James Pollard – Appointments On Autopilot

I was even featured in the Journal of Financial Planning for my thoughts on email marketing…

• How to immediately capture attention and break through the noise as a financial advisor. (Do it right and prospects may set an appointment right away.)
• An irrational way to manufacture trust with your prospects. (Doing this can make your prospects feel as if they’ve known you for a lifetime.)
• A controversial marketing technique only the world’s most successful financial advisors use. (Not only do they use this method, but they take selfish pleasure in doing so.) ​

• One strategy which has given more financial advisors the heebie-jeebies than perhaps anything I else I teach about email marketing. (Courageous financial advisors who implement this strategy often find themselves with too many prospects instead of too few…)
• The exact phrase to put on your website to ensure only the most qualified prospects filter through to you. (This cuts down on wasted time with prospects who are unqualified to do business with you.)
• Why you can’t rely on surveys to figure out what your prospects want in your emails. (Once upon a time I surveyed my own email list and asked how I could improve my emails. However, when I implemented their feedback, my unsubscribes doubled. I’ll help you avoid making the same mistake.)
• One change to your email marketing routine which can increase revenue up to 45%. (An insurance company made this change and received 304% more clicks and 48% more requested insurance quotes.)
• How to write an email in ten minutes or less that prospects thank you for sending. (This type of email is also proven to be especially potent for getting skeptical prospects off the fence.)
• The unorthodox method for making your prospects eagerly anticipate your emails. (Adopting this method means even if your prospects never open your emails, they’re still thinking about you.) ​

Three appointments set in one day… all from a simple email…

• Why talking about personal finance, investments, or other money-related topics is a huge mistake. (Despite what most advisors assume, you should never discuss these things in your emails. I’ll reveal what you should talk about instead.)
• The #1 best thing to put in your email to make your inexperience or lack of certifications irrelevant. (This allows new financial advisors to humiliate the “seasoned pros” by generating more appointments in two months than they could in two years.)
• How to elevate yourself above all other financial advisors in your area. (This strategy is NOT fair… and it’s NOT logical… but it doesn’t matter. It gets results and it’s backed by neuroscience.)
• A strange – yet powerful – way typos can boost response. (This doesn’t mean to be sloppy with your email… but if you include typos the way I describe, your prospects should have a favorable response. Take that, grammar Nazis.)
• 4 specific words to eliminate from your emails right away. (Merrill Lynch even did a study on this and found prospects hate when advisors use these words.)
• Why trying to provide “value!” in your emails leads to fewer appointments. (Most financial advisors think they need to provide lots of “valuable” content to create authority, position themselves as thought leaders, or impress their clients somehow. This is dead wrong, and I’ll prove why.)

Let’s take a second to unpack that last tip…

I’ve discovered that providing “value” (in the form of teaching) is one of the worst things you can do in your emails. It causes your prospects to unsubscribe faster than you can hit “send”.

One reason for this is because when you do nothing but teach, you force your prospects to lump you in the same category as the hundreds of other financial advisors who do the same thing.

When that happens, it’s game over. You will no longer have your prospect’s attention and the chances of getting an appointment are virtually zero.

• One thing to inject in your emails to make them irresistibly persuasive. (Marketing legend Eugene Schwartz – regarded by many as the greatest ever – said he was astounded at how readily people were persuaded by this hush-hush technique.)
• My favorite way to produce credibility in emails. (Most people are pleasantly surprised at how well this works and how quickly it sets appointments for financial advisors.)
• How to make your emails 22X more memorable than your competition’s. (This strategy is backed by cognitive psychology and has been validated in multiple tests. Yet, I estimate fewer than three in a hundred financial advisors know what it is.) ​

• Why my “ugly” emails convert more prospects than emails loaded with images and HTML. (Plus, these emails are easy to create too. All I do type them up in a Word document, copy-and-paste into my email software, and hit “send”.)
• The biggest mistake financial advisors make with their subject lines. (Make this mistake and prospects won’t even bother opening your email.)
• How to “hook” your prospects in the first two lines so they can’t help but continue reading your message. (After all, you could have the best email ever written but if your prospect stops reading after the opening sentence, it doesn’t matter.)
• The right way to use a P.S. in your email. (Most financial advisors ignore the power of a well-written P.S. and miss out on dozens of potential appointments.)
• An advanced writing technique nearly all hit television shows use to make sure viewers stay glued to every episode. (You can apply this psychological tactic to your emails so prospects can’t wait to read the next one.) ​

• 12 questions you must be able to answer about your prospects. (Fail to answer any of these questions and your marketing will be rendered ineffective.)
• How to find unlimited content ideas with a few clicks. (If you follow this advice, you will never suffer from writer’s block as long as you have an internet connection.)
• The most dynamic rapport-building email you can send. (This email is responsible for the majority of appointments set using my system.) ​

Imagine checking your inbox in the morning and seeing several appointments already set for you…

• A “top secret” critical thinking approach used by the world’s richest people. (Charlie Munger popularized it, but it has been used by the elite for centuries to gain an unfair advantage over others.)
• How to see if you’re hitting your prospect’s spam folder in five minutes or less. (Nothing else matters unless your email gets delivered… and I’ll show you how to find out quickly and conveniently…)
• 5 of my most opened subject lines, which you can adapt and model for your niche. (I’m pulling these subject lines from my own “email vault” for you to use as you see fit.)
• Why “stock market commentary” emails never work as well as the emails I recommend. (I double-dog-dare anyone and everyone to prove me wrong.)
• 5 subject lines which used to work well but fail to get opened anymore. (Unfortunately, the “experts” and “gurus” still tout these subject lines as working miracles. I have a sneaking feeling they haven’t tested as much as I have…)

“Experts” and “gurus” recommend lots of theories but few tested and confirmed strategies. In many cases, they recommend tactics which used to work well but fail to deliver today.
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Case in point… one-word subject lines. They used to work well. All you had to do was put “Hey” or “Question” in your subject line and it was almost guaranteed to get opened.

However, a bunch of “experts” found out this tactic was working well, so they started using it and telling their friends… who told their friends… and it became overused.

Now, when prospects see this type of subject line, they think “spam” and delete it right away. That’s one of the many myths I’m shattering inside “Appointments On Autopilot”.

I’ll share some more myths financial advisors believe in a moment. But first, let’s get back to the videos…

• The finest way to craft an onboarding subject line which gets immediate attention. (Most “experts” get this wrong, too. It turns out there’s a specific type of subject line which works better than anything I’ve ever seen.)
• 2 things to include in your first email to ensure your prospects read your second one. (Most financial advisors see a stark drop in open rates after their initial email. Insert these two things in your email and watch your open rates increase…)
• How to ask for an appointment in your beginning email without seeming pushy. (In my tests, a large percentage of appointments are set from the first email, as long as the financial advisor follows my advice here.) ​

• The best performing email I’ve ever used for qualifying prospects and bringing them closer to an appointment. (This type of email can double your productivity because it ensures you only spend time with qualified prospects.)
• How to perform a “brain bypass” on your prospects. (Doing this allows you to persuade with no “facts” or “logic” necessary. However, you must promise to use it for good and not evil…)
• 2 phrases which can hypnotize your prospects into booking an appointment. (I thought this was total B.S. but when I tried it out, I was amazed at the results.) ​

• How I can set more appointments with a tiny 300-person list than most financial advisors can with lists in the thousands. (The “trick” is in a simple, easy-to-master game plan I include in every email.)
• Why deleting your subscribers is sometimes the greatest thing you can do. (If you’re paying for an autoresponder software, this one tip alone can save you thousands of dollars throughout your career.)
• 3 ways to justify your fees and melt price resistance on command. (In fact, by implementing these three things, you’ll find your clients will pay more to work with you over anyone else.)
• How to achieve total outcome independence by eliminating all neediness from your marketing. (Once you do this, you’ll be like a magnet for clients.) ​

• 4 questions your prospects are asking themselves when they opt-in to your list. (If you answer these four questions, it’s usually not a question of “if” you’ll set an appointment, but “when”.)
• How to use your pets to get a flood of prospects into your office. (Seriously, if you have a dog or a cat, you don’t want to skip this one.)
• The only time you should be self-centered in your emails. (Normally, you shouldn’t talk about yourself in emails. However, there’s a specific time where it can be extraordinarily effective.)
• The “nuclear option” for generating appointments through email. (I can’t guarantee it will work every time… but I do know it can sometimes create “miracles” and get even the most indifferent, skeptical, and downright cold prospects to perk up and pay attention.) ​

• 13 of my best-performing subject lines with winners and losers revealed. (I’ve already done the testing for you, so you can adapt and model to your own business.)
• 7 things you can test in your email subject lines to skyrocket open rates. (This is like a Swiss army knife for getting your emails opened, every time.)
• The #1 most overlooked area all financial advisors should be split-testing. (I’d estimate nearly all financial advisors could see an instant 30% increase in appointments by testing this one thing… and no, it’s not the subject line.)

Video 13: Email’s Secret Weapon – Obliterating Objections

Video 14: The Holy Grail Of Email Marketing – Using Email To Strengthen Everything Else

Video 15: How To Build Your Email List