Financial Advisor Success Ep 503: Organically Growing To $800M AUM In Less Than A Decade By Investing In Educational Marketing with David Brooks
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Aug 18, 2026 
David Brooks, founder of Retire SMART and builder of an $800M RIA, scaled his firm through educational marketing. He breaks down using seminars, radio, TV, podcasting, YouTube and mailers to build funnels. He also discusses measuring marketing ROI, tax-focused planning, staff and operational scaling, and moving from in-person funnels to digital reach.
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Own One Compelling Topic
- Build a single, owned point-of-entry topic and teach it consistently to create credibility and repeatable results.
- David chose taxes as the entry topic and runs over 100 educational classes plus seminars and classroom events around it.
Invest In A Choreographed Seminar Opening
- Invest in presentation skills or hire strong presenters so seminars convert predictably.
- David spent on Bo Eason training and choreographs the first five minutes to create a 'flash bang' opening.
Track Book, Stick, And Close Rates
- Track conversion metrics obsessively at each funnel step so you can forecast client and asset goals.
- David tracks book rate, stick rate (
72%), and closing ratio (41%) and slices data by households and asset dollars.
