This afternoon I had a conversation with Stephanie Sammons a social media expert with Wired Advisor. Her practice specializes in helping financial advisors better leverage social media as a powerful prospecting tool. In our conversation she spoke about the importance of being authentic and the impact a personal approach can have on the effectiveness of your social media sites. Stephanie and I share a similar challenge, trying to educate financial advisors as to the importance of making their message personal.
As financial advisors we have been so well trained to be professional using a vocabulary that many clients and investors don’t even understand. We ask personal questions with every expectation that they will be answered yet we share little about ourselves. We create a very professional environment that creates a more business, detached feeling within the prospective client rather than a warm personal climate. If trust is what we are after we are certainly going about it the wrong way.
What is it that prevents financial advisors from becoming personal with their practice?