The work of NextGen Planners, alongside Universities offering Financial Planning degree courses now, means that there is a whole new generation of Financial Planners entering the industry. Younger people deliberately making the career choice from the off!
How weird is that to those of us who have been around a while? Throughout my career, I think the most common answer to “how did you get into Financial Planning” that I’ve heard is “well I just sort of fell into it really”.
People are choosing this fantastically rewarding career. Coming into the profession wanting to progress, keen to take on the succession challenge from the older generation. Looking to that generation for mentorship, guidance, and ultimately, their future career development.
But there is a challenge that comes with this. The business owners who are looking to the younger generation for their succession plan are REALLY busy! They have too many clients already, and are often the best people (in terms of skills and experience) within their firm to see and convert new clients.
How on earth are they going to find the time to train, mentor and develop the next generation?
What’s the skill base?
I think there are three strands of knowledge and skills that this next generation (and all Financial Planners over the next decade really) need to get really good at.
Technical knowledge
This isn’t going anywhere. You need to know your stuff! Luckily there is way more support out there now, from the likes of NextGen Planners and others to support people through their professional exams.
Mastering technology
Cashflow forecasting is the obvious example here, but tech is advancing faster than ever so it’s by no means the only technology that will require mastery.
The younger generation have the advantage here for sure! I just have to look at my 7 year old on an iPad to see that. Understanding and navigating great tech is fast becoming a necessity. Again, there is support out there – The Voyantist, and NextGen’s TechStack being great examples.
Human skills
Building great relationships, listening well, understanding deeply, empathising (and successfully expressing that). Really getting to know the person, their life, ambitions, hopes and dreams. Ultimately humanising the whole experience.
For those experienced Financial Planning business owners who have been around a while, what we used to term “soft skills” have been learned and developed over time. Of course there’s always room for improvement, and many I’m sure, don’t listen as well as they could. But most have the confidence to sit down with a potential new client and build rapport and trust pretty quickly.
How do we teach that bit? I don’t think it’s nearly enough to simply say “shadow me, watch and learn”. For one thing, a 40 or 50 something business owner comes with gravitas that a 20 something just doesn’t bring. There may well also be a gap in life experience between the younger planner and the client.
What I see play out time and again, is that this “watch and learn” approach leads to frustration on both sides. So, what if this part of the training could be outsourced too?
How can we support the next generation to develop these skills?
The Financial Discovery Coaching qualification offers a training and development package which does just that. Taking the burden away from busy business leaders to train these skills, while building confidence that their proteges will be able to connect with clients despite often not having the life experience that leads to more natural empathy and connection. The course provides an opportunity to learn how to rapidly build deeper connections with clients.
By learning coaching skills grounded in the Thinking Environment®, planners can uncover client aspirations and limiting assumptions faster. This leads to higher trust, engagement and ultimately conversion rates and client retention.
The course and its subsequent qualification and accreditation path offers a solution for busy principals already juggling overflowing plates. Taking the burden of training the critical skills for client relationships away. This program trains those human-centric abilities quickly, allowing principals to confidently delegate leads and clients sooner.
When qualified, a Financial Discovery Coach will have built foundational listening skills, as well as the ability to identify client assumptions and support breakthroughs. They will have learned how to apply these skills to a variety of client contexts. They will also have developed an understanding of how their life experiences affect their unconscious biases, to help build connections where their lives look very different to those of their clients..
Ongoing mentorship and community then provides continuous development so that these skills become second nature.
If this sounds interesting, follow this link to find out more, or get in touch here to arrange a conversation.
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