Expand, extend client relationships with communication amplifying trust, values

If clients ever needed advisers who meet their fears with holistic strategies and compassionate communication, it’s now, experts and seasoned advisers told attendees at the just concluded InvestmentNews Women Adviser Summit in Denver.

The dramas and traumas of the current economy are the perfect proving ground for amplifying trust through skillful responses to clients’ worries. And in many ways, women are uniquely positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities to expand their practices.

“You have to build trust into your client experience,” said Holly Buchanan, who for decades has been researching the underlying dynamics of why clients choose and stay with advisers. She's the author of “Selling Financial Services to Women: What Men Need to Know and Even Women Will Be Surprised to Learn.”

Advisers can reinforce trust by showing clients how they're looking out for them at every level, from envisioning financial success to protecting every single financial transaction, presenters agreed.

Lara Coviello, vice president and senior portfolio manager with Brinker Capital, illustrated point-by-point how common investing psychology pitfalls can be turned inside-out to reassure clients. For instance, many clients question their long-term investing strategy when they fixate on facts that that only echo what they already believe about market trends, a tendency known as confirmation bias. Coviello said advisers can neutralize confirmation bias by using a few data points that both confirm clients’ current perceptions and fulfill their long-term goals, and then blend in additional data to ease clients into new perceptions.

Nancy Butler, a long-time adviser and practice profitability coach, outlined a spectrum of strategies for protecting clients’ assets from the ravages of late-in-life long-term care, including projecting the likely expenses at each point on the care spectrum, from home-based to skilled nursing. New instruments that blend elements of long-term care insurance with life policies and annuities offer a nuanced array of approaches, she said.

And Lauren Sigman, managing director and principal with Robertson Stephens, recommended an array of ways to steady aging clients as they reconcile ebbing capabilities with escalating needs for assistance. Even as advisers collaborate with trusted family members and estate lawyers, it’s imperative, Sigman said, never to lose sight of “what we can accomplish today that gives the client a sense of accomplishment, self-worth and knowledge.”

Part of that is applying stringent and consistent discipline to digital security practices with the aim of intercepting fraud before it harms clients. “Every email is guilty until proven innocent,” said Erin Donham, senior technology consultant at Charles Schwab, citing easily hacked email addresses as the weakest of links in cybersecurity.

Meanwhile, now is the time for women in the industry to assess their own career paths, recognizing the talent shortage and the investment sector’s acute need for women advisers to attract and keep women clients, speakers agreed.

The long-term effects of hybrid and remote work cut both ways: Greater flexibility of place grants working parents more control over their time and productivity, but doesn’t necessarily recalibrate their workload. And longstanding cultural dynamics that tend to bestow workers who are in the office — more likely to be men, according to recent research — with spontaneously assigned developmental tasks could perpetuate persistent patterns of overlooking women for leadership roles.

That tendency, known as "proximity bias," serves up a chance for employers to be more purposeful about whom they choose for fast-track assignments, and for women to be more thoughtful about asserting their ambitions regardless of location, said Sarah Aviram, a remote work consultant and author of “Remotivation: The Remote Worker’s Ultimate Guide to Life-Changing Fulfillment.”

Location might relieve some daily frictions but won’t resolve chronic frustrations with achieving career goals … and the temptation to shift employers might only camouflage deeper issues, she said.

“It’s the work itself that has to be engaging. If you hated your job in Houston you’re not going to love it in Hanoi,” Aviram said. “If you want something different, you have to do things differently.”