Financial Advisor Showcase: PharmD Financial Planning, LLC

1. You serve a unique niche working closely with pharmacists. Let’s talk more about PharmD’s background. Additionally, what compelled you to focus on this niche and how has niching down improved your business?

I have always had a natural affinity to the pharmacist profession through my wife, as she is a licensed pharmacist. We dated in college while she pursued her Doctor of Pharmacy degree. I was far less dedicated as a college student, so I was always impressed with the discipline and work she and her classmates would put in. It was something I could not have done.

Seeing firsthand, the intellectual power and personal sacrifice required to earn a Pharm.D, created a tremendous amount of respect for the profession from me. So, the combination of having a natural affinity to the profession and the profound admiration and respect for the work required to become a pharmacist made it an easy decision to niche down into that profession.

Niching down has made everything I do easier because of the natural focus it brings out, and I don’t have to be everything to everyone. All my business decisions are made through the lens of my ideal client, which is a pharmacist. From my business name to my logo to my podcast to my YouTube videos, it is all about attracting and serving pharmacists. Any decision that leads to an outcome that does not serve that purpose, makes it quite easy to pass on.

2.We discuss the importance of including fees on your website for transparency’s sake and to attract more qualified leads. We love to see that you’re clearly stating what you charge on your services and fees page. Have you noticed that your leads are stronger or that your initial meetings are more productive with this new addition?

100% yes. Most pharmacists I know and work with have “driver” personalities. They have been highly trained to accumulate information and make decisions in regard to medications and patient health. Having fees clearly stated on my website meshes well with that process of decision-making. My ideal clients will want that information before deciding on whether to work with me or not, and the more transparent I can be with that information, the better a PharmD can determine value. If they inquire about my services through my website, I can feel confident they have already determined the value for the fee, so it makes that first fee conversation during our initial meeting much more efficient.

3.Including an FAQ section on your website is proven to boost your site’s user experience and even your organic rankings. We love your FAQ page! Have you noticed that you get fewer questions upfront or that prospects are more prepared for your first meeting with them?

The FAQ page works exactly this way. Again, my ideal clients like to accumulate information before making decisions, and they are not usually “off the cuff” or “YOLO” type of decision-makers. They find value in information, so answering common questions on an FAQ page before they must directly engage with my firm is exactly what they are looking for. I do have fewer questions upfront, and more importantly, I think it creates trust because of the transparency of the FAQs. That little earned trust allows for a much more relaxed and conversational first meeting.

4. We noticed that you are using our one-click integration with Calendly, which is great for lead generation! What has been the biggest advantage since incorporating a scheduling tool like this into your tech stack?

The biggest advantage has been the convenience to a prospect in booking a meeting. Pharmacists have hard and stressful jobs, and they value and appreciate it when someone can make their life a little less difficult. Having a scheduling tool creates a low level of effort needed to engage with my firm, and this level of convenience has increased my lead volume. 

5. Your insights section is incredibly robust with not only a blog section but a podcast and video section, as well. Can you tell us more about your content strategy and how you develop content that best caters to your audience? 

My content strategy is all about filling the little free time most pharmacists (especially if they have kids) have with impactful information about money. I intentionally created my podcast to be 15 minutes in length or less because pharmacists do not have long periods in their day where they are able to consume large amounts of audio. I have captions on all my videos so prospects can multitask while performing other activities. For example:

• Rocking a baby to sleep
• Listening to a sporting event on TV
• Standing in line at a grocery store

And I created a blog section because pharmacists are good at consuming and learning information through the written word (I don’t think you make it through pharmacy school and not be good at that, right?) As far as content, I use my personal life to my advantage, and I create a lot of my content based on what personal financial information my wife and I find relevant at the time. If it is important to us, it’s probably something on the minds of other pharmacists, as well. Finally, I use the notes app on my iPhone to quickly input interesting discussions or questions I come across that I think my audience might enjoy learning about, and currently I have over 60 “topics” in there right now. So, if I am ever in need of a content idea, that is where I go.

6. Video is the #1 type of content right now, especially as we continue to work from home and connect virtually, but it’s also a challenge for most financial advisors. What does your video content strategy look like and what tools have been game changers to help you start producing video content? 

This is not meant to be flattery or over-the-top adulation, but I learned my entire video content strategy from Twenty over Ten YouTube videos. I knew nothing about this when I started. So, everything I am doing can be replicated by watching those videos. My content strategy is simple, and I try to make one new video every Monday and post a video on my social media page on Mondays, as well. I started by creating six videos, so I had some backups in case I got behind. But as I progressed, I became very efficient at creating these videos to the point where I can shoot, edit, and save 3 within a 2-hour period.

I record on my iPhone 8, using a $40 ring lamp I ordered off Amazon. I upload the video to my Youtube page in private mode. I then take the video and use Headliner to get captions. From there, I save it to my video folder on my hard drive and upload it to social media. But by far the biggest game-changer in helping me start producing video has been the Twenty over Ten videos on how to actually do it. Without those, I would have never gotten started.

I learned my entire video content strategy from Twenty over Ten YouTube videos. I knew nothing about this when I started. So, everything I am doing can be replicated by watching those videos.

Derek Delaney, CFP®, PharmD Financial Planning

7. What are three tools that you could not live without, and why are they so important to you and your firm?

1. My Yeti Nano Microphone: I use it to record my podcast, as my microphone during client Zoom meetings and any other live events. No matter what you are doing, if your audio is poor, people won’t stick around.

2. Google Analytics: It allows me to see which pieces of content my prospects are most receptive to and gives me real information that I can use to make decisions on website changes and marketing campaign strategies. 

3. PreciseFP: I use it for all my client data gathering and to execute client agreements. I also use it for RTQs and IPSs, and it gives me peace of mind from a cybersecurity standpoint when collecting sensitive information from clients and prospects. It integrates well with my other technology and it is customizable enough to make it do what I want it to do.

8. COVID-19 changed up the way that we connect with not only prospects but also clients and other businesses. Can you tell us how you pivoted during this time and what your plans are for the future when it comes to staying in touch with clients and growing your lead generation? 

The most beneficial pivot I made during COVID-19 was communicating with clients more consistently. There was a lot of financial, economic, and COVID information floating around last year, and I knew my clients and prospects were going to encounter a lot of that. Because of this, I wanted to create an easy way for them to digest all that information from a reliable source. So, I started writing weekly email updates to my clients. Every Friday morning, I would write and send out a recap of what I found to be important information that week. My hope was that this would relieve my clients from having to seek that information out themselves because they knew that if it were something important, I would be writing about it on Friday. 

My plans for growing lead generation are to continue making high-value content through video, audio, and text. Everything I know about money; I want to pass it along to the pharmacist community. My goal is to help create more financially savvy PharmDs than there are M.D.s!

9. If you could share one piece of advice with other advisors looking to revamp their online presence what would it be?

Spend the money and hire a professional. If it is really a priority for your firm, hire it out. Our time and expertise are better served to help our clients, and a professionally done online presence will allow for more of that!