Advisors Should Practice What They Preach... Do You?

Being an effective, credible advisor or financial planner entails practicing what you preach. When you meet with clients to discuss their financial well-being and make recommendations to them, are you coming across as an ordinary salesperson or are you following your own advice and implementing the very strategies you are promoting?

There is nothing worse than having a client say to you that your proposed financial strategies sound ideal but when the client asks how they are working out for you personally, you haven’t even done any of the things you are asking the client to do! Think about it, if what you are recommending is so great, why aren’t you doing it for yourself? When, for example, you are discussing the wonders of life insurance or FIAs with your clients, they want to hear how YOU have protected yourself and your loved ones with these products.

You should be prepared to share your personal life insurance coverage with them. You should be prepared to use your own annuities as real life examples of the extraordinary benefits and safety they provide. The financial world has been tumultuous over the last several years and many investors out there are skeptical as it is. You can’t expect your clients to believe in you if you cannot prove that you believe in yourself and what you are offering.

Following your own advice proves to your clients that you aren’t a typical financial advisor. It shows you genuinely care about their financial well-being and you have first-hand experience with how powerful and beneficial the strategies and products you are touting truly are.

All financial advisors should practice what they preach not only because they want to be effective, credible advisors to their clients but because they want to do what is right for their own families.