Financial Professional's Guide to Communication, The: How to Strengthen Client Relationships and Build New Ones, CourseSmart eTextbook

Today, financial clients are profoundly skeptical. They've been burned. Their consultants and advisors often talk too much, use too much confusing technical jargon, work from boilerplate scripts full of caveats and disclaimers. Above all, clients say, their advisors don't listen well, and don't link their own needs and views to the recommendations they present. To succeed in today's radically new environment, financial advisors must transform the way they communicate. In this book, one of the world's leading experts on the financial client relationship shows them how to do precisely that. Drawing on his experience training hundreds of elite financial professionals, Bob Finder shows how to actively listen, speak plainly with precision and passion, and engage clients with uncommon effectiveness. Finder demonstrates how to:

• Focus relentlessly on what matters most to each individual client
• Deliver recommendations with clarity and impact, in your own voice
• Bring imagination, creativity, and even entertainment to presentations and conversations
• Give and take constructive criticism, and use it as a powerful force for improvement

Using Finder's proven techniques, financial professionals can deliver truly extraordinary levels of professionalism and service, gain the powerful new competitive edge they're desperately searching for -- and earn equally powerful rewards for themselves.

Introduction: The Power of the Dance     1

Chapter 1: Defining Your Core     5

Chapter 2: The Secret of Listening…Critically     23

Chapter 3: “Your Financial Professional Will See and Hear You Differently Now”     45

Chapter 4: Please, Tell Me More     53

Chapter 5: Any Simple Questions?     69

Chapter 6: The Secret of Speaking…Critically     85

Chapter 7: Just Get Rid of Them     95

Chapter 8: What Did He Say?     105

Chapter 9: The Eyes Say It All     113

Chapter 10: Are You a Substance Abuser?     131

Chapter 11: It’s Showtime!      159

Chapter 12: Wise Emperors     177

Conclusion: Let the Dance Begin     185

Index     193