Many financial planners act as if they cannot be trusted. Because they only appeal to the left side of the client’s brain. Are you this kind of financial planner? Check this article if you are.
Remember great epic series like The Game of Thrones, The Tudors or Spartacus. There’s always the bad guy (the king) and the good guy (the hero). Next to the bad guy (the almighty king) is always a personage who is called the king’s counselor. His job is to advice the king about what the king should do to avoid future dangers. You often hear him say things like ‘danger is coming’ or ‘the enemy has gathered’.
What would happen if, starting today, you had to begin selling your service or advice without the use of numbers, statistics or charts? Would you suffer paralysis by analysis? Let’s just pretend that this scenario did take place and ponder which alternative forms of presentation you would choose to use.
What is your value proposition that sets you apart from other financial planners? Do you use terms like: ‘independent’, ‘wealth management’, ‘the best advisor’, ‘actual knowledge’, ‘CFP’, ‘trustworthy’ or other features? The problem with this kind of terms is that it’s used by everyone. And it’s also not really compelling. It’s just a feature, while your client is really interested in benefits. So how does your (potential) client know why he has to do (or has to stay in) business with you? He doesn’t, unless you have the right value proposition. That’s why it’s essential to write it in the exact words that relate most to your target audience.
The easiest way – and for most financial planners a really scary way – to discover what these words are, is to do this:
As Lennon and McCartney wrote a half century ago, money can’t buy you love. But in today’s world, where people have come desensitized by ad campaigns and marketing slogans , that maxim needs an update: money can’t even buy you like.
That’s because we’ve entered the ‘Relationship Age’ where the only path for financial planners seeking long-term success is to create authentic customer relationships. Not through old traditional marketing. Old traditional marketing is: interrupting your clients with whatever they are doing. You are disturbing your clients by shoving them your marketing message under his nose.
Before I’ll tell you how te create authentic relationships with new marketing, let me tell you why I think we are entering ‘the Relationship Age’. Here are 4 reasons:
Healthy competition is inspiring indeed. It encourages you to perform better than the others to succeed and survive. Well, same applies for the financial planning industry too. If you’re a financial planner, then don’t assume that you’re the sole ruler of the industry. You need to be more innovative and communicative with your clients to survive the tough competition and get a hold of your own. This will not only boost your standing as a financial planner and the industry will also prosper.
How a financial planner may go innovative?
Picture this: a new client made an appointment with you and comes to see you in your office. So you think: “This client has a financial problem that I probably can solve.” You’re right. But be aware, your client has another problem first. He doesn’t know if he can trust you. So the question is: how do you let your client know that he can trust you, without you saying: “Don’t worry, you can trust me”.
In my previous blogpost (A Vision Of The Future of Financial Planning in the New Age) I explained why you have to master right brain thinking to succeed in the new relationship age. It’s necessary to complement our logic (left brain) reasoning by mastering 10 essential right brain aptitudes. Together these 10 aptitudes can help develop our profession this era demands.
And help you to be successful.
Many financial planners don’t know how they should prepare for the future. They see a rapidly changing world. Large companies in the financial service business with innovative websites, offer free financial planning tools for their clients. With those tools they are apparently a threat for financial planners. As a financial planner you are faced with a dilemma. Do you accept these changes and choose to embrace the fast changing digital world, or not? Where should you focus on? How do you prepare yourself for the future? Questions you can answer easily if you know where you are going. Do you have a vision? The following blog shows you how to prepare for a rapidly changing future.
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?