Ep 346: Moving Procrastinating Clients To Yes Instead Of Selling As A Fee-Only Advisor With Jim Ludwick
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2023
⏱️ 98 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jim Ludwick is the founder of MainStreet Financial Planning, an hourly, fee-only financial planning firm, and Procrastination Junction, a coaching program for fee-only financial advisors looking to improve their sales skills. Jim stands out for his three-decade track record in transforming hesitant prospects into loyal fee-only financial planning clients, not through aggressive sales tactics, but by assisting them in their journey from their current situation to their ideal financial position, effectively helping them overcome their own procrastination.
Listen in as Jim shares his journey to success in the financial services industry, discussing how he leveraged networks like the Garrett Network and NAPFA to bolster referrals, as well as why he modified his sales funnel to enhance conversion rates and profitability. You'll hear his perspective on the key to building a top-tier fee-only financial advice business, how he structured his firm around the core principle of work-life balance, and what game-changing strategy enabled him to scale his business.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/346
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with financial planner, |
| 0:08.4 | speaker and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading financial advisors |
| 0:13.6 | navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success and get insight from leading |
| 0:19.2 | industry consultants about how to break through to the |
| 0:22.0 | next level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:29.1 | Welcome to the 346th episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast. My guest on today's podcast is |
| 0:35.2 | Jim Ludwig. Jim is the founder of Main Street Financial Planning, an hourly fee-only financial planning firm, and also created procrastination Junction, a coaching program for fee-only advisors looking to improve their sales skills. What's unique about Jim, though, is how he's leveraged nearly three decades of experience of converting procrastinating prospects into recurring fee-only |
| 0:55.0 | financial planning clients with an approach that's less about selling the value of financial |
| 0:59.4 | planning and more about simply helping clients with moving from where they are to where they |
| 1:05.0 | need to be and know they should be and want to be, but sometimes still need a little help to overcome their own procrastination |
| 1:12.0 | and actually move themselves there. In this episode, we talk about how as a career changer |
| 1:16.7 | serving in the Air Force and then a hospital administrator, Jim first found success in the |
| 1:21.3 | financial services industry as an insurance salesman by leveraging the local network he built |
| 1:25.7 | over his professional career, coupled with |
| 1:27.6 | formal sales training that taught him how to frame conversations in a way that help clients |
| 1:32.0 | state their own need for insurance rather than pitching them directly. |
| 1:36.5 | How when Jim opened his fee-only firm after relocating to a new area where he did not have a natural |
| 1:40.9 | network, he leveraged the Garrett Planning Network in NAPA to rebuild |
| 1:44.4 | his referral pipeline, this time getting a lot of business from other advisors. |
| 1:49.1 | And how, although it meant losing more prospects along the way, Jim modified his sales and funnel |
| 1:53.5 | process over the years to increase the likelihood that he would only be sitting down with |
| 1:57.9 | engaged, ready to act prospects in the first place, which in turn |
... |
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