Are prospective clients looking for diversity?

With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and media coverage calling out disparity throughout our culture, potential clients these days are paying much more attention to diversity. This appears to be a reflection of the polarization that is so widespread in society today.  However, we see a net positive result due to this phenomenon.  Here are three examples:

• A recent inquiry from a potential client asked how diverse our group was. That was a surprise, but we welcomed the question. This gives us hope that progress is being made. 

• We recently became a member of Association of African American Financial Advisors and within a few weeks, we received a referral of someone who was looking to do business with a Black adviser.

• We asked one of our newest clients, a C-suite executive at a publicly traded company, “What set us apart from the other advisors you were interviewing?” One of the three things she mentioned was the diversity of our team. She has an adopted daughter and she wanted her daughter to see a team of professional advisers who did not all look the same and who did not look like her parents. She had confidence that we could handle her financial life with more prowess than her current adviser, and the bonus was that our company represents what she stands for: diversity and inclusion.

At Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group, we choose to respond with love and respect to all and don’t judge those who seem to be bigoted. If someone asks for our help, regardless of their personal attitudes, we will provide it. However, as a result of the fact that our team consists of visible minorities, we rarely have customers who object to this.

Many prospects, as they become more aware of the issues facing minorities in society, are looking to do business with firms that have a diverse team. We see that as a trend that is growing in our business.

Diversity is not only about the ethnic and racial makeup of the team. Our team consists of people with diverse points of view and ideas, which are reflected in our rich offerings to our clients.

It will be difficult for organizations that are not already diverse in their team makeup to change. Just hiring minorities when the attitude and biases of the people already in the organization haven’t changed will not result in the desired outcome. Organizations that are already diverse will benefit from this trend while the rest try to catch up.

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Julia Carlson is founder and CEO of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group. Follow her on Twitter @fitmoneydr.