Page 25 - Investment Advisor January/February 2022
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purpose-driven leaders. Business has   their  firm  and know  they  need to  hire   some other strategies that really lever-
                incredible power to do good things in   more people or get more efficient and   age your strengths.
                the world, to make good change, to give   work on the operations side of things —
                back to communities, to take care of   both systems and processes.  You say that advisors should give
                our planet. Business is this huge force,   But they know they need some help to   clients behavioral coaching. How do
                which can be used for negative purposes   get beyond that plateau.  they deal with a client who has the
                or for good.                                                        attitude, “It’s my money, and I’ll do with
                                                  What are advisors’ main problem areas?  it what I want”?
                Describe the intent of the advisors you   A lot of it is practice management and   We [suggest that] the advisor find out
                coach, please.                    relationships. We work a lot on business   what’s important to the client and then, in
                I work with people who say: “I’m going   development and marketing too. What   every conversation, connect back to that as
                to make sure that my business is diverse   our coaches don’t get into is financial   why they should or shouldn’t do something.
                and  inclusive  and is  taking  care of  the   planning or advice. We refer that out
                planet. We’re going to make our indus-  to specialty coaches if someone needs   What is financial advisors’ biggest
                try better; we’re going to give back to   help there.               challenge today?
                the community.”                                                     Staying  relevant  and  thinking  ahead.
                  The advisors I work with generally   In the practice management area, is   Things  are  changing  so  quickly  in  our
                want  to make  a positive  impact on  the   there one issue that keeps cropping up   industry  —  client  demographics,  tech-
                industry, on clients, on the world. So we   over and over?          nology [and so on]. You’ve got to be
                work on that in addition to the general   Our No. 1 topic is about people — hiring   thinking three, four, five steps ahead.
                practice-management areas.        and managing them. Advisors are really   We refer to this as the “adaptability
                                                  great  at working with  clients;  they’re   quotient” — the advisor’s AQ.
                Why is B Corporation certification for the   not always great about being a manager
                advisors you coach important to you?  and leader.                   What’s driving all that change?
                It says that the business is being run the   We sometimes refer to them as “an   At the end of the day, it’s customer
                right way, is transparent about what it’s   accidental CEO.” They got in the busi-  expectations. Consumers are expecting
                doing and is committed to using busi-  ness to be an advisor, not a CEO.  more out of their professional advisors.
                ness as a force for good.                                           They’re so used to technology in all
                                                  Tell me about how you help advisors   areas of their life that they expect a
                Getting back to coaching advisors who   with marketing.             faster response time from their advisors
                are, as you say, “outside the historical   We see a lot of really generic marketing   than they were used to.
                norm,” do you coach many advisors   and messaging. So we help advisors be
                of color?                         clear on why they’re in the business,   You won a 2021 Investment Advisor
                I do. They’re awesome to work with and   what  they  love  doing  for  clients  and   Group LUMINARIES award in the
                are some of my favorites.         what their value proposition is. It’s got   category of diversity and inclusion. Why
                                                  to be something that’s really meaningful   do you believe industry recognition
                Overall, do you and your team coach   and emotional — something that con-  programs are important?
                many female advisors?             nects with clients.               They shine a spotlight on the cool things
                I would say the [proportion] is right in   We help them get clarity on that and   that people in our industry are doing
                line with the industry, where women are   then talk about the marketing and busi-  and make them a little bit more visible
                a much smaller percentage of advisors.   ness development strategies that are   to everyone.
                Women tend to be more coachable and   going to work best for them.
                are more open to coaching.                                          Your bio says that off-hours you train in
                                                  What types of marketing approaches?  muay thai. What’s that?
                What do advisors need help with most?  Just because there are a ton of different   Kickboxing. Most kickboxing is punches
                Generally, people come to us when   strategies out there doesn’t mean you   and kicking.  Muay is sometimes called
                they’ve been successful to a point and   should do them all. If you’re not good   “the science of eight limbs” because it
                then hit a plateau.               at public speaking, for example, and   also includes the use of elbows and knees.
                  Either they’re not growing as fast as   you don’t like doing it, then for good-  It’s very powerful and great for self-
                they want to, or they hit a bottleneck in   ness’ sake, don’t do that. We’ll work on   defense. It can hurt!



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