Speaker 1:

This is the Ultimate Advisor podcast. The podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful, and scalable practice. Each week, we’ll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals, your team, your marketing, and your business operations, helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets and create the advising practice that you’ve dreamed of. You’ll be joined by your hosts, Bryan Sweet, who has more than half a billion dollars in assets under management; Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to hire, improve their operations and company culture; and Draye Redfern, who can help you systematize and automate your practices marketing to effortlessly attract new clients. So what do you say? Let’s jump into another amazing episode of the Ultimate Advisor podcast.
 

Brittany Anderson :

Welcome back to your Ultimate Advisor podcast. This is once again, Brittany Anderson here with Bryan Sweet and Draye Redfern, and we are continuing on this little journey that we’ve got going on where we are sharing with you simple marketing tips that you can implement right now, immediately, into your practice, that’s not overly complicated, that’s easy to execute, and that really is simple to get your hands around.

 So last week we talked about how you can focus or should focus on the problem versus the solution. So making sure that you’re not talking too much about how it is that you are so wonderful and the process that you’ve created and brought into this world. Which again, we’re glad if you have a defined process, that’s great. You’re on the right track. But again, we have to focus on making sure we’re addressing the problem versus the solution, meeting people where they’re at.

 So today we’re going to carry on by talking about a word called congruency. Basically to sum that up, it’s to do what you say, when you say you’re going to do it and doing it with excellence. So for example, if you have a great process, you do have that as part of your marketing, you sure as heck better deliver on it. If you have touted your service standards, if you talk about how your service is truly exceptional… I mean, that’s one thing that a lot of people say, but not a lot of people actually deliver on it. And I’m sure you can think of multiple different scenarios where you’ve engaged with businesses. And what you may be expected was a little bit different than what was delivered. Don’t fall into that crowd. Don’t make that a habit for your business.

 If you say you’re different… We talk about differentiation a lot. If you say you’re different, you need to actually be different. Don’t just wordsmith it. Make sure that whatever it is you’re putting out into the world, that you actually live in congruency. And what the heck does this have to do with marketing? Well, it has everything to do with it because if you are putting out into the world… If you are talking about all of the great things that you do and the experience that somebody has when they come on board with you is not reflective of what you’re promising, that is a big, big problem.

 There’s the saying that in the first 90 days of a relationship you basically make or break it. And I think that is absolutely relevant and true to what we’re talking about. Because if you’re talking about how seamless your processes and how easy it is to work with you and how great your team is, but Sally on the team doesn’t ever call anybody back and you’re still trying to figure out what exactly your process is… you talk about it, but you don’t really know exactly what it’s supposed to be. Those are big problems. And that’s where marketing becomes a little bit, I don’t know how else to say this, but icky, right? That’s not a feel-good. That’s more of like the sleazy sales. That’s more of the, “Hey, I just want to throw a line out there and just hope I hook somebody and then we’ll figure it out as we go.” You need to make sure you live in complete congruency.

 And actually, Draye’s the one who brought this word. I mean, I’ve known the word for a long time obviously, but is really the one who brought it to light. And part of this was… And I’ll share just kind of a personal experience here, is I was at Bryan’s Elite Wealth Advisor Symposium. So, it’s the EWA Symposium a couple of years back. And was about to give a presentation the next day, had been there for the full conference. And I had a tragedy happen where I found out that my father had passed away. Not to go into the depths of it, but didn’t have the best relationship with him and it kind of came as a shock how I found out and all of that stuff. So I was sitting there. I remember sitting in my hotel room, debating on whether or not I could even go on and give my big old presentation because I was actually sharing in that presentation a big part of my personal story.

 I sat down, I talked with Bryan because obviously he was the host of the conference. We talked it through. He’s like, “Brittany, you 100% have my blessing if you need to bow out. This is something that I a 110% understand and will support you completely, a 1,000%.” That night we had a wonderful reception and started talking to Draye and he brought up… He’s like, “What feels most congruent to you?” And I sat there and I sat on that and I was like, “I have to give the presentation.” And he’s like, “Okay, that’s fine but is that a 100% what you think?” And I was like, “You just use that word and for whatever reason, it punched me in the gut.”

 And I felt like I would be letting down the audience if I didn’t go up there and share my story. If I didn’t and get in front of those people…” And yeah, I had some good team stuff to share, but I felt this calling that I committed to showing up for people. And there’s essentially nothing I could do to change the circumstance of what had happened but what I could do is I could use my own story and my own pain to hopefully impact even one person in that audience. So think about this for a minute. Think about how this relates to you and your business. Are you showing up in the same way that you’re committed to on the outside? Are you making the decisions and identifying your values and identifying the core values of your business so that when push comes to shove, no matter what happens, you’re living in complete congruency to who you are as a human being.

 And for me, one of my big values is impact. If I can impact even one person through some of the struggles and the pain and maybe some of the mistakes and the not so great stuff that happens in life that we all have. If I can share that and I can make an impact on somebody else, and I can be a positive light to say, “Hey, regardless of what happens, that life is pretty darn good. And you can still show up as an individual.” That’s what matters to me. So this is why congruency is so darn important, not just for you as a human, but for your business as well.

 Because when you start living in complete congruency to what you’ve committed to, to what you live for, all of a sudden your business becomes more than just a means to an end, a way to make some income, a way to serve some clients, but it becomes a movement. It becomes something that you’re proud to market. It becomes something that you’re like, “You know what? I know and I believe with every ounce of my being that we’re amazing. That what we do changes lives and that what we do is more than just the numbers because the numbers are a commodity.” Let’s just put it where it is. It’s true.

 So that’s where Draye, I would love to bring you into this because I know, like I said, you’re that person that said that word in a context and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s resonated with me for years now. And I would just love to hear your perspective on what congruency actually means to you and your business, but also for marketing. And why just as a whole, for the being, for the marketing, for the entity, why it’s so darn important.
 

Draye Redfern:

I’m just really proud of you, first off.
 

Brittany Anderson :

Aw, thank you.
 

Draye Redfern:

The fact of just what you went through that night a few years ago and then being able to just step into that and literally help people. And you got a standing ovation and that there was wet eyes all throughout the room. And I think that there’s a lot that that was learned from that. And I think it’s good that we can continue that, and even to share that message and the purpose of that on an even broader level. And congruency, I think is a really important thing for anybody’s life and anybody’s business for a variety of reasons. I think first off, we can talk surface level, marketing wise, which I want to go much deeper here in a second, but if you’re being incongruent, people feel that. It’s just a feeling of like, “You know what, I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Maybe it’s not like the achy vibes sort of thing but you just feel like something was off with that person.

 I know that we’ve all had those feelings before. Like, “You know what I don’t mind working with him maybe, but I just didn’t feel right about it.” Or like, “I got the weird vibes. It’s a no-go.” And we can feel when people are saying things that are not congruent with who they are. And so for me, that’s a big thing. And so for me, in the way that I run my life and my business, like I’m a congruent husband. I’m a congruent father. I’m a congruent boss and employer. And I think having that congruency throughout of like, I’m going to say what I’m going to say, I’m going to do what I’m going to say, and then I’m going to follow through with it. And it’s going to stay true to a very high level of ethics and values and morals that many… I wouldn’t say all people, many people wouldn’t have the same level of expectations.

 So my expectations for myself are very high and I try to live a life that is very congruent with that, my morals, my vision, and my sort of future. And I love to surround myself with people who fit that and that’s why we’re doing this because I couldn’t imagine two other amazing people that are of the same mindset across all of that. But one thing to… Because everybody loves tactical advice, like, “Okay, be congruent.” “Very great Draye. Thank you so much.” But if I were to share anything tactical, and we’ve mentioned it once or twice before, is that you overpromise and over-deliver. And that to me is absolutely congruent with who I am.

 Our contracts, whatever we have with our clients will say one thing, but we will always try to go above and beyond to do whatever we can to help the people around us. That is congruent to me. So overpromise and over-deliver is something that we wholeheartedly embody. And that is something that people pick up on and they appreciate, and they recognize. And it doesn’t take much, a whole lot of that, to realize, “You know what? This is the way that I really want to live my life and this is what attracts clients.” And the business grows, all sorts of other things, but there’s just a lot of really great things around that. And the other part of that, one thing that we value, at least in my family, very highly is learning and knowledge. And staying congruent with that as one of our primary objectives in life. That’s education, that’s learning, whether traditional or non-traditional, doesn’t really matter and sharing that.

 And so I think we’ve shared on a few podcasts ago that one of our goals in the next few years is to build, fund and pay for an entire school. Obviously it’s an expensive endeavor but it’s something that is congruent with what we believe and who we are. And obviously, you figure the other parts of that out. And so just really having that congruency throughout your personal life and your business life goes such a long way. But the more important thing is, and most of the people listening to this, are the leaders in the organizations or they’re the second in commands in some sort of leadership capacity. When you’re operating from a sense of congruency and it’s authentic, not a fake level of congruency. Like we’re talking genuine, authentic congruency with who you are, what you believe. It’s an attractive quality, and it makes it very easy for people to want to follow you. And it makes it easier for you to act as a leader.

 So when all of those things operate in unison, it’s easy to get indoctrination from your team into the direction and the way in which you want to take the company. It’s easy to attract clients because they’re like, “Man,” where someone if they were incongruent to be like “That person feels icky.” But if you’re congruent and you wholeheartedly embody that, it’s easy for those clients or prospects to say, “Man, I can’t put my finger on it, but that person just has a special sauce. I want to be around them more. I feel in good hands. I feel like I’m okay. I’m taken care of. I feel like I’ve just been wrapped or enveloped by a giant hug.” And that’s the level in which you want… That’s the perfect scenario.

 And I think that just doing whatever we can as business owners, as spouses or significant others to live with that congruency in everything that we do and whatever it is that you embody, I think is something that we at least know we embody in our family and our business. But Bryan, I know that there’s a couple things there that [inaudible 00:13:06] absolutely embody with the Sweet Financial team and definitely a [inaudible 00:13:11] of that as well.
 

Bryan Sweet:

I have just so thoroughly enjoyed listening to you two and as I was thinking about your comments I’m going… That is one thing, is congruency, that is really a non-negotiable at Sweet Financial or for me personally. And to kind of get on the cheering squad here, but one, Brittany, I was there obviously that night and as Draye said, just absolutely so proud of how you handled that and what you did. And Draye, just the other part of that is you were there for her also. And what makes this podcast and being part of this Ultimate Advisor coaching such a joy, as Draye said, it’s just these people that are congruent and you know what you get and you know who you’re working with and it makes you feel good. And it’s just a pleasurable thing to enjoy. So just thank you for being the people you are and allowing me to be a small part of this really great opportunity.

 Anyway, that song is over and I’ll change it but I just think there is some special sauce and I love that term. So I’m constantly looking for some special sauce. And I think one of the things that is fortunate in the people we have at Sweet Financial is they’re also very congruent in everything that they do. And so when you got the right sauce on the right sandwich, it makes for a little tasty treat and that’s always an important thing. And a couple of things that I wanted to allude to a little bit is being congruent is really being a fiduciary and just doing the right things for the clients for the right reasons.

 And I can think of many, many times when in the past I turned down a lot of business because it wasn’t right. They shouldn’t have done what they wanted to do and they should have done something else. And I told them that. And in looking back over 40 years of doing this, what I got out of that in the future was so much greater. A lot of times we got all the business but we got it at the right time for the right reason or we got referrals to much bigger clients. And so I can’t stress enough, just always do what you know is in your heart’s the right thing to do and that’ll pay dividends forever. And I think one of the other key points is you really want to make sure you’re encouraging your team to be congruent. And our mantra is, helping clients live their retirement dreams.

 And so one of the things we do as a team is we encourage our team members to dream big and we have a dream board and we actually help them try to accomplish things that are important to them. And that’s such a good feeling when you can have somebody accomplish something that means something. We just had one of our people in our wealth services department build a brand new house and to see the joy on their face with… They have a new little addition to the family and it was just such a joy. And people accomplishing vacations that they’ve never gotten, and all sorts of little things is such a great thing. And one of the things that I like to do also is to reward people that have been dedicated. And so, one of the things that we’ve done with my right hand, left hand, person that takes care of my schedule and everything that’s Bryan.

 And so if anything ever looks good it’s because Kelly has taken care of it for me, but we wanted to reward her for just doing an outstanding job. And so this last year she celebrated 25 years with me. And I just said, you can go on a trip wherever you want in the world whenever you want. And fortunately, she’s picked Paris but unfortunately with COVID she’s not able to go this year. So we’ll have to wait and hear all the fun results of that down the road. But I think, congruency, we could talk about that literally for hours and maybe Brittany, if there’s any last comments because we’ve been chatting a little bit Draye and I about some of your thoughts. Anything to add that you might want to add to close out the comments here?
 

Brittany Anderson :

Yeah. So, I think just along the lines of again, being congruent. So when you look at this from a business perspective and rounding it back to marketing efforts. So at Sweet Financial, as we’ve talked about in our processes The Dream Architect. Well, why the heck did we name it that? Because we want to help people achieve their dreams. So literally, I’m going to give you like this just verbal tour of the office. You walk in our front door and on that wall is images of dreams that have been important to the clients that we have, that we’ve actually helped them accomplish. So you have somewhere… There’s a specific car that they have been just eyeing, and not just your basic Chevy down the road but something cool, something different, something that they’ve had their heart set on us as kids even. There’s vacation spots. There’s images captured of people creating foundations, spending more time with family and extended family.

 Those images are actually on the wall in our office. And as you keep going through, you’re going to get to our team dream board that Bryan was alluding to. So we actually have our team put a couple of different images of their biggest dreams. And then the cool thing is that when they accomplish them, when they do the things that they have set out and committed and said, “Gosh, I want to fulfill this.” We actually have them take that image down. We have them take a picture with it, with whatever image it was. So we’ll just use one of our team members who built a house. We had them take a picture in front of his house holding that little dream image and then have them do a write-up about what that felt like to accomplish it.

 And the reason is not to just brag about all the great things that our team does but it’s to show congruency to our clients. That we’re like, “Hey, we say that dreams matter. We say that your dreams matter and that’s why we’ve created The Dream Architect, but it’s because we live it here.” So it’s not a bunch of wordsmithing. It’s not a bunch of just, “Hey, it’s great to help you live your dreams because we really get to just invest your assets.” That’s not what it’s about. So we’re literally practicing what we preach. And Bryan is super modest and he would never brag about the things that he’s accomplished or set out for. But there’s certain things in his life, there’s a certain vehicle he wanted and he had his heart set on. He’s had this picture on his desk since I started with Sweet Financial over a decade ago. And then finally he bit the bullet and he got that.

 Again, he’s not one to brag. He’s never going to talk about it on here either but I’m going to brag for him because to me that’s not boasting. That’s truly living congruent to what you’re telling all of us to do. So, he set a plan and he made the decision to go after that. Another big one, which again, this is a congruency thing is, Bryan created a foundation in his mom’s name and while his mom is still alive and here and able to understand and know that that was created for her. So he’s able to actually help fund college educations for kids of single moms. That’s a huge thing because he was raised by a single mom. So that was a dream of his, that was something that he had in his heart, had on his mind that he wanted to do.

 He went after it and he did it and he did it at a time that his mom could still be there, be present and actually feel the reward of being able to help other people. So those are some examples that I’m going to press on because I know he’s not going to but it’s just showing congruency. And then what you can do with that… what you can do is you can share those stories. You can share those examples. You can have your team share that. And what it’s doing is it’s kind of indirect marketing. It’s showing the world, those people for us, for example, the people that want to pursue their dreams and they want super fulfilled lives. And they’re like, “Man, retirement is not going to be a time where I just sit on the couch and I watch reruns of Oprah all day,” or whatever it is that people like to do.

 That’s not the people we’re going to attract. We’re going to attract the people that truly want to live fulfilled, that want experiences, and it doesn’t mean that they’re there to flash their money around and spend their life away. But they want experiences. And maybe that experience is time with their family, maybe it’s a foundation creation, maybe they want to buy some muscle car from when they were kids. Whatever it is. We want to show them that we live that, that we believe it and that we’re actually congruent to what we preach.

 So that’s the purpose in congruency. That rounds it out. So I’m going to give you guys a couple of quick takeaways. Number one is I want you to sit and identify any potential gaps or incongruences that you may have in your business, in your life. Draye brought up a good point. Family ties into that too. So I would encourage you that it’s okay at this point if you have some things that you’re may be out of congruency. That maybe you’re doing things that aren’t totally aligned with who you are. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It doesn’t mean that there’s no hope. It just means you need to do an assessment. You need to just do kind of a gut check and say, “Okay. What are the things that are happening in my business or the things that we’re maybe talking about that we possibly aren’t delivering on in the way that I want? What’s the client experience look like? Is what we’re preaching…” I love, and that’s where it kind of rounds into the second point here, but the whole concept of overpromise and over-deliver.

 Draye has shared that with us for years and it’s truly something he lives by. And over-promising doesn’t mean committing yourself totally outside of what you’re capable of, but what it means is setting that bar and that expectation so high that you know you can deliver on it but you’re going to actually take it up a notch because you know what you’re made of. So I think it’s important to look at number one, where’s your potential incongruences? And number two, where can you start following that whole mantra of over-promising and over-delivering? And just taking it one baby step at a time. Don’t try to close congruences across the whole web of your life all in one day.

 Let’s take this baby steps. Let’s do it in tiny pieces and let’s help you…. You want to close those gaps. You want to make sure you’re living in congruency and you want to make sure that you are attracting the people who are truly going to benefit from all that you have to offer because we know that you have a lot of great stuff to put out there. So that rounds out today’s episode of the Ultimate Advisor podcast. We will catch you back here next week as we round out our series on the simple marketing tips that you can implement in your business.

 Hey there, Brittany Anderson here. If you are loving what you’re hearing on our Ultimate Advisor podcast, don’t keep us a secret. Share us with other advisors that you think would benefit from the messages that you are hearing. The easiest way to do that is to simply send them to ultimateadvisorpodcast.com. And if you want to learn a few other ways that we could potentially serve you as an advisor, go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com. As always, we are so happy to have you here with us as part of the Ultimate Advisor community and we look forward to a continued relationship.