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The Client-centred Blog

Welcome to The Client Centred Blog; Free content that shares a fresh approach to thriving as a financial professional in a rapidly changing environment.

This blog has its foundation in a new understanding of the human mind that gives you the ultimate platform for creating better results, thriving under any circumstances and living the life you want.

I invite you to explore the materials, reflect upon how it relates to you and your business and enjoy the benefits.

Listening is a super power

John Dashfield8 November 2023

Perhaps the most underrated skill for a financial planner or adviser is listening. Is there anything more important? I appreciate that you need to know what you are talking about. Yet this is a given, isn’t it?

John Dashfield19 October 2023

One of my financial planner clients made an astute observation when he said: “It takes a lot of courage for a client to meet with a financial planner.” He understands that when he first meets with a new client, or even an existing one, they may have a lot on...

John Dashfield12 October 2023

As professional people we value integrity, right? We like to think of ourselves as being a person of integrity and we want other people to act with integrity towards us. To me, this seems at the very core of trust.

How to have a great first conversation

John Dashfield4 October 2023

The first conversation you have with a potential client sets the tone for everything that comes afterwards. Therefore, it is essential to make it a great conversation, meaning that the person feels listened to, understood, and completely trusts you.

The power of creating client agreements

John Dashfield6 September 2023

This article is about a powerful, proven way you can add significant value to all your client relationships. So, let me share with you a recent experience of the process in action. I have just spent three days in London as part of the AJC Coaching Career School.

Why elevator pitches don’t work

John Dashfield31 August 2023

What prompted me to write this article about elevator pitches was reading an article published by Asana. It said: “A good elevator pitch can be the difference between landing your next big opportunity or falling short of the competition.” Really? Does this stack up?

John Dashfield21 August 2023

This article is about value creation and why it is the key to happy, loyal clients and a thriving practice. Over the past couple of weeks, I have had two services come up for renewal. One was my car breakdown cover and the other was my car insurance. In both...

John Dashfield3 August 2023

If you were forced to do just one activity in your business and had to relinquish all else, what would that one activity be? In my experience most advisers would say: “Spending my time meeting with clients.” Is this true for you?

John Dashfield20 July 2023

One of the biggest challenges for a financial adviser is getting stuck on a plateau they cannot seem to move past. Can you think of a recurring problem or limitation in your business?

John Dashfield12 July 2023

Do you ever concern yourself with trying to prove your value to a client or potential client? If so, you would be far from alone. It can be tempting to try and be impressive and this can be especially true in the sales process. Yet it is also destructive. So,...

John Dashfield5 July 2023

Highly effective financial planners are not just good at delivering great advice; they are also strong leaders. One of the greatest challenges in the financial planning process is having clients consistently follow through on their plans and achieve the success they desire. So, leadership is an essential quality for financial...

John Dashfield22 June 2023

This article is about slowing down your financial planning conversations. But what does this mean and what makes it worth doing? Slowing down your conversations does not mean speaking slower or dragging out a conversation for no reason. That would make no sense. It is about creating significantly more value...

John Dashfield1 June 2023

Just recently I read an article in Professional Adviser about how financial advisers see financial well-being in relation to financial planning (according to a study by Standard Life). The research showed that 71% of advisers view supporting financial well-being as a secondary part of their business in comparison with financial...

John Dashfield12 April 2023

The key difference between a transactional financial adviser a ‘Trusted adviser’ is how the adviser is positioned in the mind of the client. As a ‘Trusted Adviser’ you are someone a client turns to for your valued input, advice, opinion, help with key decisions, and possibly coaching. A good description...

John Dashfield5 April 2023

In a world where we seem to be so focused upon ‘doing’ it is so easy to forget that it’s our state of mind that determines the quality of our actions, depth of impact, and overall quality of our life experience. For instance, I realised: *To truly connect with other...

John Dashfield29 March 2023

Do you want to conduct outstandingly good financial planning meetings? This seems exceptionally important to me because the quality of the meetings you conduct are the foundation of building a thriving, profitable, and sustainable practice. This article is about the number one way to achieve consistent and continual improvement of...

Deep rapport and why it matters

John Dashfield8 March 2023

Rapport is an essential element in creating strong, productive and lasting client relationships. It is also a highly significant factor in not only the provision of financial planning and advice, but also whether your client follows it. Below is a link to an audio recording (18m39s) where I take a...

John Dashfield15 February 2023

In a perfect world all financial planning clients would be highly motivated to follow through with their financial plans and get the results they want. Yet this is not a perfect world and I remember sometimes getting frustrated with clients that did not take the actions they needed to take....

John Dashfield8 February 2023

My client Fulva Giust is one of the UK’s most successful female financial planners, operating for over thirty years. Fulva has built a thriving practice serving wealthy families and individuals built upon rock solid foundations of trust, caring, and kindness. She takes a deep interest in the lives of her...

A simple guide to living in flow

John Dashfield26 January 2023

Would you like to spend far more of your time in a state of ‘flow’? Flow is the experience of being totally absorbed in the moment, when time seems to stand still, and nothing else seems to matter. I was reading about the legendary tennis player Billie Jean King and...

John Dashfield19 January 2023

How can you begin to deeply serve a client from the very first moment? When meeting with a potential client there are likely to be at least three important questions on their mind: 1. Do I like them? 2. Can I trust them? 3. Can they help me?

John Dashfield15 December 2022

Do you love working with your existing clients but hate selling? If so, you would not be alone. Yet rather than enduring this essential aspect of being a financial planner what if you could learn to love what is often perceived as the hard part? If this is you then...

John Dashfield11 May 2022

What do clients want most of all? Do you want to create massive value financial planning meetings at every opportunity? One of the challenges in any long-term financial planning relationship is keeping it fresh, inspiring, and avoiding it becoming stale. In this article I explore how value is created and...

John Dashfield6 April 2022

Do you ever find your role as a lifestyle financial planner being overly complex? Would you like it to be simpler, more productive, and more rewarding? If so, this article considers that there are only three core roles of a lifestyle financial planner.

John Dashfield31 March 2022

Genuine financial planning is very different from providing purely transactional financial advice. So, how you sell financial planning is a different kind of conversation too. Would you like it to be easier to sell financial planning engagements?

John Dashfield9 March 2022

Client well-being is fast rising up the agenda for financial planners. Why is this and is it something you should be focusing upon with your clients? In this article I explore why financial planners and advisers are increasingly focusing upon the well-being of their clients.

John Dashfield24 February 2022

This article looks at an important aspect of asking financial planning questions that often get neglected. Often, financial advice is triggered when something happens or is going to happens in a client’s life. For instance, the sale of a business, divorce, or an upcoming retirement.

John Dashfield15 February 2022

As a financial planner building instant trust with clients is one of the biggest obstacles you will need to overcome. This article looks at a different yet highly effective approach.

John Dashfield8 December 2021

There are three types of financial planning client you can build your practice around. And because the three types are defined by what the client values, it can make a massive difference to the quality of your business.

John Dashfield1 September 2021

What is the difference between a financial advisory conversation and a financial planning conversation?

John Dashfield4 August 2021

Why should financial planners choose their language carefully in their financial planning conversations with clients?

John Dashfield28 July 2021

Financial Advice is so often delivered in very unimaginative ways that has little difference to how the majority of practitioners deliver it.

John Dashfield6 May 2021

Effective, heartfelt communication is a natural consequence of a free and present state of mind. This is why trying to use techniques so often diminishes the potential rather than improving it. Questions are a great example. Trying to memorise a question or a series of questions will more than likely...

Telling clients your truth

John Dashfield10 February 2021

Building a thriving practice, based on making a bigger difference to clients has many aspects to it. One of the most fundamental is that client relationships are based on truth. It can feel uncomfortable (at first) to share your truth with clients and allow them to do the same with...

Do you love what you do?

John Dashfield14 December 2020

Going back a while I was invited to speak at an event for advisers at The Etihad stadium in Manchester. I spoke about creating better client engagement through being curious about what it is that clients want from life rather than just focusing on products and investments…

John Dashfield1 October 2020

How do I get my financial advisory practice off the ground? How do I get more clients to notice my financial planning services? If you’ve done all the things you’re supposed to do from a marketing sense to entice new clients with no luck, it could be time to take...

John Dashfield26 June 2020

The very first stage of a new client relationship is connecting with someone. They may get in touch with you. You may get in touch with them. Whichever it is the next stage is that you invite them into a conversation. Conversations are the most important aspect of building your...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dashfield spent 14 years as a self-employed adviser. Since 2006 he has been a coach, mentor and author helping advisers create transformations in their business and personal lives.

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