Financial advisers should not ignore the value of having soft and sales skills when it comes to servicing their clients, writes Tim Browne.
In an ideal world, I imagine that an ideal adviser would have the technical ability of Steve Jobs, the ethics of the Dalai Lama and the statesmanship of Pericles.
As we all adapt to consumer demands and regulatory standards, we must ensure we balance these qualities in equal doses to ensure our best advice is embraced.
Empathy, advanced listening skills and the ability to forge strong relationships with our clients in order to be able to guide them through the fact-finding process – and advise them on the best course of action – is at the very heart of what we do.
In fact, we have a fiduciary duty to ensure we offer our clients the most appropriate solutions for their individual situation.
Most advisers would choose not to call these fact-finding missions with a client “sales”, and in some areas of our industry the ‘s’ word is considered a dirty one.
But in fact, we are all in the business of helping people make smart decisions. Whether it’s convincing your 10-year-old to do their homework, or promising your wife that you will clean the gutters right after the footy game – sales and the art of persuasion is life.
To sell is to convince. To influence. To persuade. It is not about tricking “the other side”, but about doing what’s best for all involved.
Being professional means having great technical knowledge, education and a standing in your community as a trusted adviser, but it is just as important to be able to influence and compel clients to act based on meeting their needs.
Selling is a natural extension of a conversation you have with a potential client. Having the ability to tell a story, show empathy, ask questions and sincerely listen to the answers, then follow up with solutions or ideas that fit what you’ve just heard, you’re not “closing” the deal – you’re helping them.
In our business, professionalism is about delivering the best possible outcome for our clients. Sometimes this means doing what they want. But sometimes this means doing what they need.
American patriot, politician and business man John Hancock (he of the famous “John Hancock”, which became synonymous with the word signature because of his distinctive penmanship on the US Declaration of Independence) said:
“The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions.”
This isn’t as easy as it sounds, and financial advisers need to continually develop their skills.
David Maister, author of the highly regarded book The Trusted Advisor, believes the single most important talent in selling professional services is the ability to understand the purchasing process (not the sales process) from a client’s perspective.
He says: “The better a professional can learn to think like a client, the easier it will be to do and say the correct things to get hired.”
According to Maister: “There is an old joke about doctors that says they ‘get fascinated with the disease, but couldn’t care less about the patient’.
“Unfortunately, this attitude (and behaviour) is all too prevalent in a wide array of professions. Too many professionals get overly focused on technical matters and lose sight of the essential relationship nature of professional transactions.
“This doesn’t mean that technical skill is irrelevant – of course, it is critical. But having technical skills is only a necessary condition for success, not a sufficient one.
“Above all, what I, the client, am looking for is that rare professional who has both technical skill and a sincere desire to be helpful, to work with both me and my problem. The key is empathy – the ability to enter my world and see it through my eyes.”
And while David Maister wrote this article almost 10 years ago, not much has changed.
According to recent research conducted by the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA), “soft” skills such as building rapport, effective listening and empathy are the qualities most valued by advice clients, far outranking qualities like product knowledge and technical skills.
Tim Browne is general manager of retail advice at CommInsure.
