I took a moment recently to reflect on how my client conversations have changed since the days of having a youthful, spotty face, with a tie ramped up to my throat, looking for the next sale.
Back then, it was clear I was listening to anxiously respond.
Instead of listening quietly, my eager responses took me through many a red light in the hope of somehow getting to the pre-close and, with any luck, having the prospective client nodding like a Churchill dog.
It was the end of the world if they were not.
But as my hairline receded, the wrinkles appeared and deepened, and now with a hearing aid on order, I feel as if I am reaching peak attraction.
Such a weathered look in the advice space is well placed to soak up the trials and tribulations of complicated lives and make them easier.
More than happy to listen than jump to problem solving or proving one’s worth, there is much fulfilment on offer from giving back
By posing open questions and allowing conversation to both expand what is trying to be expressed and engage in some deeper thought, all the pressure inside the head of a client eases out, to be replaced with a dopamine hit.
Throw in some words of sought-after wisdom at the right time and, voila, you have a very grateful client.
“The local authority cannot do that,” or “unfortunately, you are right because of x, but you could think about doing this, especially given what you told me earlier was important to you.”
A plan of action naturally follows. “You are amazing!”. Artificial intelligence will probably get there too, but it will be a long wait.
All this talk might sound like extra layers to the advice process – but it should, in fact, save time.
A bank of experience does not come from nowhere and the ability to listen quietly has its own development journey too
You are less likely to have to undo work if you have lifted all the facts – hard and soft – at the outset. In a world where the soft facts are now a must to record, suddenly you have more information than you could ever ask for.
It is perhaps no surprise, therefore, that I hear of some people in their retirement looking to retrain as an adviser, even with all the regulations that are now required.
More than happy to listen than jump to problem solving or proving one’s worth, there is much fulfilment on offer from giving back, tenderly using the skills acquired throughout one’s life and making a bit of a business out of it in the process.
It may sound simple but a bank of experience does not come from nowhere and the ability to listen quietly has its own development journey too. Knowing the processes and wearing the scars can be tough.
Now with a hearing aid on order, I feel as if I am reaching peak attraction
However, this lends insight into the ordeals some people have to go through when dealing with organisations and their processes in life’s tougher moments.
Those moments when it doesn’t matter anymore what the fast car parked outside can do. For the client to know there is someone else on their side who has an understanding of what they are going through, to know for sure they will not be alone and may even be able to share a light-hearted moment.
Mel Kenny is a chartered financial planner at Radcliffe & Newlands
