The Master Mantra of becoming a successful Financial Advisor: A financial Advisor should be able to communicate with and convince the client. When we talk about communicating and convincing, much stress is laid on the fact that the advisor should be a good speaker, he should be able to able to transmit his thoughts into the client's mind. But to make this transmission successful, the client should have an open mind and the client will have an open mind, only when he has developed confidence in you. He must trust you that what you are speaking is 'entirely for him'. He will get this confidence only if he feels he is being heard, he should feel that his priorities, needs and concerns are being carefully listened to. Only then your speech will have an impact and only then the client will open the door and let your ideas in. So, to sum up the success formula is in fact the other way round, the advisor should be able to read the client's thoughts before transmitting his'. A financial advisor in order to communicate effectively must practice the 80:20 principle. 80 Listen and 20 Talk.
Clients don't need too much of information, but what they need is an assurance that their goals will be met, their needs will be taken care of. Clients want to be listened. So, how do you listen to them? Do you meet them, they speak and you are just there? You hear a lot of sounds, but you filter out and listen to a few of them. Imagine, you are on your way to office, you hear sounds of vehicles honking, there are sounds of dogs barking, a fruit vendor yelling 'apple 80 rupay kilo'. You finally cross the chaos and reach office. On the office gate, you meet Isha, your colleague, whom you secretly admire, and you are all ears to what she's about to say and she asks, 'Hey, How are you?'.
So, the question is was there a difference between the way you received the sounds on the roads and words of Isha? The difference is you were listening to Isha, because you were interested in knowing what she was saying and you were hearing the sounds because those sounds didn't matter to you, but not hearing them was not an option.
So, by now you know where we are going? A Financial Advisor should not just hear his client, rather listen. So how do we do it? How to master the art of Listening?
- Maintain eye contact while your client is talking. He should sense that you are interested in his problems and you are empathetic towards his goals and wishes.
- It's the 'Mobile era' and being a financial advisor, the frequency of calls on your phone is high. But when you are in the middle of a conversation, the other person is saying something, and your phone is ringing again and again, and at times you are excusing yourself from the conversation and taking calls. This would bug the other person, and the dialogue will also lose momentum. So, when you are in a meeting, the other person deserves the respect of not being interrupted repeatedly. Switch off your phone or keep it on silent.
- Try not to interrupt while he's speaking, even if you have the utmost urge to speak and a very strong argument to keep. Control your emotions, be patient and let him complete.
- Ask questions, where you need clarifications, you and him will be on the same page plus it gives an impression that you are involved.
- Acknowledge in between, your gestures and body language would do half of the listening. So, a nod or a 'hmmmm' or an 'ohhhh' acknowledging his points, would make a positive impact.
- Don't jump to conclusions without having all the facts. Respond after listening carefully, completely and after giving a thorough thought. The client might have something very important to tell you which can completely change the solution that you are about to give to him. So, premature guessing and opinions based thereupon, can be fatal.
- Listen with open mind; it will help you understand his point of view better.
Your client is giving you the solution for him in each sentence that he speaks. Listen Carefully. He is making your work easy, be all ears to him. It is difficult to be attentive always yet your commitment to listen is totally worth it. It will give you a platform to speak better, and increase your chances of getting more business.