What is your story? Why are you really in this business and why do you really care about helping me? These are the underlying questions that prospective clients think but don’t always ask. Being able to proactively address these questions can be the final factor that tips the scales and turns a prospect into a loyal client and raving fan.
Your story is about why you are really in this business. Most every financial professional that I have coached has had a story, it’s the reason they became a financial professional and or what drives them every day in hopes that their efforts will make a difference. For some this story is simmering just under the surface but for others it requires some serious digging, but I will guarantee it’s in there we just have to woo it out.
It is a rare occasion if ever that a financial professionals tells me they are in this business for the money, certainly the money is important but for most the money is a bi-product of doing a good job and helping others. The question is who do you want to help and why your story will often uncover this information.
The source of your story can come from a number or areas:
1. Your Experience Growing Up: This was the source of my story. For years I watched my mother try and become more involved with the family finances, but when she couldn’t understand PE ratio and Yield my father criticized her claiming she was a hopeless cause. As a child I knew my mother was smart and totally capable but my Dad had created an environment that discouraged and pushed my mother away. That is why as a financial advisor I was determined to help women like my Mother become more comfortable with their finances and more confident making investment decisions.
As you read this I’m sure there are stories swirling in your head, write them down and determine which story had the greatest impact on your desire to become a financial professional.
2. Watching Others Experience Life: In some cases it wasn’t your own experience in life but the experience of others that made an impact. Perhaps you had a sister that experienced a terrible divorce where her inability to understand her financial situation left her destitute. Perhaps this experience caused you to become a champion for women experiencing divorce. It could be you have some friends that lost the bulk of their inheritance simply because of poor or inadequate council. It is situations like these that can inspire our passion and interest.
3. Your Former Career: For many financial professionals this is their second career and it was their first career that inspired their focus. You may have worked for ADP and helped business owners outsource their payroll services. Over the years you became very familiar with the challenges that business owners faced, watching them mismanage their money they would often lose what they worked so hard to achieve. Sharing your experience and what you saw occur can in itself be a powerful story and great connector with a tribal market of business owners.
4. Your Experience as a Financial Advisor: As a seasoned financial professional I’m sure you have a number of real life situations that validated the importance of proper wealth planning. Clients that came to you too late, after losing their assets to improper planning or investment selection. A couple that built a thriving business only to lose it all in a bad economy. Perhaps its women that are referred to you after becoming a widow, totally unprepared to manage the family wealth. All of these experiences have made an impact on you, using these experiences can definitely help to define your tribal market and develop a compelling story.
