Copyblogger Brian Clark accurately notes in “How to write exquisite subheads” that subheads can turn scanners into readers.
I especially like his advice that a subhead should “express a clear and complete benefit.”
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Financial advisors who want to communicate effectively will follow the example set by Bill Carter in “The Scoreboard Can’t Tell You Everything.” Carter’s lesson boils down to this: Put yourself in the mind of the person with whom you’re communicating.
Here’s what Carter, partner and co-found of Fuse, said in his interview with Adam Bryant of The New York Times:
In terms of communication, I think that I do my best to try to step away from my own belief system and my own priorities, which are the priorities of a 41-year-old man who’s married and has a young daughter. Instead, I try to evaluate decisions based on what the 25- to-32-year-olds in our office are trying to get out of their career, what they want in a workplace.
Your articles and conversations will be more persuasive when you phrase them in terms of what your clients, prospects, and referral sources care about.
For example, say “Your interests come first because we don’t accept payments from product providers” instead of “We are a fee-only financial advisor.”
Do you apply this rule to your communications? Please share your examples.
Related posts
* Focus on features, not benefits, in your marketing
* Encourage good communication or lose your multi-generational clients
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Using a term such as CFP in your Twitter name makes sense as a marketing strategy for financial advisors. It immediately identifies you as a credentialed professional. However, it also means you’re violating the CFP Board’s rules.
Twitter alerted me to this issue. When I dug into the CFP Board’s Guide to Use of the CFP Certification Marks, I discovered that point 1.7 says “CFP certificants may not own or use an email address or internet domain name that includes the CFP mark.” (Sorry CFP Board, I don’t know how to make the (R) mark appear in a Blogger blog).
Here are some examples from the CFP Board of proper and improper use of their mark.
A Twitter name isn’t an email or a URL. But Twitter does make the name into a URL following the format http://twitter.com/TWITERNAME.
I contacted @CFPBoard to ask if a Twitter name using CFP would violate its rules. Here’s the reply:
It sounds as if the CFP Board is open to your feedback about using CFP in Twitter names. So shoot SLaBonte an email, if you’d like to be heard.
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Must an article about how to prevent another Flash Crash be difficult to understand?
Not if you use plain English, as Floyd Norris did in “Time for Regulators to Impose Order in the Markets,” his May 14 column in The New York Times.
Here’s Norris’ first sentence:
“If your machine makes a mistake that the dumbest human would never make, then maybe you don’t have a very good machine.”
Even a child can understand Norris’ lead sentence. Norris created an image in my mind that made it easier for me to follow the rest of his column about the changes he believes are needed for the New York Stock Exchange.
The next time you write an investment or financial article, try to use plain language to introduce your topic. Your readers will thank you.
Related posts
* Financial writers clinic: Lessons from Floyd Norris of The New York Times
* Vary your paragraph length like New York Times columnist Floyd Norris
* Financial writers clinic: Rhythm can help you
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…you may also enjoy my free monthly e-newsletter with practical tips for your client communications. You’ll also find at least one investment or wealth management article.
I often report on presentations to the Boston Security Analysts Society, so you know you’ll see topics of interest to CFA charterholders.
Topics in the May 2010 issue included
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Most investment professionals, including CFA charterholders, figure that more disclosure about financial advisors’ conflicts of interest will help investors.
Not so, said Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, to the CFA Institute’s annual conference on May 16. In fact, disclosure may not improve investors’ decisions.
Two countervailing forces apply when a financial advisor reveals conflicts of interest, said Ariely.
Let’s assume the financial advisor tells a client that he’ll receive a higher payment if the client chooses Fund A over Fund B.
On the one hand, the client will tend to discount the advisor’s opinion because of the potential bias, said Ariely. On the other hand, the advisor will feel freer to push Fund A because he has revealed his conflict. Ariely believes that this second force will overwhelm the client’s discounting of the advisor’s opinion. As a result, investors end up no better off despite disclosures.
You can watch Ariely present
Some of Ariely’s past presentations have been captured on video. You can view Ariely on YouTube.
Follow the CFA Institute’s annual conference
You can learn about presentations at the CFA Institute’s annual conference as they occur. Read the CFA Institute’s conference blog or follow the conference using the #CFA 2010 hashtag on Twitter.
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Adults often struggle to improve their writing skills. That’s why I’ve become a fan of the teaching techniques of @LindaAragoni. In this article, Linda shares a technique for cutting the number of grammar errors in your written communications.
Do you have trouble correcting your writing for grammar errors?
I know I do.
I suspect you do, too.
Here is a simple way to make correcting your writing easy.
First, keep a list of the grammar errors you make regularly. Most people make a few errors repeatedly. An error you make once in five years is no big deal, but a grammar error you make once every five sentences is an error you need to eliminate.
Your teachers probably have told you about your habitual errors for years. Errors like sentence fragments, comma splices, and run-together sentences top the list. Subject-verb agreement errors and problems with pronoun-antecedent agreement are not far behind. Chances are you know how to correct those grammar errors if you see them.
To make sure you see grammar errors so you can correct them, read your completed paper looking for just your most frequent error. If your most common error is writing sentence fragments, scrutinize each group of words between terminal punctuation marks to see if it is a true sentence. Do not worry about anything else when you look for fragments. If you see any other kind of error, highlight it to fix later.
After you finish reviewing your paper for your most common mistake, go through it looking for your second most common error.
Keep doing that one-error-at-a time correction until you have examined your paper for each of your habitual errors.
When you correct for a single error at a time, take a break between errors. Do not try to cram the editing into the hour before a paper is due. If you do your editing in 5-10 minute sessions spread over a day or more, you will do a better job and experience much less stress.
Although this single-minded correction strategy sounds as if it would be terribly time-consuming, it can be done quite quickly. And it pays off quickly, too. If you can eliminate from your writing three errors you make habitually, your writing will show a big improvement immediately.
Linda Aragoni’s one-mistake-at-a-time strategy grew out of teaching grammar study skills to first-year college students using their error-riddled papers as practice exercises. Her e-book Grammar Abusers Anonymous teaches mature high school and adult students how to master grammar without paying tuition. Copyright 2010 Linda G. Aragoni.
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Somebody was on the ball in Northwestern Mutual’s marketing department or ad agency.
I like their new ad, which I spotted in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. You can view the complete ad on Northwestern’s website.
I like this ad because it
* Plays off a timely topic as well as people’s emotions
* Is written in a conversational tone, without any 10 dollar words or extensive compliance disclosures
Nice job!
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You can improve your relationships with financial planning clients by encouraging them to communicate honestly with you from the very beginning.
This is the main lesson I took away from Shari Harley‘s presentation on “How to Say Anything to Anyone: Paving the Way to Powerful Working Relationships” to the annual conference of the Financial Planning Association of Massachusetts.
Ask for honesty
Harley suggested that audience members achieve this by saying, “I want a great relationship with you. If I do anything that violates your expectations, frustrates you or causes you challenges, please tell me. I promise I will say thank you.”
Assuming that your client says “yes” to your request, then you can add, “I hope I can do the same with you.” This sets the stage for two-way communication. If it works, you’ll never be surprised again by a client defection.
I asked Harley what she’d recommend saying after “thank you” when a client gives negative feedback. Don’t say anything other than “thank you” right away, she suggested, because you’ll feel defensive. Go away and think things over. You can follow up later.
Follow up with questions
Don’t stop with your initial agreement to be honest with each other. Follow up with questions that help you to understand your client better, said Harley.
Here are some of her suggested questions:
1. Who was the best service provider you ever worked with?
2. What made him/her the best service provider?
3. What are your pet peeves?
4. Do you prefer email or voicemail?
5. What do you wish I would start, stop and continue doing?
I can see how these questions would benefit me as a service provider and a client. It’s time to rev up my courage and start asking more questions.
I believe Harley’s approach could benefit you in your professional and personal life.
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“Has being active in social media helped you grow your business?”
This question from a wealth manager set me thinking. Most of my new business still comes through old-fashioned referrals from people whom I’ve met face-to-face. But that’s changing thanks to social media, especially Twitter. There’s no doubt that my Twitter has helped my business. I see three main benefits.
#1 Bigger network of experts
When I’ve got a problem to solve, I can now call on a much bigger network of experts for help. This has been especially helpful with my technology challenges, where @RussThornton, @BillWinterberg, @RussellDunkin, @Blano, and @KristenLuke have been particularly helpful. This is just a sampling of my expert sources. There are many, many other experts on Twitter whom I’ve learned from.
#2 Bigger pool of prospective clients
Twitter has expanded my newsletter circulation, which is an important source of new clients. For example, most of my teleclass students have been newsletter subscribers for awhile. I’ve consistently gained more new subscribers post-Twitter than pre-Twitter.
One of my favorite clients found me through Twitter, got to know me better through my newsletter, and then became a client.
# 3 Convenient way to network and socialize
Twitter keeps me from feeling isolated as a solo entrepreneur. It also suits my style. I can hop off a work project for 10 minutes, read and chat with some folks, and then settle back to work. I don’t need to spend an hour schlepping into Boston on the commuter rail and then an hour coming back.
Feeling happier from brief spurts of socializing help me to focus better when I’m doing actual work.
There are other benefits, too. But these three are enough to keep me tweeting.
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