For several decades, a growing body of evidence has pointed to the value of interpersonal skills in terms of better career success and better outcomes for a business. Despite this, many businesses continue to under-invest in soft skills training.
By analyzing what clients valued most about their adviser and combining these with the author’s (Dr Rebecca Sheils, psychologist, Dr Adam Tucker, Director of the Beddoes Institute, Richard Dunkerley, Head of Marketing for Zurich Life and Investments, Brad Fox, CEO of AFA) professional training and experience working as a psychologist, the following suggestions have been made for developing interpersonal skills and building emotional intelligence.
Communication
- Explain the advice process upfront so there are no surprises.
- Keep clients informed of any changes every step of the way.
- Use simple and clear language, especially when communicating technical matters. Drop the jargon!
- Use diagrams and other visuals to illustrate what you are explaining.
- Be thorough in providing answers to questions and information.
- Give the reasoning and context, not just conclusions and recommendations.
- Don’t avoid ‘tough’ conversations – tell the hard truth even if the client will not like it.
- Be patient with clients and spend as much time as necessary explaining things until you are confident the client understands.
- Ask the client to paraphrase what you have said to ensure they understand.
Building rapport
- Be calm and relaxed!
- Show an interest in your clients’ lives.
- Be adaptable; “He is very good at adaptability. I believe he tailors himself to his clients so he can deliver an individual’s needs. Like a chameleon. He also changes to fit the circumstances so every meeting is something new or an optional tangent.”
- Be friendly and approachable.
- Behave like a real person, not someone in a role.
- See your client as an equal in a joint journey.
Caring about clients
- Like your clients.
- Be seen to remember everything your clients say.
- Focus on the client, not yourself.
- Put your clients first.
- Show an interest in all aspects of your clients’ lives
Understanding needs
- Work hard at understanding your clients.
- If you don’t agree with something the client has said, ask yourself the following questions; “Why does he believe this?”
- “Where is he coming from?” “What has happened to cause him to think this?”
- Ask open-ended questions or questions that require more than a yes or no response. These types of questions force you to not prejudge and to hear what the client has to say in their own words.
- Help your clients think and separate logic from emotion.
- Paraphrase what the client has said to make sure you have understood.
- Focus on both personal and financial aspects, including at reviews.
- Take as much time as necessary.
- Focus on defining the problem, not guessing the solution.
Listening
- Listen to everything and be attentive.
- Practice reflective listening or summarising what you have heard to demonstrate that you have listened and understood.
- You don’t have to agree with what the client has said, you simply need to demonstrate that you have listened.
- Listen to clients without distractions; close the door, turn your phone off, make sure your email is not in the line of sight and make frequent eye contact.
- Resist invitations to provide solutions or recommendations too early on to stay in the listening, information gathering and problem definition phases of the discussion.
- Trust in your ability to add value after the listening rather than trying to do something during the listening phase.
Empathy
- Pay attention to what your client is saying and how they are acting. This is done by simply making a valid observation and speaking a few words from the heart. For example, “Steve, you look distracted today, has something happened?” or “Jane, that is great news. I am really happy for you”.
- Pay attention to how you feel when you are with a client and comment on it; this is most likely a reflection of how the client is feeling. “I’m feeling very rushed today, do you have somewhere else you need to be?”
- Pay attention to how the client reacts to you and what you are saying. This is an indication of how engaged they are with you.
- Acknowledge the feelings of the client with respect.
