Category: Finances

29: The Behavioral Coaching Dilemma: Giving Clients What They Want Instead of What They Need

29: The Behavioral Coaching Dilemma: Giving Clients What They Want Instead of What They Need

The value of behavioral coaching continues to show up as the top “value-added” service provided by financial advisors.

And, while it’s no surprise to advisors that have been working with emotional human beings on an emotionally-charged topic like money, studies also show that over 80% of advisors DON’T actively promote this value to clients or prospective clients.

We discuss:

  • Understand what clients think about behavioral coaching
  • Think about whether they should be actively promoting the value
  • Reveal the ways to communicate it most effectively

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28: The Human Side of Digital Marketing with Samantha Russell

28: The Human Side of Digital Marketing with Samantha Russell

If you’re a financial advisor or advisory firm who wants to pursue growth through digital marketing, but you’ve always been unimpressed with the results, you’ve probably skipped the most important part:

The human side of digital marketing.

Knowing the behavioral and psychological principles to build trust and connection online while intentionally designing for the desired behavior forms the foundation of any successful digital marketing strategy. (Especially in an industry where obtaining a client means getting them to trust you with their life savings!)

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • The #1 goal for social media that most advisors get wrong
  • Specific ways to design your website for instant trust and rapport
  • The “5 Second Test” to determine the effectiveness of your website’s messaging
  • Ideas for showing prospective clients what to do rather than telling them
  • How to market your advisory firm in a world where planning and investments are commoditized

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27: Enhancing Client Connection and Outcomes In Virtual Financial Planning Meetings with Dr. Sarah Asebedo

27: Enhancing Client Connection and Outcomes In Virtual Financial Planning Meetings with Dr. Sarah Asebedo

Every financial advisor knows how crucial it is to effectively build trust and connection with prospects and clients.

Study after study and story after story will tell you that’s what clients look for when choosing an advisor and it’s why they stay with their advisors.

But, is it even possible to build the same level of trust and connection virtually? Is it reasonable to expect the same level of comprehension and follow-through from the client (or prospective client)?

Dr. Sarah Asebedo and her colleagues conducted a study to help financial advisors and financial planners better understand the keys to building trust and connection in virtual meetings.

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26: Financial Therapy Skills 101 For Financial Advisors with Nathan Astle

26: Financial Therapy Skills 101 For Financial Advisors with Nathan Astle

As the value and future of advice continues to shift towards the intersection of technical knowledge and the human side of money, it has coincided with the rise of financial therapy.

Financial Therapy is focused on improving how clients think, feel, and behave with money to improve their well-being.

Nathan Astle, founder of Relational Money, helps advisors who don’t want to be full-fledged financial therapists develop and hone the most critical skills from financial therapy that lead to better connection, and ultimately, better outcomes.

We discuss:

  • “Financial Flashpoints” – what they are and why they are so critical to changing behavior
  • The “Money Timeline” exercise to help clients uncover their own financial flashpoints
  • Why money issues are rarely about money and the importance of finding the real issue
  • Two simple phrases you can use to facilitate communication and connection
  • How to effectively identify and label someone’s emotions

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25: Uncovering Your Client’s Most Meaningful Goals with Samantha Lamas

25: Uncovering Your Client’s Most Meaningful Goals with Samantha Lamas

We’ve all been inundated with information showing how behavioral biases impact financial decision making. But far less attention has been given to the fact that these same biases can undermine the identification and prioritization of goals.

Research shows that there is indeed a gap between the goals clients think are important to them and the goals that are actually important. And that gap is forged by our biases and mental blind spots.

Samantha Lamas and her colleagues at Morningstar have conducted the research for us and explains the impact these biases have and what advisors can do to help clients uncover their most meaningful goals.

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24: Improving Client Decisions and Behavior Using Brain Science with Graeme Newell

24: Improving Client Decisions and Behavior Using Brain Science with Graeme Newell

One of the main challenges for financial advisors when it comes to applying behavioral finance is as simple as this: it’s a lot easier to construct a financial plan than to deconstruct your client’s emotions.

Graeme Newell has been helping financial advisors better understand what goes on in their client’s minds by literally putting them in brain scanners for most of his career. 

And he takes the insights he learns and turns them into practical advice to improve client’s decisions and behavior.

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23: The Best Question To Ask Prospects In A First Meeting

23: The Best Question To Ask Prospects In A First Meeting

Research shows asking great questions builds trust, establishes likability, and uncovers valuable information.

Which is why asking great questions forms the foundation of a successful first meeting that converts a prospect into a lifelong client.

This episode is meant to be a guide for advisors to hone their question-asking abilities, so they can enhance client outcomes and forever change the trajectory of their business.

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22: Jay Mooreland | Applying Behavioral Finance Principles To Coach Clients and Differentiate Your Business

22: Jay Mooreland | Applying Behavioral Finance Principles To Coach Clients and Differentiate Your Business

Ask any financial advisor if behavioral finance plays an important role in delivering ideal outcomes to clients, and you’ll get a resounding “Yes.”

Ask those same advisors if they know exactly what to say and do to seamlessly apply behavioral finance, and you’ll get a resounding “No!”

Knowing someone is suffering from loss-aversion helps explain why he or she behaved a certain way. But the effective application of behavioral finance tells you what to do about it. That’s where change occurs.

Jay Mooreland, founder of the Behavioral Finance Network, has been helping advisors apply behavioral finance in their practice for the better part of a decade (even before “behavioral finance” was cool!).

We discuss:

  • How to use a “Behavioral Plan Policy Statement” to facilitate ideal behavior
  • What effective behavioral coaching looks like and what most advisors get wrong
  • The often-overlooked benefit of differentiating your business when applying behavioral finance
  • The importance of coaching on one principle in every meeting
  • How proactive communication instills good behavior and ways to use it with clients

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Resources:

  • Joining The Behavioral Finance Network, Jay is offering a $75/month discount on his memberships for our listeners. Go to the membership page, and apply the coupon code “HSOM” at checkout. 

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21: Travis Parry | A Research-Based Method To Actually Achieve Work/Life Balance

21: Travis Parry | A Research-Based Method To Actually Achieve Work/Life Balance

For most financial advisors, the idea of work/life balance is nothing more than an illusion. Especially for those who started, survived, and thrived in the profession based on a mindset that success was simply a numbers game.

Survival and success relied upon activity. There was a direct correlation between the amount of work you put in and the reward you received.

Travis Parry used to live this life. But, now, he’s using his research-backed method to show advisors how to, not only, achieve work/life balance, but thrive both at work and at home.

We discuss:

  • Regaining more time by conquering the three myths of time management
  • Why “balance” is misleading and a better way to think of it
  • Prioritizing your time according to your goals and values using a Business Ideal Calendar
  • The surprising results from his research on a crucial element to goal achievement and behavior change
  • How work/life balance better equips you for the human side of advice

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20: George Kinder | The Future of Financial Planning is Life Planning

20: George Kinder | The Future of Financial Planning is Life Planning

Financial planning without any regard for the person’s dreams, values, and life they want to live is nothing more than numbers on paper.

A person’s dreams, values, and life they want to live without any regard for money is nothing more than a fantasy.

Life planning is simply connecting the client’s dreams and values with the strategies of financial planning that create the life of freedom that person has always envisioned.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • The two pieces of advice that George gives to anyone that wants to become a great listener
  • “The Pause” – the one skill he said every advisor should know and learn
  • The two things they train advisors to listen for to enhance the conversation
  • A deep dive into the famous three questions and the best practices for applying them
  • “Lighting The Torch” – the key step in the life planning process that ignites behavior change

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