Financial advice is best delivered in the context of a long-term relationship between a financial advisor and a client. Keeping a client for the duration of that financial journey can be hard work. Advisors who approach each client relationship like a coach, with a focus on helping their clients achieve positive financial outcomes and maintain their financial discipline over the long-term, will be the ones who develop a successful partnership that will stand the test of time.  

A few industry thought leaders and contributing authors of the book Exploring Advice, share their thoughts about how to be a financial “coach” and the role that plays in developing long-term relationships with clients. Here are their insights and advice on the coaching skills that can help advisors connect with clients and how to keep them on track and motivated toward achieving their financial goals.

Coaching Lesson #1: Build A Deeper Client Relationship

“Financial planning is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Caroline Dabu, vice president and head of enterprise wealth planning, BMO Financial Group. “Just like training for a marathon, planning for financial success requires setting goals, creating a strategy, developing a plan and preparing for the unexpected.”

“A running coach looks at a runner’s starting point, current fitness level, racing history, performance metrics, health and injuries,” Dabu added. “Similarly, a financial coach needs to understand a client’s hopes and dreams for their current family and the next generation. They can’t be afraid to ask the questions that will help inform individualized financial plans. Whether running or investing, an overly aggressive—or overly conservative—plan may not maximize a person’s potential or allow them to reach their goals. The right balance is critical.”

Catherine Bonneau, CEO of Cetera Investment Services, adds, “A client’s financial goals will evolve over time. What’s important in one’s thirties will usually change significantly by the time they reach their fifties, and financial advice will need to adapt to these changes.”

Any number of unexpected financial changes can happen that will throw a plan off course including career advancement or loss of employment, an economic boom or downturn, marriage or divorce, the birth of children or grandchildren, or the loss of a spouse.

As financial coaches are connected to their clients, they can use the knowledge they’ve gleaned about their clients to reassure them when these life changes strike. Simultaneously, these financial “coaches” can adjust the plan and investment recommendations for the new course because they understand the clients’ full situation and long-term goals. 

Coaching Lesson #2: Understand The Emotional Quotient

To effectively coach your client, you need to understand their emotions around money, including their fears, motivators and what drives their behavior.  

“Finances are emotional for clients especially as they discuss topics like hopes and fears for their future financial well-being,” said Ron Kruszewski, chairman and CEO of Stifel. “To prepare a financial plan that fits a client’s needs, a financial advisor first needs to evaluate the client’s emotional quotient (EQ). This requires empathy, understanding, an ability to read people and to react to nonverbal clues. A truly successful financial advisor needs to integrate intelligence, technology and EQ to effectively uncover a client’s issues, concerns and goals.”

Jeff Magson, client experience officer at 1^st Global, agrees with Kruszewski’s perspective.

“Beyond the pure financial data, there is also an emotional element to financial planning that should not be overlooked called behavioral financial advice,” Magson said. “Emotions play a large role in client decisions. Advisors need to understand how those emotions may have influenced the client’s past decision-making, so that they can match those tendencies with the client’s values and goals to be able to appropriately guide and support the client.”

Coaching Lesson #3: Keep Clients On Track

Running coaches rarely leave clients to their own devices for extended periods of time. Instead, they check in, gauge progress, modify fitness regimens and set new time-bound goals, Dabu explains. Financial coaches need to do the same.

An ongoing review process with regular check-ins provides financial coaches an opportunity to monitor a client’s progress and provide feedback and encouragement as they work toward their goals. It also enables advisors to stay ‘in the know’ should a financial setback occur that requires swift adjustments. Lastly, it allows advisors to check in on prior time-bound goals and set new ones if need be.  

“Advisors also need to track a client’s financial holdings and make recommendations as those holdings change, which can happen unexpectedly due to macroeconomic or personal changes,” says Bonneau. “That is why financial plans need to be a living document that are continually revised, ideally, by both the financial advisor and the client.”

Coaching Lesson #4: Keep Clients Motivated

“Like a coach, a financial advisor needs to work alongside the client to provide financial solutions as well as support and encouragement,” says Dabu. “And, like the best coaches, the best financial advisors keep a client’s focus on the plan, even when the going gets tough.”

While lofty financial goals are nice to have, a truly effective financial plan—one that endures the test of time—needs to be delivered to investors in bite-size chunks that are easy to understand and adopt, pointed out TD Ameritrade’s Lulu Demmssie, managing director of investment products and guidance, and Marco De Freitas, managing director and head of retail products and strategy. Small victories along the way can help keep clients feeling successful and motivated to attain the next goal.

While a financial advisor might provide advice that is tough to hear, like a coach, the best financial advisors also enable their clients to have a voice and choice in the process, Demmssie and De Freitas added. This, collaboration drives engagement, and cultivates the financial habits that investors need to realize the promise of their long-term financial plan. After all, a good financial plan, just like a good training plan laid out by an athletic coach, is one that is used.

The Rewards Of Good Coaching

In so many ways, financial advisors are more than just financial coaches to their clients. As in other facets of life, good coaching can make the critical difference that helps someone to achieve an important goal. The focus and dedication required helping clients achieve financial security and to live the lifestyle that aligns with their wishes and dreams is certainly worth the effort.   

The advisors who do this successfully will reap the financial rewards of client loyalty over the long-term, as well as the personal satisfaction of helping clients achieve their goals. By taking the time to get to know clients—beyond the numbers—advisors can engage, motivate and coach their clients to success.  

For more practice management, differentiation and growth advice from 40 industry thought leaders read Exploring Advice: What You Need to Know About Good Financial Advice, a Quality Financial Plan and the Role of a Fiduciary available on Amazon.com. 

Bob Curtis is the founder and CEO of PIEtech—the creator of MoneyGuidePro, the industry’s leading financial planning software. He has over 30 years of experience as an innovator in the software industry and is a leader in developing easy-to-use, interactive financial planning software.