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For years, financial advisors were told to communicate more. So they did.
They sent newsletters, market commentaries, economic updates, investment outlooks, and articles written by people their clients had never met. The information was polished. It was timely. It was often useful.
But there was one problem: It did not sound like the advisor. Clients began asking, “Who is this? I do business with you.”
This reveals an important truth about communication. Clients do not simply want more information from their advisor. They want more of their advisor in the information.
Clients want to understand how the advisor thinks, what they value, and what guides them when hard decisions arise. Your clients want to hear a familiar voice, not another generic, institutional message that could have come from any firm in the country.
The Shift in Client Expectations
This became even more noticeable after the COVID-19 shutdown. The pandemic changed the expectations people bring into professional relationships. Clients became accustomed to seeing the homes, families, pets, frustrations, and personalities behind the businesses they worked with. The line between professional and personal communication did not disappear, it shifted.
People were no longer just interested in what someone knew. They wanted to understand who that person was. That does not mean clients are asking advisors to share every detail of their lives; it means they are looking for signs of humanity.
One way to think about this is through above-the-neck and below-the-neck communication. Above-the-neck communication comes from knowledge. It includes market analysis, planning strategies, tax considerations, retirement topics, and economic commentary. It demonstrates competence. Clients need that. They need to know that their advisor understands the work, stays informed, and can help them make thoughtful decisions.
Below-the-neck communication comes from the heart. It includes stories, values, experiences, lessons, and beliefs. It shows clients how the advisor views relationships, responsibility, family, uncertainty, success, and life beyond the portfolio. Clients need that, too.
Competence may earn the opportunity to begin a relationship, but connection helps the relationship endure.
Adding the Person Behind the Data
The problem is that many advisors communicate almost entirely from above the neck. They share facts, charts, forecasts, and technical explanations, but reveal very little of themselves. The result may be informative without being memorable.
Consider two advisors commenting on a difficult market.
The first sends a standard explanation of volatility, interest rates, and historical returns. The second provides some of that same information but also explains what the current environment reminds them of, how they are thinking about client concerns, and why patience matters during uncertain seasons.
Both may be accurate, but only one feels personal. The difference is not the quality of the data; it is the presence of the person.
Why Personal Communication Builds Trust
Personal communication builds trust because it gives clients context. They begin to understand how the advisor will respond when the plan is tested. They see whether the advisor is calm or reactive, thoughtful or impulsive, curious or dismissive. Over time, that understanding becomes part of the value of the relationship.
Values-driven content can be especially powerful because financial decisions are rarely only financial. Money is connected to family, security, identity, generosity, freedom, responsibility, fear, and hope. Clients may come to an advisor with questions about investments, but those questions often sit on top of something much deeper.
An advisor who is willing to communicate about those deeper issues can become more than a source of financial information. The advisor can become a trusted voice during important moments.
That may mean sharing a lesson learned from a parent, discussing how difficult it is to make decisions when emotions are high, or explaining why listening matters more than having the perfect answer. It might also mean talking about the responsibility of caring for aging parents or preparing the next generation.
These topics are personal, but they are also relevant. They help clients see that the advisor understands the life surrounding the money. This is also where advocacy begins.
Giving Clients the Language to Advocate
Clients rarely introduce an advisor to a friend because of a market update. They make an introduction because they believe the advisor understands people like them. They believe the advisor communicates clearly, shares their values, or can help someone they care about navigate a difficult season.
While generic information may keep clients informed, personal communication gives them something to remember and repeat.
That distinction matters because clients cannot advocate for an advisor they cannot describe. They need stories, shared values, and a clear sense of what makes the relationship different.
When advisors share their thinking and values consistently, clients begin to develop that language for themselves.
Of course, there are boundaries.
Personal content should still serve the audience. The goal is not self-expression for its own sake. It is not turning every message into a diary entry or forcing clients into parts of the advisor’s life that do not belong in the relationship. The best personal content answers a simple question: Does this help clients understand how I think, how I serve them, or what I believe matters? If the answer is yes, it belongs.
Balancing Practical Strategy & Voice
A practical communication strategy should include both sides of the equation. Advisors should continue providing useful financial education. But they should also create space for stories, perspectives, and values.
One month may feature a planning topic. The next may include a personal lesson. A market update may explain what is happening, while a short video may share how the advisor is helping clients think through it.
The formats can vary, but the voice should remain recognizable. Clients should feel that the person they see in a video, read in an email, and meet across the table is the same person. That consistency builds familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. And trust creates the kind of relationship clients want to keep and feel confident recommending. Clients do not need another anonymous expert filling their inbox. They already have access to more financial information than they could ever consume. What they need is someone whose voice they recognize when the world feels uncertain.
The market update may provide the facts. But the advisor provides the relationship.
Tim Riddle is the founder and CEO of Discover Blind Spots.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
