SPEAKER_04 0:00

A lot of times when we sit down with advisors, they know in their gut that they don't know in their head. And they're like, gosh, I feel like this has been wrong, or I feel like I'm doing really well here. And a lot of times the numbers bring so much peace. So as much as sometimes when we sit down, it's a very like shocking thing. They're like, oh gosh, I didn't know that my numbers were this bad. There's so much peace that comes after because it really brings so much clarity. And it's just like, I mean, you just throw things at the wall sometimes. You're like, I think this marketing's gonna work. I think this funnel is gonna work. I think this is gonna work. And when you can come in and actually use data to go, this is what works, there's so much peace after the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Welcome to Planning and Beyond, the show where financial planning meets human understanding. As an exceptional financial advisor, you know that financial planning is about more than just numbers. It's about giving clients the clarity they need to align their money with what matters most, which is why each episode is designed with that goal in mind. You'll learn how to uncover the psychology behind client decisions and gain insights and behavioral strategies needed to create deeper, more meaningful client relationships. You'll discover techniques for navigating emotional client situations, drawn from conversations with leading industry experts in behavioral finance, psychology, communication, and more. Whether it's mastering discovery meetings, handling sensitive client conversations, or understanding what is truly keeping your client stuck, you'll walk away with not only strategies that you can use in your next client meeting, but also the confidence to do so. Oh yeah, hi. I should probably introduce myself. I'm your host, Ashley Kwame, a therapist who somehow wandered into the world of financial behavior and kind of decided to stay. My mission is to help you bridge the gap between financial planning and human understanding. Because remember, finances don't have feelings, but your clients do. Let's dive in. Welcome to Planning and Beyond, the podcast where financial planning meets human understanding. I'm your host, Ashley Kwamey, and today I'm so excited to be joined by Molly Pierce, CEO of Track That Advisor. Molly and I met a few months ago and quickly became friends. I joined her on her podcast, which is fantastic. And we met at FutureProof here several weeks ago, at least as the date of this recording. And we've just become fast friends. And I'm thrilled to have her here to share all the great stuff that we're going to get into. Molly, thank you for coming on first and foremost.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

Oh, I'm so excited, Ashley. Thanks for having me. I love podcasting and talking numbers and data, but also with some people. That makes it, I think a lot of people think that data and financial advisory practices can be boring. And I'm like, it's anything but it's exciting and fun. And so thank you for having me just to have to be on this platform.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Yes. Well, conversations with fun people do make it easier and make it easier, you know, on both ends. Uh, right. Uh, I think each of us kind of having turns on either side of the mic. But I love what you said there, just about data and data doesn't have to be boring. Data can be fun. And we're gonna get into that today. We're gonna talk about data and how advisors can really look at the story behind the numbers. And so, Molly, let's just jump right in. So, you lead a firm that's built on data, and your bio talks a lot about helping advisors and how I've come to know you too and understand what you guys do at Track That Advisor. Like you guys are very interested in the story behind an advisor's numbers. And before we get into a little bit more of what that means, I'd love to just know from you like what drew you to that side of the work where you're looking at like a firm's data. And how did you come to this kind of place of realizing it's really with the story, right? That's kind of that's what matters. Can you share with us a little bit?

SPEAKER_04 3:55

Yeah, of course. I think data sometimes, especially in this world of AI, is kind of a buzzword, right? Everybody wants the data and everybody has so much data now. So it's really interesting because we've been in the industry for about 10 years. And so when we come to this place, this new age place of data, people are starting to recognize the importance of it. Whereas years ago, you almost had to kind of push for data and you had to push and say, okay, you really do need your data. And now the push is more you have data. What do you do with it? What's the story? How do you recognize how to use it? So our founder, Erica Paulie, started this company about 10 years ago. I've been here for nine, or she was sorry, she started about 12 years ago, I've been here for nine, and really found this gap. She was working in a financial advisor office and they were ready to pull seminars and just said, hey, seminars don't work anymore, which I laugh actually, because some everyone's been telling me seminars haven't worked for eight years now. And I'm like, every year, they're still our top-producing marketing funnel every year. So we laughed, but they were ready to pull seminars, and she just felt in her gut and was like, you know what? I don't think that's right. I don't think we should pull seminars. I do think that they're working. I do think they have a good ROI, but there was no way to show that. So that was kind of the birth of Track That Advisor. It was very simplistic and there was Excel sheets, and she had a kind of all of the numbers laid out and just showed from prospect coming in to close, which is a very kind of black box piece. Everybody tracks the beginning processes of how many clicks, how many events did you do, how many registrations. Nobody kind of finishes the sales cycle like we do, where we're tracking from the when they come into your office to actually funded money and like where did that money come from? Who closed it? What source is working? So it really was born out of this necessity of these advisors are paying so much money, you're doing a lot of marketing, why not track it? Why not track what's working? And when I kind of heard Erica's story through a family friend, I was like, gosh, there's such a need for that. And I was working in analytics at the time, loved it, and was like, there's so much opportunity with advisors. And I just really have a heart for advisors. I think they're my people, man. I they just they're entrepreneurial, they're go-getters, they like risks, they will do the big things, which I love in life. And so it really was just this beautiful mesh of how can we help them know their story. And again, I think data is convoluted in so many ways, but I also really want to stress it doesn't have to be. Data can be really fun because it tells you what to do and it tells you the story. And I'm not an emotional person by nature, so that's why I think I'm also very drawn to this, this kind of piece of industry, the industry. It's like, hey, if someone's not performing and we can show that with the data, it's not an emotional decision. It's very, hey, this is what's happening. This is the source that's not working. You need to make this choice and move forward. So that's really Tribe Advisor really tells that story. And there's a lot of misconceptions, but it's a beautiful thing when you can make it simplistic and teach an advisor how to use the data, whether it's through our tracking platform or their own. There's tons now. I'm like, gosh, it's beautiful. There's so many different systems for so many different people. Now is more how do you use it?

SPEAKER_01 7:06

So long-winded answer, but no, I think it's a great jumping off point, right? Because we're talking about, you know, data here within an advisor's business. And I think what's actually really interesting is that advisors spend their days helping clients face like their, you know, the clients' money, like the clients' data, right? And I just think what's interesting, and what I've noticed maybe you do as well, is that some advisors, some firms, they avoid like looking closely at their own business numbers, right? Much to the story that you were sharing there with Erica. And so I guess maybe I'm just curious, like, what do you see when an advisor first sits down with their real data? Like some of these things that you guys have been tracking. What types of emotions or thoughts, like what tends to come up when advisors are first sitting down and looking at this?

SPEAKER_04 7:55

I love this question so much because one, I think it's really critical that there's a lot of shock value that goes into this. And I hate to say that because advisors are very knowledgeable people by nature. They know their numbers, like you said, they know their stuff for their clients, they know everything that's happening. They have this gut feel. And I think a lot of times when we sit down with advisors, they know in their gut that they don't know in their head. And they're like, gosh, I feel like this has been wrong, or I feel like I'm doing really well here. And a lot of times the numbers bring so much peace. So as much as sometimes when we sit down, it's a very like shocking thing, they're like, oh gosh, I didn't know that my numbers were this bad, or I didn't know that this person wasn't moving people to a second appointment. There's so much peace that comes after the situation because it really brings so much clarity. And it's just like, I mean, you just throw things at the wall sometimes. You're like, I think this marketing's gonna work, I think this funnel's gonna work, I think this is gonna work. And when you can come in and actually use data to go, this is what works, there's so much peace after the conversation. But honestly, Ashley, also, I think a lot of times it is hard. Like we do have to have those hard conversations with advisors because a lot of times they'll have subadvisors or they're doing multiple marketing funnels, which is great. And we bring so much clarity there. But if a subadvisor is not doing well, we really look at that as a training opportunity. Okay, so let's say Joe, for example, isn't moving people to a second appointment. You thought his close rate was bad, but it's not. He's just a little too aggressive in the first and people aren't wanting to sign up for a second. So there's a lot of clarity that comes for there, but it is a little bit tough when Joe's sitting in the room and you're like, well, sorry, like my bad, bro. You know, like you really, there really isn't a ton you can do there.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, we don't want to say, Joe, you suck, and here's the numbers to validate that. Kind of, right? Like a little bit. And I would imagine, I don't know, I'm I could also foresee scenarios where there are things that are not working, the numbers, the data reveal, something that's not working, albeit a close rate or a particular marketing channel. And maybe the firm, maybe they get defensive or even like discouraged. How do you guys handle those kind of like uh-oh? Yeah, no, like kind of uh-oh moments.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

I just tell them my wife's not working and leave the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

No, I'm joking. I'm joking.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

I find that those are my favorite conversations, honestly, because as much as they want to try to defend, hey, this is working, this is working, this is working. That's what I love about numbers. Numbers don't lie. Your gut can lie to you. Your team might be telling you something different. But a good example of that is, for example, a lot of times when they go to a seminar, let's say they'll have, you know, 50% of the room will raise their hand saying that they want an appointment. Then when we track it after, how many actually got on your calendar? Not the ones that said they want an appointment, but who actually got on your calendar? And when we find it's about 50% of the 50%, that's when it's like the advisor would have no idea. They are looking at this room going, hey, 50% of my people want to come in. We're looking at it, like actually 25% of the room booked on your calendar or got an appointment. So there's just a lot of clarity there. And I always say too, like, that's again why I love advisors. They kind of start pretty feisty and they start very defensive, and then you build trust, right? And then there's an exchange of trust. And we've had, I mean, we have so many clients that we've had for years and years and years. And it's this beautiful thing, actually, people don't really read us very often because once you have the numbers and have that trust exchange, you just want to know and want to trust. And so I think too, having a third party come in, looking at it very logically, looking at it very, we have no investment in your firm. We don't have money on the line. You have so much money on the line and you have so much emotion in there. Maybe you're looking at something going, I've spent so much money on this, I have to follow through with it. And we're like, cut your losses now, man. Like this isn't performing. It's not gonna perform. You've been holding on to this dearly, and it's a fun conversation for us because we can use the members.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:57

So, and I will say, honestly, Ashley, most of these advisors are incredible. A lot of times it is really positive feedback and saying, okay, you're doing really good at this. And we do a lot of industry benchmarking, which I think is so freeing for people. So free. I think people don't recognize when you don't know what to benchmark against, you are in a little bit of this sea of unknown.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

And you go to these conferences and you sit next to a buddy and he's like, Man, I have an 80% close rate. And my like eyes are in the back of my head because I'm like, your buddy is such a liar. Like, he does not have an 80% close rate unless he's doing just referrals. I'll give you that. But there's no way. And then you walk away going, Oh my gosh, I don't have an 80% close rate. And that's not normal. Yeah. Normal is 30% for all marketing funnels. So it's like there's so much clarity in the numbers. So as much as people do get defensive, they really don't. They really are amazing and they really are like, we trust you. So I think it's, I mean, it really tells a lot of the behavioral science of it is there is an exchange of trust, and you have to have that. You also have to be an expert in your field. This isn't our first go-around. Like we track billions and billions and billions of dollars. So it's like when we come in and say something, it's not out of, oh, I this is kind of what I think. It's hey, I've tracked this for a long time. I know what's right and what's wrong, and I'm I want to help you in this. And we again have no stakes in the game. So it's like we're just trying to help you grow.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Yeah, I love that you mentioned there, you know, trust and like building trust and clients leaning into that because let's be honest, like tracking can feel like accountability. Yes. And accountability can feel like judgment, right? Yes. I think about just and for advisors like many of you, like think about when you are asking your clients to track spending or to look at like credit card statements. Like that is a form of tracking, it's a form of accountability. And sometimes those numbers, it's like you're looking in the mirror, right? It can feel like you are being judged, right? Yeah. I mean, Starbucks, I have a love-hate relationship with them, right? I love their product, and I hate that they judge me so harshly with the number of times they show up on my credit card statement.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Yep, yep. You know, when you have that like quarterly interview with your husband, you're like, oh, this is gonna be a rough one.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Like, yeah, let's just get past that real bad.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah. So I would imagine that for some, like just looking at your own business data, like this is personal, it's deeply personal. And it can feel like, my goodness, like this is kind of holding my feet to the fire, and it can feel a little bit like a judgment. And so I can appreciate from you guys' angle, right? Just like building that trust with them and saying, hey, here's some of the education right behind it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Close rate like 80%, poof, right? Like it's normally 30%, like with marketing. So I can appreciate like the education and then just building that trust there with your clients because putting myself maybe in their shoes, I could see where that would help lessen or reduce some of that feeling of judgment there.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

Yeah, I think a lot of times too, what people don't realize is they are already tracking typically to some capacity, but they're not tracking the right things. So when we talk about, hey, you know, benchmarking or a little bit of that accountability piece, it's what are you being accountable and is it the right thing to be accountable to? I think sometimes you internalize, oh my gosh, I have to be perfect at everything and I have to track everything and I have to know all my numbers. I'm a bad business owner if I don't. And it's like, gosh, you really you don't need everything. You don't need to track every minutiae detail. It's what are the big players that help you move so we can hold you accountable to those. The minor things, great. Like, don't stress about that. That's gonna come and go. And even we talk a lot about like the TTA top five, and everyone's like, oh, ROI for sure is in the top five. No, it's actually not at all because ROI is the end result to everything that's happening before that. You can focus on ROI, and that's gonna, yeah, get you somewhere, and it's important to be cognizant of it. But what is the story before that? There's so much more at play before you get there. Are you converting? Are you moving to a second? Are you closing? Are you what's your cost per client? Like what is your average case size? There's so much more to look at. So I think people take accountability a little too far sometimes. There's two camps. Either you have zero accountability, yes, you need help there, or you are so overwhelmed, you're lying awake at night because you have way too much accountability and you don't know really what's true and what's not. So I just, I, these advisors are incredible people and incredible humans. And I just want to bring clarity. And it's like, gosh, you just do so much. And for the teens too, I always say I'm such an ally for the teams. I love the teams of advisors. Like they are they do so much. And so a lot of times when it comes to tracking, they, you know, the advisors, we love them, but they come in off a whim and they're like, what was my ROI on that seminar six months ago? And you're like, You literally never asked me to track that before. I genuinely have no idea. And so when we, you know, clarity to that, and they're like, Yep, no problem. Let me pull it up. Boom, here you go. Here's the location that works the best, here's the topic that works the best. We should consider this time because it works the best. It just allows a team to have the ammo that they need in order to do a good job. So it's kind of both sides.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I want to talk a little bit about just kind of the client experience side because you've mentioned before that a firm's data, like their numbers, it can strengthen like the client relationship. It doesn't just drive growth, right? It can strengthen the relationship and it can also tell a story about the client experience itself, right? And I think one of the obvious examples here, and you've kind of mentioned here, is like if a prospect drops off, right? Somewhere in the process and maybe having like that information, having that data, maybe what it might say. What's the story there? Like what it might say about trust or connection. So can you talk a little bit about just how the numbers can really give a fuller picture about what the client experience is like?

SPEAKER_04 17:54

Absolutely. There's definitely, we just finished our mid-year state of the nation, and it's our massive study. We do them twice a year, mid-year and annually. And we aggregate everyone's data to see what trends are happening. And one of the biggest things we saw this year is people who are not keeping a second appointment. They set a second appointment, but prospects weren't moving to keep that second appointment, and which is really rare. Our benchmark is 80% of those people that set a second should move to that second. They're pretty committed at this point. What we saw was one, with the, I hate even using the word AI, but I'll use it. With the integration of AI, a lot of times what happens is you lose that human-to-human connection with your client, with that prospect. And so what was happening was they were finishing the first meeting, they had set a second meeting, all good. Maybe it's happening in 10 days from now. They sent them off with their paperwork, but it was a Calendly link reminding them or set up text message, you know, reminding them of their appointment. There was no human-to-human contact anymore. That piece dropped the second client sticky. And that was wild to me. And they were, they were booking them out also too far. So that's another thing, which not really about the client experience. I won't go too deeply into that. But if you're not booking between 10 to 15 days, psychologically, most people are no longer interested. They're like, oh, it's gonna take me 30 days to get in. Why is that? I'm done. Like I have needs. You've told me my needs are important. I'm really stressed about this now.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

You're too busy for me. Like, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

You're too busy for me. Now you're, you know, you're some crazy office that can't get me in. Who am I? Why would you care about me, etc.? But the biggest thing too was it was the second sticker as well as the first. There was no human-to-human connection. So we started coaching offices and saying, hey, tell me these great, or you know, whatever scheduling link you're using is awesome. 10 out of 10 recommend. Have your appointment center call before they come in in between time. Have them just say, hey, just checking in. Do you have questions about the paperwork? Are you excited about the meeting? And even an advisor if you're a solo practice. We have a client that does this every Friday. He calls the upcoming week and just says, Hey, is there any questions you have beforehand that I can ensure to answer for you? Let me just connect with you. And that is the biggest thing. I talk a lot about this in a lot of the speeches that I do for events and conferences. It's we are in the business of human to human. And if you are not in that business, you are not going to succeed as a financial advisor. You will make it, you will do well, you will not succeed to the highest level if you are not understanding that it is human-to-human business. Then this ties a lot into what you do. I mean, the client wants to feel that it is one of the toughest decisions what you do with your money, especially generationally. How are you gonna live? Like, I feel for advisors. I quite frankly would not want that stress. So good for you guys. Appreciate that you guys do it. Love you guys and gals for doing it, but like would not want that stress. But you have to understand the emotion behind it. And if you are not taking time to understand that emotion, you will not be as good of a closer. And we've seen that too. The advisors that cannot connect with people are not as good of close rates. Like it just is in the data, and that's how it is. But the client experience just it tells such a story. You need to connect with them. You can't book them out too far. They won't feel good, they won't feel worthy, they won't feel wanted. There's a lot of feelings there, which I think sometimes just kind of gets pushed down, right? I mean, I love to push down a good feeling. I'll be the first to say it. We've got to talk about that later.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Oh Molly, no. But not with clients. Listen, if this friendship is gonna continue, we're gonna start talking feelings.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

I know. You make me want to be emotionally smart, but I'm like, it's fine. We'll we'll figure that out later.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Oh, I'm with you. I get that it makes a lot of sense. You know, I think what I'm taking away and just kind of in hearing you talk about, you know, this experience side and even with advisors, you know, is that there's a lot here, right? That tracking can offer from, you know, we talked about accountability, we talked about just kind of the story that it tells, but also like where there are missed opportunities and that human to human piece that you're just mentioning.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Knowing, like, hey, we can send out a calendarly link and we can. Create efficiencies within our practice, and there's nothing wrong with that. But how are we also making sure that we don't lose sight of and lose touch with the other human? Yes. There. And so I really appreciate that you're bringing that up because I think that you see this, I see this everyone. We all know, like, I guess we will say with AI, I don't want to just blame it on AI, but with technology progressing and with it affording businesses the opportunity to, you know, become more efficient, maybe even more productive, right? To be determined. I'll put those kind of in quotations there. We have to be careful, you know, in a service industry where we're connecting and meeting with other humans, that we're not losing the human in all of that as well.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

Yes. And it's huge. And actually, I talk about this a lot because I think I'll meet people and they're like, you're such a hater of technology. I'm like, I mean tech people. Like, I don't hate technology. I love it. And I do. I think there's efficiencies there. I think it's beautiful. I think it's outstanding that, you know, things that used to take two hours are taking two minutes now. I think it's lovely. I think if anything, you need to use technology now to create space for the human side. In every, almost every podcaster speech I do, I always say genuine human connection is the new currency. It's the new currency in our world. And when social media came out, attention was the currency, and it was likes and follows and attention, and that was the currency. And now people are so used to that that now it's AI and it's not human anymore. It's how many emails do we get a day where you're like, oh my gosh, that was so AI-y. Ugh. But you then you get a personalized one. You're like, man, that was so real and raw and vulnerable. So it's gonna be that genuine connection that's gonna set up companies to just be outstanding. And we've seen this in the data. We've seen this over and over and over again. And I can genuinely say it's some of the advisors that care about people the most that are the most successful. And they get to be these massive offices. I mean, we have offices bringing in 300, 350 million dollars of new assets per year. And those are the ones that most gen, I wouldn't say most genuinely, like everybody cares about their clients, but it's just evident. It's evident they reek of it. They just want to help humans. And I would say that's the biggest thing is you just have to have human connection. It's so key. So key.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah. So okay, Molly, if an advisor is listening and they're like, well, gee gosh golly, I don't actually know if they would say that.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

Miss Molly, yeah, you can do it. Okay, golly, Miss Molly. Heard of my whole life.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Gee gosh golly, Miss Molly. I didn't want to fully go there just in case, but then I did and I couldn't stop myself. So if they are listening right now and they're just thinking, I really don't trek anything. Maybe I do, I do, but like I really don't, at least not intentionally. Where would you suggest them starting?

SPEAKER_04 24:52

Yeah, great question. So one, I want to give freedom to that and just say you're not alone. That's why we have the clients we have and we have the business we have is you're not alone in maybe semi-tracking, but not really being consistent about it or not knowing where to start. And I will always have freedom there because I'm like, it is daunting. It is hard to start. We always say, hey, if you haven't done this, we begin with the TTA top five. We say one, track your stick rate. So that is your kept first appointments divided by your set first appointments. And it's great. This will launch in October, just to for the last two months of the year, even like just begin tracking. It's very simple. It doesn't have to be convoluted. Add it to a little spreadsheet, do it manually. How many kept and how many set? I like to break it out by advisor. If you have multiple advisors, I also like to break it out by source. Is there a certain source that people just aren't reliant and don't keep their appointments? Then we say you also should be tracking close rate. So that is how many actually kept their first appointment versus converted to a client. So look at your close rate again. If you can break it out by advisor, key, key, key, key, key. That's big. Source also matters, but not as big as advisor because once they come into your office, it doesn't really matter how you got them. We're structured now on what was the again, human relationship. So stick rate, close rate. Next, we talk about cost per client. So you are going to take in your total number of clients. I like to do it if you want to do it by month. If you're newer to tracking, awesome. If you want to look at it by two months, we do it, you know, every day that it's a little bit more consistent. But however you want to look at it, how much did it cost you and how many points did you get? I will also say for seminars, give it some leeway. A lot of times, you know, advisors come in the next week, they're like, great, we did a seminar. How many have we closed? Guys, you know, it's like a 90-day cycle. You know this. Don't stress your team out. Do not ask them the next week. They're still recovering from the seminar. Big seminar fan, huge seminar fan. And we have some free resources also that I'll send to you if you want to link them regarding seminars and benchmarking in general, also is huge. But then I check my cost per client. Then also look at your pending leads. This is so critical because everyone that comes to me, they're like, I just need more, I just need more, I just need more. And then I look at their marketing team and they're like scared to death that I'm gonna say, like, yeah, you just need more. And I'm such a pro marketing team. So I'm like, you actually don't need more sometimes. Like, sometimes you need to service people you have better. You've already worked to get these people in. If you are not getting them in between that 10 to 15 day benchmark between appointments, you are not servicing them well and you're falling off because of that. You have to get people in 10 to 15 days between their appointments. So key. The last thing I loved in our top five is average case size. This is like my favorite child, and I'm not supposed to make one, but of the TTA top five, I feel like they're not emotional, so it's great. Average case size is my favorite. It tells me so much about your firm and how you get average case sizes, total households that you've served versus how much new assets you've brought in. So you'll take your new assets, divide it by the households that you've served, and then that gives you your average case size. We have some clients, if you have a lower average case size, you just know that your office is gonna be a bit more transactional. You're gonna have to get them in, get them out. It's gonna be a quicker close. That's just how it's gonna work. We have several offices that have a million-dollar case size and above. It's gonna take longer. Big fish take longer to close. They're not as stressed about the funds, they're maybe you just need more time to make decisions. Bigger fish take, they have more funds that they have to decide where to go. So that's a bigger, bigger conversation. So it tells me a lot about your firm. So if you're gonna start anywhere, just pick one. We have a whole course coming out about how to track these, and it's just the top five. So it's really an initial beginner course that's coming out later in the year. So you can email hello at track that advisor if you're curious about that. But really, just pick one. Like, I just want you to start somewhere. Tracking does not have to be convoluted. Just choose one, pick a favorite. You can pick a favorite you're allowed, and then go from there.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, and I love that you walked through those five, but also they're kind of the answering, just pick one, right? Because that's usually what we like say when we're starting something new, it can be really overwhelming. And the hope, the goal might be to work your way up to where you are tracking all five and maybe maybe more. But if this is new, it's likely going to be overwhelming. There might be some discomfort. And just because something feels uncomfortable doesn't mean that we don't continue doing it. But hey, let's try and reduce the amount of discomfort that we might feel from trying something new. So sticking with just one is usually yeah, it's usually the best.

SPEAKER_04 29:26

It's a lot, it's a lot. And my heart goes to because you're also trying to run a practice, you're also trying to sell, you're also trying to manage clients' money. Like there's so much out there. And I would say also like delegate to your team. Have an incredible, a lot of these offices have amazing, whether it's one, whether it's a hundred, you have a team that's here to help you. Make it simple. You know, just use what you can and just try to do one thing. I love that. Like it doesn't have to be crazy.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

No, it doesn't. Well, Molly, if people want more Molly Pierce in their life, I'm here for it. I think everyone should. Everyone needs a numbers friend that, yes, like you. And, you know, I can be your emotional friend. You can be my numbers friend.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

And I love it. We make a good team, Ashley. We make a good team.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

It's a complete. We are complete now. If people want more Molly Pierce in their life, where can they find you? Where can they connect with you?

SPEAKER_04 30:16

Yeah, I'm super active on LinkedIn. You'll see me all over there. Molly Pierce is just the handle there. So you'll find me on there. If you want more about our services, you can email hello at trackthetadvisor.com. We also have a ton of free resources. So, like I said, I'll if you want to link them in the show notes. We have a benchmarking guide for people. If they are tracking, we have a couple of other resources we can put in there too. But hello at trackthetadvisor.com is kind of the best way also to reach me.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Perfect. We'll make sure that we include that in the show notes. So thank you, Molly, for coming on. Thank you for sharing all of your wisdom here today with us. And thank you to all of you for allowing Molly and I into your ears and into your mind today. It's a part of your week that you don't have to give us, but you're choosing to. And for that, Molly and I are both incredibly grateful. If this conversation resonated with you, I would also like to keep the connection going. You can find me on LinkedIn at Ashley Kwame, where I share weekly insights on the human side of planning. And really not weekly, let's be honest, my friends. For any of you following me, it's pretty much every day. If you'd like a little bit more of Beyond the Plan in your life, you can head over to beyondthefp.com. Sign up for our monthly newsletter. We have been making some changes to that. And we're starting to include not only just free resources, practical tips that you can use in your next meeting, but also really building a community of other human-first, like-minded businesses, business owners like Molly, like track that advisor. And so we're really trying to elevate just kind of the community and highlight other fantastic people. So people like Molly and her business will show up there in that newsletter. So sign up for that over on the website. And hey, just as a little sneak peek, I'm sharing this with you here. And maybe I'm not supposed to, but I've been sharing it. And our team, if I'm not supposed to, they'll probably tell me no, stop that. But we are launching in 2027 the Advisor Skills School. And that will launch starting in January. It is a 12-month program full of CEs, full of practical learning experiences. There's a teaching component, a practice lab component, an integration. We're going to be diving into what we call our relational standard curriculum. And these are all of the relational skills that, as an advisor, we will be better off learning. They will show up not only just with your work professionally, but also personally as well. So if you want to get in on that, email us at hello at beyond the FP and let us know that you're interested in learning more about Advisor Skills School. And we will hook you up with all of the information there. Most importantly, my friends, though, make sure to follow the show wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a future conversation like this one. As always, remember, finances don't have feelings, but your clients do. Until next time, keep planning, keep growing, and keep going beyond. Thanks for joining me on this episode of Planning and Beyond. I hope you found today's insights valuable and inspiring for both your practice and your personal growth. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more advisors like you who are dedicated to making a difference. For more resources, tips, and to continue the conversation, visit our website at beyondthefp.com. You'll find articles, tools, and information about upcoming episodes designed to support your journey and practice. Stay connected with us on social media and never miss an update. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. And remember, the best way to grow is to keep learning and sharing. Until next time, keep planning, keep growing, and keep going beyond.