A New Campaign

Mitch Anthony

An advisor working for a bank came up to me after a speech with his eyes filling up and said, “I had decided before this meeting that I just couldn’t do this anymore. If you can show me a way to center what I do around the life and needs of my client, I will have hope. I have turned down the volume on my conscience for the last time.”

A person can breathe toxic air only so long. At some point, self-preservation kicks in.

You may have noticed that there has been a concerted effort to change the image of the financial services industry by advertising themes of client-centeredness and client concern. As with all paradigm shifts, there are some genuine parties and efforts at work and there are pretenders. The genuine parties are focused on bringing assimilation between their ads and their advisors. The disingenuous and half-hearted simply spend money on ads.

How long will it take before the perceptions of the advertisements become the reality of the client? Is there a process in place to bridge the promise of the advertisement with the practice of the advisor? Is there any line or strategic process that connects the two? The advertisements may be new but until the theme of the Monday morning “sales meeting” is different, the boiler room mentality that still exists within some firms will remain.

Until company culture issues are addressed, the inveterate mistakes that have made headlines will continue. Nothing gives away the careless conscience like talking out of two sides of one’s mouth: telling you to do your best to serve clients, but also making sure you push XYZ fund this week. If the mistakes of the last decade have not brought the issue of self-centeredness to the surface, what will it take?

The selling of financial advice can be––and is––a noble trade. But it cannot be noble if it is simply a masquerade for a financial carnival act. Fortunately, as most of you already know (and practice), there is a better way.

Good advisors can and do play heroic roles in the lives of their clients. Let’s assume that every product is designed to solve a problem or meet a need. The product is good if the intention of the product is good and the price affixed is competitive. This product is designed to meet a real need, so where does the danger lie in bringing this solution to the public?

There is really only one variable that opens the door to danger and keeps the selling of advice from being respectful and dignified. As professional life planners, you already know appropriateness can be solved only through thorough and sincere discovery.

One size does not fit all. But as long as the message of moving products supersedes the real message of serving clients’ needs, this industry will be replete with advisors trying to cram size 11 feet into size 9 shoes.

Not too long ago, I witnessed a sales training session within the industry. The trainer commenced his program as follows: “First, create a need.” I was dumbfounded. Create a need presupposes that there are no legitimate needs in the life of this client—therefore, the advisor must manipulate his perceptions to act as a springboard for his sales presentation. I challenge any advisor to find any client conversation where, with enough effort to understand the client’s situation and goals, a real need would not appear that could be addressed with a product or process you now offer. It is a self-absorbed and lazy approach to think you must “create the need.”  Instead of creating a need, why not just ask your clients what it is they need?

The Soul of the Matter

Appropriateness is ultimately a question of conscience and soul: am I trying to create the perception that this is needed to meet my own agenda, or am I trying to find the client’s real needs by offering the most appropriate fix for those needs?

The first sign of moving from the boiler room to the living room is taking a much keener interest in the lives of clients and becoming much more intrigued in the discovery part of the conversation than in pushing product. A strange paradox begins playing out when you do this: the less time you spend pushing products and the more time you spend discovering the lives and hopes of your clients, the more products and services you’ll end up distributing. But now all product sales are highly appropriate. Doing the right thing pays off! 

The industry can no longer afford shortsightedness, opportunism, or superficial relationships. When advisors come to work and are greeted with a Monday morning pep talk about building better relationships, when the motivation is about focusing on the long run and the big picture, when the focus is about discovering what’s going on in clients’ lives and about providing services that match the needs arising in those conversations, then and only then will behavior begin to change.

Use your own influence as a financial life planner to create change within your own firm. Together we can move the industry out of the boiler room and into the living room of our clients’ lives.

Adapted from From the Boiler Room to the Living Room: The Financial Services Revolution and What it Means to You and Your Clients by Mitch Anthony (©2008 Mitch Anthony). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Mitch Anthony is the founder and president of Advisor Insights Inc. and The Financial Life Planning Institute, training companies serving advisors and the financial services industry. He is the author of several books for advisors including the StorySelling for Financial Advisors. His newest book, From the Boiler Room to the Living Room:  What the Coming Revolution in Financial Services Means to You and Your Clients will be published by John Wiley & Sons in September. Anthony is a contributing editor for Research magazine and Bank Advisor magazine, and his column “Financial Life Planning” appears in Financial Advisor magazine. He has been a named a “Mover & Shaker” by Financial Planning magazine and is frequently quoted by the media as an expert on financial life planning. His radio feature, The Daily Dose, is heard every day on approximately 200 radio stations nationwide. 

Contact him at mitch@mitchanthony.com

© 2008 Mitch Anthony