The WealthStack Podcast
00:36:02 · Brad Johnson, Shannon Rosic
So the goal is to automate all that through APIs, through data that now with AI enabled tools can flow to allow our members to make better choices in their business. Also, once that data's in there, if they spoke something in a first visit, hey, yeah, we went out to wine country in Oregon. Now you've got an AI tool inside of that CRM that's enabled that you could say, hey, give me a list of my top 20 wine lovers. I wanna do a wine event next quarter. A year ago, that would have taken somebody probably half a day, make sure they tagged the clients properly in there. They probably missed them. They probably put it in the wrong field. Now, in five seconds, they can have a list and they can be using that to grow their firm. So there's just an unlimited amount of potential with where this is going, which is what I get really excited about. But that's just one use case we're already working on and we see starting to bear fruit. [00:36:54] S0: Love it. I'm also dubbing you the king of analogies this episode. I'm thoroughly watched. Says I get a [00:37:00] S1: little carried away, so feel free to dial me back. [00:37:02] S0: Now I'll leave that to her for the podcast, though it's working. Alright. One more for you. We're a smaller RIA and don't have the budget to build out a huge operations team. If you had to prioritize one investment to create more capacity, where would you start?
00:37:21 · Brad Johnson
[00:37:21] S1: So let's just assume... Because that can mean a lot of different things. Let's just assume that there's a firm like that. There's probably one founder that's the primary revenue producer, like what we talked about. Let's just assume they have a a dialed in sales process that works for them. So if that's the case, and they're not at capacity where they're already redlining burned out, all go to marketing. So if the sales process is solid, if they actually have a distinct financial product, a plan that they are confident in and that works, now it is how do you create the line out the door. And I think one of the biggest things, on the RIA side of the house, is the benefit to do... Doing a podcast for twenty years is it's given me a really... I've got advisors that come in that grew up in insurance. I've got advisors that grew up that are fee only and wealth management. So I see the different pain points in different areas of finance. On the RIA side, typically, it is... We do really good financial planning, but we have... We basically work off referrals, so it's like we don't know when the next client's walking in, or it's maybe some center of influence if that's out of your control. So just like Apple wouldn't sell iPhones if they didn't know how to create customers, I feel like a lot of RIAs have that. They they have a good product, a good planning process, they have poor marketing. They don't know how to get people to walk through the door. So I would say the best way I've seen to do that are one to many marketing avenues, dinner seminars, educational events. And here's the thing, a lot of kind of wealth management side of the house gets stuck. I don't want to be a a steak dinner salesman. Are you confident in the process you do? Do you believe you can help people? If yes, why would you not want more people to take advantage of that? And so, if you don't wanna do a steak dinner, cool. Do an educational event. Do it at a local college. Maybe that's more of the financial planning approach.
00:39:19 · Brad Johnson, Shannon Rosic
But the bottom line, the one to many approach where I can spend one hour or two hours, speak to 20, 30, 40 potential prospects versus work a country club where I talk to one individual and it takes forever because it's the same conversation 40 times, I would recommend implementing a proven tracked one to many marketing, at least one marketing funnel because that will help them grow. [00:39:42] S0: I think that's great advice. And if you are a steakhouse salesman, I volunteer as tribute if if you'd like to woo me in that sense. But appreciate the advice, Brad. But we have made it to our final and probably my favorite segment of the podcast that I affectionately call stack it or whack it. So what does that mean? I'm gonna throw out a few ideas, trends, tech trends, whatever it may be, and you tell me if they are essentially worth the hype or not. Love it or lose it, essentially. [00:40:09] S1: Okay. [00:40:10] S0: This is certainly a safe space for hot takes. First one I've got for you. The best advisory firms of the future will manage significantly more assets with significantly fewer employees. Stack or WAC hybrid is also an acceptable answer. [00:40:26] S1: Stack. [00:40:27] S0: Oh, okay. Alright. No... With no hesitation. I like it.
00:40:27 · Shannon Rosic, Brad Johnson
[00:40:27] S0: Oh, okay. Alright. No... With no hesitation. I like it. [00:40:31] S1: Yeah. I think we're entering a phase where those that are able to add value at scale will either gobble up the smaller ones, merger and acquisition. Obviously, we're already seeing a lot of that. Or the smaller ones just won't exist because they won't be able to do it in as efficient of a way with the tech stack that's required, just why... That's why we coach on a lot here at Triad because we're we're very much into helping firms scale to where they're not founder dependent. [00:41:05] S0: Sure. Makes sense. And I know I'm in good company with you. We've talked about this over the years, but I have to ask. Chiefs going to the Super Bowl again this year. They're looking good. Stack or whack, or do we not wanna jinx it? [00:41:17] S1: If I'm truly a fan, I have to believe in my team. So I'm gonna say stack it. Last year was rough. I know we share the Chiefs love here. Having a running game is... It's like, where's this been for a decade? So Kenneth Walker, he's looking good, taking the pressure off Mahomes. We don't have to throw it every single play where they know it's coming. So far so good, but it's a long season. Gotta stay healthy. And I just don't ever want to experience an Eagles Chiefs Super Bowl again because that was very painful the way that one ended.
00:41:17 · Brad Johnson, Shannon Rosic
[00:41:17] S1: If I'm truly a fan, I have to believe in my team. So I'm gonna say stack it. Last year was rough. I know we share the Chiefs love here. Having a running game is... It's like, where's this been for a decade? So Kenneth Walker, he's looking good, taking the pressure off Mahomes. We don't have to throw it every single play where they know it's coming. So far so good, but it's a long season. Gotta stay healthy. And I just don't ever want to experience an Eagles Chiefs Super Bowl again because that was very painful the way that one ended. [00:41:50] S0: Yes. Yes. It was. I would have to agree. I think the three feet pressure, we were probably just gassed out at the end of it too, but I have faith in our boys. And, man, how did the seahawks let this happen? Even I'm still in shock as a chiefs fan to let the Super Bowl MVP running back join us. Give it to Mahomes. We look like a whole different team. It is electric. I'm still a little sketched out by the o line, but, hopefully, we can plug those holes. But they're they're getting there. I have faith in Benson that he's gonna be the underdog that that saves the whole o line here, but to be seen. [00:42:26] S1: We've gotta keep some healthy receivers too, there's at least one or two people to throw it to. But, yes. It does. For you, though. That's how it works.
00:42:26 · Brad Johnson, Shannon Rosic
[00:42:26] S1: We've gotta keep some healthy receivers too, there's at least one or two people to throw it to. But, yes. It does. For you, though. That's how it works. [00:42:35] S0: It is. It... And that's what makes it so much fun and that why we are stressed out every Sunday. So, Brad, thank you so much. This is such a great conversation. I appreciate you joining me. Please tell listeners where they can connect with you and learn more about what you're working on at Triad. [00:42:49] S1: Yeah. I would say the best place, if there was some value here, DBDL Podcast. YouTube's the primary place where it lives these days. Used to be very audio based, but just that's where people go. So check it out on YouTube. Every episode's available on bradleyjohnson.com. We actually, speaking of AI, Will on our team just created an AI chatbot so you can literally... If you're curious what Shannon and I talked about, you can hop on. I actually tested out this morning. I said, is Shannon a Chiefs fan? And it pulled it right out of the episode. So it has all the transcripts. So if there's certain topics you wanna check out, you can just ask AI. It'll give you the episodes where we talked about it.