Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Michael Clementi, Advisor Development Consultant with Simplicity Group

Episode Date: August 8, 2026

Michael Clementi is an advisor development consultant at Simplicity Group. Over the course of his 8 years in the financial services industry he has built meaningful relationships with advisors across the country while supporting and growing their practices. Clementi offers immense support to the advisors he works with through his deep understanding of building effective financial strategies to achieve clients’ long term goals. Additionally, he provides instrumental value in their continued growth by keeping them up to date and educated on the latest industry trends.Learn More: https://www.simplicitygroup.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-michael-clementi-advisor-development-consultant-with-simplicity-group

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of influential entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with us Michael Clemente, who's an advisor development consultant with simplicity group. Michael, welcome to the program. Mike, thank you so much. me. I really appreciate it. Hey, you're welcome. I always love learning from other people. And I feel like

if we as humans can view each interaction, conversation, live conversation, Zoom, LinkedIn message as a way to learn from each other. Because everyone has different life experiences, career experiences that color their perceptions. So we're going to talk about how you work with advisors and help them grow their business. But before we dive into that, give us a little bit of your story and background and how did you get into the industry? Of course. Thank you so much. And it's kind of funny. I hear this all the time is like no one kind of chooses to get in the IMO industry. You kind of fall into it. So after I graduated college, I went to Cal State, Samarkas. I'm from North County, San Diego area. I was just applying like crazy to sales job, just trying to get, I had a sales

management degree, which means you're just going to be an general salesperson. And then I landed on an IMO in San Diego called Life Pro Financial Services. And our bread and butter, all we did was fixed index universal life, specifically Max Fund of Policies, so kind of utilizing it for a retirement strategy. And I was the young kid who got the Rolodex people to call and say, make $100 a day and just go for it, go for it, go for it. And I found a little bit of success out of it. It was fun doing that.

It was fun being the product guy. But I had this almost like kind of change of mindset around 2021. And leading up to that, all I was was the product guy. I just felt like I was going to call people like advisors who are, you know, high-end guys. You got some AUM, got some annuities. What did I talk about life insurance? What I've taught you how to do that. And in 2021, I had this advisor who I was working with.

And he was an older guy about 70 years old. And he was moving from California to Utah to be closer to his. kids and his grandkids. And I'm like, perfect, let's keep things going. So he moved over there, got the new house and was established, and we're having conversations of calling about these products and solutions. And he just taught me about tracks one day and said, Michael, I don't have anybody to talk to. I'm starting my business from the ground up. This is not, what we're doing, what's been working isn't working right now. So I was 26 at the time when this was happening, and I realize that,

I need to look in the mirror and say, am I, like, what am I doing wrong? And am I just a product guy? Or how can I help this person because what I'm doing obviously isn't reaching their goals? So it made me look in the mirror. I was a 26th, kind of years younger in the street. I'm probably the youngest guy in the sales office.

But what I had to do was teach this older man how to redo his marketing, redo his sales process, how to connect with people in a local area, literally how to build the business from the, ground up. After a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, kind of battles going back and forth because, again, older person, younger person, we both think we're both right. But I get a call around December 27th, 2021. And he said, Michael, I looked at my numbers and I got to say this, we actually had one of our best years ever just due to the fact of what we did. And I want to thank you so much

for that. And I went home and I told my wife this story and I said, I think that's what I'm here to do. Yeah, I want more of that. I think that is what makes you, you kind of, you get into a job, a career to elevate your lifestyle to maybe buy a house, buy a car, get married, have a family. And it's all about money. It's like a service level money stuff. But what's behind the money and what motivates you and what tells people, what motivates you to get the office every day is a passion. That was the passion, right? That I'm like, okay, that's it.

I found it out. So when I talk to advisors, hey, we can talk about product every single day of the week if you like. I saw that in my DNA, but what really motivates me is to help people, like that advisor and like the people I work with, grow and scale and really build a business to have those calls at the end of the year every single year continually. That's kind of what I bring in the table when I like doing what motivates me. Yeah, you know, it's like that whole value first. You know, let me show you what you need to do.

And it's like, did you ever used to listen to talks from Zig Ziglar, the old motivation. Yes. Yes. And you know probably where I'm going to go when he used to say, when you help enough other people get what they want in life. What happens? You get what you want. And so, yeah. And what you described is like the old school order taker versus consultative approach. Like if you're just doing like, you know, okay, what do you need? Okay, I'll help you with that. But that does not, does not help that person think creatively and take their business to the next level. When you start asking questions and go, hey, how would it work if? And what if we, what if we applied this approach to you know this problem that consultative approach really helps it to take off and

I love how you got that call on the 27th of the December that had to make your year as well and it's like I want more of that because when you can do that guess what happens you become referable that person starts talking about you so it really is a mindset shift right so think talk a little bit more about your mindset mindset that shifts did from that order taker approach to more of the consultative approach. And how's that evolved over the last eight years of you being in the industry? So I would say the first half. Again, you find success in being the product guide.

You get these big way, hey, I have a nice target case or a nice annuity. Ooh, it's because I provided a fancy illustration to my advisor, you had an opportunity. Oh, great, whoopee, so good for me, right? But I remember my partner told me this. He's like, Michael, your insurance licensed, your advisor insurance licensed. most our people in his office are insurance licensed. What makes you separate you from the product?

Everybody can call about product and be a commodity salesman, but guess what? It doesn't keep a relationship. So when someone else calls about another bonus or another strategy or something you're not doing, you're not setting yourself up for success and keeping long-term valuable relationships in this industry. So the mindset that shifted for me from the first half to the second half of my career was realizing that the product itself is completely secondary to the process. An advisor's sales process is their product they're selling to the market. Right?

Let that sit there for just a second. That is so powerful. And when I heard that, it's so simple, yet it changed my mindset and my business completely. You know, I love it. And I'm an analogy guy. My wife is always like, okay, you always got to have an analogy, but it makes the point. Right. So what you just said that reminds me of a marketing maxim, which there's actually a book called, you know, sell the futures, not the features. You know, we want to talk about the benefits, not the features. But also, you want to sell the transformation, not the transportation. Like, hey, as an advisor, tell me what you would love your practice to look like. Oh, well, I would love to whatever that looks like. But where you at right now? Nowhere near it. Well, to get from here to there, they don't need right this second to understand every single little piece of the public. They just want to low, yes, guide me there.

That's why I want to go. And that's what you just mentioned about, you know, not getting into the weeds of, oh, here's the product because it pays this or it has this feature. People don't really care about that until they understand how it's going to impact them, right? Exactly, exactly. We, I feel like in my space, I'm in the distribution space. So all I talk to is advise. I barely talk to clients in retail.

So you kind of forget the fact that people in the world that's not in our industry, they don't know what we know about financial services and these financial products. So when you get an advisor who gets all jazzed up about learning the product, they want to just throw up all the knowledge on that client. And the client is, guess what? This is probably the person. I've been working for 30 years at a job. I'm a cook at the local restaurant. My wife's a teacher at the school down the road.

We've been working for 30 years and saving money. We have a million, maybe 1.5. I just don't know what my retirement's going to be like. I just want to make sure we have enough money until the end. And they want to say, income writer, indexes, strategies, parrace, capitalists. Like, you're basically speaking a different language to me, and I don't like that. And I don't understand it. It's literally called techno babble.

I've heard it called techno babble, where it's like, you know, you just barf up everything that you know about it. But in reality, that dude just wants to know he can go home tonight and go, hey, hon, we can retire earlier than we thought we could. What? How can that? Oh, well, my guy has had the whole plan. he'll show it to us, but he's not going to, all of a sudden, two sentences in, I think that you start hearing Charlie Brown's teacher, whant, right, wah, wah, and it just does not land. Exactly. Exactly. And I swear to you, again, all I talked to is advisors all day, that's most of the

industry. It's a sad thing to say. It's, it's most of what people think about. And that's what I think is the divide of a good to great advisor because those advisors will get sales. They'll get some sales, but then the one they can get more. They can get more when you hit the higher tier of quality of clients they're working with. The biggest advisors I work with, they don't really know the products that well. They're just great at connecting people and they rely on other partners to be those geniuses and product expert. But their clients are happy and they really like working with that advisor. Yeah.

Would you say that that's one of the main problems that advisors fail is not knowing how to clearly articulate the solutions to their clients? A thousand percent. You mentioned it before. It's selling the destination. What I also said, teeing that up was your process is the product you're selling. So when you are, let's say, someone asks you, what do you do at a grocery store or at a event, whatever it is. They just ask you, hey, what do you do? And you tell them, I sell investments or I sell annuities, I sell life insurance. They're typically going to respond with a question. And that question is going to be more challenging you. They're going to say, I've heard about that. I've actually heard bad things about it. Tell me why it's good. Almost like challenging your authority a little bit.

When you tell somebody, I have a Michael Clemente money method or I have a Clemente retirement protection method. They're going to ask, what is that? Oh, well, it's a framework. It's a process. It's a thing. It's a problem that day everybody threw it at the end, we realize where they're exposed to volatility, where they're paying too much in taxes, and really make a plan to make a plan to make sure that after the 30 years or when they pass away, they have enough money to live and also leave them for their family. And that's just something we do for many clients of ours on a daily basis over here. And like, oh, I kind of want to learn more about that. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Versus I sell annuities and income riders. And they're like,

oh, I heard those stink. I'm not going to talk to you. Yep. Click. Yeah. So when you sell a product, it evokes curiosity. When you sell it, when you sell a process, you're evoking curiosity. When you sell a product, you're just getting a shower of questions. And you're there. more than likely not going to move forward with you. Well, have you ever heard this before? Maybe you have, but it's known, and this might be something that like is an old wife's tale, but it's been said that Einstein said, if you cannot explain something to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself.

I agree with it. I completely agree with that statement. Yeah. By the way, have you ever read the book Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller? No, no, I have not. If you're a book reader or an audible listen, just get that book. It's spectacular. Building a Story brand by Donald Miller.

He talks about many of the things that we're talking about right here. Like one of the phrases he uses is when you confuse, you lose. And it's so powerful. And you need to be the guide to your client. So your advisor that you work with, they're not the hero to their client. Their client is the hero. The advisor is the guide showing them. way to that transformation. And it really just gets down to what we've been talking about so far,

which is mindset. Yeah, exactly. It really is. And I swear when I've had it, I've seen an app with advisors because at my start of my career, I was teaching them about product. And they also kind of probably felt the same way. So seeing people make that change and go from a smaller amount of commissions or annual revenue to increasing it because of these changes that, hey, this is a message that I need to get out myself to not only my advisor, but salespeople, people in general. People in general. Like anyone's sales process is the most important thing when it comes to sales. You know, it's really similar to, and I know we've heard this analogy before too, like in the, healthcare industry.

Like you go in and one of the nurses takes your blood pressure, asking you some questions. The doctor comes in, starts to diagnose. And then they might be able to help, but they might have to send you to a specialist. Well, if an advisor, it's almost like if you could train yourself to never mention the P-word product or anything about any product at all and just talk about that transformation and go, okay, good. What we're going to do is I've got my specialist that's going to put together a blueprint for you and then we're going to see what that looks like. Well, then they kick it over to their internal team to go whip up a scenario and the next meeting. Now we're going to talk about that. But like you said, it's like you can't help yourself but to get into

the weeds and then you're shooting yourself into the foot. Yeah. So we had an advisor where I was me and my partner and it's his relationship and it's a husband and wife duo and they they were I believe about 10 million at AUM they're consistently doing about five million annuities and growing they were doing a ton of marketing and they were doing great on annuities but the AUM was staying flat kind of year over year so we brought them out to our office in Phoenix and we brought them one of our sales trainers and partners is VP of sales name Jason Jenkins and when we've told them that I said hey this couple they want to increase their AUM So as a salesperson, you kind of think this. You think, okay, he's going to come in and pitch him on maybe a marketing strategy,

a technology, software, something where it drives conversations to AUM. When Jason got in that room, we closed the door, he pulled out a whiteboard, and for the next two hours, all we did was break down their first and second appointment sales process. We did no product pitches. Everything was all about what you're doing and saying. in those first two meetings, and we realize this, the marketing's working. You're getting people to talk to. They have investable assets. And the sales process that was basically given, what we realized was they were getting just happy and satisfied with getting that annuity kill, getting in saying,

okay, we protected the million dollars of the IRA, you still have four million of investable assets. You're my client. We'll meet every single year. But they came to you for a plan. An annuity is one part of the plan. There's still so much more to do so. when you dictate your sales process and make that your authority and say, we're going to implement the annuity. And by the way, we're still talking about long-term growth. So AUM. By the way, legacy. So life insurance and the mix too. Mats of my Social Security. So we told them that, hey, you're doing everything right, but you yourself are not doing the steps you're talking about. And guess what? He didn't have to pay a dime for marketing or any consulting. It was just

conversations and sitting down saying, what are you actually doing in these meetings that were not getting to AUM because the clients are there. The people are there. It's just all about being the authority in that sales process and saying that this is what we do for every client. You know, it's very similar to you, you could throw a bunch of money at buying, you know, five leads a day from annuity providers, buy five leads a day and say these leads stink. Well, they might not stink, but the communication that you're delivering is confusing these people and they're moving on or a variety of things,

but it's not getting more of, you know, appointments on your calendar. It's what you say to them. And it is so hard. What I find is, you know, we've all been to the sales trainings where it's like, you know, hey, what do you want retirement to look like? And we're at right now and, you know,

how does that make you feel? And all of those, like, people feel played. And in reality, real is rare. And I think if you can just talk to people, just be a human. And yes, talk about their dreams. and yes, talk about it, but make it flow into a conversation go, well, you know, I've got a couple ideas.

And I'm happy to run them by you, but all of a sudden now, they feel like they're talking to a friend. And do you know what one aspect of, you know, building authority is, is just communicating clearly and being real and honest and transparent, all of that. And you know what? You've probably heard this in your career. People can smell commission breath. Oh, yeah. You are pushy and, oh, I've got to get the sale.

They can tell. and they start backing up. So you know, you can have all the best marketing in the world, but if you don't know how to communicate it clearly, it just is not going to do any good. So what do you feel like now when you're working with your advisors? Let's say that you take them through a series of meetings with you

and maybe you're working with them on their messaging and all that. And, you know, no one's ever perfect because like Tony Robbins teaches, can I constant and never ending improvement. So you're always going to work on that. But once they kind of have a handle on that, what's the next step? What should an advisor be working on in their practice to grow their practice? So I'll say it again.

We're going to have many conversations in the future, Mike. I can already tell, and you're going to get sick of me saying this. But if you want to increase production at any avenue of your business, you look at your sales process. You want more people in your office for first appointments? Look at your sales process. You want more annuity business. Look at your sales process. You want to bring in more revenue year after year.

Look at your freaking sales process. And I'll actually start with even before that. And something that I think is really the root problem and frustration for many advisors is this. It's no surprise that a lot of people, the way advisors get businesses through educational seminars, right, either a dinner or educational seminar. So what I've learned, and I've seen many advisors do is this mistake. They get a ton of people in the room.

They do the presentation to say, Michael, I had 20 people and they only got like three appointments. And they call me and they do what? They blame the marketing team. They say, those people weren't good prospects for me. Everything is wrong with them and it's your guys' fault. But I look at the people and the fact finder and all the fact finders, I say, these are great prospects.

And I look at the presentation. I see this. And this is the biggest mistake every advisor makes whenever they do a presentation, either in a meeting or in a seminar, they get on stage. And the first thing they talk about is what Mike themselves. They go up there and they say, here's me, here's my office. Here's all the letters behind my name and my designations, how long I've been in business. And then guess what?

We're going to go straight into the most exciting topic, which is Social Security education. Yippee. Oh, my gosh. Taxes in retirement, all these different tax filing strategies. And they give people the education. They're bored of their mind at the end. And they either lead after the dinner or they say, thank you and have a good time. If it's an educational event.

And they wonder why they don't make appointments. Yep. Here is something that every advisor should take away from this conversation, especially if you're doing seminars or live, presentations, when people walk in that room, they are not here to learn about you. They're there for themselves. So when you go on stage, and let me interject right there. This is either something that you've heard of or this will be a wonderful thing you can continue to use.

What's everyone's favorite radio station? I don't know. You threw me for loop there. I don't know. W-I-I-F-M. What's in it for me. Okay. You know, the FM radio station.

But that makes the exact point of what you just said. Because when you can say, well, you know, I'm sure that you're concerned with how so security could be. And I'm sure that you're feeling uneasy about how the changes. You're talking to their inner conversation going on their head of, look, what's it for me? You know, that's all finding good. You've got those credentials. That's all finding good you're up there talking about. What's it for me, really?

And it really is something how you need to turn it around and speak to. them like even on your website and I will promise you this we can do a screen share pull up 10 advisor websites and go oh look this person is saying I can help you and I can do this and we we we we I it should be like you know that you're concerned about this and you know that you feel this and it's just that little shift right so keep going what's that solution so when they recognize that how do you fix that problem so when people get on stage I say this your first sentence out of your mouth is about them you describe them what they've been thinking. So they, they, they left their house on a Tuesday or Thursday night.

They skip date night. They're skipping dinner to go to a library, to learn about social security. Tell them what they're thinking. So when you get on state, you explain that you may be thinking about social security and how it's going to affect your retirement. But more importantly, if you don't make this right decision, what it's going to mean for your retirement. So if you don't file correctly, are you going to be able to spend more time with their grandkids, which we all want to do or take those vacations or just go to bed at night knowing that all the work you've done for the last 30 years is going to last you another 30 to 40 years so you can live the life you want something like that but something to wear that when you say something you see people on their head

and more important they're nudging and they're looking at their spout and saying we just talked about this the other night we talked about that about how to scare a drain money or paying too much in taxes on our retirement when you when you talk about them and use the pain points and the hook you're already earning the authority to lead them at that point because you're not talking about yourself and saying, I'm so smart. And the reason I think this kind of shift happened in the marketplace was access to information. And what I mean by that is back in the day, when our parents were probably getting marketed to our grandparents, they can go online and kind of make a retirement plan themselves or educate them on these strategies. So you needed to go to a place and hear somebody

say, I'm so smart, I've done the work for you and I'll be your shepherd. So that did work for a while. There's nothing wrong with saying in the early 2000, the late 90s, that was completely fine. But now when people have so much information, they're there to kind of shop you. And honestly, they don't maybe even want to work with you. It's your job to shift their mindset in there. So when you explain to them the problems that they're facing and they're thinking over and over again, it takes them at ease. It says, hey, let's hear them out. Let's listen to them. So when you start with the pain points and the hook and then telling people why you love doing what you do, what's your passion that's outside the money,

but why you love helping people and some great stories about it, that first 10-minute sequence, you're already going to get appointments based on that. The information is secondary after that. It's just to say, hey, you know what, I've been doing this myself,

or I've been working with the guy at Fidelity or Charles Schwab, who doesn't talk to me anymore. My goals have shifted and I'm approaching retirement, I want to talk to this guy. I think we should have to heard. I feel valued. I feel like I learned a little. thing or two. That's, yeah, that's the ticket. That's just a masterclass right there, Michael.

100%. I'll tell you what, if someone is listening to this going, I might need to get a little bit more of your knowledge and mindset and guide it. What's the best way that they can reach out and connect with you? I'm an open book, man. So you can call me at my office. I'm down here in San Diego. My office line and direct line is 888-543-3776 extension 3282 so it gets past all the messaging. You can text my cell phone too. I'm wide open. I work with an advisor. So after hours and weekends, I work sometimes too.

My cell phone number is 760-809-29-29-29-1-2. My email is lengthy. It's Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L-C-L-C-L-E-N-T-I at Simplicitygroup.com. Or you can search Michael Clementee on LinkedIn. I should be one of the first to pop up there. Love it. Well, Michael, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure chatting with you.

It's been great, man. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.