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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.

The twelve client-centred mind shifts that will transform your financial planning practice – part 4
When I wrote ‘The Client-Centred Financial Adviser’ back in 2015, the core message was this: Who you’re being matters more than what you’re doing. Before I realised this for myself, I was very focused on doing. I was always looking for better ways to do things. This brought results –...
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The twelve client-centred mind shifts that will transform your financial planning practice – part 3
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself: What creates the highest value for my financial planning clients? It’s easy to assume it’s the financial strategies and structures you recommend and yes, those matter. But I’d argue the real value lies elsewhere. It’s in their own mind shifts.
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The twelve client-centred mind shifts that will transform your financial planning practice – part 2
We’re living in challenging times – full of uncertainty. No doubt, many of your clients worry about their finances, their future, and whether they’re doing the right things. You can’t change the external environment. But what you can do is help them find peace of mind despite it. So how...
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The twelve client-centred mind shifts that will transform your financial planning practice – part 1
You have worked hard to become a qualified financial professional. You are making a difference in the lives of your clients, and your business is steady. This is a big, well-deserved success and there is much to celebrate. Yet at this stage you might also pause, reflect, and ask yourself,...
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Client meetings: why speak from your heart and not just your head?
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?
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The power of systems and how they can change your life
I enjoy reading books and every now and then I read one that is outstandingly good. The most recent of these is ‘The power of systems’ by Steve Chandler and Trevor Timbeck. It’s a book about creating better, more consistent results in whatever you choose to do.
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Learning a Lot — But implementing little?
We’ve just completed the final session of our online Client Engagement Masterclass. Over eight sessions, the participants and I explored the core principles of creating exceptional client engagement. The content was powerful — and just as valuable were the insights participants shared with each other. But as with any programme,...
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Five steps financial planners can take to becoming an exceptional listener
Being an exceptional listener is one of the most effective and reliable ways to build or deepen any relationship. It also makes you different from most other people. In her book, ‘Time to think’Certainly not at the level which you can have a profound impact on people and take the...
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Why challenging your financial planning clients is great for business
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...
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What is the true value of a financial adviser in turbulent times?
The last thing that brought our minds into sharp focus of how unforeseen event can change our lives was covid. That was until Donald Trump imposed trade tariffs. The result being that the world’s stock markets have fallen sharply and may fall further still. As a financial professional you are...
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The little understood power of the present moment
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...
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The changing face of financial advice: How advisers must evolve to stay relevant
One of the things I have noticed about financial advisers and practices that continue to thrive is that they are masters of reinvention.
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Too much information: Give clients only what they need (not everything you have)
How clients feel is hugely important to how they receive information. If they are overwhelmed of fearful for instance, it’s likely that meetings will go poorly. On the other hand, if the client feels relaxed and calm, generally meetings will be successful.
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The importance of honesty in client relationships
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...
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Beyond Logic: Why intuition matters in a left-brained world
Is intuition important in business? Can you rely on it or is it an unreliable distraction with the best way forward being a left-brained, logical, and data driven approach to everything?
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The 8 keys to inspiring financial planning meetings every time!
There are specific and predictable keys that result in inspiring financial planning meetings every time. And by paying attention and making consistent progress with each key, you are: 1. No longer leaving the quality of your meetings to chance. 2. Raising the bar to an exceptionally high level. In this...
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Why your financial planning fees must NEVER be an issue
This article explores why your financial planning fees must never be an issue with clients. Just recently a financial planner client of mine came to our coaching session wanting to talk about a fee situation with a client of his.
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The power of asking your clients permission   
“How do I get clients to open up more easily?” This was the question that came up in a recent coaching session I had with a financial planner client. Of course, there is more than one single answer but the one that we explored is especially important. This is asking...
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Why goals won’t bring you success and what will
I have been a goal setter ever since my mid-twenties. And when I look back, I notice that I achieved some of the things I set out to do and failed at some too. I used to be hard on myself over my perceived failures, thinking I was not somehow...
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My favourite Einstein quote and why it matters
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?
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Financial planner? What you need to know about influence
If you are going to build and maintain a successful career as a financial planner, then being able to influence people seems essential to me.
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Are coaching skills essential for financial planners?
Is one of your goals to be the best financial professional you can be by helping your client get the results they most want? If so, there is a set of skills that look to me as essential.
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The most read articles of 2024
As is traditional for me, the first blog of the New Year is a revisit to what financial planners and advisers were most interested in during the past twelve months.
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Stress free goal setting for financial planners
What is your experience of goal setting? For me, I would set goals because it seemed like a good idea to know where I wanted to get to. Yet I found that, at times, the process could often become quite stressful. I have also heard many people share that this...
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How to ask powerful financial planning questions
Asking great financial planning questions is the foundation of creating a highly compelling plan for your client. When your client can clearly see that their financial plan is going to be an essential part of getting what they most want then why wouldn’t they be excited about it?
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The truth about happiness and why this really matters
Happiness matters. It matters not least because there is a well-documented correlation between our happiness and our health, wealth, and quality of life.
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Unleash your inner power: The power of believing you can make a difference
As a financial planner you do brilliant work for your clients that can be life changing. But are you fully behind what you do and willing to take a stand for your work?
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The law of action – why action beats attraction
Do you want to build a better, more profitable practice but finding progress is painfully slow? You have probably heard of ‘The law of attraction’. The idea gained huge popularity when the film and then the book, ‘The secret’ was released.
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The end of sales techniques: How authentic connection drives results
Being able to positively influence someone and confidently sell your services are essential skills if you want to build a thriving financial planning practice. Yet it seems that many advisers feel uncomfortable in sales situations. They may fear coming across as ‘pushy’, being rejected, or receiving push-back. Some believe that...
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Success is an Inside Job: Why your state of mind is key to thriving as a financial adviser
The importance and effect of state of mind is well known in sport. A recent and brilliant example being British triathlete Alex Yee at the Paris Olympics. In the men’s individual triathlon Alex was trailing Hayden Wilde of New Zealand as he had been for most of the run. He...
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A simple financial planning questions formula
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...
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Do you ever get in your own way? Here’s what helped me
Do you ever get in your own way? I know I do. I have times when I feel in a low mood, everything seems more difficult, and my natural zest disappears. Many times I have had clients say to me that the only thing stopping them is themselves. So, how...
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Why your financial planning practice culture is the key to delivering exceptional service
Are you committed to delivering exceptional client service? If so, employees who genuinely care, communicate well, and take responsibility are essential. This article takes a look at how to bring out the best in your team.
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Publishing a book is a huge opportunity for financial planners: Here’s why
Have you ever considered publishing a book? I recently spent six months as part of a group of 36 coaches in the AJC Coaching Career School. Of those 36 coaches there were at least six people who were published authors of a book (some people more than one).
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20 bad financial adviser inter-personal habits
In this weeks’ blog I am looking at… 20 bad financial adviser inter-personal habits Look and see if any of these apply to you. Corrective action can make an enormous difference to your success.
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Will your financial plan pass the ‘so what’ test?
Imagine that you have gone through the discovery process with your client and your next meeting is to present your carefully crafted financial plan. You want the meeting to be a success and have the client be enthusiastic about your recommendations. So, how can you give yourself the highest and best...
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The truth about trust building for financial planners
Everyone knows that absolute trust is at the core of a successful relationship between a financial planner and a client. But where does real trust come from? And how do you create absolute trust quickly and reliably?
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Top ten essential inter-personal skills for financial planners
Is technical ability a guarantee of a successful and prosperous career as a financial planner?  The answer is ‘no’ because being a successful practitioner is just as much about people as it is a technical role. So, in this article I am looking at my top ten essential inter-personal skills...
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Are your feelings running your business?
Have you ever found that self-doubt, a low mood, or feeling fearful has held you back?  I’m sure this has been the case for all of us and it can have a big impact upon the quality of our results. In this article I am sharing how you get past...
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Why does attachment ruin client engagement?
Successful client engagement has many aspects and, in this article, I am exploring one of the most crucial. Do you ever find yourself being attached to an outcome? For instance, you are in conversation with a potential client, and you have something on it going your way. You feel an...
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The amazing power of questions
As a financial planner or adviser people come to you for your knowledge and expertise. Yet, first and foremost, you must create a context for advice so that when it is provided, people successfully implement it and get the outcome they want. The only way I have found of creating...
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Financial Planner? Are you selling drills or holes?
In my career as a financial adviser the training and qualification process was all about pensions, investments, insurances, tax, markets, trusts, risk, and so on. So, in the beginning this is what I talked to people about because this is what I thought you did. It did not occur to...
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How to get more financial planning referrals
Would you like to generate more high quality financial planning referrals?
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Why financial planning clients are paying for leadership
Why do clients seek out professional help from a financial planner or adviser? Specific reasons are many, but fundamentally it comes down to only two things: 1. They have a problem to solve 2. They want to feel better  This is how value is created and this article explores a...
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Your social self verses your professional self
Finances are a challenging subject for many people, perhaps most. So, for someone to seek out a financial planner or advisers help is a big deal. Yet just because someone receives good financial advice does this mean they will automatically be successful in achieving what they want?
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The most popular client-centred blog posts of 2023
What have financial planners and advisers been most interested in over the past year? The following are my most popular client-centred blog posts of 2023.
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The value of knowing your value
Last week I was in London for three days attending the AJC Coaching Career School. This is a six-month long school, run by Ankush Jain, for coaches who want to build a more impactful coaching practice. For me, one of the most important things about being in business is that...
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When is your financial advisory client ready for deeper conversations?
Do you want to have deeper conversations with your clients but concerned about whether they are ready? If so, you are not alone. A typical scenario is that a financial adviser has a transactional relationship with a client and wants to shift to a financial planning relationship.
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Listening is a super power
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?
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A simple formula for making more money
Would you like your career as a financial planner or adviser to be more financially rewarding? I sometimes have conversations with advisers who are not enjoying what they do. Some even say they are thinking of leaving the business altogether. Often, at the root of this is that they are...
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The importance of relaxing your financial planning client
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...
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Integrity: It is more important than we think 
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.
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How to have a great first conversation 
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.
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The power of creating client agreements
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.
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Why elevator pitches don’t work
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?
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Value creation: the key to happy, loyal clients
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...
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Be the casino, not the gambler
Are you happy in your job as a financial planner or adviser? I often speak with financial planners or advisers who feel stuck in a rut and want to reinvigorate their work.  Maybe they have been doing the same thing for a long while and simply want to change. Sometimes...
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Financial planner? Stop trying to prove your value
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,...
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What use is financial planning without strong leadership?
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...
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Two approaches to goal setting and why only one is healthy
I have found that goal setting can be a double-edged sword.  On one hand we want to achieve things that are important to us, so aiming at something makes sense. Yet for many people pushing hard towards their goals also causes them a lot of stress and compromises their quality...
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Why slow down your financial planning conversations?
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...
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Why is a client’s well-being at the core of financial planning?
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...
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The timeless wisdom of Charlie Munger
Charlie Munger (now 99 years young) is a billionaire businessman, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and business partner of Warren Buffett, one of the greatest investors of all time. He is asked about the secret to a long and happy life, and he replies: …
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How to have clients sell financial planning to themselves
A realisation that has been extremely helpful to me is that you can never want something for your client more than they want it for themselves. In this way, financial planning is almost certainly going to be most beneficial when a client sells it to themselves. This article explores why...
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How to make your financial planning meetings better than ever
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...
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Twenty signs you are on the path to truly great financial planning
What is the difference between ‘average’ financial planners and those who become truly great at what they do? I have been reflecting on this question for a while now and wanted to share my thoughts on this with you. I think it begins with the ‘want to’. Do you truly...
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Deep rapport and why it matters
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...
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A new way of thinking about financial planning fees  
Although there seems to be plenty of information on the process of increasing your financial planning fee, there is far less on the thinking behind it. So, in this article I am taking an alternative look at fee charging. Read on to discover:  1. How most firms set fees 2....
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Is money holding you back from building a prosperous financial planning practice?
I read a survey conducted with financial advisers asking what their biggest challenge was. Number one was getting clients. It would be easy to believe that all is required to solve this problem is finding a reliable source of potential clients. Yet this is not always true. As I discovered,...
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Four keys to highly motivated financial planning clients
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....
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Wisdom from one of the UK’s most successful female financial planners
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...
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My favourite Warren Buffett quote and why it matters
Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time and one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. He also has some very astute observations about life. My favourite is his observation that: ‘Busy is the new stupid.’ One time he was in discussion with another super successful person,...
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A simple guide to living in flow
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...
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10 powerful ways a financial planner can deeply serve clients from the first moment
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?
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Why I stopped meditating
Last week I had a wonderful conversation with a friend who has a vast amount of experience as a coach and has worked with thousands of people. She observed that in her experience every single person always wants the same thing in the end. Ultimately, we all want to feel...
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Do you hate selling financial planning? Discover the two shifts that change everything
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...
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The 12 client-centred mind shifts – part 4
When ‘The Client-centred financial adviser’ was published back in 2015 the core message in that book was that who you are being is massively more significant than what you are doing. I even wrote a chapter titled, ‘Being is the new doing’. For many years in my own business, I...
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The 12 client-centred mind shifts – part 2
You almost certainly have clients that are worried about their finances, what might happen in future, and if they are doing the right things. We are living in challenging times. Some advisers avoid their clients at times like this. They don’t want to tell them their investments have gone down...
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What makes a client want to engage a financial planner?
A successful financial planner I work with remarked to me that no one ever approaches him for a financial planning engagement. Instead, there is usually a trigger event that leads a client to thinking they want a financial product, financial issue solved, or investment advice. So, how do you shift...
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How do you become a great financial planner… not just good?
How do you become a great financial planner? One who has a powerful, positive impact in the lives of your clients? Of course, there are many attributes but one in particular stands out. Read on to discover what this is and why it is so important. What do clients look...
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Better time management for financial advisers and planners
As a financial planner are you as productive as you would like to be? Would you like to get more done, in less time, and with none of the stress? In this article I am going to explore the hidden factor that leads to genuinely better time management for financial...
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The hidden secret of where you find financial planning clients
Do you want to know the hidden secret of where you find financial planning clients? Most of the advice on how to find financial planning clients is prescriptive. It tells you what to do or where to look. Yet how helpful is this?
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What are the three roles of a lifestyle financial planner?
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.
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How to successfully sell financial planning
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?
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Why is client well-being increasingly on the agenda for financial planners?
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.
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5 steps financial planners can take to becoming a better listener
As a financial planner what value is there in becoming a better listener? Is it worth your time, effort, and focus to improve? This article explores the value of deep listening and 5 practical steps you can take to immediately become a better listener.
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Asking essential financial planning questions: the ones that no one else thinks to ask
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.
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How financial planners can build instant trust with clients
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.
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Great people skills – in an instant!
Is it possible to have great people skills in an instant?
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Giving financial advice – 3 important steps
You no doubt put a great deal of time and effort into creating high quality advice for your clients. Yet this alone does not guarantee it will be accepted and followed.
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Are your financial planning conversations too friendly?
What is the difference between a financial advisory conversation and a financial planning conversation?
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What does it really take to 10x grow a financial planning business?
There is a critical factor in growing your financial planning business that is often misunderstood.
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Should Financial Planners stop talking about retirement?
Why should financial planners choose their language carefully in their financial planning conversations with clients?
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Understanding your client’s world – key number 1
Financial Advice is so often delivered in very unimaginative ways that has little difference to how the majority of practitioners deliver it.
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The two styles of selling and why one of them is toxic
Although you could fill a small library with books on selling it seems to me that there are two distinct styles. You could call these pushing and pulling and here is how they contrast. Pushing is based upon trying to persuade, convince or entice someone into buying a product or...
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Do you want highly motivated clients?
Do you want clients that are…? *highly motivated to work with you. *highly motivated to follow through on the tasks that you need them to do. *highly motivated to take the actions necessary to achieve their goals. Rather than these being qualities that some people have, and others do not…
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Do you love what you do?
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…
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Getting out of your own way
I was recently in conversation with a client and he said to me that the next month at work was going to be difficult. So, I asked him why he thought that and he explained that several staff were due to be away on training and this was going to...
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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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