Financial advisers are in a prime place to hear, and tell, the stories of how good advice and insurance cover have provided great outcomes for clients.
However, as Rachel Staggs from SRSCC writes, telling good stories takes practice to get right even for experienced advisers.
Yet the benefits of showing clients the value of insurance and advice, through relatable stories, will resonate better than a good fact find and technical expertise.
Imagine you have arrived at the airport to catch a flight home. You are presented with two options. The first option is to take a flight that is operated by an experienced and qualified pilot who is being paid to fly the plane. The second option has no pilot, in fact, you have to fly it yourself. If you choose option two, a computer will be installed with access to the Internet to teach you all you need to know about flying.
Which option would you take? Option one, naturally.
What you are paying for with option one, the piloted plane is the experience and the qualifications. You’re paying for someone who knows how to keep you safe, save time and get you to your destination.
This is why people will pay for and take advice from a financial adviser. People can find the facts on the Internet, but they don’t understand what they mean or how to use them to their advantage.
How do you communicate this to a client? There are many ways, but with most powerful it is through emotion, through sharing stories about other people, just like them, that did take advice and those that unfortunately never see an adviser and don’t protect their family, income and business.
Emotional storytelling, sharing the human side, is quite simply one of the key ways to influence a client to listen and take advice. If every adviser were properly trained to read the body language of their clients [eyes, facial movement, posture, breathing rhythm], they would realise that jargon and facts trigger a particular emotion. Usually, clients won’t state this reaction unless they are specifically asked, “How do you feel about that?” Do you ask that question?
Most people nowadays ask, “How’s business?” Take that golden opportunity and tell them, through emotional storytelling, rather than saying, “Good, all’s good and you?”
Much has been written before about the power of storytelling and how to do it. As a reminder to you, I have shared a simple formula below that you can use.
The formula for a good story:
- A story is a fact
- Wrapped in an emotion
- That compels us to take action
- That transforms us in some way
The key here is that a good story compels people to take action.
A simple exercise you can do either on your own or as a team is to craft your story (make it a real story but with names removed) and then share it with as many people as you can through the week. Always keep your stories fresh. A boring story can have the reverse effect of what you intended! That is an important aspect of storytelling.
7 Ways to share stories; the human side of your business:
- On the website
- Through social media
- When meeting with your referral partners
- When you meet a client
- Networking
- Socialising
- On your marketing collateral
Sharing stories and being able to ‘read’ your clients is a skill and does take the time to master but when you do, you’ll see the positive difference you are having with your business.
Every time you see a referral partner share a story about how you have helped someone either by working with them to find them the right cover or, through a claim that has been made. Most people nowadays ask, “How’s business?” Take that golden opportunity and tell them, through emotional storytelling, rather than saying, “Good, all’s good and you?” At first, you might feel awkward, and that’s OK but keep mastering this skill and you’ll see a positive change.
In her regular Practice Marketing column, Rachel Staggs provides insights to help advisers market their business to potential (and existing) clients.
Rachel Staggs is the founder and Managing Director of SRSCC, a specialist financial services consulting firm.
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