About

Brian Williams

I started in this industry long ago, (1981) and probably came into it just like you… first as an agent, then as a rep.  However, unlike most professionals in the industry, I took a hard left turn within my formative years into the incredibly interesting world of corporate pension planning, executive carve-outs and tax shelters.

Unfortunately, the ’86 Tax Reform Act killed all of our fun and we had to go back to “normal” business.  However, by then we’d developed a knack for attracting wealthy clients and so we spent the years following the ’87 crash utilizing those skills to build a firm called Financial $avvy, which we grew into a trading and investing advisory that during its heyday had over 150,000 subscribers plus a “tag along” future’s fund with $350M AUM in it.

I lost many friends and business associates when the North Tower was hit on 9/11.  Beyond the human suffering I couldn’t shake the fact that I had come one trade and about seven minutes from going “limit” the wrong way in both the long bond and S&P that would have bankrupted my firm and hundreds of clients right alongside.  The damage done to my very being was enough to change my path forever.  The events of 9/11 and the subsequent two weeks simply killed my desire to trade and/or manage money.  Consequently, our clients got their funds and I walked away.  I closed up shop and never looked back.

The good news was that in addition to $avvy, I owned Successful Advisor LLC, and kbWilliams Worldwide Direct.  One a direct marketing agency, the other a magazine and newsletter specializing in helping financial advisors attract and retain better (wealthier) clients.

Our client list quite literally read like the “Who’s Who” on Wall Street.  You name any firm of size, (banks, wire houses, insurance companies, FMO’s and NMO’s, and brokerage firms) and at some point in time they would have been a client.  In addition, over the years we amassed an online following of 330,000 advisors that includes; CPAs, estate planners, fee-based planners, registered reps, brokers, insurance agents, and even a few goat ranchers!

Over 25,000 financial advisors own one of our marketing, advertising, sales or client retention programs.  10,000 of those advisors were multiple buyers of our systems.  In addition, over 500 MDRT members and seven of 10 of the SSMA’s Hall of Fame Inductee/”Advisor of the Year” have been clients.

“Life comes at you fast…”

The crash of ’08 changed things just a little…

Frankly, the word that comes to mind when I think of the financial services industry is, “cratered.”  Amazingly, the financial upheaval around the world was a small matter (to us) compared to what we underwent personally in our lives from 2006 through 2009.  Kate, my wife and partner of 28 years was diagnosed with breast cancer at just about the exact same time as the financial world came unglued.  When the cancer was discovered she was already at Stage IV and the cancer had metastasized throughout her lymph system and into her bones.

It’s was an ugly three years… five surgeries, five rounds of chemo, four rounds of radiation, multiple trips abroad seeking alternative therapies.  As her first surgeon told her, “Kate, the cancer got you… we don’t have a cure.  We can just work at keeping you alive long enough to find one…”

They couldn’t.

Kate went home to be with her Father on October 13, 2009.  She left six beautiful kids, nine grand kids and me.

Bless her heart, Kate was as strong as they come.  She never shed a tear for herself and she made me promise to “go on” — to honor her memory by helping others “get beyond themselves”.  So, when the new decade hit that’s what I set about doing.

2k10 brought new friends, new business and personal relationships.  I would be lying if I said that it didn’t take over a year for me to get my land legs back to where a familiar sight, sound or song stopped turning me into a weep mass of humanity.  However, with a lot of help from family, friends and loved ones I finally got to the point where I can be of help to others… climbing out of the hole that being a cancer caregiver creates has been a project and helping others is cathartic.

Up until recently we operated under the label, “kbWilliams Worldwide Direct”, but with the loss of Kate I elected to make some changes to our core group.  A year later, there was no longer a “k” in “kb” so we felt it was time to change our name to reflect the new additions and changes to the business.  Thus, PBnJ Media, LLC was born.  This site and “AdvisorClicks” is DBA of PBnJ Media, LLC.

Now, while, “PBnJ” reminds one of nut-butter sammichs, it doesn’t stand for that at all, but rather the owners;  Pete, (aka Jeanine), Brian, & Jacob! However, our clients will tell you that our systems make their marketing messages “wickedly delicious”…  “delightfully sticky”…  “simple as ‘nutbutter and jelly”.  And, our conversion numbers?  Well, evidently they are, “tasty as Momma’s homemade jelly sammich”, so the pbnj moniker sorta fits!

All kidding aside, we do something that no other direct marketing agency in the financial services world does; we build all forms of direct response client marketing systems designed to attract and retain perfect clients for high end financial advisors.  The number of agencies in the world that specialize in lead generation for financial services professionals can be counted on one hand.  And none but PBnJ utilize online, offline, social and mobile lead generation systems.

Everything has changed.

Your prospects now control the conversation about your products or service, and your clients can be your greatest ally, (and advocate), or your worst nightmare. Your choice of so-called “traditional” advertising media is drying up.  Almost all newspapers have gone bankrupt, so to state that the offline direct response arena has changed would be an epic understatement. Yet, now more than every, your prospect is looking for you (your product or service), and they will find an advisor that meets their needs. With each passing day they become more sophisticated in their efforts…  you need a fresh approach to insure they find you.

And that’s where we can help.

Come on in… look around.  You will learn how the world has changed and how you need to adapt.  We’ll show you how to “be everywhere” your prospect is looking.  Online, offline, social and mobile.  We’ll show you how to be found!

Brian Williams
President
AdvisorClicks
A PBnJ Media, LLC Company

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