
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
Dear Bev,
I just joined our advisory firm and have been reviewing our materials. My background is compliance, so that’s the eye I am using, but as I read through our materials, I realize we aren’t saying very much. Yes, we are Independent, flat-fee, our gains and losses are tied to the same metrics as our clients, we are fiduciaries putting our client’s needs above all else and we use an objective investment framework. This is all blah-blah-blah. I have worked at five other RIAs and they could all say these exact same things. It is possible to create a message to talk about what we do that is actually different? I’m dubious to suggest this or take on this initiative without some confidence there would a light at the end of the tunnel.
Rich S.
Dear Rich,
The ongoing dilemma – how do you stand out in a crowded market and one where everyone, essentially, is doing much of the same thing? Professional services marketing can be tough because there is nothing to touch or feel. You can’t tout bells and whistles, or fancy gadgets. You are selling a service and each of us will place a different value on a service depending on what we deem to be important to us.
Financial advisors – RIAs, independents and even brokers – are providing a similar service. There are different flavors of course in that some are fee-based, some commissioned, some held to fiduciary standards, some marketing products their company has created, some doing planning, some as investment specialists but at the bottom line, it’s a similar offering to the average high net worth investor who doesn’t get all of the nuances of each flavor.
This said, there are some important differences to consider that have more to do with the people aspect, and the relational aspect, rather than the technical competency or fee aspect. Each advisory business IS different by definition because the people are different. I’ve personally worked with thousands of advisors and I can honestly say that while I hear many stories that are similar in process – how they treat their clients, their objectivity, their philosophy etc. – the people telling the stories, and the way they tell the stories, can be vastly different from one another.
It’s important when you want to stand out in a crowded market to get at the root of what it feels like, about how clients think, about doing business with you. Paint a picture through your marketing materials of what a client should expect when working with you. What type of people will they work with on a daily basis? What kinds of communication can they expect? What type of life planning will they do? Focus on adjectives that describe your staff. Move away from the same-old “independent”, “objective”, “flat fee” types of things to more colorful, descriptive words.
One way to do this is to gather your staff together and have them tell stories about their work with clients. What adjectives or descriptors emerge from the stories? What do the stories tell you about your firm?
Rather than capturing different facts and data, try to move to capturing feeling and thinking language.
Good luck!
Dear Bev,
The market is thriving and we are making money for our clients – and for ourselves. Why aren’t I more confident? People on my team are celebrating and high fiving each other and instead of joining in, I worry about what we’re missing. What’s coming next? How long can this only-up market sustain itself? What’s wrong with me that I can’t enjoy the ride?
K.T.
Dear K.T.,
In answering the question it would be helpful to see your behavioral style. When we work with a tool called DISC, there are four scales of behavior – problems (dominance), people (influencing), pace (steadiness) and compliance (procedures). The scales each range from a low of 0 to a high of 100. People who score low (i.e. below 40) on the D and I scales, or high (i.e. above 60) on the C scales tend to be more “fearful”. They are wired to look for the errors, to be watchful about what’s wrong or what needs to be fixed. You may well have a behavioral DNA that simply makes you more prone to thinking about downside. In truth there is nothing wrong with this – some people are overly optimistic and some overly pessimistic, it’s all about degrees.
However, if you are finding your propensity to worry or “miss out” is hampering your life and your happiness, there are a few things you can do to manage your stress a bit.
- Recognize everything in life is fluid. You are absolutely right, the market is on a ride right now and the ride is mostly going up, but there will be corrections, there always are. So you make the best decisions you can each day, enjoy the good times but prepare and preserve for the future.
- Do something you enjoy. If your colleagues are high fiving and you find yourself being out of place, go do something that matters to you. Make some client calls, rebalance a portfolio that needs it, write notes to clients, take a walk, go to the gym, etc. Remove yourself from the situation that makes you uncomfortable and go do something else you care about.
- Repeat my favorite mantra, “This too shall pass.” This applies to wonderful things and difficult times. Nothing is permanent so becoming attached to anything is an exercise in futility.
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.
Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington