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Five ways to be irreplaceable to clients

News flash: You are not the only financial adviser out there, and not the only professional from whom…

News flash: You are not the only financial adviser out there, and not the only professional from whom your clients and prospects can seek advice. In today’s financial advice universe, you are competing not only with the adviser down the street but with the one on the Internet, as well as with the new software that tells your clients they can do it all themselves.

Welcome to the new economy — one in which consumers are in control of where and when they buy, as well as from whom. What we offer as advisers, those products and services we think are so innovative and unique, is not irreplaceable to clients. What we do has become a commodity.

How we do it is now our competitive advantage. That boils down to relationships. Build trust with clients before you ask for their business. Then, once you have it, continually and consistently add value to ensure they stay loyal.

In other words, you have to stop being a transactional adviser and expecting your clients to come to you with their needs. You must be a partner, taking the initiative to add value. Now is the time to make your move from being a transactional adviser to being a true advocate and partner adviser.

5 -steps to making that move:

1. Commit: You have read the books, heard the reasons, and been told by your peers and leaders that you must do it — and still you don’t.

Why? Because if all we needed was the facts about why making a change is the best thing to do, we would all be exercising every day and passing on desserts.

If you want to become a partner adviser, you have to just do it. You must begin by making the choice, by making a commitment to stop doing business the old way — reactively — and to doing it the new way, by asking questions and listening instead of pushing products.

2. Start smart: We are talking about changing an entrenched habit, the way that you have done business for years, so you need to start smart. You can’t expect massive change overnight. Don’t expect to wake up the next day and not jump on the first thing a client mentions.

Give yourself a break, realizing that habits are hard to break. Begin with a few clients, a manageable number of appointments every week. Set a goal: two or three client meetings a week, during which you commit to be a partner adviser.

The more you do it, the more success you will have, and the easier and stronger this transition will become.

3. Listen first: The biggest key in transitioning from transaction adviser to partner is the skill of active listening. To truly be a partner to your clients, you have to dig deep, go past the surface of what they ask for and what they think they want.

When we dig deep and listen, we hear about much more than the money they want to invest. We learn about their lives, priorities and fears, about what they have achieved and what they want to achieve.

By listening, we invest our time and energy in them, which builds trust. With trust, our clients move from perceiving us as an adviser who is talking at them to one who wants to guide them to success.

4. Mix and match: Each client is different, and every client plan is unique. As a partner adviser, you need to mix and match what products you choose for clients, as well as how fast you move them through their plan, how you meet with them, communicate and follow up. A partner adviser is someone who puts relationships before product sales.

Once you have really listened to your clients, you should have far more than an idea of how much money they have to invest and how much access they need to it.

You should understand who they are, their values and priorities. You should be clear about their urgent needs, the pace of the relationship and what products align with their goals and their dreams.

5. Make a plan: One size, one touch and one strategy do not fit all. You need to take the responsibility to reach out and engage your clients in both casual and formal check-ins.

Partner advisers understand that their clients’ lives and needs are continually changing, and if they wait for their clients to come to them with that information, they have missed the boat.

Partner advisers understand that business development is a lifestyle, not a task. They understand that the time and commitment devoted to existing clients is just as important as that given to prospects.

Meridith Elliott Powell is a business growth expert, and president of MotionFirst, a company specializing in organizational growth and employee engagement.