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,
Our investment strategy did not fare well last year and we lost ground to competitors. We’re on the defensive with clients, which makes it hard to have any growth discussions. We have corrected our approach and are on track for much better performance for 2014. Any tips to get our clients to believe in us and stay with us until the turnaround?
Neil K, Southeast
Dear Neil,
Have you positioned yourselves with clients as purely an asset manager? It’s always troubling to me when financial advisors or wealth managers gets stuck defending performance, unless they are marketing only that. If your client know that you have a well-rounded service offering, investments are only a small part of those services and you are keeping them on track to meet their goals, this should not be such a focus.
So to that end, please review your marketing material and your approach. Are you “selling” performance? If so, you will be beholden to it. If clients have come to your firm relying on your past performance, assuming it has been strong, they will definitely be looking for it every quarter or every year. If you know your style goes up and down with certain market movements, you should explain this to clients clearly and in advance. In addition, be proactive about explaining your poor performance to investors. Tell them why you performed the way you did and what you are doing to capitalize on better performance this year. Explain the difference in your approach versus other competitors. If there is some way to show “value” in your investment style, separate from the actual performance of last year, spend time educating clients on this. Be much more active with your client education in good markets and in bad.
If you are not investment-only, review your messaging and your client approach. Implement a more robust client engagement opportunity that isn’t limited to portfolio performance. Remind clients of their goals and objectives and show them how they are still on track, assuming they are. Have conversations throughout the year on a variety of topics, so that sitting down once a year to review poor performance doesn’t become a focal point. It seems simple to say, but putting a proactive and ongoing emphasis on the relationship will often carry an advisor through turbulent investment times. If the trust is there and clients believe you are doing more than just finding the best investment opportunities for them, they will give you more leeway for a blip or two in the road. Of course, if the blips continue and you start to trail your competitors by a wider margin, it may require revisiting your overall investment process, too.
Dear Bev,
I’m speaking at an upcoming industry conference for the first time. Any tips on avoiding the common mistakes? I like most topics at the conferences I attend, but few of the speakers are very good.
Bill H., Boston
Dear Bill,
It’s good that you notice what you don’t like. Often that tell us what we do want to do! Here are my six keys to confident presenting.
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State the “why?” of your presentation upfront. Why are you speaking to this group, what do you expect they will learn as a result of listening to you and why is this material important?
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Know your audience. Ask the conference organizers for the demographics of your audience, and find out as much as you can about how will be attending the talk. Are they financial advisors like you? Knowing who they are will help you to grab their attention by talking to them directly.
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Engage the audience early on. Ask a question – “How many people here have heard anything about this topic?” or “Let’s take a poll.” If you can get people to respond in any way, you have captured their attention. In a smaller group, ask questions of people more directly.
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Provide context. Don’t assume your audience knows what you know. Even if you are speaking to other advisors, they may not have the depth of information you possess (probably why you are the one speaking!). Be sure to provide background, insight and contextual information to make your material understandable. Adult learners only take in new information that is relevant to them, so make it relevant.
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Chunk your data. Too many presentations are chock-full of great details and information, but listeners have to wade through it all to find the nuggets they need. Organize your data in natural chunks of information – have 3-7 chunks, sections or segments. Tell audience what segments you will cover, then announce each new segment as you get to it.
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Have a clear wrap-up. This is where you tell them what you told them and what they need to do next. Recap the chunks of information, remind them of the “why” and then give any necessary next steps.
If you do these six things, I promise you will deliver good information and be an effective speaker. Good luck!
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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