It’s no secret that humans – no matter what our industry or walk of life – operate better when we are helping out one another. Financial advice is no exception. In fact, in his XY Live interview late last year, outgoing Association of Financial Advisers chief executive Brad Fox stated, “The way to change is to experience, and then to share the results of the experience with your peers.”
Fox recalled his time prior to his current role, when he regularly got together with a group of other advisers to share their victories and failures. The meetings were a time to learn from both the positive and negative experiences of peers in a space free of judgement. They were an essential part of Fox’s evolution as an adviser. He stressed that we should all be doing the same.
Sometimes, however, attending these get-togethers can be difficult, especially if you are a one-man/woman band or running a busy practice. But with the help of technology, it’s becoming easier to share with one another and, more importantly, to help the industry as a whole change for the better.
When it comes to remote communication, we don’t use our phones for just calling and texting anymore, nor our PCs for just emailing. Videoconferencing applications, online chat, web-based meeting places and myriad social media platforms have slipped into the driver’s seat, opening up communication options for people and, more importantly, making the communication more meaningful.
When discussing the power of videoconferencing, Steve Olenski stated in a Forbes article, “The visual encounter allows both parties to stay in tune with the other’s body language, and every other visual nuance, which might lend shades of meaning to the discussion.”
I couldn’t agree more. When you can see the people you’re speaking or sharing with, or when the dialogue can open up to include several individuals at once, it’s no longer just letters and numbers in an email exchange or text, it’s a virtual community. Various networks within financial services (ours at XY Adviser being one of them) have started to run with this and the benefits have been heartening to witness. But is technology the only thing that has sparked this change?
Culture of sharing emerges
As a millennial working in this industry and a part of XY Adviser, I’ve observed many of the new generation of advisers enthusiastically entering the sector. They have a zealous thirst to improve the reputation of an industry they believe to be ripe for change – and they are making a difference. One of their characteristic I’ve witnessed that’s having a growing positive effect on the community is their uninhibited eagerness to share their intellectual property (IP) with their peers.
In our sector, as in the tech industry, the old way of thinking meant never letting anyone take a look beneath the hood. Advisers kept the secrets of their business successes and failures to themselves. This mentality is understandable, but doesn’t exactly create an environment that allows growth to flourish.
Times have changed. In the world of tech, we are now seeing an inclination towards open architecture and software integration. Applications are opening their doors and building bridges, moving technology forward at a rapid pace.
The financial advice landscape has undergone a similar transformation.
Many advisers are now willing to share what’s worked and what hasn’t on every level. We are seeing advice practitioners share with one another their entire pricing models, their complete onboarding procedures, their engagement strategies and their unique service offerings. Being precious about your IP is quickly going out of fashion; as a result, advisers are learning, evolving and thriving. The best part: clients are receiving awesome service and high-quality advice!
Yes, technology may be providing us all with the channels to communicate better, but I think our shifting attitude towards communicating has been, and will continue to be, the real gamechanger.
The industry has such incredible potential to improve its uptake with consumers and genuinely advance the profession. An open willingness to share more with peers is one of the core ways to facilitate this.
That old phrase ‘sharing is caring’ is only too true. After all, no adviser is an island.
