The 9-word, 1-line Email That Helped an Advisor Generate $249k in Commissions

Do you ever feel slightly intimidated when you think about the challenge of financial advisor marketing  – particularly email marketing?

Between building your list, writing the perfect headlines, and crafting copy that converts, email can feel like another full-time job…

And it’s for this reason that I see so many virtual advisors drop off after a few weeks and give up on email altogether.

They get so fed up with all of the tedious details and time-consuming minutiae that they throw in the towel and simply decide to forget about it.

BIG mistake.

Email is arguably the single MOST value marketing channel you have available at your disposal. 

And that makes your email list – and the nourishment of that list – the most important marketing asset you own.

Think about it…

Your email list is one of the few “audiences” you have total control over. 

Most virtual advisors think they own their social media presence, but that’s not entirely true.

  • What would happen if Facebook decided to totally change their algorithm and suppress all content related to financial and insurance advisors? 
  • What if Twitter went belly-up and shut down the entire platform overnight?
  • What if LinkedIn felt like your profile violated its terms and suddenly disabled your account?

See…it’s nice to have a presence on social media, but you don’t “own” the audience.

An email list, however, is all yours.

You can carry it with you for the rest of your life, whether you start another company, transition into consulting, or decide to write and promote a book.

Despite this, few advisors extract the sort of value they should from such a powerful asset.

So in this article, I’m going SIMPLIFY things in such a way that any advisor – including YOU – can generate superior results in a fraction of the time.

I know what you’re thinking…

That sounds wayyy too good to be true…here comes another guru making big promises…”

But I hope you’ll continue reading…

Because I’m not a guru (I’ve spent and made millions of dollars via email marketing)… 

And I’m certainly not blowing smoke (I only provide tactics that I’ve used myself)…

When I say I’m going to SIMPLIFY email for you, I mean it.

All you need is a 9-word email that’s so easy you’ll have it memorized before you reach the end of this post.

 

 

The 2 Buckets of Your Email List

When it comes to financial advisor marketing, email might be the most intimidating to the average advisor. 

It’s easy to look at a database as one big messy glob of names with no way to differentiate the warm from the cold. 

But the truth of the matter is that your email list/prospect database can be organized into two buckets:

Studies show that, at any given time in the market, only 2% of your prospect database is actively looking to solve the problem that you can help them with. 

That means, if you have 100 people in your database, there are only 2 people who are actively/urgently feeling the pain to invest in your products and services.

The other 98% land somewhere on a spectrum. 

Of these 98%, 1 in 4 have “latent pain.” (They know they should be doing something about their problem, but they aren’t.) 

The remaining 3 in 4 have “stagnant pain.” (They’ve lived with the pain for so long that they need a major catalyst to move to action.)

  • The 9-word email is designed to reach the 2%.
  • The Advisorist Email Re-Engagement Sequence addresses the other 98%. 

If you can master these two techniques, email will no longer confuse and intimidate you. It’ll still require a lot of attention, but you’ll finally see that hard work pays off in the form of results (appointments, AUM, referrals, etc.).

The 9-Word Email for Reaching the 2%

When I first tell people that I have a 9-word, 1-line email that converts better than almost any other email in my marketing repertoire, people usually give me a skeptical look.

But I’m telling you, this email works…

I taught this exact same email to a group a couple of years ago and this one successful advisor stands up in the middle of the class and says,

“Hey, I just want to let everybody know that I tried this out with two prospects and we heard back from both of them. We set up meetings and will make $249,000 in commissions over the next 90 days.”

Wow.

A quarter of a million dollars from a simple one-line email.

Okay, I know…you’re ready for it.

So I’m going to show you what the email looks like, but then I’m going to dig into why it works. (Because it’s actually more important that you understand the psychology behind the email.)

Without any more buildup, here’s the email:

[Subject] (A) Contact First Name OR (B) quick question 

[Email Body] 

John, 

Do you still need help with _____________? (Insert: group benefits, life insurance, financial planning, your Medicare policy, etc.)

Jeremiah

Seriously…that’s it.

  1. Choose one of the two subject lines. (And I recommend doing some A/B testing to figure out which one performs best for you.)
  2. Address the prospect by their first name. 
  3. Ask them if they still need help with whatever it is you’re selling. 

Do you still need help with group benefits?

Do you still need help with life insurance?

Do you still need help with financial planning?

Do you still need help with your Medicare policy?

This little email has made millions of dollars in this industry. 

But why does it work?

  • It doesn’t look like spam
  • It appears personal and implies there was a previous interaction
  • It offers help rather than a product/service
  • It’s nonthreatening

Best of all, the email is simple.

People have been training their minds to become distracted. (We’re addicted to devices.) This email cuts through the distraction and makes it very easy for a prospect to respond in spite of psychological behaviors.

I just have a couple of additional pointers for you…

First off, while you can send this email to hundreds of people via your CRM, it’s better suited for sending in batches of 10-15 prospects at a time. (If you do send it to your entire database, be prepared for an onslaught of responses and block off some time in your calendar for appointments.)

Secondly, don’t send the 9-word email too often. Try it once every 90 days (at the most). Otherwise people will realize it’s not unique and all of your open rates will suffer. 

The purpose of this concept is to shake the trees, find the nuggets, and move on. 

But it’s not necessarily the best approach for disengaged members of your email list. These people need to be re-engaged before you can reasonably expect them to take any sort of action. (Especially connecting for an appointment.)

Thankfully, I’ve got an email for that, too…

The Re-Engagement Campaign for Reaching the Other 98%

If you remember, the second group in your email database is called the “disengaged” bucket.

This is anyone who hasn’t opened an email in 90 days or more.

The 9-word email doesn’t work with these folks.

You need something a little more targeted – an email that even a disengaged prospect will be compelled to open and respond to. 

For this bucket, I recommend using a 3-part email sequence that addresses the following question:

How do you get latent and stagnant prospects to engage with you?

[subject]👋 are you there, {{contact.first_name}}?

[sub subject] I’m so glad you opened this email, because the gifts inside could help you INSERT DESIRED BENEFIT HERE…

Email 1: 

Hi ( contact first name ) 

It’s been awhile since you’ve opened any of my emails but I’m REALLY glad you decided to take a look at this one 🙂 



(NOTE to Advisors: you can find this animated gif here: https://media2.giphy.com/media/IgGLggVL4HXYDAot0Y/200.gif)

Why? 

Because this email contains some of the MOST valuable content YOURNAME has ever released (plus maybe a couple of other things).

With a mission to INSERT YOUR MISSION HERE, I want to make sure everyone on my subscriber list is seeing the most relevant content YOUR COMPANY has to offer.

First, you should check out these popular blog posts: 

  • EXAMPLE 1
  • EXAMPLE 2

Oh wait –you’ve ALREADY read all of these posts? 

Well then…

Since you’re still reading this email, I want to give you a NEW favorite tool that you can use with my compliments.: 

INSERT NAME TO VALUABLE ASSET OR PDF

My team and I researched the top 44 Proven tips, tools and secrets from the front lines. 

The purpose of this tool is to help you set yourself up for success when INSERT WHAT YOUR PROSPECTS DO.

I encourage you to take a look at ALL of the content above — because even if your PORTOFOLIO/ PLAN/ INSERT WHAT THEY HAVE at optimal capacity, we can all use reminders from time to time about what works.

By the way, it’s great to have you back, FNAME 😀

Talk soon,

SIGNATURE

Reasons this first email works so well:

  • Relatable headline
  • Animated, relatable GIF
  • Shows them some of your good assets
  • Gives them your BEST asset
  • Encourages them to add you to the right folder so you’re whitelisted

Now, the first email will get some of these people to re-engage with you. But not everyone will seize the opportunity. 

There are two more emails in this sequence and you’ll need them both if you want to generate maximum results.

I just ask that you fill out the form below so that I know where to send the PDF.

 

Don’t Miss the Next Virtual Advisor Power Hour Class

Want to be one of the first virtual advisors to access more insider strategies like the financial advisor marketing tactics included in this one?

Register to join our weekly LIVE Virtual Advisor Power Hour Class.

It’s totally FREE.

And the content really is killer…

It’s 100% MEAT. No filler.

And to make it fun, I give away cash prizes up to $500 to advisors that show up live.

Our Power Hours take place every Wednesday afternoon at 12 noon ET…

Jeremiah Desmarais

Jeremiah Desmarais

Jeremiah is the founder and CEO of Advisorist® and is a 23-time award winning financial marketer, a TED speaker and philanthropist. He’s been featured on Forbes, CNN, and Worth. His work has generated over $2 million insurance leads and helped advisors in over 51 countries generate over $300 million in sales commissions. He is the author of the best selling book, SHIFT.

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