Help your advisors sound real

by Dan Sondhelm

The advisors who sell your funds are always asking for better marketing materials. And you work hard to produce them.

However, you also want to tell these advisors, “You need to sell yourself better. The world has changed. Prospective clients won’t give you the time of day to learn about our funds unless they can connect with you.”

And then you hear, “Don’t worry I’m great at developing rapport with prospects I can ‘close’ anyone I meet face to face.”

However, everyone is using the internet to check out advisors before they call them. And when you click the advisor’s website and hit the link “Who am I” you are frustrated. All you get is a rehashed resume starting with his college degree. (Why does he think we need to know that he majored in chemistry in 1983?)

And then somewhere near the end the advisor realizes that he needs to find a way to bond with the reader so he mentioned that he loves to mountain bike and he has 2.3 kids.

Sorry it doesn’t work. And you know it.

Let me suggest an alternative. I was recently introduced to a business writer who works solely with independent advisors, Hesh Reinfeld. Hesh does one critical thing for advisors. He writes their story, a story that is real. And Hesh pushes his clients. As he says:

So how do you write your real story? First, it’s hard work, simply damn hard. Here is an exercise to try. Write about a time that you failed?” Are you offering a lot of facts but no emotion? Then realize that you are describing a failure that really didn’t matter to you. And your clients won’t be interested either.

If you are lucky enough to tell a story of real failure then the next challenge is: are you willing to share it with your clients? No? I understand why. It’s risky, very risky. But aren’t you asking your client to take a risk in contracting with you?

For example, I worked with an advisor who flew jets for the Air Force. He could talk about risk, and team work using his military experience as the basis of his stories. But when it came to talking about himself nothing sounded real. Then he told me he had planned to be an astronaut. It was his dream since he was 11 years old (that was the reason he initially joined the Air Force).

But as he went through the rigorous process of qualifying to be an astronaut, a doctor said he heard a murmur and benched him.

I said, “Tell that story to your clients.”

“I can’t”. He answered, “It’s too personal.” Now I understand. He has every right not to share. But then why does he expect clients to trust him with their million dollar accounts. Is it only because of his technical skills? Wealthy clients expect every advisor to have the technical skills. They want someone they can trust and is real.

Help your advisors sound real. Check out Hesh’s website http://www.heshreinfeld.com/.