Do More Credentials Lead to More Income?

 Advisors, Employees, Small Business
Owners & Entrepreneurs. Myth Exposed

I noticed her from across the bar. She stood out with her long legs and blond hair and would easily have fit in at Hugh’s house where the men wear pajamas.

When she walked up, I could barely hear what she said over the music. We were at The Rum Jungle. A nightclub, where unless you’re on the list, it’s a two-hour wait just to get in.

I will get to the marketing in a bit…but let me tell you this story…it’s good gossip, so don’t tell anyone.

“Will you buy me a drink,” she asked.

I rolled my eyes and turned towards my buddy.

She walked around and wedged herself between my friend and I, obviously annoyed by my attitude.

“Can you believe this girl?” I asked, loud enough that she would hear.

“What’s your problem?” She demanded, obviously used to being the center of male attention in Las Vegas.

“He doesn’t buy drinks for girls, they buy drinks for him,” my buddy interjected, feeding off of my attitude.

“Um…ok!? What do you guys want?” And then the lady resembling playmate, bought us a round of drinks. We spent the rest of the evening together and dated afterwards.

I did everything “wrong,” and it worked! This was my first lesson in marketing…I mean dating.

Sex is Marketing

Everyone has to learn and master marketing, no matter what field or position you’re in. Employees, business owners and entrepreneurs.

Everything you’ve been taught is wrong!

I’m going to dispel a myth and it may bother you, but that doesn’t mean it’s untrue.

There are things in life we wish were not true, but it’s foolish to bury our heads in the sand and wish they were not so. It is, what it is, and we can either learn and adapt, or be angry and do nothing. It’s your choice.

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I was fresh off a divorce. Out on the “scene” for my very first time, ever.

I married my high-school sweetheart, so unless you consider copying her homework in class as dating, I had never really experienced the whole dating scene. At least not back then.

So after my divorce, I was out on the “prowl” with other young guys trying to figure this whole thing out. After being in a such long relationship, none of this dating stuff made much sense. And to be honest, girls still don’t make much sense to me, but that’s another subject

I did what we are supposed to. I did what every guy does. I was a nice, bought drinks, offered dinner, and even kept myself in great shape. And when none of that worked, I lifted more weights. I mean, every guy knows that if he can bench press 325 pounds everything will fall into place, right?

Doing what we’ve been told works occasionally, but rarely do ladies notice these things during first encounters. And it doesn’t matter which “type” of girl you’re trying to meet. If you’re doing what everyone else does, no one will notice.

People do what they were led to believe is the right in all areas of life. When that doesn’t work, they do more of the same stuff that isn’t working.

So what does a playmate have to do with your job or business?

It wasn’t until I was frustrated that I accidentally stumbled upon what really works. You see, I didn’t plan that little stunt with the “playmate” in the bar. The reality was that I had already been blown off a few times during that night by other girls.

In my naiveté, I discovered that some girls go to bars intending guys they don’t even know, or intend to talk to, to finance their evening—silly me. Annoyed by the whole thing, I reversed the roles by accident.

Without realizing it, I got her attention in a way none of the other guys had. Then with her attention, I sold her on my benefits. Usually we begin by selling our features before we have their attention. That always fails.

Good marketing connects someone with a need to someone who has the solution. It’s difficult for these two people to find each other. The market is cluttered with too many messages competing for the same attention. Good marketing solves this.

The Lie You Tell Your Kids

“If you are the best at what you do, you will get business, be promoted and be successful.”

Unfortunately, this is not true. Not even slightly, and it’s usually a disappointing discovery. How many times have you seen an extremely attractive woman with a less than desirable looking man. A guy with no future, not even a nice guy, and wondered, how in the world did he get together with her?

 It happens with both sexes, and it happens all the time. We refuse to believe the world does not operate in from the lens we think is should, so we demonize the action?

“Oh, he must have lots of money or something.” Occasionally that’s the case, but more often, it’s not that at all.

The truth is that that this guy did a better job of marketing. He was able to get through the clutter better than all the others and capture her attention better than the rest.

Products

Year after year, Coke out sells Pepsi, yet in test after test, people enjoy the taste of Pepsi more.

Services

Who do you think is the best, or most well known, financial advisor in the world?

Suzie Orman?

Is she the most skilled, knowledgeable or even most qualified? Does she have the most credentials? Frequently at a financial advisor conventions, she is cited as a negative example of the ideal financial advisor, but  she clearly is the best marketer in the industry.

If Coke sells better, Suze Orman is not the most qualified, and the best man does not always get the best girl, why do we believe that “If you are the best at what you do, you’ll be successful.”

Origins of a Myth

Our parents, and in my opinion, a failing education system, has taught us that success comes from good grades, degrees, and climbing ladders. The school wants you to believe the more degrees, credentials, and letters after your name, the more successful you’ll be.

The graph below depicts median lifetime earnings based on formal education. With these results taken in isolation, it appears there are huge benefits of education. On average, someone with a professional degree will earn more than a high-school dropout, but that does not mean pursuing higher formal education will result in more income or higher levels of success.

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There is truth to the data on education and income, but it is misleading. It leads you to believe that formal education is the path to greater income, which I argue it is NOT the most direct path. This data ignores study and training in areas outside of formal education; for my purposes here, marketing and sales.

The college = success myth is the result of fabulous marketing from the education system itself. It’s in the best interest of schools to indoctrinate students into this belief to keep the bureaucracies running.

It’s what we WANT to be true. It is easier to believe what we think is fair and just. Often when we discover things that are unfair, we refuse to accept them.

Frank Kern, a multi-millionaire consultant to coaches and experts, said “The people who are professing to be experts, telling you what you can and can’t do in life and how to do it, are a bunch of fucking jackasses. The model that society teaches you to become successful is highly flawed.”

Expertise

Becoming a master of marketing, and sales, which are really the same, are the most important skills you can learn. No other skill is more likely to result in your success—no matter how you measure it. That may be the perfect spouse, advancement at your job, or a lot of money.

I’ve testified in court many times as an expert witness. Interestingly the legal definition of an expert is “one who has knowledge on a subject beyond that of an ordinary lay person.” That degree of knowledge always seemed rather thin to me, but it’s what is necessary in a court of law.

When you apply that measure to your profession, whatever that may be, it doesn’t require all that much to provide your services. Just how much expertise does it require you to competently handle your clients’ needs? Have you ever considered this? Consider this chart below.

Knowledge level of your customer vs. all available knowledge

This chart is a visual depiction of the skill required in any given field. This chart is not based on real data, just arbitrary numbers to visually illustrate a point. Here is the break down.

1. Red bar depicts your customer’s knowledge level of your field
2. Blue is the minimum knowledge required to perform the job, or pass entrance exams (Bar exam for example)
3. Your present skill level
4. Purple is the leader in the industry. The top guy. Smartest in the field
5. The bottom turquoise colored bar represents all available knowledge in the field

Gardener

To bring this from abstract to real, let’s use your gardener for example. He is operating in the green bar in the gardening field. He mows your lawns, trims your trees, and pulls the weeds.

He even knows the right fertilizer to use, something you do not, and he has set the sprinkler timer after you tried and failed. He does a good job and you’re happy.

He could return to college and study the science of blending two plant species so that your red roses mixed with white ones turn pink. It would take him four years of college and a degree to become “certified” to do this, but you don’t care about this. You just want your lawns mowed. If you wanted pink roses you’d go to Home Depot and buy them.

If he planned to continue as a gardener, do you think his business and income would grow if he learned more about his field, or learned how to market and attract more customers?

Would you be happier if he learned how to attract your neighbor as a customer? The neighbor that doesn’t currently mow his own lawn often enough?

Lawyer

Maybe that example was too blue collar. What if the playmate in the bar bought you a drink, and simultaneously, in another bar, a Chippendale is buying your spouse a drink. You both decide it’s time to part ways and skip into the sunset with your new found lovers. It’s time to hire a lawyer. 

You and your spouse agree to a divorce and hire an attorney to make your fantasies legal. You agree to split everything 50/50 and just need it written up.

Do you need a lawyer with twelve different sets of three letter initials after his or her name? Do you care if he has a PhD, MBA, or all kinds of other fancy sounding titles?

Most would say no, but assume he is minimally qualified if he is in the business. Do you check the credentials of your doctor? Most do not.

Life and business always regress to Pareto’s 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the time, you will only need twenty percent of the available skills to handle most tasks.

Fraud

What about that other 20% of the time? What if your client needs help in that minority area that you are not an expert in; the skills that only the leader in your field has learned? The expert depicted in purple in the chart above.

You have two choices.

1. Study and become qualified
2. Refer him to someone who already is qualified

Claiming you can help someone beyond your level of expertise is fraud, and the appropriate thing to do is refer them to someone else.

Triple Your Income

Here is where all this comes together. If the gardener example seemed obvious to you, then why aren’t you spending more of your time and energy learning and implementing marketing?

The reason is because it’s fun to learn more about your field. It’s comfortable. You entered your profession because you enjoyed the subject matter, so you have a natural tendency to want to learn more about your craft.

Professionals in all fields spend more time perfecting their craft then they do becoming better marketing and sales people. This is a huge mistake for you and your clients. Stop doing that!

For the most part, after you reach a certain level of expertise, there are diminishing marginal returns for the clients’ benefit and your income. You have to keep up to date, but don’t spend more time than is necessary learning things you’ll likely never use.

Employees

It’s equally important for employees to learn this way of thinking. You need to learn how your bosses and customers think and you will advance faster than anyone else in your organization.

According to Michael Ellsberg, “There’s no better way to rise up the ranks of your organization than bringing in new business, or coming up with ideas that bring in new business. Not in your job description?” Too bad, learn it if you want to advance faster.

Marketing Mentality

By becoming a better marketer you will provide your prospects and customers with a better experience.

“Marketing is a mentality. It’s a worldview that puts customer’ emotional reality first, and inquires deeply about their needs, wants, and desires.” Michael Ellsberg, the author of Education of Millionaires.

The majority of the value that most service providers offer is not the in-depth technical know-how. That is a percentage of it, but the bulk is the ability to influence your clients to make good decisions. The core of understanding marketing is understanding human psychology and influence.

Why do you think most people hire personal trainers? Is it because of their knowledge of kinesiology, nutrition science, and exercise technique? I’ve been in that industry for a long time and I can tell you with certainty, the answer is no.

Everyone already knows they need to eat less, and exercise more. However, they don’t know how to motivate themselves to do it. That is what they need you for.

The financial planning industry is no different. Spend less, save more. Easy right? Wrong. It’s very hard to implement especially with competing psychological priorities for their money. In every industry, there are the technical details that people hire experts for advice on, but the overwhelming majority of the value service providers offer is influence.

Still don’t believe me? Schedule an appointment with your doctor. You know, the high paid guy that went to school for, like 500 years, or something. I bet before you leave, he will tell you to exercise more and watch your diet (now you owe me for an office visit).

When you become an expert at marketing, you will learn to shift the perspective of your business from your eyes, to your customer’s eyes. You will discover what it is that they want and need and you will be able to deliver your services to them even better.

You will be able to expand your reach and help more people. The majority of service providers enter a profession first out of a desire to help people; second to make money. If you’re not able to get their attention, and demonstrate the value you will add to their lives, they will not hire you, nor will they benefit from your services.

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