Latest / The Perfect RIA / The Ripple Effect of Positive Change and Impactful Value Adds with Guest Aaron Palmer [Episode 270]

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The Ripple Effect of Positive Change and Impactful Value Adds with Guest Aaron Palmer [Episode 270] · The Perfect RIA

0:34
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1:23
Matthew Jarvis: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode
1:24
of The Perfect RIA podcast. I'm your co host, Matthew Jarvis,
1:28
with me today, special guest and borderline neighbor, Aaron
1:31
Palmer. Aaron and I are both have practices in the state of
1:34
Washington, though, Aaron we never crossed paths over that.
1:37
It wasn't until we met like on the World Wide Web through the
1:39
podcast, we've had lunch together, we'll be together for
1:41
a mastermind. So really excited to have you on the show.
1:44
Aaron Palmer: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
1:45
Matthew Jarvis: Yeah, it's my pleasure, man. Well, let's jump
1:48
right into a value add that you shared with me that you've done
1:51
with your clients. And I love this example, and you and I
1:55
talked about this offline. Oftentimes, as advisors, we're
1:58
like, searching for this, like, big, elaborate value add, like,
2:01
it has to, like, bring the client to tears and save them
2:04
millions of dollars. But there's so many value adds that we can
2:07
do that are just fundamentals, but they make a big difference.
2:09
So this example you're going to share, though, Aaron, is
2:11
actually you made a substantial difference in a client's life,
2:14
at least financially, from what could have otherwise been seen
2:16
as just like a tedious housekeeping items. Why don't
2:17
tell us a little about the value added that? We'll kind of just
2:20
go into your backstory and what you're up to and all those great
2:22
things.
2:23
Aaron Palmer: Absolutely. Yeah, this year, when just doing our
2:26
reviews and we do surge, so that's always, always fun is
2:31
every client we did a unclaimed property surge. So essentially
2:35
we went to unclaimed.org and we live in Washington state, so we
2:39
click on that state and type in their name and their spouse's
2:42
name and their children's name, and just search for anybody that
2:45
we knew were related to them, and tried to find as much
2:48
property as we could to help them claim that.
2:50
Matthew Jarvis: Yeah. Did you do that? Aaron, with them while
2:52
they were in the office? Did you do that ahead of time.
2:54
Aaron Palmer: Yeah. So I wrote everything virtually. So I did
2:57
it right there when they were in the meeting with me, sharing my
3:00
screen, went to the website and showed them what was there,
3:04
because you have to verify their address, like old addresses
3:07
might be in there. So for sure, you're searching for, you know,
3:11
other homes they might own, or maybe they lived in Arizona for
3:14
a period of time. So you're just clicking around and trying to
3:18
find as much as you can.
3:19
Matthew Jarvis: Great exercise. So you did it with all of your
3:20
clients through the virtual meeting to walk through with you
3:22
said you mentioned, with them. You said you mentioned you did
3:23
for them, their spouse and for their kids
3:25
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, I have all their beneficiary information. I
3:27
was sure. Of course, I would just jump in and search every
3:31
person I knew that was related to them. And then for for you
3:35
know, top clients, I would, I would help them claim it right,
3:38
right then and there, guide them through that. For other clients,
3:42
we have a basically a letter that we would follow up with a
3:46
just saying, Hey, this is where you go. This is what to expect.
3:49
This is the time frame. And just laid it out very simple form.
3:54
Matthew Jarvis: Now, usually, and I've done this for clients
3:55
before as well, a lot of times it's kind of small dollar
3:58
amounts, like an old bank account had a couple bucks in
3:59
it. But you'd mentioned you had one client that found a pretty
4:01
substantial amount of lost property, the amount of lost
4:03
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, yeah, it was pretty exciting. Wealthier
4:03
property.
4:06
clients, it maybe didn't mean as much to her, but yeah, I found
4:09
10 grand in a old IRA that was held at a T Rowe Price many,
4:16
many years ago, and ended up going into unclaimed property.
4:20
She honestly had no clue. She was like, What is this? And she
4:25
just got the check last week. I got a, I got a call from her
4:28
saying, Hey, man, I got $10,000 in the mail today. Thank you so
4:31
much. That was the big win. But you're, you're right. Most of
4:35
them are, you know, 25-50 bucks, 100 bucks, and they don't tell
4:39
you the exact amount? They say, Yeah, you know, zero to 2525 to
4:44
50. And then they say, like, over 100 which is a big one like
4:47
that.
4:47
Matthew Jarvis: Yeah, but you had one for 10,000. I think it's
4:50
interesting. As I mentioned a minute ago, right? It's easy to
4:51
think, Well, hey, lost property. Most of these are zero or
4:53
they're 10 or 20 bucks, but it's like it took your entire
4:56
meeting, right? It takes five or 10 minutes, and it demonstrates
4:58
clients that you're thinking of something that they haven't been
5:00
thinking of it, even if it's something they knew about,
5:02
right? I guess you right? I guess that's a question for
5:03
Aaron, did any of your clients say, Oh, hey, I already did
5:05
that.
5:06
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, I had a handful, not, not very many. And
5:09
yes, we're just so appreciative that we were thinking about more
5:13
than just the money we manage. Like we're we're really being
5:17
thoughtful and taking care of them. So it was, it was amazing.
5:20
The responses we got, like, emails, hey, I got my check for
5:23
$330 or whatever, and they're still flown in, because I just
5:27
got done with surge maybe a month ago.
5:29
Matthew Jarvis: Yeah, it's a brilliant I love that. It's also
5:31
a value add that any advisor could do, right? This isn't
5:34
some, like, elaborate tax strategy you found. I mean, you
5:36
could have a junior advisor do this. You have a team member do
5:38
it. Right? A great way to touch clients, shifting gears a little
5:42
bit. Aaron, you, you'd mentioned before we hit record that you
5:44
would recently give a presentation, or especially,
5:46
gonna make a wish foundation Gala. Tell us something about
5:49
that. Man, that's obviously a super cool organization. What
5:53
was your presentation about? How did you get on that stage?
5:56
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, yeah. Amazing, amazing experience.
6:00
It's been an incredible journey. So I'm a, I'm a sober guy. I
6:03
don't drink alcohol, and I've been sober for 12 years now,
6:07
wow. And November, November, 2011 I was kind of on the last
6:12
run of my drinking, and my buddy asked me to go to Maui to attend
6:17
his destination wedding, and I was very depressed at the time,
6:20
just, you know, not in a good place. And I was a financial
6:25
manner at the time, making good money, but all my credit cards
6:28
were maxed out, so I was like, I can't go. But thankfully, I just
6:32
opened up a new credit card, swiped it, and headed to Maui,
6:37
best money ever spent, because it changed my life. I i I went
6:41
there and I promised myself two things. One, that I would golf.
6:44
I'm a huge golfer, and two, that I would see the sunrise and golf
6:51
clubs never left my my hotel room. I basically drank to
6:55
oblivion every night, but on one of my last days there, I woke up
6:59
early and headed down to the beach. I grabbed a bottle of
7:02
vodka, because that's and walked the beach, and I saw a young boy
7:06
fishing. And as I got closer, I noticed his mother was watching
7:12
him, you know, watching him fish. And I was just very
7:14
curious to it, as it was very early in the morning. And I was
7:17
just thinking, what are they doing out here so early? So I
7:20
walked up to her and just said, Hey, wait, you know, why are you
7:23
guys out here so early? And she did to tell me that her son was
7:28
battling cancer, and that this Maui trip, him fishing on this
7:33
beach was the wish that was granted by Make a wish. No way.
7:37
And I, I asked if I could go speak to him, because I was in a
7:43
I was just in a dark place at the time, just questioning life,
7:46
and for whatever reason, she said, yeah, you can go talk to
7:50
him, which I was amazed, because I had a bottle mark in my back
7:52
pocket, and I wasn't looking that well. So I went down and I
7:57
talked to this boy for 30 minutes, and I couldn't tell you
8:01
exactly what I said or what he said, but he like spoke life,
8:05
and he had more hope and more happiness, and he had this faith
8:09
in God that I just never experienced, and it inspired me.
8:14
It just inspired me to change my life. And I walked away, went
8:18
back to Washington State and got sober. And then fast forward, 12
8:23
years later, last year, I was very encouraged to find but I
8:27
never knew his name. I never knew his mom's name. I never
8:30
knew his last name. I described him in my journey as the boy on
8:34
the beach for 12 years. I last year in 2023 I was just very
8:38
encouraged, like, I need to find this family, I need to let them
8:42
know, like, how my life has changed. My business is awesome.
8:45
I'm married, I have two full children, and I need to let them
8:48
know how their son affected me. So I Google, make a wish, and I
8:52
hit the contact button, and I said, I met a boy in November.
8:56
No way. 2011 Maui, can you help me find him. And I didn't get
9:02
very good response at first, because there were, you know,
9:04
privacy issues in that nature. Yeah. And then the CEO of Texas,
9:11
her name is Kim, she called me and said, I believe we found the
9:15
family. No way. And they they want to talk to you. And voice
9:18
name is Ethan Hallmark, and his parents are phenomenal parents.
9:23
They're amazing. Their neighbor Rachel and I got to chat with
9:27
him and tell them how their sons essentially saved my life. And
9:32
through that, I said, Hey, I want my family to meet guys.
9:35
Yeah. So we, we flew up to Texas in December, and, you know, hung
9:41
out with their family for 10 days. Ethan passed away. He has
9:45
an employee documentary on him, on I Am Second, called many
9:49
other wonders. Ethan Hallmark just he was exactly who I
9:57
thought he was. In the 30 minutes I knew him, he was just
9:59
full of hope and faith and spoke life into people. And crazy
10:04
thing is she passed away on my birthday, September 26 so like
10:09
we have this incredible connection on the beach, we
10:11
share this date and make a wish. Love the whole story of it, how
10:16
the ripple effect of granting a wish to this child, the people
10:19
that give to make a wish they might not realize, like, how far
10:23
that will go. You know, it saved another person's life that they
10:27
didn't even know of until 12 years later. So essentially, at
10:31
the Micah wish Gala, they tied together Ethan's story and then
10:34
my story, and it was like the end of the event that night,
10:37
just put that all together. And I got up there and spoke in
10:41
front of 1000 people, which I've never done before in my life. It
10:44
was incredibly scary but fun all the same time.
10:49
Matthew Jarvis: Phenomenal experience. It's amazing.
10:52
Wow,oh, that's incredible. I know, boy, there are so many, so
10:55
many questions on that. It's incredible. I mean, it's an
10:59
incredible story. It's incredibly able to go full
11:01
circle on that and track his family back down, and then then
11:04
help the Make a Wish Foundation. So in 2011 when, when you met
11:09
Ethan, how many years had you been in industry?
11:11
Aaron Palmer: I started in oh four. My first year was 2005.
11:16
Matthew Jarvis: Okay, so you've been in five, six years. I
11:19
started in oh three. So right about the same time, this is
11:23
interesting in our personalities. And probably know
11:26
this better than I do, right? These, like, super driven
11:28
personalities. In fact, the book driven by Doug Brackman talks
11:31
about this a lot, that whatever it is, it's like, wired us to be
11:33
super driven. It creates this huge proclivity to addiction and
11:37
substance abuse. But it's something that's like, never
11:38
talked about, I think, like the industry it's talked about in
11:40
like, The Wolf of Wall Street like, you know, doing cocaine
11:43
lines, you know, Wolf of Wall Street type, but like, substance
11:46
abuse and the addiction, it's, it's heavy in our industry,
11:49
like, it's heavy in our personality type, but it's, I'm
11:52
so impressed when you reached out to me. I was you and I've
11:53
known each other for a bit, and you said, Hey, I'd love to do
11:55
this episode. I'd love to talk about this. Like, my initial
11:57
reaction is, like, why would you want to? Like, don't tell anyone
11:59
about that ever, right? But you're like, you're stepping
12:01
outside of your comfort zone in a lot of ways. To spread the
12:04
word, just tell me more of this. I'm just, I mean, so in awe. I'm
12:06
fascinated by all this.
12:07
Aaron Palmer: I mean, for me, when I first started in the
12:09
industry, it was, you know, you go to the office till late, and
12:14
then afterwards, everybody goes to the bar. It was happy hours,
12:17
and drinking is just such an accepted thing, like you drink
12:22
when you're happy, when you're sad, when you lose a job, when
12:24
you get a job, somebody passes away, when somebody's born. It's
12:27
just so accepted. And because of that, it's hard to speak about,
12:32
like somebody personally struggling with addiction, but
12:35
it's a real deal, and it'll steal everything from you. I
12:38
mean, it definitely tried to steal everything from me, but I
12:42
had a crazy God experience, and I'm so blessed to have that, by
12:46
the way, because I know not get a boy on a beach that changes
12:50
your life. But for me, it's it was so obvious when I quit
12:54
drinking, because my life just took off. Because I have that
12:57
personality, it went 10 times right, like revenue, everything
13:01
life, that it just that's what is near and dear to my heart,
13:05
like being sober and like being open about it, because a lot of
13:08
people struggle. I mean, after that event, and people come up
13:11
to me after the Make a Wish event, yeah, just give me their
13:14
personal struggles about addiction, which they probably
13:16
shared with nobody. But because I was the home stage in front of
13:19
1000 people, they were like, well, I can always spell this
13:22
guy.
13:23
Matthew Jarvis: So that was 13 years ago now, yeah, something
13:26
like that. How did you stay sober all that time? Right?
13:29
Because I said the drinking is everywhere, right, especially in
13:31
our industry, but just just in general, like it's such a more
13:34
than socially accepted, it's more like a socially expected
13:36
thing. So, so I guess for our listeners, right? Whether,
13:38
whether your addiction is drinking or workaholic being
13:43
work on, not to make light of one addiction versus the other,
13:45
but we all have these like things that we're addicted to
13:47
tell me more about that.
13:49
Aaron Palmer: I mean, absolutely for me. I mean, when it came to
13:51
alcohol, I had to jump into alcohol synonymous through that,
13:56
my faith grew in God, and that relationship grew and trust Him
14:00
in Him and His plan is what what helped me. There's many ways up
14:05
the mountain for addiction, of course, but to me, it was just
14:08
so crazy how I thought I was so efficient while I was working
14:14
and drinking and when I got rid of alcohol, it was so obvious,
14:19
like I was not efficient at all. I was not efficient. And now
14:23
it's just like, I feel like there's just tons of times in
14:25
the day. And I guess, to answer your question, I've stayed sober
14:29
because I've stayed in the middle of the herd, you know,
14:32
sober people sure, you know, I pray daily. You know, just keep
14:36
those habits, like a lot of the good habits of the practice.
14:39
Matthew Jarvis: It's an interesting point that you bring
14:40
up area, right? There's these things that we do in our lives
14:42
that we lives that we think, well, that probably doesn't have
14:43
an impact, right? That's not, that's not a big deal. And then
14:46
right, when you stop, then you realize, and I want to make
14:49
light of of alcohol abuse, but it really could be anything,
14:53
right, whether it's whether it's substance abuse or, like,
14:56
people's addiction to their cell phone, like, Oh, I'm I function
14:58
just fine with all those lawyers. Well, let's get rid of
15:00
them for three months and see how your life improves. Right?
15:04
How did you get past Aaron? I mean, to get up on a stage in
15:07
front of 1000 people and share the story, to be here on this
15:09
podcast, sharing your story with 1000s of people. I mean, I feel
15:12
like, in my mind, that takes a lot of courage as well. Like, it
15:15
would be easy to be like, Hey, listen, I never did this thing,
15:17
right? Because there's a stigma there too. Like, Well, hey,
15:18
listen, we all drink, and it's not a problem. So there must be
15:20
something wrong with you that you could control your drinking.
15:22
Control your drinking. They took it as a bit more.
15:24
Aaron Palmer: For me, yeah, you know, yeah. And, and for me, it
15:29
was leaning into, I'm a Jesus guy, so leaning yeah, whatever,
15:35
whatever God placed before me, and just saying, okay, he's
15:38
opened this door. I just got to say yes and walk through it and
15:41
and honestly, he's, he's given me just little tidbits at a time
15:45
he knew I could handle, like if, if I was asked to speak in front
15:49
of them, my second year sober, I might have went out and drank. I
15:53
mean, that's overwhelming. Yeah, that's too much. It's just
15:57
slowly, he's revealed just what I needed. And for me, it's just
16:00
been leaning into that, like leaning into the faith and just
16:04
trusting that. I tried to run the show at some point, and it
16:08
sucked. Like me, running my own life was no good. So I had to
16:11
let go and let God and kind of lean into that.
16:14
Matthew Jarvis: Boy, there's, there's so much there, right?
16:15
There's someone who think I have gotta, I gotta find this, like,
16:17
unique path that no one else has been on. I gotta dial this stuff
16:20
all in on myself. And again, whether it's, it's spirituality
16:23
or business or anything else, right? Like, go with path,
16:26
right? Like, if somebody has figured this thing out, like,
16:29
you don't need to reinvent. Our good friend Michael Hanley, he
16:32
always says, I'd rather copy genius than reinvent mediocrity,
16:36
right? And sometimes there's an ego there, like, Hey, I have to
16:38
figure this out, but I'm with you, Aaron. I'd rather find
16:40
someone who's got this dialed in and just just follow their way,
16:43
like fine tune it for me.
16:44
Aaron Palmer: But, I mean, that's played into my business
16:47
over and over again. You know, I have followed somebody sober and
16:52
doing that path, but even in the business, like, listening to,
16:55
you know, the perfect Ria and, yeah, different kits and stuff.
16:58
It's like, once I saw something that somebody was doing that was
17:01
working to me, I didn't even question it because I practiced
17:05
that that or I've exercised that muscle enough, like, when you
17:09
told you, know, I've heard you guys say it a million times fee
17:12
increase, right? Yeah, that was a no brainer. I had that done in
17:15
no time.
17:16
Matthew Jarvis: That's awesome.
17:17
Aaron Palmer: Why am I charging average fees? Like, I'm not an
17:19
average advisor. Like, what? This doesn't make sense. And off
17:23
I was running decisions has helped to Yeah, not like
17:27
entering on it, you know, just getting it done.
17:29
Matthew Jarvis: Well, I guess, sort of on that note, Aaron,
17:31
tell us a little bit about your practice as it stands today. So
17:33
you and I both started industry roughly the same time, 2000 3004
17:37
but tell us about where your practice is at right now. I
17:39
mean, we mentioned the value add that you're doing, doing surge,
17:41
meaning, is it a fee increase? Tell us a bit more about your
17:43
practice.
17:44
Aaron Palmer: I mean, just to give you some context, I mean, I
17:47
started part of what's called the retirement benefits group,
17:49
and we focus on K through 12 schools, educators, right? So,
17:55
you know, I was, I was educating a lot of staff on the Washington
17:59
State pension, you know, giving them as a client, as helping
18:03
them enroll in a, 403, B, and that's, that's how I gained a
18:07
client with them that wasn't fulfilling for me, and I really
18:10
dove into the financial planning. So I added a lot of
18:13
clients early on, and then basically backtracked and did
18:16
actual planning for them where I felt like I was needed, you
18:19
know. And today, you know, my practice, we managed about two,
18:23
50 million. That's great, dude. I have three staff. One, one has
18:28
been with me 12 years, another six, and then one, just about
18:32
two. Okay, I just added a younger advisor to help. You
18:38
know, manage, manage the book. He's amazing. He loves you guys
18:42
as well, and definitely do search. So I essentially did a
18:47
fee increase and then passed off a portion of my client base to
18:52
my new advisor. And for anybody ever questioned that, for me,
18:57
what was the no brainer is I just dove into the numbers like
19:01
me doing a fee increase, and then I got rid of, like 150
19:03
clients. I think the net impact to my revenue was $7,000 because
19:08
I did the fee increase. It was like such a no brainer. And now
19:11
I manage about 135 households, sure, a knockout surge. And I
19:17
think it's 10 weeks, is what we do, yeah. I mean, we run a 45
19:21
minute meeting with a 15 minute gap. Oh, interesting. I only
19:25
work Tuesdays and Thursdays. I golf every Wednesday.
19:28
Matthew Jarvis: So your meetings are every hour on the hour.
19:30
Then, yeah, very cool. Sorry that you were saying you work
19:32
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. No,
19:33
Aaron Palmer: I work Tuesdays and Thursdays during surge. I
19:36
only run meetings Tuesdays and Thursdays and I run eight to 10
19:39
meetings. Oh, interesting. Okay, I never worked Wednesday. That's
19:42
a golf day.
19:43
Matthew Jarvis: I love it be intentional, sort of this
19:46
interesting thing, right? Because obviously, a million
19:48
ways to slice us. And you and I were talking earlier, like
19:50
everyone's looking for some kind of some magic way, but you're,
19:53
you're just really grinding it out, but you've got this great
19:56
practice, and here you're saying, like, Hey, I never work
19:57
Wednesdays. That's the day I golf, right? That's just
20:00
incredible. What can be accomplished inside this
20:02
industry. Like we spent so much time playing office, right? But
20:04
he said, You got 135 households, 250 some odd million dollars in
20:08
assets. You had a phenomenal practice, and you're still
20:10
taking every Wednesday off to golf.
20:12
Aaron Palmer: I just always am in awe of what's possible in
20:14
this industry. Yeah. And that's like, you know, Wednesday is the
20:17
guaranteed day off. Like, Mondays and Fridays are just so
20:20
light. I mean, you know, like I spend time taking my son to
20:24
school or volunteering his field day or, you know, whatever it
20:27
may be, it's, it's, it's really created a practice that I never
20:32
could imagine. I never could imagine, and now it's just about
20:35
tightening the screws, you know, yeah, getting rid of email,
20:39
right? Like, email is such a waste of time. Oh, geez, such a
20:42
type size, finding efficiency and like somebody else, do all
20:46
that, you know, just tightening the screws.
20:48
Matthew Jarvis: Aaron, what do you have your team doing? I
20:50
suppose, if anything, when you're not surge, right? So
20:53
obviously, during search period you're meeting all these
20:55
clients, there's a lot of work to do. There's a lot of work
20:57
leading up to it, following up to it. But outside of those 10
21:00
weeks, any focus areas, or you just sort of accept, like, like
21:03
a Tax Practice, there's busy times and less busy times, and
21:05
just let it all kind of level out.
21:07
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, there's, there's different things. Last
21:09
year, I we focused on just really making sure beneficiaries
21:14
were all dialed in, and we sent out essentially a letter saying,
21:18
like these, your beneficiaries, tuck it in your your file, you
21:22
know, fine tuning our CRM and Salesforce, like, making sure
21:25
that's all dialed in. I kind of let my office manager run that
21:28
bar be honest. Like, you know, I come up with ideas as you
21:32
entrepreneurs, like, we always got these crazy ideas, and I
21:36
toss them at her and let her, let her run with them. Right
21:38
now, I have a lot of clients that maybe aren't financial
21:42
planning clients. So I'm going to have my, you know, your
21:46
advisor, start reading through those and trying to reach back
21:49
out and and see if we can take them through a process and see
21:53
somewhere where we can help them.
21:55
Matthew Jarvis: I love that. I mean, there's like you said,
21:56
there's always so many things that can be done, especially
21:59
like you said, going through the CRM, right? Who haven't we heard
22:00
from in a while? Who haven't we seen? Who haven't we seen? Who
22:02
hasn't updated their beneficiaries? And I love this
22:05
concept, obviously, big fan of it. Of let's go through to
22:07
everyone's let's look at everyone's beneficiaries. Let's
22:09
look at everyone's tax return, everyone's estate. Activists
22:11
will get really good at doing that so many times, but your
22:14
team gets really good at that as well, right? So pull up every
22:16
single person's beneficiary. Make sure they all make sense or
22:18
consistent across accounts, etc.
22:20
Aaron Palmer: You know, I was thinking about this year, this
22:22
year. So we were printing off basically a detailed balance
22:26
sheet that lists all their accounts, even accounts that
22:28
are, like, just held at their bank. Yeah, right. And we're
22:31
printing those off with a nice letter, and we're having them
22:34
tuck them into their will that they have at home, just so they
22:36
have a nice starting point, like, if something ever happened
22:39
to them, their kids could open it and very clearly see, like,
22:41
where everything is held. That's, that's one of the value
22:44
adds we did this year. Very simple, right? And your team
22:47
just printed off a balance. We using money. So I have all the
22:51
clients assets in there. If I love it, they're like, oh, yeah,
22:54
this is perfect. I can tuck this in, and if something happened to
22:57
me, you know. And I just say, hey, if there's account we
22:59
missed, write it on there, you know, tuck it in and you're,
23:02
you're good to go. We'll do that every few years. ,
23:04
Matthew Jarvis: I love Aaron that you gave them the
23:06
instruction to tuck it into their will, right? So it just
23:09
increased the value so much, right? It's one thing to send
23:11
them a network statement. They say, Well, gee whiz, that's sort
23:13
of interesting, but you're then taking it a step further,
23:15
saying, Hey, here's why we're sending this to you, and here's
23:18
what you need to do with it, right? Versus, well, I got this
23:21
thing in the mail, I guess I'll, I guess I'll shred it, right? So
23:23
I love that the very specific instructions into your will to
23:27
make your life a little bit easier. You
23:28
Aaron Palmer: know, something I was thinking about that we're
23:30
going to be mailing a ton of those out, something that's been
23:33
a game changer, that is so simple, and I don't know if
23:35
we've ever spoken of it, but we mail clients everything in a
23:40
bright orange envelope, really. And I tell them, like, Hey, if
23:43
you're going to get something from us, it's kind of a bright
23:45
orange envelope. And actually, that means it's important, and
23:48
it for us, it's it's been a game changer, because it stands out,
23:54
stands out. And they now they look for it like, okay, yeah,
23:58
this is from Aaron. This is important. I need to get this to
24:01
back to him or his team, or whatever. Anyways, it's been
24:04
impactful.
24:06
Matthew Jarvis: I'm super impressed by that idea. I'm just
24:07
thinking, you know, we get a stack of mail. Of course, that's
24:09
mostly junk. I mean, I was just thinking at my house the other
24:11
day, and there was a stack of mail the kids brought in, and
24:13
I'm like, this all looks like crap, but it had there been one
24:16
orange envelope in there, like, Oh, shoot. That's from Aaron.
24:19
Aaron Palmer: I gotta look at that thing or whatever color,
24:21
right? Like, my, my logo has orange in it, right? So that's
24:23
why we chose it, but, but it could really be anything. And
24:26
then we have back office stuff that comes from, from, from my
24:30
broker dealer, and that comes in white envelopes, and they always
24:33
call, like, what is this? Did you send me this? Do I need to
24:36
complete this? I'm like, No, you don't what? Yeah, for me, comes
24:39
in a bright orange envelope, and that's what you need to get
24:41
back, huh?
24:43
Matthew Jarvis: I love these things that are so simple. It
24:46
doesn't matter what color the envelope is, but you be it's
24:48
working like it's making a difference. And why not? Like we
24:51
might be able to say, well, that's, that's silly, or
24:52
shouldn't work, whatever, but it is working with your branding.
24:56
Now, of course, I guess you know, it'd be easier for an
24:57
advisor to push back and say, Well, don't know, those
25:00
envelopes costs, like, four cents extra a piece, right? But
25:02
you're obviously getting your ROI on it, right? Like, that's
25:04
how you're solving for the the four cents an envelope solving
25:07
for client experience.
25:08
Aaron Palmer: Yeah. I mean, we don't do a lot of, like, we
25:10
don't need a lot of wet signatures or anything like
25:12
that, but they just know, like, if it's coming in an orange
25:15
envelope, it's something they need to pay attention to,
25:17
whether it's the, you know, the net worth statement, or
25:20
Matthew Jarvis: Maybe we're sending them before those value
25:20
whatever.
25:23
adds. Aaron, how many of those are you mailing, versus emailing
25:26
versus just waiting for the client meeting? Obviously, it
25:29
sounds like you mailed the net worth statement because they
25:31
need it physically to tuck in with their state documents.
25:33
Brilliant. How about the other ones you're doing?
25:35
Aaron Palmer: Yeah. So you know, we have our book tier, so
25:40
basically, you know, our top clients are getting mailed to
25:43
them, right? But we're still doing it for everybody. So 135
25:46
like my clients, are getting mailed to them. The other
25:48
clients are getting emailed and saying, Hey, print this off and
25:51
tuck it into your will. So I love it. I guess that would be,
25:54
I mean, my like, 150 to my new guy. So 150 are getting emails.
26:02
135 are getting mailed.
26:03
Matthew Jarvis: Let's, let's talk briefly. Aaron, and we're
26:05
gonna, we're gonna have to wrap it a minute. But I'm super
26:07
fascinated by this episodes. I appreciate coming on that
26:09
transition that the relationships that you handed
26:11
off to your new guy. How did that transition look? Did you
26:13
just hand him a list and you said, Here you go. A lot of us
26:16
have this concern, like a no one else can be as good as I am. B,
26:19
the clients will hate the new guy, and they'll all leave. And
26:21
while they're at it, they'll take, like, they'll take my
26:23
family with them, or something like, I'll be homeless by the
26:25
end of the week if I hand off any clients.
26:26
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, first of all, I kept it very simple,
26:29
because, as you guys always mentioned, that head trash gets
26:33
in there and all those things, and I sent out an email to every
26:38
single client and thank them for trusting me, for being a part of
26:44
my life. And because of them, we have grown to a place where we
26:49
want to uphold our promises to We promise that we would do
26:53
things for you and your in your planning and from so much that I
26:57
can't do it all alone. So I have this amazing guy. His name is
27:01
Jeffrey, and he's going to meet with you this year. Boom. Let
27:03
her out. Done. That's it. No no pushback. Because he's no
27:07
pushback. He's actually more like detail oriented than me,
27:12
like he's doing a lot for them, and they're like, Jeffrey's
27:15
amazing. So get rid of the ego, yeah? Just rip off the band aid.
27:18
That's nice, yeah?
27:20
Matthew Jarvis: Yeah. The ego, the head trash, right? Which,
27:21
think it's got to be super complicated. We gotta make this
27:23
big deal about it. You just said pay to keep our promises. Here
27:26
it is, yeah.
27:26
Aaron Palmer: I told you I was gonna take care of your whole
27:28
life. I can't take care of 500 people, you know. Yeah. So
27:32
you're gonna get bright harbor as the brand I'm telling you,
27:34
this guy's gonna do just as good or better than me, and he's
27:38
gonna take care of but you still have me like you want to reach
27:39
out to me. Call me, you know, yeah, give me a call.
27:42
Matthew Jarvis: Yeah. I love it. I love it. Well, Aaron, this
27:44
episode was, was chock full of pearls. Here they got several
27:48
actions. I'm going to take away from this. I really appreciate
27:50
you sharing these, any action items, Aaron, that come to mind
27:52
for our listeners, right? For our advisors listening? Rex,
27:56
it's not the stuff we know, the stuff we do, right? So anything
27:59
that comes to mind that everyone listening should, should do?
28:02
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, I mean, I would encourage you. I mean, I
28:04
got a lot from you guys, to be honest. I mean, the fee increase
28:07
thing was, like a no brainer. Now I preach that from the
28:10
mountain tops, because that just was a game changer. To me, my
28:14
due search. So like, to me, that creates time for my family and
28:19
practice that I could only dream up, but like the unclaimed
28:22
property that is so simple and adds so much value, hanging
28:25
fruit and no advisors doing that like and then I really got a lot
28:32
from the book. I mean to me again, it was one of those
28:39
things where, if I even feel an inkling of procrastination, I
28:44
need to pass it off. I need to find somebody else to do it. And
28:47
now that's like a tremendous interest. And you know, it was
28:49
as simple as one day, my wife wanted me to put up this big map
28:54
wallpaper for my children, and I could do it, but I didn't want
28:59
to. And I was like, gosh, man, oh, man. And it's simple as
29:02
that. I called a handyman. He came out next week, I wrote him
29:07
a check, and it was done, and that's it. Man, that's who not
29:09
out right there. Like, if you already decided to do it, find
29:13
the person that is and get it done.
29:15
Matthew Jarvis: I love that lens. If I feel an inkling of
29:17
procrastination, it's something to delegate. That's great. One
29:20
other action that stands out for me, Aaron, was the instructions
29:24
with a net worth statement. Just brilliant, right? Everyone's
29:26
seen a net worth statement, but no one's ever been told to tuck
29:28
that into their will so the kids know where to start looking for
29:31
things. Should something happen. So, yeah, that's a brilliant
29:33
one, and I agree with you, everybody listening, do the
29:35
unclaimed property report with your clients in your next
29:37
meeting. But yeah, do that net worth statement and give them
29:39
that instruction of tuck this thing into your wheel to make
29:41
your life easier should something happen to you?
29:43
Aaron Palmer: Yeah, absolutely awesome.
29:44
Matthew Jarvis: Well, Aaron, Hey, dude, so much appreciate
29:46
you. Spend some time with us today for all of our listeners,
29:49
until next time, happy planning.
29:51
Amber Kuhn: Aaron Palmer offers securities through equitable
29:56
advisors LLC member SIPC, equitable financial advisor and
30:02
Tennessee and offers annuities and insurance through equitable
30:09
network, LLC, equitable advisors and its affiliates do not
30:16
provide tax or legal advice. Financial professionals may
30:22
offer products and services and or respond to inquiries only in
30:29
states in which they are properly registered and or
30:35
licensed. This podcast does not constitute financial advice or
30:42
an offer of any kind. Bright harbor Wealth Management is not
30:48
owned or operated by equitable advisors or equitable network.
30:55
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