Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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Dear Bev,
We have tended to be very successful when we sit down with a prospect to tell our story. However, we are currently growing our staff and the newest advisors find this more challenging. It’s not that our story isn’t clear to them, but it isn’t distinct from what they have heard at other firms. How can we reinforce our story or build a new one incorporating ideas from our staff?
Malcolm R.
Dear Malcolm,
I’m impressed that you are seeking ways to bring your new advisors into the mix and tell a story that works for everyone! Too often I see original partners insisting that they have a story and that the new additions should just learn it. If you use a collaborative approach to create and reinforce the story, you will definitely get more impact from it.
We use a process we call the “so what?” approach. One of the things you can do with your whole team is set aside a few hours in a conference room and walk through this process.
It starts with identifying and listing the platform points that you use now: tenured advisors, a differentiated investment process, holistic planning, etc. You can have as many or as few as you like. Put them on a sheet of paper with space beside each that asks “so what?” Here, you must consider this point from your clients’ perspective? Why does having a tenured staff, for example, help them?
This process can be challenging because you and your team may think the value is obvious, but more often than not the client doesn’t understand why it matters to them.
As you go through the list, identify the points that are the strongest and most compelling for your team. If you know your competitors and can review your points versus theirs, you can find those areas that help you stand out.
Lastly, remember as you develop or refine your message, you are talking to your niche audience. Who do you work with best and why? How is what you do important to your niche? The more you can connect what you do and why it is good for your audience, the easier it will be for your audience to understand the significance. This can be a great way to open communication within the team, too.
Dear Bev,
We are moving to a new off-the-shelf investment platform. We’re not becoming Robo Advisors by any means, but we are now out of the investment selection process and are using models for our clients. I wasn’t part of the decision to move to this new approach, and I don’t entirely agree with it. How can I convey this move confidently to my clients if I’m not fully in favor of it?
Skip P.
Dear Skip,
There are a few different ways to answer this, but your letter also raises more questions for me: Is your current investment approach a big selling point for your clients? Did some or many join your firm because of the investment approach you were using? What prompted the move to a new investment platform? Was it ease of use? Poor performance? Loss of investment staff? What kind of planning does your firm offer? Do you have a high touch approach where clients work with you more for their planning needs and the client experience than for your strong proprietary investment expertise?
It’s hard to talk about new messaging or how to approach your clients without knowing the background for this decision and your firm’s history. However, remember that it is critically important, even if you did not agree with this decision or actively opposed it, to present it as beneficial to your clients.
You probably don’t want to talk about this move as a major change but rather an “enhancement” or “evolution” in what you have been doing all along. Even if it is a wholesale shift, I would not present it to clients that way. You don’t want them to think they have been receiving sub-par service until this point.
See if you can gather your team together and come up with consistent and proactive messaging that illustrates the continuity of what you have been doing and frames this as a positive transition in a continually changing business.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. In 2008, she co-founded Advisors Trusted Advisor to offer dedicated practice management resources to advisors, planners and wealth managers. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Leadership & Social Responsibility. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
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