A great interview only starts with great questions. A truly great interview depends on great answers. So the best attribute a great interviewer can possess is the ability to listen. It’s true in journalism, and it’s true in financial planning. Understanding a client’s motivation, goals and aspirations starts with good questions, but it depends on good listening.
James Evangelidis, a principal consultant with Envoy Professional Search and author of the book What do financial planning clients really want?, says “the best thing you can ask any client – be they ultra-high-net-worth, be they a person who’s a PAYG employee – is ‘why?’ ”.
He says that financial planners who ask the right questions and achieve a good understanding of what drives a client tend to do a better job of explaining to the client exactly what they do and how they can help.
Based on the interviews Evangelidis conducted with clients for his book – subtitled 20 frank conversations with people on what they think about, and want from, financial planners – only a small proportion of financial planners are able to do that.
“Of the 20 interviews I did, probably less than five really made the mark,” he says.
People over process
Evangelidis says the interviews revealed that “post-GFC in particular” there is a lot of confusion among consumers about what a financial planner is and what a financial planner isn’t.
“Those people who have never used a planner or who have used a planner once – for example, there’s a lady [in the book] code-named ‘Julie’, who is a bookkeeper – who first went to a planner 15 years ago and she hasn’t gone back since. She was treated in such a way by the adviser …that she got the impression that she wasn’t worthy of their attention and there was nothing they could do for her. She feels small, because of that – and that’s wrong.
“The problem is that the planner went through a process. It’s compliance driven.”
Evangelidis says that after conducting the client interviews he concluded that “overwhelmingly, there’s a disconnect” between clients and planners.
“It comes down to a few things. It’s the adviser assuming things; the other thing is there seems to be a pressure not just at the big end of town but at every end of town, to sell. There’s a pressure to push an outcome. I can understand that – they’re not there to be a charity, they’re there to provide a business outcome for themselves.
“But, the best advisers I’ve come across are those who from the get-go describe what they can actually do for the client.”
He says that studies have shown that if you can “ask the question ‘why?’ at least three times in a conversation – not, ‘why, why why?’, but to weave them into a conversation in a genuine and sincere way – then by the time you reach the third ‘why?’ the response tends to be closer to the real truth rather than the response to the first ‘why?’ “.
“If I ask you ‘why?’ once, you usually give me a standard response,” he says.
“It’s like the question, ‘So how are you?’. You’ll answer, ‘Yeah, not bad’. But any professional adviser – be they a financial planner, accountant, whatever – to be really true to their calling, really has to understand what’s important to their client. And the only way you’re going to find that out is to ask good questions.
“And then, as you said before, to really listen. Not just listen, but really listen.”
Finding common ground
Evangelidis says at a first interview, a lasting client/adviser relationship still has not been established.
“They don’t know you; you don’t really know them, and trust has not been formed yet,” he says.
“And the only way you form trust is by investing time. The client is investing time with you, and vice versa. It’s human nature. Say we’re at a party and I meet you and ask about you, ask your name, ask about your family and what you do for a living and so on; by definition the more questions I ask you and you ask me – all other things being equal – we’re going to know each other better.
“I’ll be leaving that exchange thinking I know a while lot more about you – I know what’s important to you.”
Evangelidis says many financial planners enter an introductory conversation with a new client with a set of objectives in mind and a set series of questions that have to be answered. The natural tendency is to stick to the questions that prompt the answers to those questions. But the trick is to do that, while also establishing common ground.
“It’s not easy – and this isn’t me speaking, it’s the clients, the people I have interviewed [for the book] – either people who have an ongoing relationship with a financial planner, or those people who have used a financial planner once, or – unfortunately the bulk of society – people who have never used a financial planner,” Evangelidis he says.
“The adviser needs to make a connection. There needs to be some common ground. Obvious common ground is that the adviser feels they can help the person, and the person feels that this is the right place to come.”
It is not only the relationship but also the value add. For a client to pay a fee there must be a “value-add” in the advice and service offering. The question is what is that “value-add”? http://www.totalwealthplan.com
Following on from James’ comments, having undertaken a deal of research into the psychometric styles of typical Financial Advisers and clients – most importantly, those who are more likely to seek advice, there are some fundamental interpersonal issues and challenges at play when the adviser/client relationship is established. Prova specialises in this field and our research has revealed a number of critical factors which must be understood and acted upon to ensure lasting relationships are developed and maintained. In our experience, the required connection goes well beyond business – the foundation needs to also be strongly ‘personality’ based. Debra McQuinn – Director Prova Profiling Pty Ltd