What Separates Good Advisors from the Rest

To do a good job for a client, it pays to really understand their business… almost as well as they do. It’ll help you find marketing angles others don’t see.

At the time, although I had read plenty on the subject, I had very little understanding of the technical side of real estate.

So on my own dime, I purchased a series of resources including a hard copy of Barron’s Dictionary of Real Estate Terms – a tome that still sits on the bookshelf behind my desk.

It was like learning a whole new language, an experience not unique to real estate.

Many industries are like that… their own vocabulary; their own insider language.

I was recently reminded of that after receiving an update from one of many Swiss investment advisors I follow.

It was so full of industry jargon that I doubt anyone outside the field could really understand what the reader was supposed to take away from it.

Which is a shame because I know for a fact this is their client-facing newsletter.

Unfortunately, this is not all that uncommon; too much of the advisory world – especially international financial advisors – communicate in terms that are difficult for clients to understand.

In most cases, it’s not intentional. Many people who write these reports don’t have to interact with clients.

But in some cases, less-than-scrupulous service providers use complexity as a way to “pressure” the client – which makes it easier to get a sale.

A good advisor is someone who can speak clearly, knows how to communicate complicated subjects in simple terms, and works to ensure that the client really understands before agreeing to a course of action.

In other words, look for help from someone who follows Einstein’s (supposed) quote, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

We work hard to ensure that our clients understand the strategy before they ever take action. If you want an honest assessment of whether a planning approach you’ve read, heard, or watched is right for you, feel free to get in touch.