Blog Polls Have your say in our forum . Not long ago, I was making a presentation on the role of a retirement advisor to a group of financial planners. In my audience were advisors with a wide range of academic credentials and experience. Our discussion focused on what a retirement advisor was supposed to […]
Regular readers of this space know that people don’t always behave rationally or respond to logic because of the overriding influence that emotion has on how we think and act. It is the emotional intangibles that make communication more complex than it needs to be. If our brains operated as simple calculators producing results based […]
We have all heard variations of the new shoe salesman story. The young salesman was frustrated because he wasn’t selling very many pairs of shoes. “I don’t know what I am doing wrong”, he lamented to an older colleague after a particularly frustrating day. “I must have served fifty different people today who all looked […]
It doesn’t really matter whether you think you are brilliant if your clients don’t remember what you tell them. Your clients have to be engaged from beginning to end in your conversation and they have to remember what is in it for them long after the discussion has ended. Clients must understand the needs that […]
Recently I worked with an advisor who was redoing his client brochure and web site. His goal was to provide clients and prospects with an outline of what value he brings through his practice. “I want them to know that I have a lot of experience and that I have a thorough and systematic approach […]
We are in the communications business. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how many charts you know or what kinds of designations you carry; if your client isn’t listening, your words are wasted. Wealth advisors spend a lot of time not only trying to gain an understanding of their clients but also ensuring they […]
The key to reaching your marketplace with your message is to speak its language — not yours. The new wealth advisor understands that a client-centred approach also means client-centred language. That’s tough for many advisors who feel that they are best able to show their intelligence and professionalism by using jargon and advisor-speak. Every day, […]
Even though a compelling value proposition will be the key to establishing yourself as a wealth advisor, most advisors don’t pay enough attention to developing a unique brand. In short, your value proposition is a thumbnail sketch of your brand. It sums up the services you provide and the needs you meet in your business, […]
When I suggest to advisors that they should differentiate how they market their practices, some will push back and ask me if I’m saying they aren’t doing a good job. Do I want them to do something different as an advisor from what they currently do? That depends. Obviously, it’s important to do the right […]
An advisor friend of mine decided not long ago that he was no longer going to sit back and feel paralyzed by the markets. His firm put out a “buy” list of companies that were trading at exceptional values, and he felt that he could generate some activity by phoning all of his clients to […]