3. Relationship skills: This is an area that has always been important, but largely ignored, from a professional level in our industry. Hiring nice people, who like people, historically is a good way to go. I believe the future of our industry will require us to help advisors develop professionally in their relationship skills in order to become true financial “Sherpas” for our clients.
That starts with taking responsibility for the relationship and using developed relationship skills to help our clients make the right choices for them and their lives. That goes well beyond a calculation using a discount rate to determine the “perfect” answer. Helping our clients get to the right answer requires a set of relationship skills that starts with developing relational curiosity. Curiosity leads to questions that help clients unpack and understand what they are really trying to accomplish so they can better evaluate the alternatives to getting there. One of the greatest gifts advisors give clients is to listen and ask questions (curiosity) that help move them forward.
Here’s a good example: One of my clients, a couple, was struggling with their level of their charitable giving. The husband, a doctor, loved their level of generosity, but the wife did not agree. After a series of meetings and a good measure of open questioning, it became apparent that the wife was actually struggling with her husband’s long hours, and their generosity was only a measure of the time he was taking away from the family.
A year later, he made some important changes with his practice, and he now shows up for their children’s activities. As a result, they continue to give generously. As we listen, we understand their focus and energy, mind sets and attitudes, their capabilities, habits and patterns. This also helps the advisor when the time is needed to assist the client through a crisis, whether that is a bear market or family issue.
4. Marketing skills: Clearly this is one of the areas that can be a challenge to develop. Many planners don’t want to market mostly because they have a poor understanding of what it means and have images of a used car salesman or the brokerage down the street.
Step one in helping young advisors is helping them understand three things: First, they are fundamentally in a relationship business and marketing is about developing relationships, not selling. Second, the world desperately needs them because our industry is filled with products and product salespeople who don’t care about the client except as a means to an end. Third, the selling part is fundamentally not a conversation to convince, but a conversation about their needs (consultative).
It’s about exploring the client’s true needs (relationship skills) and helping them understand how your services and competencies (benefits) match those needs. The rest is up to them. There may be additional steps, including overcoming objections, but many of these are predispositions like active versus passive management or fees. There are other easy-to-develop skills that help, but nothing beats serving your clients with excellence since they are the best referral source for any advisor. Another skill is learning when to ask for a referral (which most hate to do) and that is when value is perceived or communicated by the client.
The Process And Methods
The process of development is well documented and can fundamentally be outlined in three repeating steps: Assess (Measure)/Challenge (Goal Setting)/Support (Resources)/Repeat. With that framework, the key is leveraging all the available methods and knowing (self-management skills) what methods work best for each individual. The firm owes it to future clients to make sure all the available methods are applied:
1. Developmental Relationships. Mentors; manager as coach; professional coaches; peers and the professional community.
2. Developmental Assignments. Working with more complex client situations; firm projects; technical research; authoring articles on technical and soft issues; attending client and prospect meetings and presentations, including delivering parts and eventually all of each.
3. Feedback processes. Nothing beats immediate feedback. Don’t wait to tell someone what they are doing well and what they might want to consider doing differently. After each client plan is delivered, advisors should sit down with their planner and debrief. Discuss the information delivered by the planner and analyze if it was communicated properly or if improvements can be made. What analysis did the client appreciate and why? What does that tell us about the client? Other ongoing tools that help young planners grow in their skills include 360 degree feedback; personality and work style assessments and the performance appraisal research and experience suggest that annual performance reviews are unproductive and should be done more frequently, like after every plan delivery or monthly. Deloitte suggests that the best process is about “speed, agility, one-size-fits-one and constant learning.”
4. Formal programs. These can include encouraging young advisors to get additional certifications or degrees as part of their development. This might include tax, investments or even getting a life or corporate coaching certification. Several of the major custodians now provide programs that help young advisors learn about the industry and how firms are run.
5. Self-development. Self-motivated people will always find ways to develop themselves. Our industry is rich with articles by professional experts, speakers and professional conferences; they can also participate in the local planning association. Having a formal and informal network inside the firm allows advisors to share and encourage others on all the things they are learning both technically and relationally.
Additional Resources
Professional development plans. Every professional in your firm should have a personal development plan. This gives them context, accountability and focus on the steps they want and need to take to advance their skill set. The development plan should address specific technical and relational skills, as well as measurable steps they can start taking to get there. It’s easy to determine the technical skills that are needed, but it may require a manager or professional coaching to help them with relationship skills. Each should have clear goals or objectives, a self-rating and an idea of what success looks like and what the benefits are for accomplishing each goal. Remember, sometimes just improving in an area is good enough. I use the term “improve your batting average” regarding how someone exercises relationship skills.
Personal marketing plans. Planners and advisors should all have a personal marketing plan. It provides the agenda and activities for the year that help them and the firm grow. What are the new business goals for the year? What processes and activities are you engaging with to develop existing or new relationships that could help you reach that goal? What relationships should you make sure to focus on this year? This might include high referring clients as well as referral sources. What professional relationships and referral sources do you need to upgrade or change because they are not working for you?
Developing advisors is probably one of the most important things any firm can do, because to the client, they are the firm. Consider making this one of the most important processes your firm has in place.
Ray V. Padrón is a managing partner and wealth advisor with Brightworth.