Many financial planners are at risk. They think that they fullfill the needs of their clients by showing the numbers of their financial plan. “The figures should be perfect. It’s in my clients best interest that he sees this”. The numbers are often a priority of the financial planner. Mostly outof compliance-considerations. But also because the planner thinks he’ll persuade his client with those numbers.
The question is: are the numbers also the priority of your customer?
If this isn’t so, you’re taking a huge risk. Your client can doze off when you are presenting the numbers. I believe that your customer has 6 priorities. Do you know them?
At the end of this blog, I’ll tell you why these are the 6 priorities of your clients.
Nr. 1: Understand my situation
Nr. 2: Educate me
Nr. 3: Respect my assets (no matter how small)
Nr. 4: Solve my problem. And don’t sell me the product.
Nr. 5: Monitor my progress
Nr. 6: Keep in touch
Take note that all six priorities are relational in nature. People desire a stronger relational bond with the individual who is helping to determine their financial destiny. Making a favorable impression as a human being supersedes making a favorable impression as an advisor in the eyes of your client. Your personality and method of relating is going to have a pivotal emotional impact. One way or another. Facts and numbers alone make for a dull story, simply because they appeal largely to the side of our brain that acts like a computer (the left-side by the way). Logic and rationale, although held in the highest esteem in our business, are not the trusted linchpins of our most important decisions. In fact, we almost always seem to make decisions based on our ‘gut feelings’. And then align the necessary logic behind that feeling. The intuitive gut feeling is the engine of the decision train. And logic and rationale are the cars it pulls behind. When you act upon the 6 priorities, try to get this gut feeling going. And you will succeed.
Do you know how to influence the gut feeling? Please let me know by commenting below. Thank you very much!