If you choose option A for any reason, I respect that, but this video is not a good use of your time. If on the other hand, you see the value in option B, then you're in the right spot because that's exactly what we're going to be talking about.

So my second question, when surveyed, who do you think people consider their most trusted advisor? Banker, attorney, CPA or financial advisor? Probably no big surprise here. The most trusted advisor is the CPA.

And then my third question, which I think is a little more surprising here. What percent of people say they want their CPA to be offering more proactive planning? 25%, 40%, 68% or 76%? According to Sleeter Group, 76% of people want their CPA to offer them more proactive planning. Now, let me ask you this. If 76% of your clients were requesting something from you, do you think there's an opportunity there to give clients more of what they we want?

Of course there is. But the problem is most financial advisors and insurance agents don't see that opportunity because instead they're caught up being busy in a cycle. They're distracted by the newest marketing programs, flashy product offering, short term business building techniques. Really, they have no true focus on how they're going to be generating new business on a consistent, sustainable and predictable basis, which really is the fundamental of a successful company. Generating revenue consistently sustainably and predictably.

Collectively, my business partner, Ken Smith, and I we've been in the industry for roughly 40 years. However, nine years ago, when we started focusing exclusively on CPAs and other tax professionals, our business really hit a new level. I've had thousands of conversations with financial advisors. 

So now we teach financial advisors and insurance agents how to grow their businesses by partnering with CPAs, using the CPA team-based model, the exact same model that we've been using for over nine years now. Over the past 5 years, we've coached over 1,000 advisors from around the world on how to build lasting and lucrative relationships with CPAs.

Here is an example of one of our students, Dave Doerr. Started working with us a number of years ago. He had tried multiple CPA programs with no real success. His first case with the CPA using the CPA team-based model resulted in 3 annuities. He's closed dozens of cases with CPAs and specialists now, including seven figure target premium. There's a snapshot of a text message that Dave Doerr sent me at one point. "32 open cases from my CPAs." Again, that's a snapshot of a text that he sent me. Here is a snapshot of a case that he recently closed.

Stephen Burgess also started working with us a number of years ago. On the right hand side there you'll see a snapshot of an email he sent us. I love that email. "FYI, it's already beginning to pour, 1 captive, 3 cost seg cases, 1 missile, which is a monetized installment sale, 2 premium financing cases, 4 solo 401ks, 2 regular, but large live cases, and 1 buy sell agreement." Now don't worry if you don't know what some of those strategies are. Neither did Stephen before he joined our training program. 

Marilyn Prevoir. Marilyn's an advisor out of Florida. Now I wanted to show you an example of an advisor, not just closing large live cases. Marilyn also does a lot with charging fees. So you see the top left there. "If you build it, they will come. I've not been able to stand up from my desk all day. Working on cost seg case, multiple CEs, captive. Then the accountant drops a major brand new case on my lap without warning. This time last year I was wishing a CPO would respond to my outreach and still dealing with dinner seminar guests." Again, if you don't know what cost seg is or CEs or captive, neither did Marilyn before she joined our training. But part of our training is helping you to understand how to use more esoteric, advanced planning concepts to not only help your CPA relationships, but also where appropriate help you.

And then on the bottom right hand corner, you'll see, "The hardest part of closing a tax planning case is sitting in silence, staring at your CPA while you both wait to make sure the client is completely out of the office before you jump up to congratulate each other. CPA who closed his first case 2 weeks ago, just close his second one. And now we uncovered that this client is a whale, but we didn't know it."

I'd like to get into the meat of the training here, but if you still need additional information, go to YouTube, you'll see dozens of reviews from advisors. But my point is, this stuff is real and yes, it does work. So what are we going to get into? First of all, why there's never been a better time to partner with CPAs. Second, the biggest mistake that advisors make when approaching CPAs. And then third, the key to creating a win-win-win for you, the CPA and their client. And what we're going to focus on in this video is how to shift from a bloody red ocean over to a blue ocean strategy. So first of all, let's lay out the groundwork of what's happened in our industry. Yes, our role as an advisor, as an insurance agent has dramatically changed over the last 10 plus years. We've got the market crash of 2008 and then a number of financial scandals that have reduced the credibility and trustworthiness.

You see Bernie Madoff there in the bottom left, you see on the right hand side, The Wolf of Wall Street, and then in the center there, there's the consumer trust by industry, all the way at the bottom financial services. Other issues, commoditization, really, that means more of the same. There's more products, more companies, everything's starting to look more and more similar. You also have web sites like mint.com doing retirement planning, financial planning for free. Then you have companies like Walmart, Amazon, Google, starting to sell life insurance, plus the compliance pressure, which is making it just a little more difficult and a little more expensive for us to successfully run our companies in this industry. So really there's no question whether or not there is change. Yes, our industries are changing. What the question is, is what side of this changed do you want to be on? Do you want to take a calculated step in lead the industry right in the new direction? Or do you want to just stay the course and hope to get out before the boat sinks?

Our industry is not the only one that's going through some dramatic shifts. The CPA industry is as well. As the AICPA, American Institute of CPAs recently said, "CPAs are no longer defined by tax returns and audit services." A lot has changed in their industry as well. And as a result, they're being asked to handle more and more issues for clients, which they're not prepared or educated to handle. So they're being forced to either not address those concerns or try to refer those clients to third parties. Neither one of which are very good options. Then you also look at all of the changes that they've gone through, like Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it's become a very difficult environment. So let's revisit this idea of the red ocean versus the blue ocean.

In summary, the red ocean is known market space. There's a lot of competitors and everybody's fighting for market share. It's very cutthroat. And as a result, that's why we call it the red ocean, because it's bloody. Then you have the blue ocean. The blue ocean has uncontested market space. You have few competitors and you get to create market share. There's new markets that actually make your competition irrelevant. And when we talk to advisors today, most of them think a unique value proposition is something like having a proprietary annuity product or an exclusive fund that they're managing, or maybe they have great customer service. All of those things are nice, but they're not unique value propositions. To be honest with you, it's just more of the same.

So we've had an opportunity to work with over 500 accountants, including many thought leaders in the industry, individuals like Andrew Argue, who's changing the complete face of the accounting space. Ron Baker, who's the godfather of value-based billing. Salim Omar, one of the bestselling authors in the accounting space. Brian Eberle and Paul Latham, two of the founding partners of Haydenrock Solutions, one of the leading CPA consulting firms. So what have we learned?

Yes, accountants need help, but not in the old way. They want on a team of professionals to help them deliver more value while working less. Other programs, and this is where they fall. Other programs help you get referrals from CPAs, but that's not a great win-win. If you think about it, it exposes the CPA to more risk, they actually risk losing control of that client because they don't know what happens once they make the referral out the door. Also, the CPA has to manage dozens of relationships with all different types of service providers. They also miss an opportunity to really differentiate themselves.

In other words, if they make a referral to you and you do a bad job that reflects poorly on them. But let's say you do a great job. Think about what happens then. Well, their client is then incentivized to tell whose story? Your story as the financial advisor. So again, there's no differentiation for it in them. The industry is evolving and what you need to do is learn how to work on the same team as the CPA. So really that question. How do you leverage the established trust that the CPAs have? Again, they are by far the most trusted advisor. How do you leverage that trust while giving their clients a more proactive CPA? Remembers 76% of clients said they want their CPA to be more proactive.

You do that by making the CPA, your focus, not their client. That's where most of us have made mistakes in the past. We focus on getting the referral, we focus on the CPA's client. That's backwards. You need to focus on the CPA. The CPA needs to become your priority. And your goal really should be, how do you elevate the CPA's perceived value, not yours? How do you shift the focus from a transaction onto a relationship? Yes, it's a subtle shift, but a radical paradigm shift. The CPA team-based model really creates this perfect partnership because the funding visor has the expertise, they have the experience, they have the licenses, they can generate the revenue so we can provide the services and the CPA already has the client's existing relationship and the trust to provide that platform for this to get done.

So let's look at this from each perspective: the advisor's perspective, the CPA's perspective and the client's perspective. So first, from your perspective, as an advisor, as an insurance agent. You get a target rich group of prospects with the CPA support when this partnership is formed. You also get to increase your revenue from an increased case size, as well as an increased quantity of cases. A much higher closing ratio because you have the CPA giving you their full endorsement. Reduced marketing expenses. I touched on this in my opening slide, but literally your marketing expenses, when the partnership is formed, goes to zero. Why? What marketing and expenses is there? Nothing. You formed the partnership and then you work on clients together.

Now, in addition to leveraging the CPA's book of business, advisors that work with us also leverage our international team of specialists. I want you to consider some simple math. Let's say one CPA partner has 500 clients. Roughly 66% of those will have retirement plans. So that's 330 planning opportunities. So that 1 CPA actually represents 47 million of potential assets. 

Let's consider this now from a CPA's perspective. There's all types of articles. In fact, we have a number of them. If you would like any of them, just contact us, we'd be happy to email you. Journal of Accountancy will consistently say one of the things that CPA's need is a one stop shop for their clients. Why? Because it allows them to reduce the risk of losing their clients. In fact, according to a Bloomberg study, 72% of clients are unhappy and are considering leaving their CPA currently. They also get to reduce the risk of referring out as I referenced earlier. It's incredibly risky value proposition. This model also allows them to provide more needed value to their clients, it opens up an additional revenue stream from existing clients, they get to expand their brain trust. Meaning now they get to leverage the expertise of people like you and your team. And they also have increased organic growth. That means that their clients now have a unique story to tell, and as a result, they're going to get a lot more referrals.

And then lastly, let's look at it from the client perspective. The client has a better client experience. Why? Because they have one point of contact. The CPA also remains their quarterback and the CPA approves all of their solutions. So they have more confidence in the advice they're getting. They also get much more holistic and comprehensive strategies rather than just one off suggestions here or there. And lastly, they get the expertise of world class results.

So in the CPA team-based model, you need to shift your focus away from competing against other advisors. And instead, it allows you to put the focus on establishing you as the go to person for the go to person, their CPA.

Now we've been to over 75 training events since 2009. It actually took us two years to make the full transition from working directly with end users, to working exclusively with CPAs and other tax professionals. We were closing cases along the way, but we really didn't have a process yet. It was just kind of one off here and there. So what we did is we took a lot of this experience and expertise, and we built it into a complete system to produce predictable and sustainable results so we could start working with CPAs year around, updating their client files while identifying planning opportunities. And in essence, what we found through these CPA partnerships is we ended up giving their clients exactly what they wanted. A more proactive CPA that helps with their planning needs. So you basically have two options at this point.

You can either go at it alone, spend thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, trying to figure this stuff out, getting frustrated and wasting literally years of opportunity. Or learn the proven system from someone who has helped hundreds of people in your exact situation, make the exact transformation you want to make.

So if you're smart, you want to leverage other people's expertise, go with option two and you decide to work with us, here's what you're in for, in terms of training. To start with, we teach you how to target the right types of CPAs using our top eight ways to identify ideal CPA partners. We break each of these ways down with email templates, letters, phone scripts, everything that you would possibly need to get their attention. We also have proprietary planning software that will actually help you identify them and help you decide whether or not they are potentially the right fit.

Once you get their attention, you're going to set a consultation meeting. We have all of these meetings scripted out. And what you're going to do is begin to build a relationship. That's the heart of a true partnership, and you're going to do this by speaking to the CPA's pain and problem in vivid detail. See, most financial advisors and insurance agents don't understand the pain and the problems from the CPAs perspective. So they just go in there and try to sell them stuff for their clients. What we're going to do is help them understand that you actually have an answer to their problem. And we do that by using a series of diagnostic questions to completely and totally understand their business and the problems they're trying to solve. And then you share your statement of expertise to create a reason or some urgency and we help you script this out, word by word, to really just pierce right at the heart of what the problem is and how your expertise can help them. And then we help them understand how you are truly different from other advisors using our CPA talking tool and meeting scripts.

So through the CPA team-based model training, you'll receive lifetime access to our online training portal. It will take you over a series of eight weeks through this process. You will also receive CPA meeting scripts, all scripted out for you. We will show you how to role play, who to role play with, how to really get confident in the fact that any CPA you sit down with, you will be able to identify exactly what their problem is and how you can help them solve that problem. We will provide you with educational presentations, as well as incredible marketing material. We have a best in class team that will help you fill any gaps that you currently have with specialists. We also have access to events for you and your CPAs. You also have unlimited access to group coaching as well as ongoing support with coaches and specialists and other advisors who have been in your shoes, who have made the transformation that you're about to make.

Here's a screenshot of our program material, which we believe is some of the best, if not the best training in financial services industry on mindset, value creation, marketing, strategic relationships. And yes, of course, working with accountants on advanced planning concepts. Each week includes videos, scripts, email templates, and letters, all mobile friendly.

You also receive an invitation to our private Facebook community. You'll see hundreds of advisors from around the world in there who share their experience, ask questions, learn from each other and celebrate their successes. We have program coaches and technical specialists that are also members of the community. So you can be asking questions, 24/7. Three to four times a week, we have live group calls to assist with training questions, client cases, marketing techniques, or any other business related questions. These calls take place via webinar, they are always recorded so you'll have access to them 24 hours a day.

You also have access to one on one experts through our national planning specialists to discuss any cases you're working on. You want help with strategies, you want help identifying opportunities, you want help preparing for meetings. Any of those things, our experts can help you with.

And lastly, you will also receive an invitation to our two day live Elite Advisor Academy or our two day Elite Tax Planning Academy, either to attend in-person or to attend in a live stream setting. You can invite up to four accountants. If you do attend in person, they will receive 16 CPE credits.

So in summary, you will receive everything you need to transition your business into the blue ocean. You can see all of these advisors, forming successful CPA partnerships and uploading into our private Facebook community, photos of what the blue ocean looks like for them.

So in summary, if this sounds like you, and you're ready to build extremely profitable and rewarding CPA partnerships over the next five days, we've set aside some time to talk with you and see if we can help. We'll talk for about 45 minutes and we will map out an exact action plan for you to follow. So you can reach at least 100,000 more in sales this year than you had previously planned. This could honestly be the most valuable 45 minutes you've ever spent in your career.

Who is this for? Advisors that want to bring more value to clients, advisors that are willing to invest in their business, advisors that are willing to do whatever it takes.

Who is this not for? Advisors that make excuses and complain, advisers that are afraid of getting out of their current comfort zone, and honestly, advisors that are not serious about building a million dollar firm.

So in closing, we don't care what licenses you have or you don't have. We don't care what BD, what RIA, what IMO you work with. We don't care where you are located. At our core, we are an online training company and we care about one thing: helping you get results. So we can only take about a dozen calls in the next few days. So please apply now. I hope to have a chance to connect with you. And I look forward to seeing you in the blue ocean.