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Recently, we had the pleasure of conducting a lunch and learn for about twenty investment advisors. The topic was How to Engage with Female Investors . Those in attendance came because they understood the undeniable truth that female investors are and will continue to be the key to their future success.
Throughout the hour, they nodded in enthusiastic agreement when we quoted stats such as 70% of assets will be controlled by women by 2020 and they appeared to be keen to learn how to adapt to this new paradigm.
We talked about the differences between how men and women relate to finances. We stressed that women are at least as interested in having a positive relationship with an advisor as they are to benefit from high rates of return. Amongst other tips, we pointed out that in order to create a relationship with her, it was important to listen and make the meeting about her goals, not you or your products.
So far so good. At the end of the session there were a lot of good comments and kind words. However we were -- as it turned out -- premature in assuming these advisors all understood the basics.
Related: Why Is This Still a Conversation?
As we were wrapping up to leave, one gentleman approached us, first to congratulate us on an “informative” session but also to tell us he has some female clients and he was generally good with them. As such, he would like to attract more. To that end, he asked us if we had some “tips” for an upcoming meeting he was about to have with a female prospect. Without knowing much about him, his practice or his circumstances, all we could offer at first were queries around what he was planning to do.
Well he started, “I have a good presentation and I try to engage her and to ask questions throughout the meeting.” We stopped him right there. Can you guess why?
After a whole hour of listening to us talk about women, and that they are looking for a meaningful relationships not product – he failed to really get what that meant. He was astonished when we suggested that he leave his presentation at home – or at the very least in his briefcase! Our best advice was that he should approach the meeting as a social engagement and start with asking her questions: Tell me about yourself? Why are you looking for help? What are your goals? etc. He look totally nonplussed as though we’d suggested he go to the meeting naked! After some thought he realized how little he knew about female clients.
Encounters like this serve to demonstrate that while almost all advisors understand the need to learn how to connect with female advisors, very few know how to do it – even those who think they get it. The fact that 73% of women are unhappy with the financial community bears this out.
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