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How can financial advisors overcome increasing skepticism - particularly in a down economy? (Part 3)

by Jeff Dorman

The last post in this series--the first post is here and the second post is here-- is all about communication.

As discussed in the previous two posts, you can have the right consultative mindset, and a strong meeting process, but without being adept at balancing a set of crucial communication skills, an FA (financial advisor) will stumble.  FA’s talk more than anything else. It turns the client off. It’s that simple. The communication skills that distinguish an average FA from a great one are:

•    Listening – not just focusing and “getting what they’re saying”, but truly demonstrating to the client that you “got” what they’re telling you. We call this skill “reflecting”.

•    Questioning – being able to naturally lead the client to reveal all kinds of key information. Not just the financials, but their hopes, dreams, and fears. And, not making it an interrogation but a conversation.

•    Speaking – you can call this suggesting, advising, recommending, pitching, sharing or explaining. Whatever you call it, it needs to be clear, concise and relevant. And followed by checking and listening.

•    Flexing – the ability to FLEX (adapt) your communication style and build rapport based on the client’s communication style and preferences is one of the toughest, yet most high leverage skills you can have in your toolkit.

The best FA’s are incredibly “self-aware” of their behavior in front of clients and balance these four skills elegantly. They develop trust. They grow their share of wallet.

Happy to answer any questions about any of this, and would love comments as well.

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How can financial advisors overcome increasing skepticism - particularly in a down economy? (Part 2)

by Jeff Dorman

Last post we talked about the first of three key differentiators of a successful financial advisor (FA):  having the consultative mindset of a trusted advisor.

This week, we’ll look at the second of the three differentiators:  having an effective meeting process. 

The best FA’s, in addition to having developed a consultative mindset, have also adopted their own version of running a client meeting.  We call that process the “Client Meeting Path.” It consists of:

How can financial advisors overcome increasing skepticism–especially in a down economy?

By Jeff Dorman

Some of our clients are among the biggest names on Wall Street, so it’s been something of a rollercoaster ride for them over the past year. Yet more than ever, especially considering the downturn in the economy, there is a need for top financial advisors (who are among the key populations we work with) to differentiate themselves from their competition.

We see three elements consistently in the top financial advisors (FAs):
a.    Having the consultative mindset of a trusted advisor
b.    Having a client meeting process
c.    Being a highly skilled communicator

This post, I’ll focus on the mindset.  We’ll cover the next two points in future posts.