A couple of short sentences can be a great way to draw a reader into your article or investment commentary.
I like how the Wall Street Journal’s “Ahead of the Tape” column started yesterday.
Stocks have had a nice run these past couple of months. The downside: They may no longer be a bargain.
Notice also the nice conversational tone of the writing.
Members of Boston Women in Finance made my experience enjoyable when I presented my one-hour workshop on “How to Write What People Will Read about Investments” yesterday.
Here’s some of their feedback on my presentation:
“In a sea of competition, you’ve got to capitalize on what makes you unlike anyone else.”
This advice from “Feel Great Naked: Confidence Boosters for Getting Personal” is aimed at bloggers. The author urges them to share personal stories. But it also applies to financial advisors, especially solo practitioners or small firms, when you communicate with your clients and prospects.
Sharing your personality—and even a bit of your personal story—can help you connect with your clients.
For example, in a sales letter, one salesman shared his story of how his family had suffered needlessly because of an estate planning mistake. That mistake fueled his passion for bringing new clients to his firm. After sharing that story, the letter shifted to discussing the benefits his firm could offer his prospects.
I’ll bet that personal story prevented some prospects from dropping the salesman’s letter into their wastebaskets.
Don’t focus your communications exclusively on yourself. Ultimately, your client or prospect will care more about the WIIFM (“what’s in it for me”). But a bit of sharing can create a connection that goes deeper than dollar and cents.
Any financial advisor can heed this advice in one-on-one meetings. It’s more challenging when you work for a large firm and you get into written communications. There’ll probably be a company-wide communications policy that sets an impersonal tone. This gives an opening for advisors with smaller firms to outmaneuver their colleagues at larger firms.
Have you tried taking a personal tack? I’d like to learn what your experience has been.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy my two-part series on “How to add personality and warmth to your financial writing.”
NOTE: I updated this post in Jan. 2017.
Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
“Nearly three-fourths of the 1,203 adults polled said their auto mechanic uses clearer English than their financial professionals,” according to “Financial Jargon: You Just Don’t Understand” by Cathie Gandel in AARP Bulletin Today.
Are you one of those confusing financial pros? And are your clients suffering as a result?
Learn more about the results of a survey by AARP Financial about consumer understanding of financial jargon.
Some of the participants in my “How to Write Investment Commentary that People Will Read” presentation say that learning mind mapping is one of the best parts of the program. It makes them feel they can organize their thoughts better before sitting down to write.
I recently learned about more web-based mind mapping tools that help you create and save an electronic version of a mind map. “Map your mind 2.0” by Rafe Needleman reviews Spinscape and devotes a paragraph apiece to competitors called MeadMap, Mindomo, MindMeister, and bubbl.us.
Needleman doesn’t care for Spinscape, but he’s not a fan of mind mapping. He seems to like MindMeister best.
I’ve written earlier about “Mindmapping for financial advisors.”
When I launched my blog under the SusanCFA name, I wasn’t sure if blogging was more than a flash in the pan. Now that it’s here to stay, I’m re-launching my blog under a name that ties in with my website at InvestmentWriting.com.
What do you think of my new blog’s look? Do you have suggestions for what I should write about? Let me know by leaving a comment or e-mailing me. I look forward to hearing from you.