Have you ever considered what creates the very highest value for your financial planning clients?
I am going to suggest it is not, important as they are, the financial arrangements you recommend and put in place for them.
No.
It is their own mind shifts.
For example, when your client has a realisation of what truly matters to them, and aligns their finances with their deepest held values, or let’s go of worrying about money, their life is beneficially better.
What is the single biggest factor in your clients having their own mind shifts?
It is how you show up to the relationship.
The 12 client-centred mind shifts
I have recently shared the first six of the twelve client-centred mind shifts (first three click here, second three click here).
In this article I will share three more that are fundamental to the impact you can have on your clients and your business.
Mind shift 7 – Don’t be just good, be brilliant
In a recent conversation I had with financial planner Andy Jervis (click here) he made the point that if you are not aiming to be the best financial planner then you should refer your client onto someone who is.
Otherwise, you are doing the client a disservice.
If we are not aiming to be the best we can be then aren’t we doing ourselves a disservice too?
Cal Newport wrote an excellent book called, ‘So good they can’t ignore you.’ Cal got the inspiration for his book title from an interview he saw with the comedian and actor Steve Martin.
As a guest on the Charlie Rose show (in the US) Martin was asked for his advice for aspiring performers. His reply was:
“Nobody ever takes note of (my advice), because it’s not the answer they want to hear. What they want to hear is ‘Here is how to get an agent, here’s how you write a script’, … but I always say, ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.'”
Cal Newport in his book writes:
‘If you’re not focusing on becoming so good they can’t ignore you, you’re going to get left behind.’
Mind shift 8 – Your referability
I have often spoken with financial planners and advisers who do a good job for their clients and yet get few, if any, referrals.
Your referability is in direct proportion to the degree of impact you have in your client’s life.
Why do referrals happen? Because your clients have conversations with other people. And what do people talk about? They tend to talk about what is on their mind, what matters to them, and what they think is worth sharing.
Just a few days ago a financial planner client told me she received a great referral an existing client. How did this come about? Her client happened to sit next to someone at a business lunch and enthused about the work they did together. The result? The person he was talking to became enthused too and wanted a similar experience.
If you want more referrals then it begins with mind shift 7 – don’t just be good, be brilliant.
Mind shift 9 -Inspirational leadership
Being a financial planner or adviser is a leadership position.
Giving advice is not enough because it is useless unless followed. You can also expect resistance from many people to the advice they are given.
Why?
Because doing nothing will often seem like the path of least resistance, even though it isn’t. For example, for a client to commit a significant amount to saving or pension provision there will always be an opportunity cost. It means them giving up something else even when the logic of the commitment is crystal clear.
But logic does not move people. Emotion does. So, you as the professional must be a leader and take a stand for your client. Leadership is not what you say or do, it is where you are coming from.
The client-centred academy
Do you know how meaningful change happens?
It is always through insight. What this means is that you have a shift in consciousness, you become the change and new behaviours naturally follow. This requires no force, no discipline, and no being hard on yourself (which rarely work anyway).
I did not know this until I came across the inside-out understanding back in 2011.
Before then, although I followed the conventional approach of trying to wilfully change my behaviour. I could see this often did not work but I lacked a better alternative.
The ‘Client-centred Academy‘ is an environment designed for insight. You will get the mind shifts you need that are meaningful and practical to you and your business.
We begin on 13th January 2023. Click here to reserve your place.
