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,
It is clear that the growth areas are minorities and women for our industry. We are embarking on a very aggressive effort to go after women as our newly created niche. We believe that the divorced, never-married and widowed segment is best for us because these are women with no men attached and they can be marketed to directly. Do you have any ideas for language we could use in our advertising or marketing copy to attract more women to our firm?
Nat P.
Dear Nat,
At over 50% of the population and holding over half of all American wealth, women are not a niche market. In a short time, we will be the market. Brain science may now show that -- even more than being from Mars or Venus – men’s and women’s brains are wired and work very differently. (For more on this, read this research published in 2014.) But to say that women, especially those “without men” can be categorized and spoken to as a niche is vastly undervaluing the many, many differences that exist between and among the different categories of women.
A divorced women with children will have different “sleep at night” issues than the never-married corporate executive. The widowed woman who was not part of the financial decisions made by her husband is going to have different fears and worries than the widowed woman who was a partner in financial decision-making and may have a very lucrative job of her own. (The number of married women making more than their husbands jumped from 6.4% in 1960 to 24.3% in 2011, according to Pew Research Center).
Women have different styles, just as men do. Some women are hard charging and quick to make decisions. They want results and data. Others are more relational, quiet and thoughtful and are slower to action. Some show a combination of these traits. Some are more educated than others, and some understand financial concepts more than others.
I could go on and on illustrating the differences. Suffice it to say, I believe it is past the time we call women, as a stand-alone group, a niche market. Instead get to know the women you are targeting. The divorced woman with children under 18 will have things in common with other women like her, and the never-married corporate executive will likely have common concerns to other women like her. There are certainly themes within each of these categories, but rather than having a “calling all women” attitude, I suggest you research the different stages, life transitions and experiences a woman could have. Segregate on this basis, and then write your marketing copy or advertising talking to these women in their individual segments. Your branding should also be appealing to women – perhaps less financial blue and more colors and lively pictures. Make your writing interesting and informative, but make it targeted to the type of woman you are trying to attract.
The more granular you can be in your target marketing, the easier it becomes to “talk the talk” of the people you are trying to reach. This applies to anyone whose attention you want to capture.
Dear Bev,
I offended the daughter of a valued client during a lunch meeting the other day. My client is a very loud, no-holds-barred kind of guy. We often joke around about some things that are slightly off color, and he enjoys it. He had his 28-year-old daughter join him at lunch. She is a corporate executive in technology and already has amassed over $500,000.00 in savings (I think with a fair amount of support from her dad, but it is her money nonetheless). During the lunch, before we had ordered, I was telling my client about a recent hunting trip. I made a derogatory reference to one of the “kills” we made. Unbeknownst to me, his daughter is a vegetarian and animal-lover. She is anti-gun, and anti-everything to do with hurting animals. She colored visibly when I said this, and her father made light of it. He told me not to worry about her bleeding heart and her “sad eyes.” She didn’t seem comfortable really addressing it, but I noticed she never made direct eye contact with me for the rest of the lunch. She would speak to her father to answer questions. I called him afterward and apologized, and he told me not to worry and that she would get over it. I don’t trust this to be the case. I know she was very offended. Should I call her myself? What else could I do to remedy this situation?
M.O.
Dear M.O.,
Ah yes, the valuable lesson of being in a client-centric role and needing to find out the values, desires and beliefs of the market before you share your own! This applies to political, religious and “heart-based” issues such as the one you experienced. One of the problems, I believe, with knowing clients too well is that we can let our guard down as you did here. You have a good relationship and rapport with the father, so you automatically extended it to the daughter. Part of the challenge of multi-generational families is that rarely do they share all of the same beliefs and values. In fact, many times one generation will be vastly different from the next out of rejection or rebellion for the generation before. For example, one shouldn’t assume that a child shares his or her parents’ political views.
I realize you did not consciously think this through or you would not be writing, but it is a reminder to all of our readers to proceed with caution even when you think you are familiar with your audience. That said, in this case, I actually advise against reaching out to the daughter right away. It sounds like her father does not appreciate her viewpoint, or does not believe you did any real damage. He may or may not be right, but going directly to the daughter when he has said there is no reason to do so could be damaging to your relationship with him. The specific issue you stepped into runs very deep (I know, I have two vegetarians and many animal lovers in my household!) and so an apology, per se, could come off as somewhat self-serving.
I would wait until the next time you are working with the father. Then, tell him it is really disturbing to you that you said something so offensive to his daughter. Ask if there is anything you could do, such as taking her to lunch one-on-one, sending her a subscription to Vegetarian Times or donating money to an animal charity in her name. Your overtures might be rejected, but they also might be received as an acknowledgement that you made a mistake and will try and be respectful of what matters to her in the future.
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. In 2016 her firm relaunched the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently a Lecturer 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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