Anecdotal is Out, Analytics is In; Where to Start

By Erica Pauly

I’m going to give you advice today on why data matters in your practice and how to use it for your benefit. But first, you should probably get a snapshot of who I am and why my advice will matter to you. As a data storyteller specifically for financial advisors, I use real data, sliced the same way for everyone, and create national studies, benchmarks, and best practices for work flows, lead processing, and marketing funnel research. In 2024, Track That Advisor (the company I founded) coached on more than $8 billion of new business running through our clients’ offices. I know where it came from, how many leads it took to get there, and what those leads did in the sales cycle. My guidance and suggestions today stem from working with advisors. As a financial advisor, you will be well served to understand the importance of using clean data to empower yourself to make sound business decisions. Anecdotal advice is out; analytical advice is in. 

Matthew McConaughey, in his Salesforce commercial, casually suggests, “AI is like the wild, wild west. And data is the new gold.” And he isn’t wrong. Everyone seems to be trying to get good data; it's the new buzzword. Lean in, I’m going to let you in on a little not-so-secret secret: it is nearly impossible to just stare at data on the page and gain an insight from it. You need context, comparisons, and a North Star to know which pieces matter and which ones don’t. Trying to get insights from data when you’ve never used it before is like trying to climb Mt. Everest when your training has consisted of walking to your car from the house each morning. You are not equipped to see what you need to see to create change from data. But you are in good company, since 90% of advisors don’t know how to either. 

Where Not to Start

So where should you start? Well, let’s talk about where not to start first, because I see so many of you doing things right out the gate that are counterproductive to where you are actually trying to go. 

1) Don’t start with ROI! It’s too complex of a number to track, often incorrect, and it will not tell you much about anything. It is a lagging indicator and there are so many other points that will give you a lot more ideas on where/how/why to move. 

2) Don’t scrap all of your marketing funnels or start three new ones at once. Most often when we see a marketing funnel struggling, it has little to do with the marketing funnel type. It’s not radio or TV, or the workshop or webinar that is the problem—it is the process of that funnel, or an issue with the people executing it. 

3) Stop playing the swagger Olympics. All advisors do this. They compare themselves—to their colleagues, to the guy on the webinar, to their nemesis down the street. Your data, your practice, and your process aren’t theirs. You will likely never look just like them but trust me, you don’t want to! You need to do you and work on improving your process, your close, your call to action. Stop comparing. 

4) Realize benchmarks are a tool and not a rule. My firm creates benchmarks to help advisors understand the “most used” path up a mountain. Does that mean it’s the only path? No. There are many ways to climb a mountain, and some people want to take the path most traveled. Some don’t. But benchmarks exist to help, not set expectations or force people into a sales process they don’t need/want to subscribe to. 

5) Understand that not all data matters all the time! Stop building out dashboards that consist of a million reports and points. It’s too much and will not aid you in making decisions. You will hit analysis paralysis and stop looking at it altogether because it’s no longer helpful. 

Have you seen the image used in the book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey? It shows a grouping of numbers, ranging from 1–54 in different fonts and sizes, placed all over the page in seemingly random order. You have one minute to find them in numerical order. I’ll admit the first time I did this I only got to seven. Pitiful. But if you flip to another page, you are told the way the numbers are ordered so you understand the flow of how they are arranged. After understanding how I needed to look at the image, I found every number in 60 seconds. The lesson here? Understanding how you need to approach your data matters. 

The Top Five Data Points to Track

So now that you know what not to do, here are the top five data points we believe you should be looking in on every 90 days to six months:

We call it the TTA (Track That Advisor) Top 5. These are what we’ve determined to be the five metrics that lead to the biggest insights and drive the most growth.

1) Stick Rate: Of the first meetings scheduled, what percent of those people show up?

 - Benchmark: 70% 

2) Close Rate: Of the number of people who keep a first meeting, what percentage of those people become a client? 

 - Benchmark: 30% 

3) Average Case Size: What is the average new business one household is bringing into your firm when it closes? 

 - Benchmark: There is no benchmark here but the national average of our clientele in 2024 was $562K and has been on the rise the last three years. 

4) Pending: Two parts to this one with regard to outstanding business/what’s in your pipeline. 

 - Days: This includes pending days between appointments; how long is it taking your prospects to go through your entire sales cycle? 

 - Benchmark: Aim for five–seven days from event or first contact to first meeting, 10–15 days between first and second, 10–15 days between second and third. 

- People: At any given time, how many people are currently working their way through your sales process? Open opportunities is another term for this. (But be sure they are truly open opportunities, not just cold leads that are no longer viable.) 

- Benchmark: This goes alongside the number of new clients. Pending should be higher at the beginning of the year and decrease as the number of new clients begins low for the year and increases. (At midyear, you should ideally have the same number of pending leads as you have clients.) 

5) Cost: Two parts to this one also.

 - Cost per Client: How much money does it cost to write one client (per marketing funnel, or per office location)? 

 - Benchmark: $6,000 

- Cost per Appointment: How much money does it cost to get someone to book a meeting with you (not necessarily keep it—just get on the calendar)?

 - Benchmark: $1,000–$1,500 

You are not alone if you feel like it’s a relentless uphill climb; it is. But taking one step at a time will still get you to the summit of a peak. Stick with it. Stop doing the things that aren’t helpful and start doing our top five and see where that gets you—knowing there are thousands of others right there with you.

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Erica Pauly, founder of Track That Advisor, has been featured on the Financial Advisor Success Podcast with Michael Kitces, is a frequent speaker, and is passionate about coaching advisors on how to feel empowered to make data-informed decisions. She resides in Northern Colorado with her family.

image credit: Adobe Stock Images