Episode Description
Organic growth in wealth management requires more than just good marketing.
It demands alignment, testing, and a process-driven funnel.
In this episode, Dan Gilmartin interviews John Wernz, Partner and Strategic Advisor at Mission Wealth, who shares lessons from helping firms scale from billions to tens of billions in AUM. John breaks down the stages of marketing maturity, the importance of ICP, and why sales alignment is the critical piece many overlook.
John discusses:
- Building marketing teams from generalists to specialists and scaling from 4 to 50 people
- The three-step growth process: foundation, voice, and paid channels
- The importance of defining and targeting the ideal client profile (ICP)
- How to measure ROI on marketing campaigns and paid leads effectively
- Aligning sales and marketing to avoid wasted spend and maximize conversion
- And more!
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About our Guest:
John Wernz is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Great Hill Partners, a leading growth-equity private equity firm focusing on growth opportunities in the RIA and Fintech segments. He is also extremely active in the Wealthtech and Fintech segments as an investor and advisor. He is a co-founder and currently serves as an Executive Director for Datalign, a wealth technology company connecting individuals to financial advisors. He also serves on the advisory board of Testimonial IQ and is a member of the Board of Directors of Choice Bank, a leader in FinTech processing.
Prior to Great Hill Partners, John spent 13 years as the Chief Marketing and Chief Growth Officer of Wealth Enhancement Group (WEG), one of the fastest growing financial planning groups in the United States. During his decade-plus at WEG, Mr. Wernz developed and executed multichannel organic and inorganic growth strategies, resulting in the firm’s expansion from under $2 billion in AUM to over $55 billion. Previously, he led Marketing Architects, a national marketing agency that specializes in customer acquisition programs in the financial services industry serving firms such as Fisher Investments, Trust & Will and SmartAsset. Mr. Wernz earned a degree in Finance from Gustavus Adolphus College.
John is a frequent industry contributor on all things organic growth. He is a proud husband and father to two children. He and his family reside in Minneapolis, MN where he is a partner in an award-winning craft brewery.
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