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Advisors see data about the opportunity of female clients and the wealth women control, but they don't know how to differentiate themselves when working with affluent women. Here’s one tested way to achieve that goal.
When a prospect asks, “What do you do for a living?” what is your response? Chances are, you’ve spent the time crafting a unique value proposition or elevator pitch to respond to that question.
But instead, consider the following response.
I recently spoke to an advisor who shared with me a profound way to answer this question. He replies by asking if he can ask a question first.
If the other person says yes, he asks, “Do you know the name or the history of your great-great grandmother?”
The response he gets most is no. His next question is, “Would you like your great-great grandchildren to know your name, what you stood for and what was most important to you in life?”
The answer is always yes.
His reply then is, “That’s what I do. I make sure future generations know your story, your values, the lessons you learned in life and what really matters most.”
“What really matters” is a phrase Tom Greider, a financial planner with Roehl & Yi Investment Advisors in Eugene, Oregon, believes is very open-ended. He says it allows for meaningful conversations, regardless of the environment or the financial status of an individual. We are all going to leave a legacy to those who follow us. What’s important is to allow clients to tell those stories now, to preserve them as a precious gift for future generations.
The matriarch of the family legacy
As the matriarchs of the family legacy, women have a unique role in the family. They are the stewards of life’s true wealth and often the keepers of the family’s core values. Women want to be remembered for their values, not their value. They want to pass on a legacy of what really matters, which goes far deeper than assets and tangible objects.
We’ve seen the data: Women currently control $14 trillion in assets and are estimated to control $41 trillion in the next 40 years. Boston Consulting Group tells us there is significant need for improvement when it comes to wealth managers meeting female investors’ needs. We know that women will likely be solely responsible for their finances at some point due to higher divorce rates and longer life expectancies.
BCG also reports that problems facing women investors, including condescension, disrespect and receiving poor advice, are compounded by the superficial strategies that some wealth managers use to work with them.
I urge you to help female investors move toward something that really matters. Help them leave their true legacy. Help their great-great grandchildren receive the gift of what was most important to them in life.
Greider, who has been trained by the Kinder Institute of Life Planning and The Heritage Institute, shared a special story of a woman whom he helped build more than just a solid financial plan. He empowered her to gain clarity around leaving a legacy.
The woman was divorced when Greider first started working with her. She had inherited a significant amount of wealth from her father and had some feelings of guilt behind receiving it. By empowering her to gain clarity on what really mattered to her, the mother of two and a grandmother of four was able to create a meaningful legacy before she unexpectedly passed away from cancer.
While working with Greider, she identified her core values: family, friends, community, creativity, security and balance. She was extremely artistic and had a strong tie to the coastal community where she lived.Greider said that prior to working with him, the woman never felt as though she had permission to pursue what mattered most to her in life. Greider worked with her to identify a creative legacy to her family and to the community that brought her great joy. After gaining this clarity, she published a book of beautiful oceanic photographs she had taken, which are sold in the gift shops of the beach community where she lived.
Her legacy lives on, which is the wish that many women and matriarchs of the family have.
Whether it be artistic qualities and love of nature, philanthropic wishes, educational hopes, professional dreams or spiritual passions, many women are driven by their values and legacy. Are you helping your affluent female clients leave more than just their portfolios to future generations? Do you know your female clients’ core values? Help them leave a truly lasting legacy – what really matters.
The next time a female prospect asks you, “What do you do for a living?” what will your response be?
Kristan Wojnar, Registered Corporate Coach (RCC™), is a content creator, coach and communicator at Third Quarter Advisers, LLC, an Illinois-based consulting firm that serves financial advisors. She has specialized in the practice management arena in the financial services industry since 1999. Kristan can be reached at [email protected].
Read more articles by Kristan Wojnar
