A behaviorally smart advisor is one who:
How does this help an advisor to connect with more prospects? Increased behavioral awareness helps an advisor to build the relationship on solid ground from the very beginning prospect stage.
Recent research conducted by Financial Advisor Magazine reported the top reason why clients fire an advisor is “failure to communicate on a timely basis”.
If you objectively uncover the prospect’s communication style in the on-boarding process, you could specifically discuss the way and types of communication that work best for the client and then adapt your style to accommodate the client.
Let’s look first at the communication style. One client might define successful communication if they are doing 80% of the talking. Another client might want lots of facts and information to be emailed to him so he could have plenty of time to read and review. Yet another client might define successful communication as allowing them to get right to their agenda and goals.
Next, think about what your prospects consider to be a “timely basis”? That definition can vary but it’s best to know upfront so you can manage expectations. An extremely goal oriented client may want responses within a few hours. Your outgoing clients may want at least an acknowledgement with a realistic response time frame established so they know what to expect.
The truth is that most advisors communicate with their prospects using their own style; which means they are only truly connecting with 25% of their prospects. That is why lack of communication ranks as the #1 reason clients leave advisors!
For many advisors, a great benefit of gaining more behavioral self-awareness is developing more flexibility. Understanding that you have certain communication tendencies leads to recognition that those tendencies serve one better in some situations than others. That recognition in turn leads to a willingness to assess a prospect and situation and adjust your approach to it, if called for. Knowing what behavior you prefer to show, and what is needed, empowers advisors to choose effective behaviors.
Make a commitment to become behaviorally smart. Because when it comes to increasing revenues in your practice, behavior will drive performance.