Chances are, if your clients are already working with you to invest for their future livelihood, they already know you’re smart. They’re not paying you to know all the big, fancy, financial terminology, they’re paying you to help make it clear for them. An important part of the value a financial advisor brings to an investor is that the investor can avoid spending time researching and having to decipher a rather complex terrain of subject matter. In a recent study of investors by Invesco, published by The Wall Street Journal, results loudly declared that your clients “hate jargon and technical language”.
“English” (not “finglish”) is in.
Sales terms like “solutions” are out (thank god) and are being replaced with more tangible terms like “strategy”.
These days, investors are trying to be gently optimistic, but mostly just realistic, about expectations for their investments. Don’t sell them a “dream retirement”, discuss w
ays and plans to invest their money so that they can enjoy a “comfortable” one, which is more than some investors can hope for at this point.
According to the Invesco study, it turns out clients aren’t employing advisors to hear about the big-picture predictions of the economy, either. 60% of investors are for more interested in hearing about what you or your firm can do for them.
Investors are demanding that advisors put themselves in their shoes, and in result, speak to them clearly about investments and strategy, realistically (yet optimistically) about the future and loudly about what benefits they’re offering.