4 Points Needed to Build Your Personal Branding Message

Brand is all about what people see when they look at a product or service.  What is your brand?  What do they see when they look at you?

Brand identity is a mental or emotional association in the consumer’s mind.  It is initiated by the images used in advertising and by the words used to describe a product or service.  Marketers and advertisers know that by repeating these images and messages, the consumer remembers these associations.  Thus, a brand is born. For the wealth management professional this phenomenon creates both a risk and an opportunity.  The risk is that if the message is not managed properly, people may form an incorrect perception of you.  This could result in limited or even lost opportunities.  But for those professionals who carefully plan and proactively manage their branding messages, they can create a brand image for themselves that will help them create more opportunities for business with new and existing clients.  

Anyone who has client-facing responsibility in a wealth management firm needs a story to tell about what they do.  This message should simply and concisely communicate how they serve the holistic wealth management needs of their clients. In short, they need a Personal Branding Message.  

The Personal Branding Message is a series of authentic, flexible points that you can use in part or together with the intention of setting expectations for the type of comprehensive relationship you would like to have with the client.  Sharing this Personal Branding Message is the first step in shaping, or in some cases transforming, the attitudes and opinions of clients, prospects and potential referrers.  

Articulating your Personal Branding Message is really about creating awareness.  It is a catalyst to engagement.  The Personal Branding Message in this context can help to create a readiness for the client or prospect to engage with you in a broader wealth conversation.  The desired client outcome from this conversation should be that the client or prospect says to herself, "I understand that you have something valuable that could benefit me.  Therefore, I am willing to share my time and my information with to see just how I might benefit."  

Your Personal Branding Message must align with your firm's value proposition.  It is really your own script of how you serve your clients in order to deliver on the promise made in the value proposition. It is important to note that the scripts and phrases you frame-up for your Personal Branding Message are a starting point.  Each individual you engage is unique and each situation is unique; thus you will vary your Personal Branding Message slightly for each situation.  But, when you have your Personal Branding Message down pat, you have a tool box of well-thought-out themes and phrases that you can use individually or in combination to set the proper expectations with anyone. How you describe yourself will have a lasting impact throughout the entire client journey.  

In the absence of a Branding Message people will fill the void with assumptions of their own that may or may not be accurate.  With this absence of clarity, people are left to draw their own conclusions.  It happens all the time.  You see something one way and someone else sees it another.  This same thing happens with you and your firm.  You clearly see it one way, but many of your clients may see it another.  Many clients are unaware of all you can do for them.  When a client thinks about wealth management, you need to make sure that they see you and your firm as an organization that has the insight and capabilities to judge their needs holistically and help them plan for the long term.  In short, you are the first and only call they need to make.

An effective Personal Branding Message has four main elements.  These elements answer some basic questions about you, your firm and what differentiates you.  The four questions a Personal Branding Message answers are:

1. What do you do? 
2. How do you do it? 
3. What are the resources of your firm?
4. Why do this with you?

A Personal Branding Message can be used in whole or in parts depending on the situation; it can be shortened or lengthened as needed.  Two people with the same job function can have two different Branding Messages that are still consistent with a firm's value proposition.  Each of the four points serves a unique purpose so the words you choose matter.  When completed, your Personal Branding Message is not meant to be read word for word in a robotic fashion; but rather it is meant to be internalized and changed to fit each unique situation.  

Start by building your Personal Branding Message one point at a time.  Each point is designed to generate interest and solicit more inquiry on behalf of your audience.  Breaking your message into points allows you to draw on all or just certain parts of the message, depending on the circumstances.  Your final Personal Branding Message will be made up of the phrases and terms that are rooted in  your firm's value proposition and commingled with your own personal perception of how you add value to your clients.  The resulting unique message will help differentiate you from the alternatives and the competition in market. 

Remember the words you choose must be your own.  The samples provided here are meant to show "What Good Looks Like."  You need to come up with your own unique Personal Branding Message.

The first point really answers the question “What do you do?”  Some might call this an elevator speech.  It is a short message that captures the essence of what you do for your clients.  Here is an example:

"We work comprehensively with our clients’ wealth management plans to help them achieve the goals that are most important to them and their families."

If you hold yourself out to be a wealth manager then it is important to emphasize that you can help clients manage all their wealth planning needs.  This is particularly important if the legacy identity of your role or even your firm may be narrowly focused in just one area, such as private banking, investment management or even brokerage.  No doubt that as your firm and your role evolved to include a more comprehensive set of solutions in your offering, too many clients and prospects had an incorrect perception of what you could do for them.  It is likely that this still persists to this day.  You have clients that may not understand the full breath of your capabilities.  Therefore it is important to use words that capture a more holistic, planning-based, comprehensive approach to managing wealth.

The second point answers the question "How do you do it?"  This might have more talking points to it than the first point because you are describing, at a very high level, your process for managing wealth.  To be clear, this is not a product push.  You always want to begin with the client’s goals in mind.  However, one way to build trust and rapport is to demonstrate competence. Clearly and concisely articulating your process demonstrates competency.  Here is an example:

"We utilize a defined and disciplined approach to help our clients make decisions.  Our focus is always helping our clients maximize the likelihood of realizing their goals.  We have found that there are thirteen common wealth planning challenges that are likely to come up in course of anyone's financial life.  Therefore we have built our process around helping our clients to look out on the horizon and identify the areas for focus and attention so that we can help them put in place the appropriate plans and solutions to ensure their success.  This helps ensure that clients will be able to stay on track and accomplish the goals that they have set out for themselves and their families."

Be certain that in this second point you describe how you work with clients to help them address the important challenges or realize the financial goals that you have identified in your own process.  If the setting is appropriate, show an example of the supporting collateral material that highlights your process.  When you do this, you create engagement.  People are able to see the tangible areas where you can help them.  Don't use a list of products and services here.  No one wakes up in the middle of the night thinking, "I need Trust Services"; instead they may wake up thinking "What am I going to do with my business given the fact that my kids are a mess?"  A list of challenges or goals is going to connect emotionally with the client. And that's where decisions are made, in the part of our brain that is responsible for our emotions.  

The third point is to answer the question "What are the resources of your firm?"  Here you can reference the vast array of services of your firm.  Highlight your firm's commitment to serving the wealth needs of your clients.  This may be of particular importance if your firm has a legacy identity that may be more aligned with another arena of financial services such as consumer or commercial banking.  It is critical that you appropriately position your capabilities to highlight all the solution categories available on your shelf. 

"Standing behind me are the vast resources of my firm, which includes a diversified suite of banking, investment and insurance solutions.  Additionally I have access to the professionals and specialists who can help you match the right solutions to your plan.  It’s important you know that all of us here are committed to some simple but important core values.  Our firm has been doing this for over fifty years with the sole purpose of providing sound advice and exceptional service to the people and the families we serve.  This is reflected in the diversity of wealth products and services that we have developed to meet the needs of our clients."  

When you discuss this third point you can speak to the specific resources of your firm, your core values or purpose, the size and scope of your firm –– any of these are appropriate.  What you are really doing here is sharing some of the important credentials of  your firm.  

In the fourth point “Why do this with you?,” talk about how you deliver this service in a very personalized way.  If you are local, capitalize on your proximity to the client; if not, highlight the way you make yourself or your team accessible to clients.  Provide some specific examples of your commitment to providing an outstanding client experience.

"Best of all our entire team is right here in (use your location), and all of us our committed to delivering an outstanding client experience.”

or

"Best of all I am just a phone call away, as is everyone on our team."

  

When you discuss your team and your client experience, share some specific promises that you make to you clients of the things that you commit to deliver consistently.  These do not have to be monumental promises.  They can be the little things.  But they are the things you know will appeal to your client.  Some examples include returning calls the same day, developing personalized communication plans for each client, and promising to each client the opportunity to develop a written financial plan and reviewing it annually.

“My team members and I are passionately committed to help each individual client accomplish their goals.  We recognize that information is critical and that time is of the essence, that is why we work with each client to develop a personalized communication plan, so that our clients will have the information they need to make decisions to protect their interests and stay on track to their goals.”

Additionally, personalize your message with some specific things about you.  One of the best ways to determine what you should say here is to reflect on the things you have heard from clients.  Think back on the times when your clients have complimented you or thanked you for the way you worked with them.  Those comments are evidence of how you personally add value.  These "endorsements" are very powerful statements when they are linked to the fact that these are things your clients have told you.  

“What my clients have told me they value most is that I have a clear methodology for helping them stay focused and on track to achieving their goals."

The way you introduce yourself and the words you choose will have a lasting impact throughout the entire client journey.  First impressions go a long way to confirming or correcting any preconceived ideas about who you are and what you do.  And it is important to repeat the message as often as you can.  If a prospect or client does not perceive you in the right way it will limit your ability to engage them in the kind of discussions required to serve their wealth needs.  When that happens not only does it mean lost opportunity for you and your firm, it also means that potentially your client is being undeserved in an area where they may need the most help.  

A Paul Harvey Story of an Expression of Gratitude

The Old Man And The Gulls

About sunset it happened every Friday evening, on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast. You could see an old man walking, white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed, slightly bent.  One gnarled hand would be gripping the handle of a pail, a large bucket filled with shrimp.  

There, on a broken pier reddened by the setting sun, the weekly ritual would be re-enacted.  At once, the silent twilight sky would become a mass of dancing dots . . . growing larger.  In the distance, screeching calls would become louder.  They were sea gulls, come from nowhwere, on the same pilgrimage . . . to meet an old man.  

For half an hour or so, the gentleman would stand on the pier, surrounded by fluttering white, till his pail of shrimp was empty.  But the gulls would linger for a while.  Perhaps one would perch comfortably on the old man's hat . . . and a certain day gone by would gently come to mind.

Eventually, all of the old man's days were past.  If the gulls still return to that spot . . . perhaps on a Friday evening at sunset . . . it is not for food . . . but to pay homage to the secret they shared with a gentle stranger.  And that secret is THE REST OF THE STORY.  

Anyone who remembers October of 1942 remembers the day it was reported the Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was lost at sea.  Captain Eddie's mission had been to deliver a message of the utmost importance to General MacArthur.  MacArthur was headquartered in New Guinea, and Rickenbacker was given a B-17 and a hand-picked crew to take him there.  But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life. 

Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio.  Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean.  The B-17 stayed afloat just long enough for all aboard to get out.  Then, slowly, the tail of Flying Fortress swung up and posed for a split second . . . and the ship went down, leaving eight men and three rafts . . . and the horizon.  

For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun.  They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five.  The biggest shark . . . ten feet long.  But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water.  It would take a miracle to sustain them.  And a miracle occurred.  

In Captain Eddie's own words, "Cherry," that was the B-17 pilot, Captain William Cherry, "read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise.  There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat.  With my hat pulled down over my yes to keep out some o the glare, I dozed off."  

Now this is still Captain Rickenbacker talking . . . "Something landed on my head.  I knew that it was a sea gull.  I don't know how I knew, I just knew.  "Everyone else knew too.  No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces.  They were staring at that gull.  The gull meant food . . . if I could catch it."  

And the rest, as they say, is history.  Captain Eddie caught the gull.  Its flesh was eaten.  Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish.  The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles form land, offered itself as a sacrifice.  

You know the Captain Eddie made it.  And you also know . . . that he never forgot.  Because every Friday evening, about sunset . . . on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast . . . you could see an old man walking . . . white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed, slightly bent.  His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls . . . to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle . . . like manna in the wilderness.

Paul Harvey

Battling the "Robo-Advisor" - Human Connection and Client Engagement

For some time now technology has been reshaping and changing the role of the financial advisor, but could technology actually replace the financial advisor entirely?  That's what some observers would have you think.  

Today's advisor has a vast array of  technology enabled tools and resources to help them provide planning solutions.  These tools crunch numbers and illustrate various scenarios.  They can match plans with the appropriate financially engineered products, and even provide up to the minute online goal tracking.

Could these tools actually threaten the viability of the financial advisor?  It is true that technology can cheaply replace once highly valued quantitative analytic skills.  "Robo-advisers" incorporate sophisticated planning software that can equip the novice user with the the ability to generate a plan that is comparable to a custom plan developed by a CFP or a CPA.

I have heard one observer predict that these "robo-advisors" will be the doom of the financial advisor and that advisors are destined to go the way of the travel agent.  You remember travel agents?  They were the people who used to sell airline tickets for a living.

I, on the other hand, do not agree with this assessment of the future.  I happen to believe that there is one thing that advisors can do better than any technology.  It is ability to put things in the right context so that people can make the right decisions.  It is about creating a personal human connection with the client.  Helping the client develop a vivid and achievable vision for their goals, their hopes, and their aspirations.  This is something that no machine can do.

Being a financial advisor is really about being an "enabler".  The "value add" is not that you have the right answers, it is that you have the right questions.  

The fact of the matter is that people don't act on what they know, they act on how they "feel" about what they know.  To be effective at enabling people to act, advisors should use these five steps to engage clients.

1. Emotionally Connect
2. Inform Key Principles
3. Involve Exploration of Outcomes
4. Enable Decision Making and Implementation
5. Track and Monitor Progress

The first step is to Emotionally Connect.  Advisors must draw out the client's visions for the future, the emotional picture of the goals.  What will it actually look like?  What will it help your achieve or realize?  Why does that matter?  Advisors must seek to understand the clients feelings about this future vision, both positive and negative.  Most importantly, advisor must listen for the underlying values that give this picture meaning.

The second step is to Inform Key Principles.  This is very much a teaching part of the process.  In contrast to being the expert with the answer, i.e. "here is what you should do", this is being the expert with a framework for the decision process and providing guidance along the way. The skills here have to do with how you package and share the needed information, such as being prepared with "knowledge objects", prepackaged "bite size" chunks of information.  Framing the content appropriately and posing questions along the way to help facilitate engagement and test for understanding. The objective is to equip the client with the information needed to make the right decision.

The third step is to Involve Exploration of Outcomes.  The questioning process continues with the goal being to help the client explore how to best realize their vision.  Using questions that help clients explore various outcomes and determine what is most desirable.  It is through this step that the client begins to arrive at their decision.

The fourth step is to Enable Decision Making and Implementation.  Summarize the points covered in exploration.  Demonstrate how positive outcomes are achieved and negative outcomes are managed.  Connect the solution to the emotional context established for the goal.  Enable the decision and implement the plan.

The fifth step is to Track and Monitor Progress.  This is critical to the entire value proposition of the financial advisor, particularly if your business model involves an ongoing fee arrangement.  After all, what is the "value add" of the advisor if there is no ongoing effort to ensure the desired outcome will be achieved?

At first blush, these steps would appear to resemble most common planning processes.  These are the same steps you would likely see on a "robo-advisor" platform, but here is where an advisor makes the difference.  It is the emotional intelligence, aptitude, skill and underlying intent of the advisor that technology cannot replicate.  The human connection is not programmable.  These are the things that are certain to retain their value even in a constantly evolving environment like financial services.

5 Steps to help you find the best and highest use of your time.

A big part of generating your own success is knowing where to focus your effort and energy.  What's the best and highest use of your time?  A friend of mine Kevin Johnson, CEO of  Ontrack International shared with me five simple steps to find, and then prioritize, your best and highest use of time.  

The first step is to start by identifying your goals or priorities.  Let's look at this through the lens of improving your performance at work, although these steps can be applied to any area of your life.  If it's work related then it would makes sense to validate your goals or priorities with your boss.  Ask your boss what he or she wants you to achieve in the next 90 days.  This is a critical step because there may be some things your boss has in mind that are not yet on your radar.  My partner John Brantley, who has helped me develop the Performance Coaching programs we deliver at Cannon Financial Institute, refers to this first step in our coaching process as Clarifying Expectations.  Make certain that both you and your boss are on the same page as to what the expectations are.

The second step is then to take an inventory of all of the activities in which you could engage.  Consider how you have spent the last 30 or 60 days.  What exactly are you doing with your time?  Don't get too granular with how you inventory these activities.  A smaller list will be easier to work with than a list of 60 or 70 discrete activities.  Organize these activities into a matrix and compare them to the goals you have identified.  This is will help you find your "high impact" activities.  To do this create a table.  List the goals across the top of the table.  These will become "column headers."  Then list the activities down the right hand side of the page.  Now for each "cell" where the activity (row) intersects with a goal, rank the impact of that activity against the goal or priority.  Is it high, medium or low in its impact?  Do this for each activity.  

The third step is to study the completed activity impact matrix and identify those activities that are likely to have the most impact on your goals.  You are looking for those activities that have impact across multiple goals or priorities.  

The fourth step is analyze how much of your time you actually spend on these high impact activities that you have identified.  If you are like most people you will be surprised to learn that you are probably spending 20% or less of your time on the activities  that count the most.

The fifth step is take charge.  Time management is really about choice management.  Spend one hour each week planning.  Make the right right choice about where and how you spend your time and you will be certain to realize significant performance improvement.  

Video Content and Community Learning - Observations from my colleague Bill Trigleth

Several blogs and Social media expert sources are beginning to promote the use of video marketing as a part of their  “presence” strategy. We have seen pieces oriented to advisors and already there are ones oriented to consumers.

My colleague Bill Trigleth recently shared some of his observations with me.

Clark:  Bill what are you seeing that is new with video content?

Bill:  As you look at these videos the first thing you will notice is that they are short.  Less than 2 or 3 minutes.  But they do some really interesting things to capture your attention in that time frame.  

Clark:  Really, like what?

Bill:  For one, you see a lot of people using the "animator technique".  This is currently popular and promoted in many different domains including brainstorming sessions at high end venues.  What you see is an artist drawing out the concepts in simple sketches, step by step, while the narration tells the story.   The completed picture provides a visual metaphor for the concepts discussed.  And it makes for a great take away piece as well.

Clark:  But these are short.  Can they really get enough information across in 2 or 3 minutes?

Bill:  Absolutely.  The concept is to "boiled down" the information into is essence, no extraneous information.  Just what needs to be shared.   

Clark: But there is a story line that holds it all together, right?

Bill:  That's right.  The story line helps bring clarity.  The objective is to get it crisp.  It takes a lot of work.

Clark:  How do you see using this in the work we do with advisors?

Bill:  If this was used for training purposes, an example might be to have a summary sketch listing the 5 types of retirees who need life insurance. Then perhaps a suggestion the advisors go into their book and do an analysis to see who needs the conversation. 

Clark: So how would that work?

Bill:  Imagine you are in the classroom  and there is one of these videos for each major learning objective.  You run the video.  Do some facilitated discussion to flesh out sub topics add context.  And then lead an exercise to have them apply or practice the teaching points.  

Clark: That's similar to how we have used other videos in the past.

Bill:  True.  But these can be sequenced as a part of a broader learning system.  They can be deployed on a Community Learning Platform so advisors can re-access them for refreshing as needed. Imagine these videos sequenced together to create a whole set of curriculum that has an accompanying workbook, maybe even a mobile app that has the videos and instructions.  Using a Community Learning Platform participants could then post their learning from executing the prescribed activities.  They could  even post their own skill demonstrations for peer to peer coaching and feedback.  

Clark: That would be very engaging for the participants.

Bill: Best of all, this is an on line learning experience.  Easy to deploy and very scalable to any size origination across any geography.

Clark: That's exciting.  Of  course we have already been working with a Community Learning Platform for some time.

Bill:  That's right Clark.  Cannon is certainly a leader and early adopter in this space.  This is the future of where learning is going.  As my new "unmet" friend Daniel Burris wrote in his book Flash Foresight “ If it can be imagined it will be built” If not by you then someone else”

Clark:  Bill thank you for your insights on this.

Bill:  You're welcome.

Bill Trigleth is the Director of Research and Development for Cannon Financial Institute. 

Leading Change

Choosing what to change always seems to be so easy. But making change happen is much more difficult. The solutions are there. We often know exactly what we need to do. The practice management routines have been defined by consultants, published in books, taught in workshops. And even when the problems are so complex, and the answers are not found in a three ring binder, we can use our intellect, our analytic skills and logic to determine what needs to change. There is always some "root cause" lurking behind all of the symptoms we experience. Symptoms if you will, of something more deeply rooted within the system. But still, knowing what to do is the easy part. Leading the change and inspiring others to follow is the hard part.  

Research has shown that individuals who are effective leaders operate at a higher level of maturity. These leaders are rare.  The research in this area has shown that only 10% of adults ever reach this level of maturity, regardless of how long they live. A friend of mine here in Athens, Karl Kuhnert Ph.D., is a Professor at UGA and has dedicated much of his work to Leader Development. He and his colleague Keith Eigle Ph.D. are among a group of academics who are leading the way to a better understanding of how leaders develop and what differentiates effective leaders from the rest. In some academic circles this has been referred to as "Authentic Leadership". Their company The Leaders Lyceum has developed programs that facilitate and accelerate the development of leaders.

The link below is from the recent TEDx in Atlanta (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) where Keith Eigle addressed a group of some of the "world's leading thinkers and doers". In this video clip you'll see Keith give a brief overview of what it takes to become an effective leader. The kind of leader who can make change happen. As you will learn from Keith's talk, whether you are trying to affect change at your firm, with your team, or with your clients, the change starts with you.

As for me, I feel inspired by all this new learning. It has driven me to ponder new questions for how I can better serve the the Wealth Management community. I hear in Keith's words something worth exploring further. My colleagues and I have been the thought leaders who have helped to shape much of what we see as the Wealth Management industry today. There is hardly an organization that we have not touched in some way through training or consulting. But yet as we have helped to prepare the professionals with the knowledge, skills and practice management components needed to be effective advisors, it seems that those necessary elements are not in themselves completely sufficient.

So this year I resolve to change that. I pledge to continue my learning and study and I ask you to help me in this endeavor. I will keep you posted here on my learning and findings, and I hope to draw on you as well to share with me what you know to be true. Challenge my ideas. Share your perspectives. Together as a community we will shape the future of the business of advice.

So with this Blog posting I welcome in 2010, and an embark on a new quest, the quest for the "Authentic Advisor".

Watch Keith's video at this link. I highly recommend it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPPuc_UXXk

Discussing Risk Tolerance

I recently asked several of my colleagues their thoughts on coaching advisors around the "risk tolerance" conversation.  Here is what they had to say:

Jim Privette - "I have made the point that there is the knowable and the unknowable. The knowable is the client insight, the unknowable is what the markets will do next. I ask advisors what their client conversations are about these days and the answers are "should I get out?" or "what stocks to sell or buy" (timing and stock selection). The 7 step interview focuses back on the knowable and the most important decision (asset allocation). I think we need to couple the risk tolerance question with today's unprecedented volatility. Clients current beliefs about risk are being challenged. I encourage advisors to "understand the clients assumptions (based on their experience)and guide the client to rethink risk in light of current market conditions. Risk tolerance will ultimately be about long term outcomes but volatility assumption about asset classes and their historic performance and characteristics are on trial and each day gives us new evidence."

Phil Buchanan - "On the tolerance for risk issue, I've been breaking it into two pieces:

1. The typical up/side down side capture question ---- but I've added time periods of one day, one month, one year and five years, but benchmarking off the answer to the one year question. My reasoning is that so many people are focused on day to day fluctuations that they can't make rational judgments. However, by putting the full range of time elements on the table, it forces the client to "confront the noise".

2. The new element/wrinkle I've added is "Absolute Stop Loss" threshold. What is the $ value you do not ever want to fall below - followed by how would the proceeds then be managed, followed by what would be the plan for re-entry. Of course, this is a great place to highlight "Issue & Consequence" questions."

Larry Divers - "I am very passionate about this topic and I have always set up the +/- 20% in the investment interview around the best case worse case scenario. The 20 %( rounded) is the long term standard deviation of the S&P 500. This number however is based on one (1) standard deviation not two (2) or three (3) standard deviations. Thus, the current market conditions are not outside of the realm of probability and they have happened the past. That is why we need to point out to our clients the best and worse case scenario on one, two and three standard deviations.

From a compliance standpoint this also works well."

Daniel Smith - "I preface that this is a gauge as to risk tolerance in normal market conditions, the time frame is not important as long as it isn't short, and the percentage isn't important as long as it is the same up and down, and that by asking it both ways you assumptively close to the fact that the answer needs to be relative up and down.  If the client does not answer that way, stop and have a conversation about it. And in today's market environment there may be other risk tolerance comments are your clients are considering.  I think it is important that the 7 Step is a conversation model, not 7 questions that will give you the magic answer, rather it is a framework for appropriate and complete discovery."

I have been coaching advisors to include questions like "What has been your experience investing." "What has worked well you and what hasn't?"  "How did you feel about that?" "What role did emotions play in the decision making process?" Ultimately you need to really understand where your client is coming from, but at the same time they need to understand that if they let emotions entirely drive their decision making they may be at even greater perril.

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Improve your performance by a factor of 100! Here is how.

What makes some people more skillful than others?  Are some people just born with all the talent required to be a successful advisor?  Or is there something else going on here?  Can skill be built and developed with anyone who is willing to do the work to achieve a higher level of performance?  Or is it like a veteran Trust Officer said in a recent workshop, "Great sales people are born not made.  That is what I have been told by I every manager I have had".

For the past three months I have I posed these questions to the groups of advisors I have been coaching.  Almost always a debate breaks out.  And the dialogue sounds a lot like  Randolph and Mortimer Duke's argument in the movie Trading Places, which ultimately results in their bet for the "usual amount", to see if it is really "nature" or "nurture" that makes the difference. All in the name of science of coarse.

Author Dan Coyle has just released a new book on this very subject, The Talent Code.  In this work Coyle examines what is really behind great talent.  And as opposed to the Duke brothers approach to the topic, Coyle draws on real science.   Using findings from the latest research of the brain, Coyle shows how skill is really developed.  He unveils the three key ingredients; Ignition, Great Coaching, and Deep Practice.  And it is at the intersection of these three ingredients that something very special happens.

I was first exposed to The Talent Code through a news story on ABC's Nightline.  In eight minutes, journalist John Donvan highlighted the some of the key learning in Coyles work, which sheds new light on how anyone, including Advisors, can dramatically improve their performance and consequently improve their results.  Watch Donvan's story below, see if it doesn't give you a fresh perspective.

I think this is when Randolph admits to Mortimer that he was right.  It is nurture not nature, and hands over to his brother the total sum of "one dollar".  The usual amount.

After watching this story I immediately ordered a copy of Dan's book.  The learning in this book is astounding.  A must read.  John Donvan only had eight minutes in his news story and he covers the content well.  But what you just watched is only the tip of the iceberg.  Nightline should give Donvan a full hour.

What Donvan didn't have time to cover was one more critical component identified in Coyle's work, Ignition.  Ignition has to do with motivation.  And this is a really important ingredient.  You know this if you have children who you have signed up for piano or tennis or some other activity and it just didn't click for them.  They didn't ignite.  And as a result they didn't give the effort for the Deep Practice required to lay down the layers of myelin that would lead to better performance.  Several hundred dollars later (or thousands depending on your own ignition as a parent) you chalk it all up to experience and move on.

So if you are an Advisor, or you 're accountable for the results of Advisors, and you want to see real significant performance improvement, you have to first start by asking the question, do you really want it?  Do you desire to perform and achieve at a higher levels? Are you hungry for it?  If so, find a great coach, commit the time and effort required to practice, and learn from each encounter. Find and fix the errors. "That's the royal road.  That's the path to skill."

So let me know your know your thoughts on the subject.  What does this mean to you?  The Trust Officer I mentioned above said it gave her a new aspiration.  She realized that she too could be a great sales person.  It was in her control.

Articulating Your Brand - Are you satisfied with your current message?

I just participated in a workshop in Seattle with an outstanding group.  50 plus advisors with average LOS of 20 years plus.  Experienced, seasoned, successful and best of all committed and eager to improve their performance.  As someone who has chosen the vocation of  helping others improve their performance, I can tell you there is nothing more fun than working with people who want to get better.   Conversely there is nothing more frustrating and demoralizing than trying to help someone who doesn't believe they need any help.  You now the type.  Status quo is O.K. for them.  But this program was different.  This was an "opt in" program.  And not only did these advisors have to raise their hands to participate, but they also had to qualify to get into the program.  And the program was awesome.   A complete curriculum spanning several months, with over 140 hours of content, delivered both in the class room and through self directed study.  This was truly aimed at helping advisors improve their performance.  This wasn't a training event.  Instead, this was a learning program.  These advisors wanted to learn how to execute at a higher level and they were being given the resources, knowledge and opportunity to practice and build mission critical skills.

My part of the program involved tactics to attract new high net worth clients.  One of the key skills I teach in this practice area is how to articulate your value proposition, or as we frame it, your "branding message".  What excited me most about this group was the passion they had for wanting to perfect their branding message.  They wanted to find just the right words to express their value proposition, in essence their promise to their clients.  Now keep in mind that this was a veteran group.  Average LOS of 20 plus years.  Yet at each break they kept coming up and asking me to help them refine their message.  "What do you think of this"?  "Tell me again the way you said that".  "What works best here"?  Even after the program I was getting emails asking for feedback and input.

These were experienced professionals.  They regularly explain this kind of stuff to prospects and clients.  The "what they do".  Yet they know how important this message is and they were willing to take the time to re-examine their current message and in most cases re-invent it entirely.   Wow!  Nothing more impressive than watching  a thirty year veteran in our business, redefine their personal vision of how they add value to their clients.  And to see them get excited about that means. 

So are you willing to re-examine your branding message?  If so, here are some tips.  Start first by thinking of what space you want to occupy in your clients mind.  Brand in many ways is about competing for mental real estate.  Think about any great brand and ask yourself, what do you associate with that brand?  What is the experience of that brand?  What needs would you expect to be fulfilled by that brand?

Now ask yourself, what do your clients associate with "brand you"?  What needs would they look to you to fullfill?  Do they have a complete picture of what you can do?  To check this last one, ask yourself this,  have you ever heard one of your clients say "I didn't know you did that".  If so, and be honest we have all heard that on, it is a good indication your messaging is not allowing you to stake out the right real estate in your clients minds.  I say that because I know exactly what hapened prior to you hearing your client say those words.  They told you about something they did or bought from someone else.  You then said, "I could have done that for you".  And then they said. "I didn't know you did that."  Ouch.  That one probably cost you some money.

So whose fault is it that your client goes elsewhere to do something they could do with you?  Yeah, that's right.  Its you.  Its your responsibility to educate your client about what they should expect from.  What you can help them with.  What your value add is.  But you say, "there is some much to tell them, where do I start"?  That is why it is so important to have a well thought out, well rehearsed message.   Think about a message that can cover these four points.  First, "what do you do"?  Second, "how do you do it"?  Third, "what are the resources of your firm"? And forth, "what distinguishes your practice from a service perspective".  These four points can serve as foundational frame work for crafting your personal branding message.

Converting Personal Relationships into Business Relationships

Last week I lead a workshop in Seattle for a group of very experienced advisors with one of the largest firms on the street.  The program focused on creating new business opportunities.  Shortly after the workshop I received the following email from one of the Financial Advisors.


"I quite often built friendships at my athletic club with very successful people.  I never know how to ask them for a "meeting" and take it from a personal relationship to potentially a business relationship as well.  Anything that you could suggest that I say to be able to "ask" for a meeting with them?"


T.


Here is the email I sent back to him with my suggestions.  Let me know what you think.

Dear T.

Thanks for the question, I suggest you try one of these two approaches.  

First, here is a way to ask for an appointment, particularly if this is someone that is a relatively new acquaintance. 

“You know Bob, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to meet you socially through the club and was hoping that I could have the opportunity to introduce you to myself professionally.  Maybe we could meet at Starbucks for a cup of coffee one morning this week, and I could share with you a little about what I do in my role at UBS.  I think it would take about fifteen minutes and from there we could both decide whether it makes sense to continue talking along those lines.   Would that be ok with you?  What morning works best?”

Another approach you may try, and this might work better with a more established relationship, is to start with an email and follow up with a phone call.  The email could simply read like this:  “Bob, I am reaching out to people I know who either should be clients of mine or they know people who should.  I’ld like to buy you lunch this week and I think by the end of lunch we will know which camp you fall into.  I’ll call you later this morning to check your schedule.”   Then call and ask for the lunch appointment.

In both instances when you get the face time I suggest the following 4 Point Agenda:

First, position the conversation as exploratory.  Frame the discussion around these two points: One – “I want to share a little about my role at UBS and how I help other people like you”.  Two – “Since my focus is on helping other folks like you, I would love any insights that you may have from the “client” perspective that could help me in my practice”.    Set the expectation that at by the end of the conversation you will probably both have a better feeling of whether it makes sense to take the discussion further.  Then gain permission to proceed, “Is that ok?”

Second, be prepared with a concise and solid “Branding Message”.  Be conversational but confident.  Describe the profile of the client you can help the most.  (It might/should sound like them.)  Describe what you do, how you do it, the resources available to you, and the service aspects of your practice that you feel differentiate you and your team (communication!!!).  

Third, probe to understand how they currently have their financial resources/services organized and why they think that is the best way to do it.  Be careful how you approach this.  Don’t assume that they have problems.  Approach it as though you don’t expect them to have any problems.  The implied assumption is that “you are smart, you probably have a good handle on everything, in fact your insights could be very helpful to me as I make decisions about how to shape and run my practice”.  Ask permission to ask them about the firms they currently work with and their experiences with financial service providers both past and present.  “Would it be ok if I asked you a little about how you have things organized and why?”  Ask questions about each of the relationships they have with financial institutions/advisors/etc..  Think in terms of PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE.

Here are some example:

PAST - “How did you get started with them?  Who introduced you? What attracted you to them? Where you considering other alternatives at the time? What were your criteria for selection?  What pushed them over the top? If you were to go through that selection process again, what would you do differently?  Who else have you worked with in the past that you no longer work with?  What caused you to move from that arrangement?

PRESENT – “What do you like best about how you have things currently organized?  What do you like least?  If you could change something what would that be?  What kind of client satisfaction score did you give them the last time they asked?  If they asked today what you say on scale of 1 to 10?  What do they need to do to be a ten? How do you pull this all together into one plan?  Is there one overarching plan in place?  Would that be important to you?  Would it make a difference in how you made decisions, or felt about your decisions if there was one plan that integrated all these pieces?”

FUTURE – “What would you like to see changed with regard to the financial products and services you use?  If you were in charge, how would it work?  What would cause you to move any of these relationships? Do you see anything like that on the horizon?

Fourth, you will need to set the next step based upon what you hear .  There are at least four potential outcomes.  One, you got a “qualified prospect”, that is someone who is dissatisfied with their current arrangement and willing to explore further with you.  Two, you got a “prospect”, that is someone who is not yet dissatisfied with their current situation but you can see (or suspect) that they should be dissatisfied based upon what you heard.   Three, you got a “long term prospect” someone who actually has a good handle on things.  And based on what you have heard it would be near impossible to unseat the current advisor unless something changed dramatically.  (They are probably dealing with an Advisor who is a Cannon disciple.)  Four, you got a “non-prospect”, someone who just doesn’t qualify for your practice.

So, let’s look at each of these.

1. Qualified Prospect – Go back to the points in your branding message and “bridge” or connect those to the points of dissatisfaction that they expressed.  Connect the next step to your planning process and set the appropriate expectation for what you will do, what the outcome will be and the time and information required from them.  Then close for the next appointment.
2. Prospect – Go back to the points in you branding message that differentiate you from the providers they currently work with.  Suggest to them that a deeper discussion around the details of what they are doing would be beneficial.  You can successfully position this around a “risk management” conversation.  This works really well when you discover that the prospect has their assets spread across multiple firms.  In that case you can describe how that often leads to greater risk because of three “risk factors” that are inherent in the multiple advisor approach.  First, often with multiple advisors there is not one overall asset allocation strategy.  So people often end up with an asset allocation strategy that is in appropriate for them.  Second, in the multiple advisor scenarios it is extremely difficult to manage an overall asset allocation.  It is difficult to know when you are out of range of the asset allocation targets and it is difficult to rebalance when assets are held at different locations.  Third, there is often not one person who is looking at how each individual investment, mutual fund, or manager interrelates.  This is critical to avoid overlaps or gaps in a portfolio. These three factors can contribute to greater risk of achieving the prospects goals or objectives.  Offer to review their overall portfolio; with out regard to firms they work with, but rather to look at the portfolio in its entirety to make certain that they are not exposed to these three risk factors.  Connect this next step to your process and set the appropriate expectation for what you will do, what the outcome will be and the time and information required from them.  Then close for the next appointment.
3. Long-term prospect – Be honest.  Let ‘em know your opinion, but check to see if there might be any changes coming.  “It sounds like you have a good handle on things.  Tell me, is there anything you see on the horizon that might cause you to rethink the way you have things organized?”  You may find out that their current advisor is nearing retirement, then what will they do?  That could move them into “qualified prospect” territory.  Otherwise go back to the points in your branding message that reinforce the things they find most valuable and then ask for introductions to people they know who should be working with someone like you.
4. Non-prospect – They could be a non prospect because they are not financially qualified or it could be because they are not someone who wants or values advice (you know, self directed and proud of it).  If it is because they are not financially qualified you can go back to the “profile of the client you can help the most” and how your practice is really aligned for people with those asset levels.  If they are in need of planning help, suggest an alternative that they may consider.  Perhaps a rookie advisor in you office.  If they are a non-prospect because they are not a good fit for the advice model, go back to the points in your branding message that demonstrate that you are in the advice business.  Congratulate them on their ability manage all of this and to have the luxury of the time required.  Go back to the points of your branding message that connect to how your practice is aimed at helping people who don’t have the time or expertise to do this for themselves, and who want and value advice.  In either case, remind them of the “profile of the client that you can help the most” and ask if they know of anyone they could introduce you to.

I hope this helps.  It may be more than what you were looking for, but it gave me the opportunity to think through this as well and now I have something to post to my blog.  

Thanks

Clark

End of email