over $5 billion Canadian dollars (or approximately $3.5B U.S. dollars) in assets under management for 2,400 client households.

What's unique about Cameron, though, is how, after 10X'ing the firm's revenue (from $2 million to more than $20 million) over the course of the past decade as an independent, his firm decided that combining with a larger financial conglomerate would provide the best opportunity for the business to achieve its next round of 10X growth in the decade to come.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Cameron's firm experienced significant client and revenue growth by serving the CEO and employees of e-commerce platform Shopify early on in its growth path (eventually leading to massive AUM growth after the company's IPO), how Cameron's firm managed to generate over 1,100 inbound leads resulting in more than 200 new clients in just the past year driven primarily by its thought leadership content (including the Rational Reminder podcast, a YouTube channel, and white papers), and how Cameron's planning focus and passive investing approach has helped his firm stand out amongst the bank- and brokerage-dominated Canadian financial advice market.

We also talk about how Cameron's firm (after achieving its 10X revenue growth) conducted an exercise to envision ways to achieve its next round of 10X growth to be what he calls a “company of consequence” that could help change the landscape for financial advice in Canada, why Cameron turned down acquisition interest from firms that were primarily focused on the financial incentives of M&A but ultimately took a deal that was more focused on the opportunity to grow the impact of his business, and how Cameron's firm ultimately decided to sell to the U.S.-based business and financial services conglomerate OneDigital to provide the financial backing and corporate connections to support PWL Capital in its next growth phase (including through acquisitions of its own with other like-minded firms in Canada).

And be certain to listen to the end, where Cameron shares why his firm invested heavily into internal data management (including investing in an institutional quality “data lake”) not to reduce its technology costs, but rather to create tools that reflect the firm's planning approach and the client experience it wants to create, how Cameron's firm leverages planning teams consisting of a lead advisor, financial planning associate, and operations specialist (with Cameron and other firm leaders available to assist when necessary) that can serve 175 client households and generate approximately $1 to $1.5 million U.S. dollars in revenue, and how Cameron's willingness to just meet and get to know other advisors, businesses, and content creators, without having a specific goal in mind, has led to multiple serendipitous business opportunities throughout his career.

So, whether you're interested in learning about engaging on a new growth path after already achieving significant growth as a firm, investing in internal data management capabilities, or the process of evaluating acquisition offers, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Cameron Passmore.

#FASuccess Ep 432: Crafting “Input Deliverables” That Show Financial Planning Value To Clients Without Creating Busy-Work, With Seth Scott

April 8, 2025 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 432nd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Seth Scott. Seth is the founder of Heartwood Financial Planning, an advisory firm affiliated with PlanMember Securities Corporation that is based in Fresno, California, and oversees approximately $100 million in assets under management for 850 client households.

What's unique about Seth, though, is how he has created what he calls an "input deliverable" that allows him to demonstrate value more tangibly to his ideal prospects by helping them solve a key tax planning pain point… but without the time-consuming busywork of having to create a separate output for each individual client household.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Seth built and provides his input deliverable (which calculates the appropriate amount of tax-exempt housing allowance pastors can take based on their individual circumstances, and even prepares a request and subsequent resolution that the Church's Board can then use) to demonstrate his expertise to prospective clients in the ministry, how Seth saves time by using this "input deliverable" (which he only has to create once, with prospects filling out their information in it themselves to get the output they can use) compared to creating an "output deliverable" (where an advisor has to collect and organize data and produce the deliverable document separately for each prospect), and how Seth's willingness to give this deliverable away to prospects allows him to get his foot in the door with his target clients for when they're (eventually) ready for a more holistic planning relationship.

We also talk about Seth's journey to financial planning as a career changer (after finding that previous jobs in urban planning and real estate either took too much time away from his family or weren't compatible with his values), how Seth's connection with a family friend eventually led him to assume the books of business of three retiring advisors under a vesting earn-out agreement that didn't require him to commit capital upfront, and how Seth uses the revenue generated from serving a broad base of clients through the vesting agreement as the business-building runway to "keep the lights on" as he grows his long-term ideal client base of working with pastors and their churches.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Seth shares how he decided to become a Certified Tax Preparer after buying a retiring advisor's tax practice (and why he is planning to earn the Enrolled Agent license to gain more specialized training to better serve his clients' tax preparation needs), how Seth is gaining inroads with churches (and their pastors) by helping them set up 403(b)(9) retirement plans that require little upfront cost on the church's part and offer their pastors unique tax benefits, and how Seth's faith has helped him weather the ups and downs of the major life transitions that come with a career change, taking over more than 800 clients to serve, and looking to what he wants his long-term ideal practice to be.

So, whether you're interested in learning about creating "input deliverables" that can demonstrate an advisor's value to clients and prospects alike, a path to serving a large client base soon after career changing into the financial advice profession, or how to gain inroads with clients in a specific profession, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Seth Scott.

#FASuccess Ep 431: Navigating Couples With Money Conflicts By Developing A New Toolset Of Questions To Ask, With Nick Rodkin

April 1, 2025 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 431st episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Nick Rodkin. Nick is the managing partner of Stoic Financial, an LPL-affiliated advisory firm based in Boynton Beach, Florida, that oversees $107 million in assets under management for 70 client households.

What's unique about Nick, though, is how, after nearly 15 years of practicing as a financial advisor, he went back to graduate school to get a master's degree in marriage and family therapy… which opened entirely new doors when working with client couples to help them better understand and resolve their own couples conflicts around money that would otherwise slow down or entirely stop their implementation of his financial planning recommendations.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about why Nick now dives so much deeper with client couples into questions about their relationship with money early on in the planning engagement (so that each partner knows where the other is coming from before more stressful situations emerge in the planning process), how Nick deploys a particular series of questions (including what money was like in their household growing up and whether they see themselves and their partners as savers or spenders) to gauge how each partner talks to each other when discussing money, and how Nick's goal is for these questions and conversations to drive more productive money discussions between client couples not just during the planning meeting but even and especially after they leave his office (as he wants couples to be what he calls "budget buddies" rather "expense enemies").

We also talk about how Nick is able to serve client couples with different levels of financial planning (and sometimes outright counseling) needs by offering separate AUM-based financial planning, flat-fee financial coaching, and for a few, hourly therapy services, how Nick segments his service model based on total client revenue generated rather than their just their assets under management (allowing him to work with clients with a broader range of financial circumstances), and how Nick uses the advice engagement tool Elements to efficiently understand a client's financial 'vital signs', especially early on in the relationship, and identify potential trouble spots to address through the subsequent financial planning process.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Nick shares why he finds that clients typically prefer their advisor to focus planning meetings on direct meaningful action items rather than just highlighting the recommended options for them to consider, how Nick finds that having money conversations with one's own spouse (as a financial advisor) can help us as advisors better unearth better questions we might ask our client couples, and how going to therapy himself helped Nick realize he didn't like the product-centric path he was on in earlier in his financial services career and inspired him to pursue what he now calls a more human-centered approach to financial advice.

So, whether you're interested in learning about ways to help improve financial communication between members of client couples, the questions that can drive these conversations, or how to incorporate aspects of financial therapy into a practice, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Nick Rodkin.

#FASuccess Ep 430: Navigating The Fast-Growth Hiring Challenges Of Scaling From Scratch To $5M Of Revenue In Just 7 Years, With AJ Ayers

March 25, 2025 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 430th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is AJ Ayers. AJ is the co-founder of Brooklyn Fi, an RIA based in Brooklyn, New York but operating as a fully remote business, that oversees $370 million in assets under management for more than 400 client households.

What's unique about AJ, though, is how she and her business partner have navigated the hiring and training, and system and process challenges, that come from very rapidly scaling an advisory firm business from scratch to $5 million of revenue in just 7 years.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how AJ and her firm have navigated periods of rapid client headcount growth (with the firm averaging 14 new clients per month in 2021 while having just three planners on staff at the time), how AJ decided to hire rapidly to meet this brisk new client demand (by leveraging LinkedIn's Recruiter platform to actively reach out to potential candidates rather than wait for them to respond to a passive job listing), and how AJ's firm created a training program to bring new hires up to speed more quickly on serving clients in the firm's hyper-specialized equity compensation niche (by incorporating internally produced videos, external coursework, and the opportunity to sit in on client meetings alongside BrooklynFI's lead advisors very early in the new advisor's tenure with the firm).

We also talk about how serving the equity compensation niche has allowed AJ and her firm to rapidly attract new clients and then efficiently systematize its planning process and give its advisors the chance to get lots of ‘at bats' early on working with its target clients, how AJ and her partner further streamlined their firm's planning process by creating a software tool called Gemifi to extract data from a client's grant award statements and then analyze the equity compensation history to offer planning scenarios for how to handle their equity grants, and how AJ has developed a three-part fee model (including a complexity-based planning fee, an AUM fee on investible assets, and a fee for tax-preparation) to ensure that fees best align to each client's unique needs and the value her firm provides in each these areas (and ensure sufficient revenue per client when some of the firm's clients have not yet experienced a liquidity event that would allow them to be served profitably under an AUM-only model).

And be certain to listen to the end, where AJ shares how she and her business partner decided to delegate responsibility for day-to-day firm operations (allowing them to dial back their own founder work schedules to two days per week), why AJ decided to hire an HR professional to serve as a "people person" who could help build company culture in a virtual working environment (including by hosting regular in-person retreats that the whole team flies in for), and how AJ experienced impostor syndrome a couple years into her time in the industry (as she realized how much there was to learn about the equity compensation niche) but tackled it head-on by earning a series of certifications relevant to her niche and trying to get even more client meetings to build experience working with her firm's ideal client.

So whether you're interested in learning about how AJ integrated delegation and training into the infrastructure of her firm, how AJ tackled a complex corner of the industry as a career changer, or how to work scalably in a niche where the clients' day-to-day circumstances are always changing, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with AJ Ayers.

#FASuccess Ep 429: What It Takes To Really Help (HNW) Business Owners Navigate Their Wealth With Purpose, With Ali Nasser

March 18, 2025 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 429th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Ali Nasser. Ali is the Founder of the Wealth Integration System for Entrepreneurs, an education and coaching company based in Houston, Texas, that works with entrepreneurs facing a liquidity event and trying to figure out what's next… and financial advisors who serve them.

What's unique about Ali, though, is the path of how he built an advisory business by helping (high-net-worth) business owners achieve their financial goals while being true to their entrepreneurial mindset and drive (which can sometimes conflict with ‘standard' financial planning advice), which was so successful that he eventually sold his advisory firm so he could focus in even more deeply with non-advisory coaching and consulting services to entrepreneurs.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Ali attracted high-net-worth business-owner clients to his advisory firm by identifying planning gaps created by the client's current investment, tax, and estate advisors who might not have been coordinating their advice on the full breadth of the business owner's tax situation (on issues such as making charitable donations in the most tax-efficient way possible), how doing so helped Ali convince busy business owner prospects to go through a multi-meeting pre-engagement process to further demonstrate the value he provided (and helped both sides understand whether they would be a good client-advisor fit), and Ali's financial planning process itself (which could include eight meetings over the course of six to nine months) for mapping a path to what he calls "independent wealth" for his entrepreneur clients (as a way to facilitate them finding a better balance between their work and personal lives).

We also talk about how Ali approaches the delicate issue of concentration risk when working with entrepreneurs (who often have a deep emotional attachment to their business and might be hesitant to pull money out of it, despite it making up a very disproportionately large percentage of their net worth), how Ali helps business-owner clients overcome the "paradigm gap" of reluctance to invest in the broader stock market (preferring to continue reinvesting in their business instead) by framing index investing as a way to tap into the best entrepreneurial minds in the country but in a diversified and hands-off manner, and how Ali finds that (despite their sometimes very significant wealth), many business-owner clients still have to overcome feelings of financial scarcity (given how many high-net-worth entrepreneurs come from very financially difficult backgrounds).

And be certain to listen to the end, where Ali shares how, as an advisory firm owner, he sought out feedback not just from "squeaky wheel" clients but the ones who best represented the target avatar of client he wanted to serve (to better understand how to find and serve those clients he wanted to replicate), how Ali found that the hardest parts of being an entrepreneur himself were getting other team members on board with delivering the same level of experience that he as the founder wanted to provide to clients (and the subsequent challenge of letting employees go when they aren't a good fit to deliver up to those standards), and how Ali's own entrepreneurial journey led him to sell his advisory firm and focus full-time on coaching business-owners and the advisors working with them because, as he puts it, "the gems are in the details" of the process needed to really serve entrepreneur clients and their needs effectively.

So, whether you're interested in learning about attracting high-net-worth business-owner clients, how to handle the topic of concentration risk with entrepreneur clients, or strategies for receiving valuable and actionable client feedback, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Ali Nasser.

#FASuccess Ep 428: Leveraging (Salesforce) CRM To Really Systematize A Mid-Sized Advisory Firm, With Lorie Jones

March 11, 2025 07:04 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 428th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Lorie Jones. Lorie is the wealth manager of Fearless Financial Advisors, a dba of hybrid advisory firm Fidelis Wealth Advisors based in Castle Rock, Colorado, where Lorie personally oversees $30 million in assets under management for 88 client households.

What's unique about Lorie, though, is how she has leveraged the functionality of the Salesforce CRM software (which is often used by larger firms due to its more extensive features and higher cost compared to other CRMs) to systematize processes and workflows not only for her individual practice but the entire eight-person $230M AUM advisory firm she's a part of (without needing to hire expensive Salesforce developers).

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Lorie creates what she calls "magic buttons" placed in strategic locations in client records within Salesforce to allow her staff to conveniently initiate workflows that save time on common firm tasks like client onboarding and money movements, why Lorie currently uses the XLR8 Salesforce overlay (rather than Salesforce on a standalone basis) for its advisor-specific functionality and lower price point than buying Salesforce directly, and how Lorie views Salesforce's "clicks not code" functionality as an opportunity for firms to create custom automations and workflows without needing their own Salesforce developer or any deep coding expertise.

We also talk about how Lorie advanced from what was originally a purely administrative role at her first firm to eventually take on leadership of firm operations as a partner at a new advisory firm (allowing her to nerd out on Salesforce and spreadsheets) and then eventually adding advisory responsibilities and ultimately becoming a full-time advisor, how the toll of working in these dual roles eventually led Lorie to open her own business as a dba of her prior firm to focus on advisory (rather than operational) work and spend more time working with her ideal target client of high-net-worth women, and how Lorie overcame the challenges of loneliness when starting her own advisory practice by seeking out the advice of other women who had gone through the same journey.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Lorie shares how she balanced earning the CFP certification and an MBA while working in an advisory firm and raising 5 children, how Lorie got more comfortable in prospecting for clients after starting her own podcast in which she interviews successful female professionals, and how Lorie ultimately found that it was seeking out mentors, to learn from their experiences, that gave her the confidence to be more fearless when it came to making her own career decisions and take the leap to becoming a full-time advisor.

So, whether you're interested in learning about leveraging Salesforce in a mid-sized firm, making the decision of whether to pursue operational or advisory roles in a firm, or how interviewing individuals that match your ideal client avatar can increase your confidence when prospecting, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Lorie Jones.

#FASuccess Ep 427: Finding The Director Of Operations That Can Rebuild Your Team To Get To The Next Level, With Sten Morgan

March 4, 2025 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 427th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Sten Morgan. Sten is the owner of Legacy Investment Planning, a hybrid advisory firm based in Franklin, Tennessee, that oversees $220 million in assets under management for 90 client households.

What's unique about Sten, though, is how he realized that the team that helped his firm reach an initial level of success as a $1M+ practice was not the team hed need to take it to the next level… and ultimately found he had to turn over 100% of his original team, led by a new Director of Operations who eventually re-staffed the entire firm, in order to rebuild the team for his firms next growth stage.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Sten recognized that while his firm appeared to be performing well (in terms of AUM, revenue, and other metrics) its culture was not resulting in the collective skillset and team member initiative needed to reach his growth goals, how Sten handled difficult conversations with team members to find the best resolution for both them and for the firm (which quickly brought his firms headcount down from 8 to 4), and why Sten decided to hire a new full-time director of operations to serve as an integrator to make even more changes to get both staffing and day-to-day firm operations back on track.

We also talk about how Sten and his operations director implemented a five-step process for hiring (which includes a resume review and screening call, an asynchronous video interview using the JobVite platform, an in-person interview, a work assignment, and then finally a team debrief to select a candidate), why Sten waits to interview at least four to six candidates for a position before making an offer to ensure his firm doesnt settle too quickly for the first candidate that appears to be qualified, and Stens best practices for using recruiting firms to support the hiring process (including the need to get guarantees from the firm in case the hire doesnt work out).

And be certain to listen to the end, where Sten shares why his firm is currently focused on hiring and maximizing internal operational efficiency before going through its next growth phase, why Sten recommends that firms try to be more proactive in hiring (for example by hiring today for a position that is going to be needed six months from now) rather than waiting to hit the next capacity ceiling to do so, and the process Sten uses to iterate on his own creative business ideas (taking time to think through ideas both in his mind and with the help of outside experts) to ensure they are well-vetted before taking action so he doesnt try to implement too many different ideas at once and focuses in to the few that will matter most.

So, whether youre interested in learning about making the difficult personnel decisions needed to take a firm to the next level, best practices in hiring (and how hiring a director of operations can help), or a process for iterating on new ideas for the business, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Sten Morgan.

#FASuccess Ep 426: Rolling Out An Equity Compensation Plan To Align The Entire Team On Client Service And Profitable Growth, With Jennifer des Groseilliers

February 25, 2025 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Jennifer Des Groseilliers Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 426th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Jennifer des Groseilliers. Jennifer is the CEO of The Mather Group, an RIA based in Chicago, Illinois, that oversees $15 billion in combined assets under management and advisement for approximately 4,400 client households.

What's unique about Jennifer, though, is how her firm has rolled out an equity compensation plan, built around providing grants based on performance and meeting goals (rather than requiring a buy-in), that’s designed to align the entire team towards the firm’s client service and profitable growth goals in the coming years… with 85% of the firm’s team members participating in the equity program.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about why Jennifer’s firm has taken an approach to grant equity rather than require buy-ins (and intends for every employee to either have equity, or at least a path to equity if they’re still new), how Jennifer’s firm sets individual performance targets for its client-facing wealth advisors to earn equity based on annual client retention (seeking to hit a target of 98%) and revenue managed (with a target of $1.75 million per lead advisor) to encourage very high levels of client service and advisor productivity, and how Jennifer’s firm ties the vesting of these equity awards to a future liquidity event for the firm as a whole (with could include a sale to an external party or the firm being rolled into one of its private equity owner’s subsequent funds) to ensure team members have aligned incentives to increase the firm’s enterprise value (which then feeds into the value of their individual equity stakes).

We also talk about how Jennifer identified the need to put systems in place (from performance management and individual team member goal setting to business planning and leadership development) to allow The Mather Group to operate more efficiently and effectively (despite it already having become a multi-billion-AUM firm before she joined), why Jennifer is an advocate of using the SMART goals system (which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timebound) for both employee and firm goal setting to promote real accountability for achieving goal targets, and how Jennifer’s firm uses the HiBob HR management system to record and track the goals for the firm’s 180 employees in an organized manner.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Jennifer shares how her firm has achieved strong organic growth in part by separating the roles of inside sales associates (who reach out to external companies to identify potential prospects [with the firm’s target client being an executive at a large company who is one to three years from retirement]), business development advisors (who are responsible for convincing prospects to become clients), and then the wealth advisors themselves (who provide ongoing planning services for clients), how Jennifer leverages an internal advisory council made up of approximately 25 firm leaders to give key stakeholders a voice and influence over the firm and where it’s going, and why Jennifer thinks that developing high levels of emotional intelligence and self-awareness… often gleaned from setbacks when an management situation with a team member doesn’t go well… are ultimately the crucial steps on the path to becoming an effective leader.

So, whether you’re interested in learning about offering equity to a broad base of employees, putting systems in place to help a firm run more efficiently, or establishing separate roles for business development and ongoing client service, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Jennifer des Groseilliers.

#FASuccess Ep 425: Implementing A Financial Planning Quality Control System To Improve Both Client Outcomes And Referrals, With Sebastian Guerra

February 18, 2025 07:05 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Sebastian Guerra Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 425th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Sebastian Guerra. Sebastian is the President of Guerra Wealth Advisors, a hybrid advisory firm based in Miami, Florida, with nearly $15M of revenue and almost 60 team members, supporting over 1,700 client households.

What's unique about Sebastian, though, is how his firm has implemented a financial planning quality control system, where a dedicated team member touches base with clients immediately after their meeting with an advisor, often before the client even leaves the office, to ensure that clients are receiving a high level of service, get feedback on where they can improve… and drive referrals, online reviews, and social media engagement by asking clients to engage immediately after they provide positive feedback.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Sebastian hired a team member to become a quality control specialist (and has now added a second) specifically to follow up with clients after meetings to ask about their experience with both their advisor as well as with other departments in the firm with which they interact (from the front desk to operations), how Sebastian's firm has received 400 client referrals annually (averaging nearly 25% of their total client count) in part by having these quality control specialists ask clients not to provide referrals, per se, but to name individuals they would reach out to if they ran their own wealth management firm (who then receive invitations to attend one of the Sebastian's educational events), and how Sebastian's firm has also gained more than 600 Google reviews through this quality control process (making the firm easier to find for prospective clients, and drowning out a series of three fraudulent negative reviews that a competitor once posted against them).

We also talk about how Sebastian's firm attracted and onboarded approximately 480 new households in 2024 (including through a one-day educational event that led to 115 prospect appointments all by itself), how Sebastian's firm expands its relationship with existing clients by tasking everyone, including operations team members, with the goal of having clients consolidate more of their assets with Guerra Wealth advisors, and how Sebastian enables his lead advisors to hold up to 35 prospect and clients each week by leveraging both technology (including Salesforce to prep advisors before meetings and AI to transcribe the advisors' meeting notes and follow-on tasks) and a robust service team to provide further support for each advisor.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Sebastian shares how using the Entrepreneurial Operating System has allowed him to clarify his firm's goals, vision, and mission at a time of rapid client and employee growth (as the firm has nearly doubled over the past two years alone), how Sebastian's firm leverages an in-house recruiter to hire fast enough to keep pace with its rapid growth while staying true to the firm's core values, and how Sebastian's roles as a new husband and father have begun to shift his priorities away from 'just' running a thriving business (and the long hours that doing so can entail) to also focus on the ability to delegate specific tasks to team members in order to spend more time with his growing family.

So, whether you're interested in learning about how to implement a financial planning quality control system to drive referrals and online reviews, how to leverage a single-day marketing event to generate planning prospects, or how to design firm operations to maximize advisor face-time in front of clients and prospects, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Sebastian Guerra.

#FASuccess Ep 434: Attracting HNW Clients By Focusing Not On Estate But Legacy Planning Instead, With Vanessa N. Martinez

#FASuccess Ep 433: When You 10X Your Advisory Firm To Over $20M Of Revenue…And Want To 10X Again, With Cameron Passmore

#FASuccess Ep 432: Crafting “Input Deliverables” That Show Financial Planning Value To Clients Without Creating Busy-Work, With Seth Scott

#FASuccess Ep 431: Navigating Couples With Money Conflicts By Developing A New Toolset Of Questions To Ask, With Nick Rodkin

#FASuccess Ep 430: Navigating The Fast-Growth Hiring Challenges Of Scaling From Scratch To $5M Of Revenue In Just 7 Years, With AJ Ayers

#FASuccess Ep 429: What It Takes To Really Help (HNW) Business Owners Navigate Their Wealth With Purpose, With Ali Nasser

#FASuccess Ep 428: Leveraging (Salesforce) CRM To Really Systematize A Mid-Sized Advisory Firm, With Lorie Jones

#FASuccess Ep 427: Finding The Director Of Operations That Can Rebuild Your Team To Get To The Next Level, With Sten Morgan

#FASuccess Ep 426: Rolling Out An Equity Compensation Plan To Align The Entire Team On Client Service And Profitable Growth, With Jennifer des Groseilliers

#FASuccess Ep 425: Implementing A Financial Planning Quality Control System To Improve Both Client Outcomes And Referrals, With Sebastian Guerra

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