How Financial Advisors Win High-Value Clients with Ermos Erotocritou

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets our guest is Ermos Erotocritou, a financial advisor coach, Certified Financial Planner (CFP), entrepreneur, and founder of the Client Acquisition Academy who helps financial advisors grow their client base, scale revenue, and build purpose-driven advisory businesses. With decades of experience in financial services and leadership, including roles as a top-performing advisor and regional director managing high-performing teams, Ermos has dedicated his career to mentoring advisors on client acquisition, sales mastery, mindset development, and building scalable systems that increase both income and impact. Known online as the “Advisor Whisperer,” he shares practical insights on personal development, leadership, and the habits required to succeed in the competitive world of financial advising while maintaining freedom and purpose. In this conversation, we explore how advisors can attract high-net-worth clients, overcome limiting beliefs, and create a sustainable path to long-term professional success.

You can find him on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ermos/
https://clientacquisition-academy.com/home-page

Transcript

Ermos Erotocritou 0:00

So if I ask if I ask a financial advisor, how many clients do you have? And let's just say the for argument's sake, they say 100 clients. Okay, great. So out of those 100 clients, is it possible for you to have created a program with a bunch of videos and maybe some uh checklists or blah blah blah, and just hand over the whatever that material is, that content to all 100 of your clients, and they would all see it equally valuable and actually use it? And the answer is always, no, of course not. That would be completely silly. So then what do you do? Well, each one of my clients is different. You know, some have different concerns or or the different parts they're at different um stages of their life. I said, Well, that's exactly how we do it at CAA.

Davis Nguyen 0:49

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wynne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight-figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro Stein 1:21

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro and today's guest is Hermos, a coach and financial services leader who helps advisors scale revenue, improve close rates, and build client acquisition systems that reduce stress and increase performance. Through his client acquisition academy and the FLEX method, he focuses on helping advisors develop clear positioning, stronger LinkedIn and outreach systems, and respectful closing frameworks that turn first meetings into real client relationships while helping professionals reclaim their time and design practices that fund their lives rather than dominate them. Welcome to the show, Armos. Thank you so much, Pedro. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, it's great to have you. You know, I always like to backtrack a little, you know, back to the origin story. And because every coach has that moment, you know, where they look at their life and say, Yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So when was that for you?

Ermos Erotocritou 2:27

Okay, so uh that would be back in 2000 when I started in the financial services industry. So for those who may not have been around as long as me, 2000 was when the tech bubble burst. And unlike 2008, where the markets tanked 40, 50 percent, um, in 2008, everything happened fairly quickly. So it was almost like a shock, and then the markets tanked, but then they just went up just as fast as they went down. What makes 2000 different was it was just a slow, painful decline over two plus years. And that's when I started, June of 2000, of uh trying to acquire clients. And you can only imagine, Pedro, you know, talking to clients that have been with you for two, two and a half years, and they still have not seen a positive statement every single time we meet. It's like going down and down and down. But I would honestly say that in the end, it was probably the greatest thing that happened for me in my career because going through that is almost like baptism by fire. You know, you you could not have had a more stressful time to build a practice. But on the flip side, it was actually good because there were a lot of disturbed people out there that were willing to say yes to meetings because they needed answers. From there, um, I became what they call division director. And in addition to managing my clients, I was also starting to train and coach uh new advisors that were coming on board. Um, so I had a dual role for about six years, and that's when I truly realized that my true love is to uh help other advisors. Um, I get just as much enjoyment when an advisor that I helped lands a client than they did. Uh maybe even more sometimes. And then 10 years into my career, they gave me an entire office to manage. They were managing about $2.1 billion of assets under management, about 100 advisors. And from there, those next 10 years was just only uh advising and coaching mentorship, other financial advisors. And then about 21 years into my career, I decided to go out on my own and do my own coaching. And then from that part, I thought what I really wanted to do was the personal coaching one-on-one, which I still do, at which I still do. Um, but I realized that that was a heck of a lot of work, and um they're paying, you know, they're paying me a lot of money, so it's harder for me to go away because I like to travel as well and go away and kind of kind of like decompress and and uh have some of my own time. And that was very difficult for me to step away because I felt they're paying me the money, I owe it to them. So it didn't matter where I was in the world on vacation. I had to log on and do that coaching session, which again I love, but it's inconvenient. But then about two years ago, um, I teamed up with another advisor, uh, sorry, another coach, and we created the client acquisition academy, which is probably 10 times better than personal coaching, because within that academy, you do get personal coaching, but you also get group coaching, which adds another element. So now you're not just learning from the coaches, you're learning from the other advisors who are making things happen, and they still have some structure. So it's everything you would expect inside a coaching program, the videos, the scripts, and the support, and all our advisors feel comfortable reaching out to us if they have a question or a problem they're working on. Uh, and we're very responsive that way.

Pedro Stein 5:55

Hmm, very interesting. We're talking about some major changes in the market, right? Especially with the financial uh side of it. Like you're talking about the tech bubble burst, and then now we have like crypto and all of that. Now, I'm curious uh about the the the shift that happened when you're like, okay, I'm managing uh hundred plus advisors. Uh, when did it happen? Like you're you're like, okay, I'm helping these guys, but now I'm gonna turn this into a coaching business. You know, that that that moment you realized, you know what? I could be doing this by myself, you know, and and running my own practice. So when did that happen?

Ermos Erotocritou 6:33

Well, it happened because the company that I was working with made some changes and it took away a lot of my ability to be creative. Um, they kind of clamped things down and it was their way or the highway type of thing. So I'm like, okay, then I'm taking the highway then. Because, and this is not a knock against my previous company, but I it's more of an observation in the industry itself. And Pedro, you may be aware of this. When I when I sit down with uh advisors for the first time and we start our coaching program, the stuff that they're that they're that they're being taught, it's like from the 80s and 90s, like stuff that may maybe it worked back then, but it does not work in 2026. And they're kind of stuck in this situation where they think they're getting sales training, and then they go and they try to use it in the real world and realize this stuff's not working, or it works at such a low capacity that it's they're getting burnt out when there are so many other ways to be a lot more effective and have a better balance in life where you're actually making money, getting new clients, but at the same time, you're not stressed or working so many hours you can't even you can't even afford to enjoy the money that you're earning.

Pedro Stein 7:45

Can you share like an example of an old tactic that you see people like referencing to that you you see at like that's outdated or it's not actually landing these days?

Ermos Erotocritou 7:57

Yeah, a lot of them are are taught to be salesy, right? Uh, I mean, I can give you lots of examples. They they're taught to lead with the company. So I work, I work with XYZ company, and we manage, you know, a gazillion dollars, and we've been around for 10,000 years, and we do this and we do that. And so all they're doing is they're talking about themselves. Then they then they go into the room, I'm a CFP and all this kind of stuff. And at this point, like there's no real connection between the advisor and the prospect. The prospect is not like they don't listen. At some point, they will care that you're a CFP, but at this point in time, they could not care less. They're they the only thing they care about right now is can you help me? I have this problem. I have no idea if you can help me, and you just spent the last 10 minutes talking about how wonderful you are and and and your company. So it's very salesy, even up front. So instead of talking or instead of getting the prospect to open up by asking them questions and being curious about how you can help them, they can go straight into pitch mode. And I and literally they have sometimes they have a pitch deck. Um, and from there, it's just it's just way too salesy. I mean, I got I got uh one of my newest advisors that came on board, um send me the DM links, the messages that he was using. So we kind of teach a lot of people how to use LinkedIn, and you know, so we have a script that goes out, it's very effective, they get engagement, and then he didn't know what to say because of the question about inflation, and then he responded with this really long, very salesy, this is what my company does, this is it, and all this jargon. And then he sends the the I guess the conversation into the school where we can all kind of take a look at it. And I'm cringing. I'm like, of course he didn't respond. Like, who would respond to that? You went straight into like sales mode instead of asking the next logical question, well, what are you currently doing to fight inflation? Like, you need to find out like where the real problem is. Inflation could be anything, right? But that's these are just some of the things that I see, Pedro, where a lot of advisors are using outdated sales techniques, and it's not entirely their fault because that's what they're being taught from their companies. And also at the same time, if they want to get really good stuff, like you have to spend a lot of time on the internet, on YouTube, and learning the proper way to communicate.

Pedro Stein 10:23

Yeah, that is so true. It's like I I always uh my brain goes back to weird analogies. It's like going to a restaurant and you sit down and the waiter comes and you're like, hey, is the fish fresh? What's the chef's special for today? And he just hands over you a menu, right? It's like it's not connecting, it's not talking with you. And um, I gotta say, at least my experience with financial advisors, it I think the the main uh thing that always pops in my head, my worry is like, is he trying to push me on an agenda? Does he have like something that will benefit him instead of me? So I think the idea that you mentioned is like creating the connection is so important. I'm not sure if that is something that you see happening, but at least this is in my perspective, right? Like I do have a financial advisor, so I always I'm always worried about and not just the financial, it's like any broker, right? Is he trying to push me into something that benefits him or is he trying to create a connection and actually help me? You know, is that something you see on uh more often than not?

Ermos Erotocritou 11:25

Yes, I I do believe the industry is changing. So in a in a good way, it's a lot of work to be done, but um, I I I hesitate to say that certain advisors are better than other advisors, but typically if you're dealing with a large company, they're pressured to push their own products. So maybe the one piece of advice I would give clients out there is you know, if you have your statement in front of you and you work for ABC or your advisor works for ABC firm, if all your investments have ABC US equity, ABC, you know, European small cap, ABC whatever, I would probably get a second opinion on your investment portfolio because chances are your advisor is pretty much beholden to sell only products that their company will approve of.

Pedro Stein 12:18

Interesting.

Ermos Erotocritou 12:19

Okay, I think I got Pedro looking through his statements right now.

Pedro Stein 12:24

Yeah, no, that's vile. Yeah, you gotta be careful. But thanks for that. I'll I'll look into mine now.

Ermos Erotocritou 12:31

Um, that doesn't mean that your advisor's not doing a good job. I'm just saying if you if you want if you want truly unbiased advice, there should be other products within your portfolio that are not just from the company they work for.

Pedro Stein 12:44

Okay. Interesting. Now you from the get-go, it sounds like you already have your ICP, right? Your ideal client profile, the advice, the financial advisor. So that's the coaching side. I want to talk about the part that nobody escapes, which is marketing, right? So how do people usually find you? You know, those advisors.

Ermos Erotocritou 13:05

Yeah, so my biggest thing is LinkedIn. I I try to post every single day. Well, I do post every single day. There, there are a few exceptions. And um, I'll be honest, I mean, I I struggled with it. I really only started using LinkedIn about four years ago. I had like a couple hundred connections, and now that's over 14,000, maybe even 15,000. I'm not sure, but it's around there and almost exclusively financial advisors. So I don't approve connection requests from just anybody. So I could probably have 25,000, 30,000 connections if I said yes to everybody, but I will only approve or connect with financial advisors or someone who helps financial advisors. So that's something that I can I can learn from. But LinkedIn, LinkedIn is my big thing or my major thing. And a lot of the uh advisors that reach out to me is very organic. They mention, hey, I I've read this post, this, I found this interesting. Uh, I offer free um assets, like free resources, Pedro, which people, which people really like. Kind of gives them a little bit of taste of how uh I'm different from other uh coaches. And we occasionally do webinars uh as well. Um, but other than that, you know, we do other things as well. But LinkedIn is the major thrust.

Pedro Stein 14:26

You know, and what did you end up trying, you know, as you figure out how to reach people, the financial advisors? I'm just wondering, where do they hang out, you know?

Ermos Erotocritou 14:34

Actually, there there are a lot of financial advisors on LinkedIn, and it's a mat it's I I guess you can well, I'll I'll give you a couple of things that that I do, right? So your your banner has to your banner is your billboard. Think of it as you have a you you have a billboard on the highway, right? You paid good money for it, and the problem is you have three seconds to make an impression because someone's gonna drive right by. So you got to make sure that as soon as they click on your profile, they know immediately who you help. So my content is meant to draw in financial advisors in the hopes that they click on my profile. When they click on my profile, boom, oh, this guy helps financial advisors. What's what's he all about, right? So maybe they dig a little bit deeper, look into my about section and that kind of thing. And that's effectively what I do. Now, on top of that, there are other tricks. I mean, there's too many to mention, but some of the uh obvious ones are I do 20, I try to do 20 connections per day only to financial advisors, but not random, because most people just hit random, right? They'll filter on LinkedIn. Uh, if I'm an advisor looking for business owners, they'll filter business owners in Nashville. Okay, great. That's your niche. But if you send out 20 connection requests, you'll probably get one or two people to accept. However, what I do is I go to places where other financial advisors are hanging out, meaning they're already commenting somewhere else. So if I click on a connection request on somebody who's posting a comment on LinkedIn, all of a sudden when I send out 20 connection requests, I'm getting back 1215 acceptance ratio. So you can like 3x, 4x, even 5x the amount of connections you get by just targeting the right people, but also targeting the ones that are already active on LinkedIn. Because if you're just randomly clicking on people, they may not they may have not been on LinkedIn for six months. They're never even gonna see your message. So you just kind of wasted a connection request.

Pedro Stein 16:39

Interesting. Okay. Now let's talk about business for a second, right? So people find you or you find them, right, through LinkedIn or any social media or events that you mentioned, and they resonate with your work. And eventually they want to know what working with Hermos actually looks like, right? And everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. You started as a one-on-one, and now you're moving towards more of a group coaching with one-on-one component, which is the academy you mentioned. So when someone actually becomes a client, right, what does that experience look like right now?

Ermos Erotocritou 17:14

Okay. So I will speak to it as an advisor first, so it'll make sense about what I do. So if I ask, if I ask a financial advisor, how many clients do you have? And let's just say the for argument's sake, they say 100 clients. Okay, great. So out of those hundred clients, is it possible for you to have created a program with a bunch of videos and maybe some uh checklists or blah blah blah, and just hand over the whatever that material is, that content to all 100 of your clients, and they would all see it equally valuable and actually use it? And the answer is always, no, of course not. That would be completely silly. So then what do you do? Well, each one of my clients is different. You know, some have different concerns or or the different parts they're at different um stages of their life. I said, Well, that's exactly how we do it at CAA. Every financial advisor is different. Some want help with lead generation, some want help help with you know closing more business. Believe it or not, Pedro, some people come to us because they want more accountability. So all that stuff is great. I just need someone to kind of keep track of what I'm doing. And and like when I say accountability, I don't want people to think that we're brow beating our advisors. Um, there's there's many ways to provide accountability without really being on top of people. And some of it, the accountability comes from other advisors because they'll say, hey, I'm gonna make this many calls this week, or I'm gonna do this, that, with the other. And they'll say it in the in the group chat. So you're kind of committed now because the next time we meet, someone's gonna ask, hey Pedro, like you said you're making 50 calls the other day. How many of those did you make? Um, so it's kind of like it's fun. And one other thing uh which I found interesting, a couple of our advisors have come to us because they actually want less clients. Now, why would somebody want less clients? Because they're at a stage in their career where they've made lots of money, they still are. The 80-20 rule is in effect, so they can probably get rid of 80% of their clients. Uh, sorry, they can they can probably yeah, they can probably get 80% get rid of 80% of their clients and still retain 80% of their revenue. And there's many different ways to make that happen. Either they sell it off or they bring in a junior or whatever it is. But long story short, Pedro, the reality is every advisor is a little bit different. So our coaching program is bespoke. So there's a lot of heavy lifting in the beginning. Um, because both coaches, myself and Andy, we will do personal coaching with them in the first 90 days. Um, they'll get they will get more personal coaching from us in the first 90 days than most personal coaches will give over the entire year because our goal is for them to get a positive ROI in those first 90 days without exception. Well, up to this point, there hasn't been an exception. Every single one of our advisors that we bring on board have that positive ROI within 90 days.

Pedro Stein 20:21

I like the fact that you kind of peeled it off the real intention, right? And sometimes we see that a lot, especially like when I'm talking with another coaches and they're like, oh, I need more clients, right? Needing more clients is just a surface level answer because there's like Legion, there's like conversion race, there's a no-show, uh, the entire positioning. So it's not that simple. And and also the fact that you you brought up is like, what's the the real goal behind the client, right? What does he really want? And sometimes, more often than not, we see build people that have surface level goals. They're don't even think about that, right? It's like, okay, but what's happening behind curtains, right? And and that's the part of the coaching piece that I can I can sense you do, right? Now, your work seems pretty hands-on, Ermose, right? So, how do you think about capacity? So, don't stretch yourself too thin, you know.

Ermos Erotocritou 21:14

So, uh on a personal level, you mean the the the uh academy?

Pedro Stein 21:18

Yeah, I mean the business itself, right? Um, we're talking about outreach, we're talking about the coaching uh part. So just trying to balance everything. How do you how do you do that? You know, because in this space, the coaching space, we see a lot of coaches wearing so many hats, right? So just trying to understand your point of view on it.

Ermos Erotocritou 21:36

Yeah, so we max out at five new members per month. So, regardless of how many people reach out to us and want to work with us, we cap it at five per month because it's so uh labor intensive in the first 90 days. So we want to make sure that when an advisor comes on board, they have easy and uh a lot of access to us. Cause that's I mean, think about it. I don't know if you know this stat, Pedro, but. When I did some research, I found out that 6% of people who buy, by the way, that's six, not 60. 6% of people who buy a high-ticket coaching program actually complete the program. So there are people out there spending thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on a coaching program and they're not completing it because a lot of times it doesn't come with that personal touch, that that personal coaching. They just get handed a bunch of videos and scripts and whatever, and it's good luck. So for us, we ensure that they have access to us on a regular basis to make sure they're getting all their questions answered. They're feeling motivated, they're feeling excited. Because when you put all that together, they're far more likely to go out there, make the calls, learn more, get better at their craft, and learn how to convert a lead into an actual paying client.

Pedro Stein 22:56

Interesting. And I gotta ask you, do you think that's part of your background with financial advisors? Because uh, well, you're a you were a financial advisor, right? So the thing is the ROI is so raw, right? When you're talking with a client at the early stages, but while you're advising him, it's like here's the number. We want to reach that number, right? So when you're talking, when you're moving that to coaching practice, you're like super intentional about the outcome. Do you think those two are tied? Because I I don't see more often than not people like doing that in the coaching space, having that clarity, you know, with the outcome. Do you see that that that happening on your side?

Ermos Erotocritou 23:35

Absolutely. Uh great question, too, Pedro. Um, so the reality is, I mean, every advisor is a little bit different depending on if they're an independent or whether they're the captive advisor. Every company pays it pays a little bit different, but typically the average advisor that we work with, the they only need one average client. So not it's not multi-million dollar clients, it's not their best client ever. Typically, the clients that we work with, the advisors that we work with, need one new client to effectively pay for our entire program. So when I say we're like we're batting a hundred or batting a thousand of getting people uh positive ROI after 90 days, it's such a low bar because one client pretty much pays for our entire program, and then everything after that is just positive, positive ROI. And we explain it to them that way, and then they realize, well, this is kind of like a no-brainer, right? So we probably convert two-thirds of all the advisors that we work with. And having said that, there are situations where we actually turn advisors away, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we're very protective of the of the advisors that we have in here now. So we're very proud of them. Uh, there's a lot of collaboration. Um, our our advisors will talk offline. Sometimes, depending on their geography, they'll even start doing some marketing things together. So it's almost like a really tight-knit group. There's no negativity in there. Everyone's positive, everyone's ambitious, everyone's looking to grow, everyone's looking to meet their goals. And you can see the conversations going back and forth. That, you know, despite myself and and and Andy, they're motivating themselves. So we're very protective. We don't just bring in any advisor because they're willing to pay for our pay for our course, our program.

Pedro Stein 25:28

Okay. Now, I'm curious where you're taking all this, right? Looking ahead, where do you see the business going your most? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring? Um, is there a next step you're excited about?

Ermos Erotocritou 25:41

Yeah, I'm always excited. Um, you know, we're we're always learning. So right now we are so it it took us about a year to ramp up in the sense that we wanted to make sure that when someone came on board, like everything was there. Like they couldn't possibly look at what they have at their disposal and say, Well, I think you're missing this, or I think you're missing that. And a lot of that feedback came from our advisors, you know, stuff we never would have thought of. Uh, we ended up putting together uh because of the feedback we got from from the other advisors. So for the first year or so, it was 100% organic, Pedro. Um, so the advisor they're in there right now is basically LinkedIn or personal, personal connections. But yes, uh, we do plan to scale in 2026, possibly hire additional coaches. Um, a lot of the stuff that we have now is automated. There's some exciting things that we're working on as well that will help advisors generate uh more leads and and more clients and obviously more revenue. So the I can't give you an actual number, but we would like to get to 200 advisors um before the end of next year.

Pedro Stein 26:51

Nice. Okay, and whenever we're aiming towards the next chapter, there's always something under the hood that we're working on, right? So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Ermos Erotocritou 27:04

So it's really is automation. So we hired two people. One person is a tech person, so that person helped us eliminate a lot of the admin stuff. So when somebody signs up now, like they just get automated emails saying this is this is your next step, right? And then they click on that, and then this is your next step. So it's good for us, but it's also good for the advisor because at no point in time are they ever are they ever wondering, well, what should I do next? They always have the next step, right? Um, and we're also looking at creating sub accounts within we use Go High Level. And how that will work is because a lot of them are interested in marketing. Um, we have everything available. Like the if you want to create an email campaign, we have it. You want to you want to create it for a certain niche. I mean, we have it or we can do it for you. So we want to create a sub account for each one of our advisors where they can actually use the scripts that are available to them, either cut and paste or get us to give them some some additional tweaks. And then that just creates a never-ending marketing drip campaign that they can send out to all the prospects. So, one, that gets them in front of more people, but two, inevitably, they're gonna get back a question from a prospect. Oh, you know, uh, you know, what are your fees or whatever, whatever it is. And now they come back to us and say, Oh, geez, you know, I got this question, I'm not sure how to answer it. Like, what do you think? So, of course, we're gonna be there to coach them through what to say next and that kind of stuff. Because that is one thing, Pedro, where it's like there's people in companies that create a script, right? And they say, Well, you say this and they'll say that, and then you say this and they'll say that. And but that doesn't work that. That's not that's not real life. Like, they're gonna come up with a completely different response and they're gonna be like, What do I say now? Yeah, exactly. So that's one thing that you can't completely automate with just scripts, but um we're available for them. So when they get a question that they can't answer, then we then we jump in and we give them we give them the help and then they respond, and then they get they they get clients out of it.

Pedro Stein 29:21

Interesting. It's like a nurturing campaign that they just can plug and play using a sub-account on go high level, so they can keep nurturing those leads, and you kind of have a framework that's already set up. So, I mean, of course, there are gonna be some changes, but you have that like 90, 95 that will potentially work for most of the financial advisors, right? Got that right. You got that right. Interesting. Okay, well, I think about the you know, the DM part that you mentioned, you know, the the the back and forth with uh with the because I did that back in the day also, you know, it is really, I'm not sure if you agree with this, but it it is really about understanding the intention behind it behind it and the next step. So, and not trying to preach out or giving the the client a menu, right? I'm not sure. Like, hey, um, I'm gonna hide behind this 400 block of text and say I do X, Y, and Z and hope this sticks in the wall, right? It's not like that. Like, try to connect with in a human level with the other person. Do you see like that? Something something like that.

Ermos Erotocritou 30:28

I see that a lot, Pedro. Um, even in my own inboxes, so-called professional salespeople. The funny thing is, I get salespeople reaching out to me to teach me about sales, and they'll send me like a 200-word LinkedIn message, and I'm like, I'm no one's reading this. Like, like I should be teaching you. This doesn't make any sense. Um, yeah, we do we do have a strategy that works. And you know, I just a couple of pointers without getting into too much detail. The shorter the better, right? You know, I make it personalized so you mention their name in the DM. You also identify if you can't identify a problem because it's too early in the scenario, what we do is we either give them a uh two-part question or multiple multiple choice, right? So if somebody is a tech professional, chances are RSUs is on their mind. So, you know, typical, you know, I work with tech professionals just like you. And when I speak to them, they typically have an issue with A or B. You know, which one is it for you, or A, B, C, or D, right? And then they that's it's you're basically creating less friction for them to respond because that's all you want to do. What I the one of the biggest issues I see with advisors or salespeople in general, they feel like they have to go for the kill. Like, I want to book a meeting. Hey, I'm awesome. What's your calendar like next week? And I see that all the time. And that's like, no, you're not gonna get anything out of that. But if you come across as being non-salesy and helpful and offer them something for free, because that's what we do with our advisors, we teach them, hey, you know what? I have this RSU calculator that you might be interested in, happy to send it over. So now think about it. We've identified the right niche tech professional. They've told us that they have um concerns about their RSU option plans or whatever it is, and we've just offered them a free resource that will actually help them. You're far more likely for them to say, sure, send that over. So now you're starting the engagement. Now you're starting a conversation. And that's the goal. The goal is not to book a meeting, the goal is just to start a conversation because that conversation will lead to more questions and that will lead to building more rapport. And then the natural evolution would be hopping on a 15-minute chat. Never a meeting, because no one likes meetings, but people are happy to jump on a 15-minute chat. And sorry, I'm gonna step back a second. That's another mistake I see a lot of advisors make. They, when they finally actually get somebody that's somewhat interested, they try to book a one-hour meeting and then they wonder why they get ghosted. Because no one likes meetings and no one wants to commit to one hour, but lots of people are willing to hear you out on a 15-minute chat because it doesn't feel like a sales call.

Pedro Stein 33:20

Yeah, I would frame it as an introduction, also. This is the way, at least when I was reading this book, Super Connector. Not sure if you've ever read that book, but um, the framing is different, and also um, I feel like I'm not sure if you agree with this, but I feel like LinkedIn, well, usually LinkedIn is more formal, right? Um, but the AI advancement in text has uh the LinkedIn DMs like reek out as reek as AI, you know, and and sometimes I need to be a little less formal so people don't think the DM is like, oh, this is another bot. You know, do you feel like that that you have to be a little bit more human on the DM instead of just trying, hey, this is Pedro and I do X, Y, and Z, you know?

Ermos Erotocritou 34:04

Yeah, I agree with you 100%. Uh AI is both good and bad. Um, AI is basically a tool, it's it's not meant to replace you as a person. Use it to get ideas, use it to make something that you've created a little bit better. Uh, give me three versions of this DM, and and you may have to like pick and choose a few words here or a sentence there, and it makes it more closer to your personality because authenticity matters at the end of the day. So, far beyond even just sounding robotic, if it's not really your personality, then it's difficult for people to kind of relate to you when they finally actually get a hold of you, right? Or get in front of you. So it's important to be authentic. Use AI as a tool to make what you've already created a little bit better. And you should always like never never ask AI to do a task and then copy and paste and send. That's like the worst thing you can do. Because there's tells, right? I mean, I I can pretty much tell if somebody put what somebody posted was AI or not.

Pedro Stein 35:06

It's not just X, it's not Z. It's just Y. You know, that and the the hard truth. There's always those tells and the I tax. Yeah, I I I can say it all over too. Now, Armoose, I want to tap into your experience, you know, uh, so we can benefit the audience a little bit here because you've been what 20 years plus in the game. So you've and you've seen, you know, uh all types of advice, business advice. Some are good, some are bad. Okay. So what's one piece of business advice you hear all the time that you think that's overrated or misunderstood?

Ermos Erotocritou 35:43

Um I I guess I can tie it into a story. I I might have mentioned it before. The one about the emotions will be facts and logic every time. So we our jobs as financial advisors, it's a bunch of numbers. It's financial planning. You know, this percentage, this ROI, this tax bracket, all that kind of stuff. So it seems kind of natural that advisors would lean into the whole logic and facts thing. But at the same time, we also know that psychologically, people run away from pain three times faster than they will run towards pleasure. So this is not me being brilliant. This is this is just human psychology, right? So a couple of things that I'll that I'll point out. I'll give you an example of how we helped one of our advisors uh basically make a $100,000 commission. And it'll it'll make sense in a second. But he was in one of our group coaching calls, and he was talking about this prospect. And he says, Yeah, I'm in my I'm we're meeting up for the I think it was a sixth meeting. We're meeting up for the sixth meeting, and I and he started talking. I said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, hey, hey, wait a minute. Sixth meeting? Like, what the heck did you talk about in the first five meetings that needs to be said now? And this, like, what was missed? I in my mind, I'm thinking, what can you possibly be talking about in meeting number six that you didn't talk about in the first five meetings? And he said, Well, you know what? It's a good client. He's on the fence, we got good rapport, but he just he just won't pull the trigger. He just won't, he just won't make the move. So I asked him, okay, great. So, you know, what what benefits? So I called him out. I said, Why should like why should he work with you? Tell me why he should work with you. And he said, Well, if he works with me, I'm gonna do this, that, and the other, and that's gonna save him $70,000 a year. This is a high net worth, high net worth client. I said, Okay, so then how are you explaining it to him, or how are you ending the meeting? And he said, Well, uh, and I'm paraphrasing here. So if you if you know, if you work with me and do X, Y, Z, you'll save $70,000 a year. I said, Okay, that's not bad. And that's pretty much what every financial advisor does, but let's think now psychologically, right? Pain is three times stronger than pleasure. You're hitting him on the pleasure side. I get to save $70,000, right? I said, the only difference you can do, you just go in there and do your thing like you did in the first five meetings, but I want you to change one thing. I want you to change the ROI into COI. And COI is effectively cost of inaction. So he went in there, did the exact same thing, but now at the end of the meeting, instead of saying I'm gonna save you $70,000, he said, if we don't do X, Y, and Z, you will lose $70,000 in taxes. And you will continue to lose $70,000 in taxes every single year until you actually fix this. So how uh how excited are you to be donating or losing $70,000 to the IRS every year? And there was this this you can you can see like it was just like that, the aha moment, right? And he's like, I've never even thought of it that way. Sign the paperwork right there. So moved over assets, bought an annuity. It ended up being $100,000 in commission for this particular advisor. But those are some of the things that we teach our advisors. I don't want advisors to think that I need this coaching program because I need that, I need this massive overhaul of everything I'm doing. Most advisors, they just need some tweaks, right? A little bit of uh the the right sentence, the the the right tact, the right question at the right time makes such a huge difference. Such a huge difference. I mean, I if you have time for a story, I can give you one more. Sure. So there was one advisor that I've been working with for five years now. He was one of my very first clients, and he still works with me. Great guy. We become friends. I go to his house now, he comes to mind. But when when we first started working together, you know, he used to joke and say, you know, Armos, I can't even close a door, much less close a client. He's one of those guys that jokes around a lot, but he's uh uh he's quite smart. Uh but maybe to his detriment, he's he's that smart. But he told me this story about this prospect at the time. And that prospect was also meeting with like two or three other advisors. So we kind of went through a few things. And during the meeting, the question that was asked was, you know, when would you like to retire? And the answer was the answer he got back was 62. Now, what would the average advisor do with this now? Oh, so the problem is you want to retire at age 62. So let me get all your information. So now they're coming across as an as a as an interrogator. How much money do you make? How much money are you gonna spend? Uh, let's talk about your assets, your 401k, your RSP, boom, boom, boom, boom. And it's just all facts, all numbers. Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Oh, fantastic, Mr. Mr. and Mrs. Prospect. Uh, now I'm gonna take all this information back with me and I'm gonna come back with a financial plan that's gonna help you, right? And then they come back and deliver 50 pages of a bunch of graphs and numbers, and then they wonder why they don't get the client because now they're confused, right? And I always say if you're confusing, you're losing. So you're not, and that's probably the reason why most advisors have like a 10% success rate when it comes to converting prospects into clients. But anyway, this gentleman kind of explained how his process went, which he got from us, by the way. Um, but I'm giving him full credit because he actually did it. But when the prospects at age 62, you ask a question. Interesting. So, Pedro, why 62?

Pedro Stein 41:37

Exactly.

Ermos Erotocritou 41:38

Like, why why not 60? Why not 64? Oh, yeah, well, I'm 60 years, I'm 60 years old right now. I'm selling my business, and it's gonna take two years to kind of go through the process with an accountant and my lawyer. So it's gonna take about two years for the sale of my of my business to hit my bank account, and that's the reason age 62. Fantastic. That's a really good answer, Pedro, and congratulations on on your business. Then what? Well, I'm gonna be retired. I'm I okay, but what are you gonna do in retirement? Oh, I plan to move out east for my retirement. That's interesting, Pedro. Um, is there something of significance out east? Yes, my son, uh my son and his wife live out there with my two with my two grandkids. Oh, that's fascinating. So, Pedro, uh, like why would that be so important? Like you're picking up everything from Toronto and you're moving out, moving out east. That seems like a like a big a big deal, which is great, by the way. Um, he goes, Well, here's the thing. I spent my entire life working in my business, and over the years, I felt like I was an absentee father. And at this point, my advice, my the advisor was telling me he was starting to get emotional. I'm not gonna bore you with the rest of details, Pedro, but the reality is he spent so much time in his business that he had very little time to spend with his son. And that created an enormous amount of guilt inside of him, thinking that he was an absentee father. So the reason why he wanted to retire and move out east was because he wanted to go out there, spend more time with his son and his grandkids to remove that pain, to remove that guilt of not being there for his for his son. So imagine the scenario now. The two other advisors come in and provide that prospect with a bunch of charts about how he's gonna retire at age 62, and it's all about the numbers, right? If you do X, Y, and Z, you'll never run out of money, blah, blah, blah, blah. My advisor comes in and says, if you do X, Y, and Z, not only will you be able to retire, you'll be able to move out east, spend as much time as you want with your son, connect with your grandkids, and most importantly, remove all that guilt that you're currently feeling. Um We can erase that guilt and make up for lost time. And you know, my advisor said that he basically broke down and started crying. He was so happy. Like the relief that he experienced knowing that he was able to help his son and his grandkids. Now you tell me, Pedro, which which advisor is gonna get the business? The one that talks about the facts and logic and ROI and rates of return, or the one that actually identified the true pain and solve that problem for that client.

Pedro Stein 44:31

Yeah. It's like thinking money is the final outcome when more often than not as it's means to an end, right? He's just trying to organize his entire system so he can actually get that outcome, which is, you know, you mentioned the true pain. And that's what actually drives sales, right? It's understanding and creating that connection. So definitely. I love that story.

Ermos Erotocritou 44:55

We solve problems. That's our job. Our job is not to get returns, our job is to solve problems. But the problem, the problem for the advisor is they don't know how to find what that true problem is.

Pedro Stein 45:08

Yeah, and sometimes I think they they see from their perspective, right? There, it's so obvious for them. It's just a mathematical problem, and they're not trying to understand what's going inside here. So, yeah, for sure. Um, now Hermos, if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, where can people find you and connect with you?

Ermos Erotocritou 45:28

So, two ways. Uh, one is through LinkedIn. Um, easily easily findable. I believe I'm the only Airmos on LinkedIn, so ERMOS. And through there, you can also uh reach our CAA, Client Acquisition Academy. We actually set up two different versions. So we have we actually have a free version. And I often joke because I've I've paid for coaching, by the way, Pedro. So I'm not a hypocrite. I truly believe in coaching in general, because if something's gonna take me, I mean, I can learn something. If I want to learn something, but it's gonna take it's gonna take me five years to learn it and be good at it. Doesn't it just make sense to just pay somebody and do it like in five weeks and start making money? So I also invest in a lot of coaching. Um, but our free platform, uh, which is available to everyone, I would argue has more value than the coaching program that they probably paid 10 grand for. I can say I can say that with conviction because I've paid for those courses and I know what's in our course. So if they just want a taste of what we do, um, there is a ton of resources in the CA free version. And really the biggest difference between the paid version and the free version is the the paid version comes with the the support, it comes with the coaching, and it comes with a smaller group of more ambitious advisors. So, you know, on the surface, it looks like it's the same because there's a lot of the same content, but in the reality, there's a lot more value in the in the on the paid side, and the people that are in there are taking obviously their careers a lot more seriously. So it's just it's a completely different vibe.

Pedro Stein 47:10

Got it. Okay. You know, there were a few things you shared today that really stay with me. I'll tell you right off the bat. I think the bat baptism uh by fire that you mentioned, you know, the tech bubble, and then you're going to that company, and you know, uh it's the highway, or you know, they they're they're I wouldn't say they laid you off, but it was like you felt uh you had skin in the game that you went through a hardship and you thought, hey, this may be a great opportunity. I think that's a key component for be a great coach, you know, being there done that. So I think that's very important. And um I would say also don't uh, you know, uh when you you told me you don't accept people on your LinkedIn that are not financial advisors, that makes a lot of sense. And I I would love for people to hear that with more uh more often because it tells me you have intention. And uh and I see a lot of coaches that they they they brag about a a number of followers, but is are your followers really your ICP right there? Because that's just raw data, right? And can how can you convert? How can you you you reach out to those people? Are they actually engaging with your content? You know, and also sometimes it's not just about engagement, it's about are they reading it? Because they're sometimes they're not gonna raise their hand, hey, I need help here, I'm doing terrible, you know. It's just reading it and sometimes they click on a link. So having that intention behind the the number, I think that's crucial. Okay. Also, I love the fact you mentioned that six percent who buys high-ticket programs don't complete it. Oh, that's a fun fact. I need to take a look at that. And the and last but not least, I think the integrity. When you mention, you know, oh, um, I'm turning advisors away sometimes. I think if that's a good thing, I'm unsure if that's a good or bad thing, but if I can give my honest opinion, I think that's a good thing because that protects community and that protects alignment. Who who you want people to hang out with your community, you know? So I know sometimes I'm not saying you you're you you do that, but I feel like I had done that in the past to my my own business, which is like that scarcity mindset that we're like, I should I I send those guys away, should I need clients? You know, that that constant uh fight we have between our minds. And um more often than not, I think you're dead on right on like not accepting people that shouldn't be hanging out with you at the end of the day. Now, Ermos, I appreciate what you do. I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. It was great having you on.

Davis Nguyen 49:38

It was my pleasure, Pedro. Thank you so much. That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community, and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.