People Buy People

Financial Planners are rare beasts.

Good ones, I mean.

Because to be a great Financial Planner, you need three very different skill sets:

• Technical & Analytical Ability – To know all those products, funds and tax rules.
• Drive & Determination – To do all the sales activity to find new clients.
• Interpersonal Skills – To connect with clients.

Most other roles in the financial services profession only require one or two of these skill sets. But Financial Planners need them all, and that’s what makes them rare beasts.

If you were to ask someone to prioritise them, the FCA and your Compliance Officers would place technical & analytical ability first, while the business owner would prioritise drive and determination to generate sales and revenue.

But me?

I’d say people-ability first.

Why?

Because Mike, my old Sales Manager said so.

‘People buy people’ he would always tell me.

He had social skills in spades. He was warm, friendly and could connect with anyone. He always had a story to tell, and people wanted to listen.

But, by his own admission, he wasn’t that technical.

And although he built a great client base, he wasn’t that driven.

In fact, I was probably twice as good as him at analytics and twice as determined.

Yet he had twice as many clients as me.

You see, you can know all the clever stuff and you can work all the hours, but if you can’t connect on a human level with people then they won’t buy into you.

If you’re not a ‘natural’ people person, then you need to find a way to be one.

The best way to do that is to specialise.

No, not in a particular product type. I mean work with clients that you have a shared commonality with.

It doesn’t matter what it is – what matters is that it’s important to you. Talking about it boosts your people skills, just like spinach boosts Popeye.

Whatever makes you light up.

Whether it’s a life event (good or bad), your local community, a particular profession, health and fitness, or even Star Trek. If it’s important to them too, you’ll have a passionate, connected conversation, like two Trekkies on the bridge.

And they’ll buy into you like a Ferengi at a Bitcoin conference.

Find your tribe and work within it.

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