Over the past decade, consultants and speakers at conferences have told financial advisors that they need a distinctive, branded process to differentiate themselves. As a result, a growing number of advisors have created a unique process to set themselves apart.

Despite these efforts, most advisors struggle to get clients to see the value offered. A recent roundtable lunch for successful advisors I had organized drove this issue home, as most of the advisors talked about their frustration on this issue. Then, a comment by one participant shed some light on what advisors need to do to convey their value:

“A few years ago,” the advisor said, “I spent a ton of time on fine-tuning the way I articulate my process. I hired a designer and a branding consultant, and the six-step process we ended up with looks great on my website. For some reason, though, it really doesn’t seem to resonate with clients.”

– sameness rather than differentiation. This advisor is very typical, and his comment illustrates two big problems with what consultants have been saying on this issue.

First, if you take a look at the websites of many advisors, you’ll see a “unique process” generally consisting of four, five or six steps. These processes have different names and configurations, but ultimately look alike. As a result, what was intended to be a differentiator has ended up conveying sameness.

That’s not the biggest problem, though. The really significant problem is that this focus on process has led many advisors down the wrong path entirely.

– feature or benefit? The very first training course that I had attended after graduating from business school many years ago was a course on basic selling skills. First on the agenda was a discussion of features vs benefits.

“If you’re selling a cup of coffee,” the instructor said, “buyers don’t care that the beans were grown on a sunny hillside in Colombia and handpicked at their peak, then roasted in small batches. Those are all features.

“What buyers care about is the benefit – a great-tasting cup of coffee. You may need to talk about attributes to make the benefit believable – but never forget that people don’t buy features; they buy benefits. Start with benefits to get a buyer’s attention, then follow with features for credibility.”

On most websites featuring an advisor’s “unique process,” you have to work hard to find the payoff. In essence, the benefit has been obscured by the features.

– starting with the right benefit. You need to start by clearly articulating exactly the benefit that clients will obtain by working with you. Your benefit can be fairly broad or very narrow, and can be focused on investments or on broader financial outcomes. In some cases, the benefit needs a bit of elaboration. In each example below, the benefit is in boldface type.

First are three investment-focused approaches:

1. We select managers with the demonstrated ability to outperform over full market cycles. We focus on investment managers with a proven process and established track record of finding undervalued companies, employing the same contrarian investment principles used by Warren Buffett. Even though these managers may lag over short periods, this approach has added considerable value to our clients’ portfolios over time.

2. We deliver superior risk-adjusted returns over time. To achieve that result, we use a proven cash flow-focused approach to evaluate stocks and bonds and to construct truly diversified portfolios, regularly rebalancing those portfolios to contain risk.

3. We help affluent Canadians control portfolio volatility while still achieving capital growth, using the same risk-management principles employed by university endowments and pension plans. As part of this process, we tap into alternative investment vehicles and solutions that are typically available only to sophisticated investors.

Now, here are three benefit statements that focus on broad financial outcomes:

1. Working with clients in planning for retirement, we instil confidence that they’ll achieve their financial goals. We start by customizing a financial and investment plan to each client’s unique needs and objectives. Having developed that plan, we help clients adhere to it through both good and bad markets; we see ourselves as an emotional anchor for our clients, keeping the highs from being too high and the lows from being too low.

2. We create peace of mind for retirees by ensuring that they won’t have to worry about funding their retirement years. We develop detailed investment and cash-flow plans, and stress-test those plans to ensure that they’ll deliver positive cash flow under a broad range of scenarios.

3. We minimize the tax burden for our clients, using advanced tax-planning strategies and employing tax-advantaged insurance and investment solutions to deliver efficient after-tax income.

Finally, here are four narrow benefit statements:

1. We advise successful executives, professionals and business owners on maximizing tax-efficient income and transferring wealth to successive generations.

2. We specialize in working with successful entrepreneurs to realize maximum value from their businesses, collaborating with existing professional advisors to implement integrated tax-, estate- and investment-planning strategies.

3. We help medical professionals plan for today and tomorrow, managing current business and personal finances in the most tax-effective fashion possible while implementing plans to ensure that long-term goals are attained.

4. We work with entrepreneurs moving to Canada to launch businesses, helping these clients navigate the complexity of working in a different cultural and financial landscape.

– Bringing your benefits to life. While a strong benefit statement is a good starting point, that’s typically all it is. The challenge is to make that benefit real; for it to be more than just words.

That’s where the process that allows you to deliver that benefit comes in. With existing clients, use every meeting to remind them of the key benefit you offer and where they stand in the process that you use to deliver that benefit. It may not be the first thing you talk about, but it should be a prominent part of the discussion.

Find a way to reinforce your key benefit in written communication to clients. If you send frequent market letters, you may not want to make your benefit the centrepiece of every letter – repetition that’s too frequent can cause clients to lose interest and stop reading. But your benefit should always be there and, from time to time, be prominently featured.

With prospective clients, you have a different challenge. Because the typical process can look generic and abstract, look for ways to make your benefit more tangible.

If your compliance department and regulatory environment allow testimonials, those can be an effective way to illustrate the benefit you offer.

Another way to bring your benefit to life is with case studies. If your focus is on investment outcomes, use past periods to demonstrate how your approach has produced results. And if your benefit is more broadly focused on financial issues, you can use the classic case-study framework (problem, solution, results) to make your story compelling.

None of this diminishes the importance of having a well-articulated process. Just remember that your process alone isn’t sufficient to convey value to existing and prospective clients. Never forget that your process is there to support your benefit. And never forget the lesson from that old sales trainer: lead with benefit, follow with features. IE

Dan Richards is CEO of Clientinsights (www.clientinsights.ca) in Toronto. For more of Dan’s columns and informative videos, visit www.investmentexecutive.com.

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