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Every human goes through ‘ego states’ – an imaginative infant, a rebellious teenager, a confident millennial, an anxious parent and so on.
While ego is an integral part of human nature, at times, it gets difficult for MFDs/RIAs to deal with it.
- Have you ever felt that the conversation with the client did not go well?
- Client could not understand your point of view and was offensive?
- Client was pushing for something or was reacting in an unexpected manner?
All this happens with all of us not only in our professional life but also in our personal lives with family and friends, right.
In this context, one of the most popular methods to understand human behaviour was developed by Eric Berne known as ‘Transactional Analysis’ and its application can bring change in the outcome.
According to Transactional Analysis, our behaviour is a manifestation of three personality types – Parent, Adult and Child – also known as ego states.
P: Parent Ego represents behaviour, thoughts and feelings copied from parents or parental figures. It has positives like nurturing, supportive and calmness and negatives like controlling and finger-pointing.
C: Child Ego represents behaviour, thoughts and feelings copied replayed from childhood. It has positives like curiosity, playfulness and creativity and negatives like rebelliousness, insecurity and tantrums.
A: Adult Ego represents behaviour, thoughts and feelings based on his/her experience. It is rational, logical, reasonable and non-threatening.
The ideal desirable state is an A-A (Adult to Adult) interaction but it is not something that happens all the time. Whenever a client is in P or C state, its our job to remain in A state and bring them back to A state in a structured way. Here is a model which can help you deal with clients’ ego and engage with them effectively - LEAP
Step 1: Listen A pre-condition to bring client back to A state is to have excellent listening skills. Often, listening to understand without showing the urge to respond helps.
Step 2: Empathise Feel what your client has experienced. In fact, an expression of empathy from you can make your clients comfortable. It may start their journey to state A.
Step 3: Answer Third step is to answer their objections/share point of view supported by facts, figures and narratives.
Step 4: Probe Last is to probe and ask open ended questions. It will help you understand and address their real cause of concern.
Overall, LEAP can help you handle client objections and improve interpersonal communications for desired outcomes.
Amit Basu is CEO of Symphonia, an ecosystem for growth oriented mutual fund distributors. The views expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cafemutual.
