Jim joined Osaic 25 years ago and has built a thriving practice around individual clients and 401(k) rollovers, specializing in in-service distributions for telecom employees. But despite paying $1,000 annually for LinkedIn Sales Navigator and posting 4-5 times weekly, he struggled to turn that activity into actual conversations.

After adopting FINNY, Jim went from setup to closed client in eight weeks—turning his existing LinkedIn investment into a repeatable prospecting system focused on his Verizon and AT&T niche.

“The two that I’ve gotten started… one I actually closed yesterday. It was more timing—she was looking for somebody, she saw this, and the timing was right.”

About Jim & Osaic

Jim Capitanello has been in the financial services industry for 27 years, spending the last 25 with what is now Osaic. Based in New Jersey, he runs a practice focused on individual clients and 401(k) business, with particular expertise in in-service distributions for employees of large telecom companies.

His deep knowledge of Verizon and AT&T benefit plans has become a core differentiator: “I know what your plan looks like. I know everything there is to know about it. Even when people show me their screen, they don’t know where to go. I know where it is.”

The challenge: making LinkedIn actually pay off

Like many seasoned advisors, Jim had been trying to make LinkedIn work for years. He’d invested in Sales Navigator, maintained consistent posting, and accumulated connections—but struggled to convert that activity into meaningful prospect conversations.

“I’ve been on LinkedIn for 10 years now. I’ve had Sales Navigator, been paying for it, and this was the year I’m like, I gotta do something with this because I’m paying a thousand bucks a year to do nothing with it.”

He’d tried multiple alternatives over the years. The fundamental issue wasn’t his expertise or his investment in tools—it was scale. Manual outreach wasn’t sustainable, and competing for generic leads felt like a race.

“If I have to send a thousand LinkedIn requests to get one client, fine. But if I have to sit here and make a thousand phone calls to get one, I’m not going to do that.”

Why FINNY: compliance-approved and designed for scale

Two factors made FINNY an obvious choice for Jim: it was already approved for use at Osaic, and it was designed to amplify rather than replace his existing LinkedIn strategy.

The compliance advantage was immediate: “The thing that attracted me to FINNY — it was approved with compliance, so I didn’t have to go through any of those loops. I jumped on because this was exactly what I was looking for. It was exactly the right timing.”

Equally important: FINNY works with the infrastructure he’d already built. His other platforms didn’t need to be replaced—FINNY sits on top of them and amplifies their impact through targeted, scalable outreach.

Getting started: dedicated support from day one

From signup, Jim was paired with FINNY customer success manager Pete, who walked him through platform setup, campaign creation, and messaging strategy. The focus was on getting him running campaigns quickly while building confidence in the process.

Within weeks, Jim was running targeted campaigns to his core Verizon and AT&T audiences—the same niche expertise he’d built his practice on, just at a scale manual outreach could never match.

“Pete’s been awesome with everything. He helped me understand the platform and gave me confidence that this was going to work.”

Results in the first two months

Client #1: Perfect timing meets targeted outreach

Jim’s first closed client came from his Verizon-focused campaign. The prospect had been looking for an advisor and responded positively when Jim’s outreach landed at exactly the right moment.

The conversation flow was natural—Jim could immediately demonstrate his deep knowledge of her specific benefit plan and in-service distribution options. The expertise he’d spent years building became the foundation for trust.

Outcome:

• Closed client within eight weeks of starting FINNY
• Immediate validation of the targeted approach

Client #2: Pipeline in motion

Jim’s second active opportunity is another Verizon connection—an employee who recently left the company and is evaluating her rollover options. The conversation is progressing naturally because Jim can speak her language around benefit plans and distribution strategies.

“She just actually left Verizon, so I’m working on her as we speak.”

What worked: expertise + scale + timing

Leveraging existing niche knowledge

Rather than targeting broad audiences, Jim doubled down on what he knew best: telecom employees with complex benefit situations. FINNY allowed him to reach this specific audience at scale while maintaining the personal touch that comes from genuine expertise.

Set it and forget it workflow

Jim describes his ideal approach as “set it and forget it”—and that’s exactly what FINNY delivered. Campaigns run automatically, AI helps with message customization, and he can focus on conversations rather than manual outreach.

Building on existing investments

Instead of replacing his LinkedIn strategy, FINNY amplified it. His years of LinkedIn networking became more valuable once he had a systematic way to turn connections into conversations.

Lessons learned: Jim’s advice to new FINNY users

1) Stick with what you know

Jim’s success came from focusing on his area of expertise rather than trying to expand into new markets. “I’m going to stick with the Verizon and AT&T for as long as, for a while, I guess,” he says. The familiarity with benefit plans and distribution rules became his competitive advantage.

2) Trust the process

Early in his FINNY experience, Jim worried about LinkedIn etiquette and response rates. Pete helped him understand that outreach is a numbers game: “He just told me to keep going with it, and until they tell you absolutely not, then just keep bothering them.”

3) Consider mentioning ‘free’ consultations

Jim noticed that prospects often ask about fees upfront. He’s considering tweaking his messaging to emphasize that initial consultations are free: “How much do you charge? I don’t charge anything until you actually do something. So I need to maybe tweak the message.”

4) One client justifies the investment

For advisors evaluating prospecting tools, Jim’s math is simple: if you can close one quality client, the platform pays for itself many times over. “It’s pretty much user friendly and very easy and very informative for the most part.”

The takeaway: systematic prospecting for niche expertise

Jim’s experience illustrates a key principle: advisors with deep niche knowledge already have the hardest part solved. They understand their ideal clients, know the right moments to reach out, and can demonstrate immediate value.

What they often lack is a systematic way to reach those ideal prospects at scale. FINNY bridges that gap—turning expertise into systematic outreach, LinkedIn investments into actual conversations, and years of niche knowledge into a repeatable growth engine.

“The experience has been great so far. I don’t think there’s anything easier — it’s about as easy as it could be right now.”

For advisors looking to build systematic, scalable prospecting around their existing expertise:

Visit finny.com to book a demo.