The benefits of having a niche and an advisory board, with Ray Evans 

Will McKenna: Ray Evans, thanks for joining the PracticeLab podcast. 

Ray Evans: Will, it's great to be here. Thank you. 

Will McKenna: Thanks for joining — a lot to dig into. Why don't we just start, though, with an overview of your practice? Why don't you paint a picture of your business as it stands today? 

Ray Evans: Our team of six predominantly is a wealth management team. We have 401(k) business, but we pretty much concentrate on private business owners and also have a little bit of a concentration in the construction industry and some of the ancillary industries associated with that. So a couple of maybe unusual niches that have evolved from that. But three advisors, three staff members and really a great group. 

Will McKenna: That's a great overview. And I want to dig into a couple of those topics. Let's start with some of the niches that you're serving. You talked about business owners. How did you get started there? And then tell us about that. 

Ray Evans: I'd love to say it was this super-strategic plan that I put together years ago, but that's not quite accurate. I was very lucky in the ‘80s, during our cold-calling days, developing two really good relationships, two really good clients, in 1985, through cold-calling, that, you know, took a liking to me and were very kind regarding introductions. One of them was someone who was associated with a trade group in the state of Missouri. So they were able to involve me in a variety of different investment committee-type activities within that organization. And still, I'm actually involved as the investment advisor to that group. 

Through the years, as that investment committee has changed, it's been a natural extension to go get to know some of the other people on the investment committee and ultimately, hopefully, build up a little credibility and trust to where you can call on them and have a decent story to tell. So that's really kind of how that evolved. And with that came architects and engineers and some other folks. So it was by almost total accident. But that was a very good thing for us to work on. 

Will McKenna: Isn't that great? I mean, isn't that funny that sometimes things happen that way, or probably most often happen that way? We'd all like to think our lives have a grand design. But oftentimes, you bump into opportunity, and it sounds like you were able to take advantage of it. 

So you started with these two relationships in kind of your early days, it sounds like. How did that then evolve? You know, give us a little bit of the journey. And then maybe we can talk about kind of the trade group and what that brings in terms of networking, and so on.

Ray Evans: Again, almost by accident. And really want to stress, it wasn't this meteoric climb, either. It was very slow and steady. One of those two individuals and who ultimately became a great friend and is a great friend is an architect. And so we got to know more people at their firm. And then I had some peers. Kansas City is the home of a number of firms who are very active in the stadium and athletic facility world, and so knew a few guys in that venue. And so it was, again, a helpful thing to get introduced in that world a little bit. And through the years that sort of evolved. 

Again, from the contractor standpoint, really just a wonderful group of people. I mean, they're typically small business — I say small business, they're pretty big businesses — but these are business owners who typically have an ease about them that makes it easy to visit with them and their decision-makers. And so you kind of get to know early on whether you're making progress or not. And then they're usually great about introducing you. And I kind of learned early on, I was terrible and still am not great at asking for referrals. But with that group, you can kind of sit there and say, “Hey, could I potentially get an introduction to Will McKenna?” And they're like, “Sure.” So that's an easy group to get along with.

Will McKenna: I wonder if it's the fact that they themselves are businesspeople and understand, you know, that a lot of their business probably comes from referrals too would be my guess, wouldn’t you think so, right? 

Ray Evans: Well, I do. And the construction guys, so much of their world is dealing with, you know, RFPs and bid processes that are very extensive. And so, you know, they themselves are going to a lot of civic events and making sure that they do a good job at networking. So it's a kind of a fun group just to hang around. So I think, to a great degree, that's the nature of their business. So they're OK with that. 

Will McKenna: What are the benefits of having a niche like that, and the characteristics that that has brought to the way you guys operate as a firm?

Ray Evans: You know, I would say, in general, you sort of realize who you work well with. I think, you know, early on, I made so many mistakes. I was trying super hard to get in with surgeons and getting in with these really precise niches of high net worth folks that perhaps were a) difficult to get to, and b) were not necessarily relatively quick decision-makers in terms of whether they want to work with you or not. 

And, you know, construction guys, to me, were an easy group to get along with and have been for a long time. They value relationships. They know a lot of people in town, and from a lot of different, you know … I think the interesting thing about the construction business, you know, some guys are concrete guys, some guys are excavators, some guys do high-rises or whatever it might be. So there's just an awful lot of give and take amongst different facets of that industry. It's not like there's four construction firms in town. 

Will McKenna: Gotcha. And you guys seem to focus not only construction, but you said private business owners. What do you offer? What are the … what are the range of services that you offer those folks? 

Ray Evans: We're CFPs. And AIFs. So, you know, certainly we offer, we have a very robust planning platform. And we, you know, in the early years, I was very much just an investment guy. And so, as the years evolved, it was pretty clear one of the, to some degree, the investment business was going to be viewed a little bit more as a commodity, whether that's fair or not. So we needed to tie the client to us. So, you know, literally, probably 20-25 years ago, I really needed to sharpen my sword from a planning standpoint. And the young advisor that I've got on my team, who's terrific, and a great future in front of him, he's really strong from a planning standpoint. So as we've integrated more of a team approach, he really runs with it, can illustrate it and really has a great handle on it. So it's a great way to, I think, impress upon somebody that the firm is not dependent on me. We've got a, you know, other talent here that’s really relevant and really important, and he does a great job. 

Will McKenna: OK, let's summarize what we've heard so far. Ray talked about four benefits of working with construction business owners. Number one, they're easy to work with. Number two, they're fast decision-makers. Number three, they also depend on referrals in their business, which makes them more likely to send referrals to Ray. And number four, construction is a really big industry, with all kinds of ancillary businesses related to it, from architects and engineers to all the trades within construction. And that provides a long runway for potential growth in Ray’s practice. 

Now, let's turn our attention to Ray's advisory board. This is a group of fellow business leaders around Kansas City who not only council Ray but also counsel each other in their quarterly meetings. Let's hear Ray break it down.

I know one of the other elements of your business that’s interesting and not everybody does is this idea of having an advisory board. And I'd love to hear what is it, first of all? Why did you set it up? And let's talk about how it works and some of the mechanics of it today. But why did you set this thing up? 

Ray Evans: You know, this goes back a long time. My dad is deceased, but back in the ‘90s, he was talking about how guys like himself are really complimented when a younger person asked for help or asked for advice. And you know, I hadn't really framed it like that. And so I was kind of talking to my dad one day, like, “What would you think if I had like a six- or eight-person, you know, advisory board for lack of a better term?” And he goes, “Yeah, I think you'd be surprised who would agree to be on that.” And I was, have been, through the years. And we started with six people, and it was six people for many years. We evolved to ultimately eight people. And now we're 20 people.

Our format is a quarterly meeting. It's a lunch meeting from basically noon to 1:30. And three of those meetings a year are either in our office or in a local country club. And then one meeting a year, we go to a rising Kansas City business, typically not a client. But basically, a business that, you know, you're reading a lot about in the paper that is obviously doing great things and is on a growth path. And they're usually eager to host that fourth meeting. And then we'll typically have them give a presentation and talk a bit about, you know, why they're growing and what's going on in their firm. And it's really been fun. 

The meeting itself, I try to make sure that we don't spend too much time on my stuff. So we usually start with numbers and go through that and talk about and frame that versus our goals for the year. And then we talk about, you know, challenges and things that are going on in the business, but I try to make that about half the meeting. Because what I want to do is go around, and everybody's got two minutes to tell us what they think they're seeing either as a consumer or with their own business. And that's by far the most valuable part is getting them talking about what they see and what they think they're seeing. And so we've done this now for, since the ‘90s. So 27 years. And we’ve evolved the group obviously and changed the number through the years. I made sure that it's not all clients. It's about half clients and about half that are not clients. And I've only got a couple people from the industry at any one time, because I really kind of want to hear from the tool and die guys and these other guys, how they do what they do, and what they think they're seeing. So we get a ton of value out of it. And then typically, after each meeting, over the course of the year, I'll have one one-on-one with each advisory board member and go into a lot of detail. And I find that they are much more likely to give me feedback and give me advice in that one-on-one setting than they are in the big group. 

Will McKenna: That's great. And it's funny; I was looking at your advisory board on your website. And I would encourage our audience to check that out as well. And we'll link to your website in the show notes. But an interesting mix what I thought of business owners, among other things. How do you find those folks? How do you approach them? Give us a peek behind the curtain of recruiting folks on to that. 

Ray Evans: Actually a lot of it comes from other things I'm associated with. There was a period of time where I was on the board of a local high school for several years. And there were really about three or four guys that were really tremendous leaders and really great strategic thinkers on that group. And so I got a couple of those guys. They weren't clients, never became clients. 

And again, a quarterly commitment for 90 minutes is, you're not typically asking for something that's really onerous. And those guys were very helpful. And so that's an example. A lot of people are just folks that are, you know, in different walks of life, and I know that I think will enjoy it. And I think the whole key is it can't be just about me, because that gets old pretty fast. And so the whole idea that there's a lot of interaction between them, it makes that fun. And so certainly, it's been a great source of introductions. And, you know, hopefully we from there take it to a good point. But yeah, it's been great. 

Will McKenna: We think about some of the audience of this podcast who might not yet have an advisory board and be thinking about setting one up. I wonder if you could think back to when you were first setting this up? Literally, did you write a letter to these guys? Did you find another person to introduce you? How did you, kind of, make those first steps before you were perhaps as well established as you are today? 

Ray Evans: To be honest, that first group was predominantly buddies or clients who I just valued their opinion. And I knew they knew me well enough to sort of shoot straight. And, you know, I would gather with those in my 20s and 30s. And we would sit there and talk Royals baseball and Chiefs football, that kind of stuff. But we didn't talk really in-depth regarding work. And so it sort of was an opportunity to grab guys and say, “Let's take this on a little different level and talk about, you know, things that we think we're seeing.” 

And I think, too, in my 30s guys were peeling off from Procter and Gamble, and guys were peeling off from Kimberly Clark and starting to do maybe their own deal or a little bit smaller deal where they were getting excited. So you had the opportunity to maybe share growth strategies or HR issues that you weren't very comfortable with. So that was helpful. 

Will McKenna: That's great. Let's broaden that out and talk about what marketing looks like. And to what extent are you doing marketing beyond the referrals that seem to happen through your niche and your board? What does marketing look like for you guys? 

Ray Evans: So it's evolved quite a bit. Certainly we don't have the mass marketing that we used to do. You know, used to cold-call, used to do seminars, did all of that kind of stuff as we were building the business. Much more targeted now. We have gotten much better through the years at developing an annual marketing calendar. And with that comes different levels of communication with different clients based on how you segment them. And we do it fairly simply, we have an a, an A-, B- and a C-type client, and they get certain levels of communication and get invited to certain events. 

We, as I referenced earlier, we've got several teams together under one roof. And that's worked out great from a marketing perspective, because we have monthly events. The first six months of this year, they're all virtual, which is interesting. And they're typically over the lunch hour. But we try to make some of it work, some of it fun. An example, in a month, we have two sports reporters from the Kansas City paper, the “Kansas City Star,” who have done this for several years. They always do it in March. College basketball is a big thing around here, so we have our March Madness luncheon. And so that's a lot of fun. They're very interesting. And occasionally they'll have guests, and so that's obviously well attended. So we try to do something virtually every month. We typically will take June, July and August, and maybe make that pretty light. Typically nine to 10 events a year. 

And then we do a lot of smaller stuff too with, you know, several couples, things like that. We've been much more targeted than we used to be. And I think for a mature practice, that's probably a smart thing to do. And it's helped us.

Will McKenna: That's great. And when you say targeted, does that mean these events are a mix of clients? Or they're also, you know, prospects or targets in there that you're trying to bring into the fold? How does that break down for you? 

Ray Evans: Yeah, that's a great point. So, for example, I'll just use the “Kansas City Star” guys that we referenced. So that's, you know, it's a pretty light commercial for the firm when you're at that event. But people really know who the writers are, and they want to talk about, you know, Kansas University basketball, which is usually pretty stout. 

And so you'll get a lot of people who I've got targeted, and I'll make sure that they get an invite. Or I'll personally invite them and say, you know, “This would be a fun deal. And you'll have lunch.” And these guys are great, and we love to have them. It's just a great opportunity to get people there. And certainly the virtual events aren't as fun or as effective. But, you know, we'll keep offering them and keep going. And we're actually kind of surprised at the turnout that we're having for the virtual events. We’ll usually Grubhub them lunch for the virtual events. So we'll send them a gift card. And it's not, again, quite the same as being in the same room and maybe having a rubber-chicken meal. But it is still an opportunity to gather with people and, you know, show them that you're interested.

Will McKenna: OK, so that wraps up part one of our conversation with Ray Evans. Be sure to tune into part two, where we talk about Ray's broader affiliation with six teams in his office, and the benefits of setting up an ensemble practice. 

Special thanks to Ray Evans for coming on the show. And thanks also to my colleague Jason Young for connecting me with Ray. 

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