Diana Cabrices, who stepped down from her role as vice president of enterprise development at Snappy Kraken in November, has launched her own growth consulting firm, Diana Cabrices Consulting, this week, along with an outsourced chief evangelist offering, a first in the wealthtech industry.
The chief evangelist offering will be targeted to technology companies serving financial advisors that perhaps can’t afford a full-time chief evangelist and want to dip their toe in the water with brand evangelism, Cabrices said.
“The whole concept of a chief evangelist is still very new,” she said. “And there are a lot of companies out there, especially in 2023, with the market and the recession looming, that can’t really go all in full time with a chief evangelist.”
“What a chief evangelist does is, they are your No. 1 brand ambassador,” Cabrices said. “Their job is to go out in the market, being that charismatic torch bearer that lights up the market and helps people understand what problem you’re solving and why it’s really important, rather than just a typical salesperson that’s going to go out and basically sell the product that you’re selling.”
Cabrices said she decided to launch the consulting firm after multiple wealthtech CEOs asked her to do for their companies what she has done for Snappy Kraken and others, saying they lack the bandwidth and her flair.
Many wealthtech CEOs are challenged to grow and compete in today’s environment, and it can be difficult for these companies to differentiate in the market, especially as advisors are constantly solicited with new technology options.
“When advisors are constantly being pitched on new tech tools, what is it about your company or your product that’s going to make an advisor want to stay?” Cabrices said. “We know through data—that’s emotional connection. That’s having a dynamic human at the forefront of your business building those relationships, creating those emotional connections. It all leads to that greater demand for your product, loyalty for your product, excitement for your product, all of that leading to larger growth opportunities for your business.”
Given the nature of the work, Cabrices said she’ll only take on about a handful of clients at any given time, and will likely offer category exclusivity. She’s looking to work with companies that already have a marketing department that can support her efforts, even if that’s just two people.
Cabrices is currently in active conversations with a few prospective clients, and she’s open to opportunities.
Companies that engage with her will get a specific amount of Cabrices’ time every week, whether that’s eight hours, 16 hours or however many they need. She’ll assess the company’s most-pressing growth needs, develop strategies around them and then start to execute.
For example, if a company has 10 partners that aren’t producing any leads, she may offer them an exclusive partner webinar, where she’ll spend 30 minutes with the advisors once a month or once a quarter, exclusively, to showcase the product, educate them and get them excited.
Cabrices will engage with a company for as long as it makes sense for the client, but ultimately, she’ll carve out the path for the brand evangelist to function within that business.
“Most company leaders—CEOs especially—don’t have the time to wear all of the hats, and this is such an important hat to be wearing right now, because of the size of the market growing and growing and advisors being inundated with new tech pitches.”