Alanna Morey: Making Content and Connecting With Clients | Next Gen

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Welcome to Barron's Advisor: The Way Forward Next Generation, a special series spotlighting the emerging leaders shaping the future of financial advice. Twice a month, we'll be digging into the strategies, insights, and game-changing moves that will help you take your practice to the next level. I'm your host, Allison Tucci, and today my special guest is Ilana Mori, Managing Director at Ameriprise Financial Services. Her team manages over $2.5 billion assets under management. And today we're going to be talking about her role mentoring and getting personal with clients and how that can help your business. Before we jump into it, our listeners need a little bit of context. So how big is your book of business? What type of clients do you have? Just frame it out for us.

Okay. So I'm a private wealth advisor, managing director with Siena Wealth Advisory Group. We're a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial. So I'm on a team. We have 10 advisors. 9 support staff operations partners right now, and we manage just over $2 billion in AUM. And we have offices here in Manhattan, Long Island, New Jersey, and Naples, Florida. And that's where I sit right now, in Naples. And I would say overall, our clients are really just hardworking, successful individuals who are really dedicated to saving over time and building up their wealth that way. And they do tend to be pre-retirees to retirees, but we also really pride ourselves on working with multiple generations of families, which I love to do. In fact, I was thinking about it, you know, right now I have a few families where I'm working with 3 generations at once. So I have like grandparents, their children, and then the grandkids all at the same time. So it's really cool to see that evolution and that legacy of wealth trickle down to all of them.

That's fantastic. And to do a little bit of a Google search, because I, I Google searched you, I saw It was really refreshing how you engage just directly with your clients and your prospects. You're on social media.

Yes.

So that's different. Not a lot of advisors do that. How did you approach really your LinkedIn videos that you do and, and getting out there?

So for me, it really all started actually with our whole team back in 2020 during the start of the pandemic, right? We realized we really couldn't reach people in person as much anymore. Right. And I mean, I have clients all over the country anyways. But it started out that way, that I wanted to make video content with the other advisors on my team just to reach out to people and be with them even if we couldn't be with them in person. Here's how you can plan for the cost of a big trip. Here are 5 common retirement planning mistakes. Here's a few tips for having this conversation with your loved ones. But for me, this is where we meet our clients now. This is where I meet clients, friends, new people I meet in the community, right? I'm meeting them on social media. So it was something that I knew I had to do, and I actually I really, really enjoy it. And for me, you know, like you did, everyone's going to Google you before they meet you, right? So I want them to be able to learn about me authentically. So not just get great financial advice, but also see other things I'm doing in my community or personally, professionally, right? So for me, the videos are something I love doing and I want to be available to my clients, but also just people at large to be able to have access to that kind of advice.

In terms of, you know, new assets, new clients, because when you talk to advisors, they want to get down to business results.

Definitely. Yeah.

Did you actually see business results from your social media outreach?

I definitely did. But I will say it is, it is surround sound. Obviously, social media is not the only thing that I'm doing, but it really connects the dots, right? For me, I think about my advisor journey in that I became an advisor in a new city in Naples, Florida. Right. I'm from New York and I moved there and that's for some reason when I decided to become an advisor. And of course I'm going out and I'm meeting people, networking at my gym, volunteering. But really they connect with me on social media, whether it's personally or professionally. And then they see what I do. You know, I'm not always approaching things, hey, I'm Alana, the financial advisor, right? I want them to get to know me. So to me, that really closes the loop. And yes, I have gotten clients directly from social media. But I would say that can't be the only thing you're doing, right, to drive results.

A lot of advisors have apprehension around social media. They, they get nervous. They think about their compliance department right away or their legal teams. What would be the first couple of things you would do if they said, hey, Alana, I want to get into this, how do I start?

Well, obviously, first and foremost, work with your compliance department, right, to make sure that you can put out these types of videos. But I really do have it down to a simple process. And listen, at first, like everything, it takes time, right, to feel comfortable and get used to recording the videos. But what I do is I recommend, you know, writing out your script, and usually your compliance does need you to do that, and then using some sort of teleprompter app, right, to make sure you're sticking to the script. Make sure you have good lighting, a good microphone, right? All of that so that you look good and feel confident. But give it a few takes, right? Get feedback from other people and just put yourself out there. It doesn't have to be perfect. And I really think that's why people engage a bit more, because I am just being myself authentically. And you want that to come through. You don't want to be a robot either.

So they have now the microphone, they have the compliance department on speed dial. Yes, they, they have that, but they're a little bit nervous.

Right.

What would you say to them?

Number one is you can always practice it in front of other people or, you know, show them the recording in front of other people too. I think that helps a lot, uh, just to get feedback, especially if you're nervous or stumbling through a little bit. Also start with a shorter video. Also, I think I like that idea. One shorter content does tend to do better anyways, but start shorter. It doesn't need to be a 5-minute video. Do 30 seconds, right? Or do something really short. Short and quick because that kind of takes away that nervous time or time for you to stumble as well. But listen, as advisors, we put ourselves out there every day, right? Meeting new people, asking clients for referrals. So it's just like anything, you just have to put yourself right out into that uncomfortable zone so that you can grow and can continue to evolve.

How do you pick the content that's going to resonate the most in that 30-second clip and that minute clip?

Number one is I'm going to think about what's going on in the world right now. So sometimes I do want to make really relevant, timely content, right? And it could just be tax season's approaching, or it could be end-of-year planning, right? And that can be more timely so that people are thinking about it and they want to watch the video or learn more about it. But really, I think about my client meetings. I've pulled a lot of my content from concerns I hear from my clients because I know that that a lot of people have the same things coming up, right? And a lot of that is evergreen. You know, maybe they're concerned about their children's financial wellbeing, or maybe they're concerned, will they have enough for retirement, right? So those types of topics that I'm hearing from my clients, I really am giving that back to them, that type of advice, because I know if they're concerned about it, then definitely other people are, their friends or others in the community. So I found that to be really helpful in developing content.

You're listening to Barron's Advisor, The Way Forward: Next Generation. We're going to take a short break. Stay with us.

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Welcome back. Let's get back to it. Transitioning a little bit to communicating to clients directly, that one-to-one communication, I'm thinking you know, you're on the phone or you do a Zoom or Teams call or you're in an office with them like this, we're sitting across from each other. Those types of communication skills are very different than getting in front of a video.

Yes.

How do you hone those different types of communication skills as an advisor?

Well, for me, you know, I've been now in the business for, it'll be 14 years, so almost 14 years in the business. And I didn't start out as a financial advisor, right? I started out as an administrative assistant or a receptionist for the team I'm still on today. But for me, what really helped me hone skills was when I was a junior, just an operations partner, even still being the receptionist, the lead advisor on the team would ask me to join him in the client meetings. So I would sit in on meetings and really see how he was communicating with clients and how he reviewed a portfolio. Right. And it allowed me to build rapport with the clients, but also learn about how you run a meeting, 'cause how else do you know until you're actually in it and doing it, right? It's just like you learn all these things in school, but you really don't know how to do it until you're applying it in real life. So I learned all of that from him, but then I really put my own spin on it as well. So I always ask people a few things when I meet with them for the first time.

Okay, tell me.

You know? Okay. So I always ask them, you know, really great to meet with you today. Now tell me, what is the greatest benefit I could provide you today so that when you leave here today, you're you're feeling relaxed, you put your head down on the pillow, and you can sleep restfully.

I love that.

So I always ask that, and sometimes I'll check back in at the end. You know, how are we feeling? Because the last thing I ever want is for someone to say, you know, I was up tonight. I couldn't sleep. I'm stressed about my finances. You know, leave that worry to me. You should not have to worry about that. So that's always really my opening question. I always will ask, you know, tell me about any of your financial concerns. Okay? And sometimes people have several. Sometimes they say, "Oh, none." Great. That's amazing. I always ask them then to tell me about your non-financial concerns as well. And a lot of time people will say, "What do you mean by that non-financial?" Right? So that also gives us an opportunity to go deeper because that could be, are you in good health? Right? Do you have parents that are in good health? Are you helping to care for your parents or Children, depending on the age of the person I'm meeting with. So you can go a little bit deeper, right? Because a lot of people are in that part of life where they're maybe caretaker for their parents or helping their parents in some way, or they're supporting their children, their adult children still, right? So I want to know that and really understand the makeup of their family. And that helps you understand too what's important to them, right? If they're helping support their children, then maybe family is really important to them or leaving a legacy or maybe, I need to speak with their children to help give them some financial guidance, right? But that's, those are really the opening questions that I found have allowed us to have really open and honest conversations.

It almost gives you a little bit of a map of the client and, and how to approach them throughout whether their children are involved, throughout the different stages of their life, throughout, you know, potential adversity that you can see coming from them, right? For, to them essentially, and how you can help them get around it. So it's almost like you're acting a little bit like a coach in that way. Yes. And you're gathering information. Is there, I mean, I stalked you obviously right before this. I went on Google. Do you, you know, do some research as well outside on your clients? Of course I do.

Of course I do. If I can find them, I'll find them, of course. And I'll tell them too, you know, I'll tell them just like I tell them, look me up if you haven't already, let's connect, you know, on social media. Yeah, of course I do the same thing, but Even before they come into the office, I try and have that same conversation we just went over with them so I can just get a sense of what's important to them and also if we're a good fit, right? But really, I want to know what's important to them and how can I really, really help you and make an impact.

That's so interesting, and I love the way that you're approaching it, and it reminds me of— I'm not sure if you have listened to Deborah Tannen's podcast, but she talks about the difference between rapport talk and report talk. And rapport talk is actually subconsciously what women default into. We try to build relationships, right, where men sometimes communicate as, I'm giving you information, and it's report talk. And a lot of times blending the two and understanding that is really important with blending that conversation between men and women. And kind of what you just said, your financial question, then your non-financial question, really resonated with me. Um, other types of questions that you ask in terms of building that relationship, if you have never met them before?

Yeah.

Blind prospect.

Right. I want to know if they are still working. I want to know more about what their dreams are for their retirement. Right. I want to understand more what they enjoy doing, what's important to them. What does your end of life look like? Right. I just want to get a full picture. Honestly, a lot of time I treat it like I'm networking or I'm trying to make a new friend. Right. All of those questions that you ask people are the same things that I'm asking. To go deeper with them, right? Because again, money is one piece of it, but I really just want to understand where we're going and what kinds of struggles they may or may not be facing. Also really important to understand too, a little bit about how they grew up as well, because I think a lot of us know that our relationship with money can sometimes be very tied to how we were raised, right? So just understanding them, you know, tell me about your parents and, you know, when did you first start working, right? You can get a lot of insight if you hear about their parents Or maybe they said, yeah, I couldn't wait to get a job when I was 15 years old. I've always had to work. Or, you know, I have clients whose parents maybe went through the Great Depression, right? So they have a certain relationship with money in that they wanna save a lot of money, right? Because that is just the type of family they grew up in because of the times. So that gives you a lot of insight into a person and then how you can best help them once you kind of understand their money personality.

So I, I love that money personality. Yeah. It's almost like you're getting a little bit of personas for your clients.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And there are personas for clients.

Okay, tell me about them.

So, oh my gosh, I can't remember all of the great catchy names, which we'll have to look up, but there are definitely people like the spender, which is, can be a difficult client to help sometimes. But these are people that love experiences and love treating other people to experiences as well and are maybe sometimes thinking more in the moment than longer term, right? Okay. So once I understand that in a person, then number one, identifying that is really important, but then putting together a plan for them, right? There's also someone on the opposite side of that, which is the saver, right? Where they're always looking for a deal, always looking to save money, which sounds great, but could also be detrimental, right? If you're not saving as much, maybe you're risk-averse. Oftentimes, if you're a saver, you could be risk-averse. So maybe you're saving a lot in cash, right, when you need to be investing.

And they're not making the yield back.

Exactly. Yeah, they're not earning what they need to earn long-term on their money. So I think identifying that and knowing where they identify and then explaining it to them and helping them to put together a good plan. And then also it helps lend the communication style, right, that will work best to speak to them.

If you were a financial advisor just getting into the business or just direct it back to yourself, how did you first approach building that network? Did you reach out to—

Yes.

Business resource groups? Did you reach out to the person in your office and you asked them to be your mentor? How'd you approach that?

I did everything, truly. But I would definitely reach out to your business resource if they have one, right, a resource group. But also, you know, I, I saw advisors that I admired, and I just intentionally reached out to them and said, hey, do you mind, could we speak? You know, I just want to learn more about how you built your business, learn more about you. And from a few of those conversations, I did build genuine, you know, mentoring connections as well. I had a mentor in my own office too, actually, that really helped me with my career. But again, I just went out and I asked people for that introduction. I want to connect with you as a new advisor. I want to learn how you did it, you know, and see what I can learn as well. So I really, really encourage people to not be afraid to do that. And then at the same time, again, now that I'm at a more senior level in my career, I want to reach down and help out those new people coming in. I want to make the connections because it could be intimidating. So, ask someone in your office. If you're in an office or you have a team, ask someone to help you make that introduction as well. Be really intentional and focused on who do you admire, who do you want to learn from, what skills do you want to learn, and then reach out to those people. You can't be afraid to do that.

Now, being on the other side of being a mentor. Now you are a mentor, essentially. What has the latest piece of advice been? Is it a trend? Is it a theme that you've given your mentees?

Let's see, I would say a few things. I, I think it's about putting yourself out there, right? That is number one, is not being afraid to be uncomfortable. So that's a conversation that I always have with people that are new in the business, right, or younger, whatever it may be, is Sometimes, oftentimes, we can feel a little bit of apprehension when we're stepping into a new space, right, or a new career, and I felt the same way, so I can completely relate to that, but you just have to put yourself out there, become uncomfortable because once we're uncomfortable, right, that's where we find growth truly. So encouraging them to do that and just put all of those doubts to the side is really, really number one because I always say too, what's the worst that could happen? Right? Yeah. Everything can be fixed. Most things can be fixed. But what's the worst thing that can happen? You know, a lot of people I speak to, too, may be afraid that maybe they don't have the experience yet, right, or the education yet to be doing certain things or working with a certain type of client. But, you know, I always remind them, again, we all started there. You can't be an expert in everything, right? That's why I'm on a team, right? I have my strengths. So I work with people who can fill in my weaknesses and help me with those gaps. So you don't need to be an expert on everything. So that's really helpful as well.

I love that piece of advice, especially for people who are type A or overachievers in some way, that you do not have to be an expert in everything. You have a team. Rely on your team.

Impossible. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with— this is something my mentor always said to me. There's nothing wrong with saying, let me look into this and I'll get back to you. And it's like, that shouldn't be groundbreaking. But as a perfectionist, it can be, and there's nothing wrong with— I do that all the time, right? You want to make sure you get them the right information, so there's nothing wrong with saying that.

Well, as we're wrapping up this podcast, is there any other piece of advice that you want to leave our listeners with? This has been such a pleasure.

Well, I think a lot of what we've talked about today, though— we talked about social media, we talked about mentoring and growing in your career— I think it's really about Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and be a little bit uncomfortable, whether you're new in the business, right, at getting in there for the first time and meeting with prospective clients, but also putting yourself out there on social media. Again, people want to hear from you. They want to see the authentic you and connect with you that way. So don't be afraid of doing that and getting out there.

Well, thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you.

The production team for Barron's Advisor: The Way Forward, Next Generation. Is Ellie Ismailidou, Rebecca Bisdale, Paul LeBlanc, Kinga Rojak, Joseph Lesby, and Alexis Moore. Melissa Haggerty is the executive producer. Jenna Mathis is the director of programming for Barron's Advisor Programs. Greg Bartolus is the editor-in-chief of Barron's Wealth and Asset Management Group. We'll be back soon with another episode. Thanks for listening.

This podcast was brought to you by Wells Fargo Advisors. Looking for a firm your clients can't outgrow? Wells Fargo Advisors offers financial advisors full balance sheet solutions with wealth planning, investment products, banking, and lending that meet the needs of affluent to ultra-high net worth clients. Build your practice your way and on your schedule with independent and employee model options designed to meet your needs today and tomorrow. Learn more at joinwfadvisors.com.