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Google serves as an example of the paradigm shift in the modern office. Design is now more collaborative with amenities that support openness and greater employee satisfaction. I’m not sure financial services is ready to follow Google’s lead and plant beach volleyball courts (with real sand, by the way) adjacent to the Bloomberg terminals. But there are a few elements of this model that advisors can use to improve sales success when prospects visit your office.
Shedding the shroud
What do you think of when you hear the words “financial advisor’s office”? A long mahogany conference room table and wood-paneled walls adorned with boring artwork of mountains, lakes, sailboats and beaches along with a Barron’s awards plaque or two.
For so long advisors have felt they needed to present a mirage to convey stature or gravitas. Until now everything has been shrouded, almost as if the human element was covered with a veil.
That’s all changing.
The crisis of 2008 changed all that and demystified the industry’s lofty image. People want to be recognized as human beings – they’ve had it with anything pretentious. Their portfolios crashing 30% overnight that they paid advisors 1% to watch over led them to throw that mirage out the window!
You’ll have to give your stuffy office a little makeover if you want the millennial children of your affluent clients to like you. Even if you’re not targeting the younger generations, you still want to include amenities as a way to make clients happier and improve their motivation to work with you.
Hook up with Elmo and Elsa
I’m not a single mother, but my partner Antonio (with whom I have three children under four years old) works extremely long hours. If I weren’t formerly an advisor myself, I’d be a ripe candidate for your services, but would any of you get me to come to your office after work?
Not a chance.
With demographics changing and the higher prevalence of women at the helm of the family’s finances, (and increasingly single mothers, at that) you may have some babysitting to do. Equip your office with a play area or at least a toy chest with some toys, games, and books for kids to read. Get someone from the office to help out and entertain them for a bit so Mom can actually listen to what you’re saying.
If you had a doll of Disney Princess Elsa or an Elmo DVD playing, that would be the last you would see or hear of my kids for hours.
Cool seating options
Give prospects a choice of a stuffy conference room or a more casual lounge area. Many offices are coming out with café-type spaces with comfy chairs. People may go for that. Or they may not, but at least give them the choice. Casual seating areas are a good fit for a first meeting because it relieves the pressure.
Consider the shape of your conference room table. The long rectangle-shaped table implies that somebody must sit at the head, usually the advisor. This set up is quickly becoming outdated and viewed as pretentious.
Try a huddle room instead. This is a small table with audio/visual technology, an LCD screen or TV, videoconferencing and whiteboard. There may be chairs. If you’re meeting with a couple or a group of people this is a good idea because it makes everybody feel connected and included.
If you think you’re doing a good job with inclusion, consider this.
I hear from women all the time who say they feel their advisor pays attention to her husband and neglects to answer her questions during meetings. If advisors were doing a great job including the wives, I would not be hearing this as much as I do.
Cushy perks
In-house manicures, massages, shoe shine services. Now we’re getting into the Silicon Valley stuff.
“But Sara, we’re not a tech start-up!” you say, “And these things are so expensive!”
I hear you. So be selective about it. Offer these amenities to your employees as a reward for good sales performance. That way, when prospects visit they can experience them as well and it will make the office visit more memorable.
Everybody likes to be pampered!
Fitness areas
This goes out to all of you advisors who are using any of the following monikers:
- Financial Life Planner/Advisor
- Financial Wellness Planner/Advisor
- Financial Health Planner/Advisor
You’ve seen this, right? It’s one of the soon-to-be advisor cliches (I’ll write an article ripping it to shreds later; stay tuned). There’s a trend in which advisors try to brand themselves as being in tune with your lifestyle needs in retirement just as much as your monetary needs. I don’t buy all that, as you can tell, but it’s a good idea in theory.
Since you are claiming to be the LeBron James of financial advising, then why not have some fitness amenities and a workout area in your office. Treadmills, stationary bike, barbells, stability ball. At least a jump rope or two.
When you set up the meeting tell the prospect that you’ll run a few laps and then discuss their IRA on the cooldown.
Sara’s upshot
Everything I’m saying about advisor sales and marketing relates to one major theme: recognizing people as human beings. It comes up over and over again – how you talk to them, how they feel when they visit your office and how you present yourself on your website or in your blogs. Don’t be veiled and shrouded like advisors have been for so long. Be real, be open, and show you have nothing to hide and you’re a person just like them.
Giving prospects a great office visit can be enough to make the deal go in your favor. Consider these tips and hit me up on APViewpoint if you want to run your office remodeling ideas by me.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in Quantitative Finance.
Read more articles by Sara Grillo
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives