I’m wheels-up to Nashville to attend this year’s Fearless Investing Summit brought to you by Riskalyze Nitrogen.

The event is always well done and provides a great opportunity to meet clients, prospects, partners, and friends.

This week’s newsletter centers on how we actually cast a strong central narrative and why it actually matters.

Here’s this week’s Connected Advisor.

1. Aligning Narratives That Transform Successful Firms

2. Building Relationships: The Role of COI Networks in Organic Growth with Seth Merrill 🎧

3. Bookmarks

   1. OK Computer: Anthropic Gives AI Control Over Your Computer

   2. Shipping Chips on Arizona Soil

4. Milemarker On the Road ✈️

Let’s go.

Aligning Narratives That Transform Successful Firms

Dimensional, Riskalyze, and United Capital.

Three companies, three unique messages that transcended what they do.

Evidence-based Investing.

The Risk Number.

Honest Conversations.

You might be able to name a few more examples than I did, but we've all been impacted by messaging that’s bigger than the firms that birthed them. The names of these concepts serve a greater purpose than just how to talk about an idea. They become the central narrative of the firm.

Having a central narrative around your value creates powerful alignment in how you go to market. Most companies struggle to find just the right idea to create a narrative that matters.

You couldn't have a conversation with Aaron Klein over the past ten years without hearing about the risk number. Even if you personally didn’t care about the risk number, you had to sort of care about the risk number.

When I was running Orion’s marketing in 2013, I saw how effective Riskalyze had become in driving their narrative and knew that our software needed to take what they were doing into account.

Figuring out how to work together bettered both firms as we created numerous ways to work together over the following years.

Missing the Narrative

One of the most powerful things we can do is find a central narrative. A central narrative is a story told from the perspective of the main character, that is, your client. They help you keep your team on mission because they help you keep your clients centered on what matters.

Central narratives also lead you to a repeatable mantra that can help you break through the noise of features, buzzwords, and jargon — even if they are some sort of packaged version of all of those things.

Finding Your Narrative

The most effective way to find your narrative is through spending lots of time in the trenches - listening to your clients and teaching key truths that are essential to their success.

If you considered your client's experience like a course syllabus, what would you want to ensure is included? What would be required reading, and what would be extra credit?

Once you understand what’s important to your ideal client, you can get to work delivering a message that resonates with both your team and clients. Look for the single theme that ties their concerns together.

It’s worth your (and your team’s) time to distill the truth into a name or statement that is simple and memorable.

I’ve spent thousands of hours across the table from advisors during my career. The ones who’ve found their central narrative got there through their own personal ideation in their notebook.

They wrote down a phrase. They underlined it, traced over it a few times. There’s a diagram they sketched out to help them simplify their message.

For SignatureFD, they centered on the idea of Net Worthwhile - a principle that is open ended, intriguing and subjective to their clients. It gives SignatureFD’s team a target to draw up for clients, prospects and advisors.

This wasn’t overnight, it took time and deep focus and it wasn’t just pulling something out of the air. It was the focus that germinated the concept and the concept that became a tangible transformational principle.

What about you?

What is your central narrative or what central narratives stand out the most to you?

________________________

On the Pod: Building Relationships: The Role of COI Networks in Organic Growth with Seth Merrill

In this episode, KVP talked with Seth Merrill, Partner at The Norden Group. They discuss the challenges and strategies involved in scaling a financial advisory firm, the importance of building strong COI relationships, and the evolving landscape of the advisory industry.

Seth shares his unique path into the industry, insights on building study groups with CPAs and attorneys, and the growth trajectory of The Norden Group, including onboarding 11 advisors and managing a team of 22 employees. They also explore the role of technology in managing growth, the balance between personal practice and firm management, and Seth's vision for the future of financial advisory.

Key Takeaways:

• The Power of COI Relationships: Building strong relationships with Centers of Influence (COIs) is a strategic organic growth channel for financial advisors.

• Deep Connections with COIs: Norden Group has focused on building deep relationships with COIs, such as CPAs and legal teams, through study groups and collaborative efforts.

• Knowledge Sharing for Growth: Creating study groups as a platform for knowledge sharing, relationship building, and generating referrals is an effective growth strategy.

• Navigating Complexity in Firm Management: Managing a growing firm is complex, requiring a balance between exceptional client service and operational demands.

Notable Quotes:

• "Our firm is really based on education, and we need to be better. We feel you can help us improve through the study group format." ~ Seth Merrill

• "At this point, one-man shops are going to be really difficult to continue to operate. So, it's going to become more paramount that you surround yourself with a team of competent people." ~ Seth Merrill

Listen to Episode

⚡️Bookmarks

OK Computer: Anthropic Gives AI Control Over Your Computer

Forget about AI teaching you how to work differently. Anthropic just recently announced the next generation of generative computing — allowing you to turn over control of your computer to Claude 3.5 and beyond.

TSMC Ships Chips on US Soil

Only two years after the passing of the Chips Act, the world’s most important company by many definitions, TSMC has begun manufacturing of their chips on US soil.  

Milemarker on the Road

Catch our team on the road at the following events or cities:

1. October 25 - Charleston, SC

2. October 28-30 - San Francisco, CA

3. November 4-5 - New York, NY

4. November 6-7 - Jacksonville, FL

5. November 11-12 - Charleston, SC

6. November 12-13 - San Diego, CA

7. November 12-14 - Arlington, TX

8. November 14-15 - Charlotte, NC

9. November 18-20 - San Francisco, CA

10. November 21-22 - Omaha, NE

11. December 4-5 - New York, NY

12. December 9-11 - Las Vegas, NV

If you’re in any of those cities and want to arrange a meeting time, reply to this email, and we’ll get something on the calendar.

Jud Mackrill