Don't Sell SRI Funds Until You Read This!

If you are already selling SRI funds or if you are considering it – good for you! But if your client base is mostly comprised of men – there is a good chance that it may be a harder sell.

Time to rethink your approach because …


Female investors are nearly 2x as likely as male investors to consider both rate of return and positive impact when making an investment.*

Clearly women are already having a tremendous impact on the move to ethical investing. If you hope to succeed in selling SRI Funds you need to understand women as clients and what motivates them.

Know that they don’t want just to hear about the alpha and beta of the funds in this category. They want to get to know the companies who are responsible corporate citizens. That means they want to support a cause, whether that be the environment, family friendly organizations, renewable energies, or women in leadership.

So as an advisor you had better know more than a fund’s stats if you are going to close this sale.

Consider the following: one woman told us that her advisor, knowing that she was interested in ethical investing, recommended a fund that he felt spoke to her passion for saving the rain forests in South America. But when she asked for details, all he could site were rates of return – he knew nothing more about the company. He lost the sale and eventually the account too.

Related: Are the Fastest Growing Advisors Gender Neutral?

The business of giving financial advice is changing and women are driving much of the change.

To learn more about what women want and expect from their financial advisor, check us out at www.strategymarketing.ca

* Morgan Stanley Institute for sustainable investing – February 2015