But being a financial advisor isn’t about making friends, dazzling people with your pretty financial plans, or selling the “right” products. Being a financial advisor is about making sure your clients achieve their goals. You don’t just manage their money; you manage their behavior, expectations, and their goals. To do that, you have to be willing to get tough—to be tough—from time to time.
Don’t be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor.
I was recently interviewed by MoneyShow.com at a consumer event. These are the interviews that have been posted on their website. These are directed for consumers but you may find them of value.
Follow the Map to Success
http://www.moneyshow.com/video/video.asp?wid=7094&t=3&scode=023006
The 3 Biggest Mistakes Investors Make
http://www.moneyshow.com/video/video.asp?wid=7095&t=3&scode=023006
The Value of Values-Based Investing
http://www.moneyshow.com/video/video.asp?wid=6986&t=3&scode=023006
Nice guys don’t have to finish last, but trying to make sure you never piss anyone off is guaranteed to slow you down. If you are serious about your professional goals, you can’t be worried about keeping everyone happy.
This may sound as if I’m contradicting my own motto: It’s all about them. But don’t be fooled. “Them” refers to people who are or will be great clients, not everybody else.
You have your goals, your standards, your system for serving clients. This is why “it’s all about them”—it’s the best mindset for creating a thriving, sustainable financial practice—not because you are entered in some kind of popularity contest. There will be times when you have to do something that is patently disagreeable to people, but doing so will be crucial to achieving your objectives.
In other words, you have to stand your ground if people
treat you like a salesperson,
don’t implement their plan,
try to get you to alter your market strategy based on what they read in investing magazines, or
are less committed to their financial goals than you are.
To me, it’s largely about integrity. How can you credibly purport to help others achieve their goals if you’re not achieving yours? You’ve got to be living a financially successful life, or you haven’t earned the right to help others be financially successful.
A tendency to curb is over-explaining. I don’t care what other “experts” try to tell you: Clients don’t care about how stochastic modeling works, the difference between mutual fund managerial styles, or even specific return rates. People care about their personal goals and how you can help them get there for the reasons that are important to them. So don’t bore them with education, information or explanations they don’t want or need.
And by all means, get to the point when you ask people if they’ve decided to work with you. Don’t be indirect and expect the person to interpret your meaning. Don’t waste time tap dancing while you wait for someone to pick up on your hint that you’d like their business. Instead, say, “The next logical step for you is to hire us to write this plan for you. Here’s what you’ll get, and here’s how much it costs. Should we get started?”
Less talk, more quality clients.
There’s nothing wrong with remembering things about yourself during a client interview; that’s just human nature. But the best of the best will keep these thoughts to themselves and stay focused on the client, down to every last word they utter after, “Hi, I’m …”.
Yes, it starts at the very first interview. You don’t rattle off your credentials, try to influence people with any slick sales talk, building rapport, or ramble on about your theories and strategies. Instead, you focus on them.
Your objective is to give them a consistently enjoyable experience from day one. You do that by talking less about yourself and, in many cases, saying fewer words than you are tempted to use. When you change the recipe, you change the experience and the results.
