WHAT IS COACHING?
How Can it Help You?
Coaching can create a significant new income stream, where you will be compensated for helping the individual in your book of business that has not, as of yet accumulated a significant amount of investable assets to fit into the normal financial planning model. With coaching you can build better relationships with your clients, leading to better retention of assets. It will be the key to unlocking a profitable model to work with the millennials and generation X'ers.
Also as a way to connect with the next generation that will inherit the assets you currently manage. In a non-commission world, coaching provides a way for the junior rep in your practice to develop his business. Coaching gives you satisfaction in the knowledge that you are making a significant difference in your client's lives.
You Are Already Uniquely Qualified
As financial planners we are uniquely qualified to help your clients on multiple levels. The best financial planners already use coaching with their clients whether they know it or not. In your practice you understand the importance of talking with your clients. If you were simply interested in numbers you would be an accountant. But a financial planner is more than that.
You chose to work with people. You’re a people person. You enjoy engaging with your clients and really helping them. You don’t just invest you investigate. You delve into what your clients actually need and want. You do this with not only budgeting cash flow and sound investments but with the power of storytelling, an understanding of human needs, and by playing to individual values. You take the time to get to know your clients and what makes each one tick. Coaching allows you to access these natural talents more deeply and productively. It complements our profession so succinctly it would be irresponsible not to include it in our practice
Our World is Crying Out for Understanding & Meaning
It is a need as real and consuming as water, as food, as sleep and without it -we die. We die, perhaps not literally but certainly spiritually. There is no denying the desire for even the most basic of coaching principles in our everyday lives. People flock to motivational speakers and “gurus” en masse, paying exorbitant amount of money just to feel heard, simply to feel understood. Why? It speaks to a true lacking in our everyday interactions and a universal understanding that human connection is everything. The ability to express ourselves to our peers has been the driving force of civilization since its conception. Art, music, language itself, all arose from our struggle for recognition.
Though motivational speakers and sponsors do address this need, they are sorely lacking in fundamentals and hone positivity and visioning without tackling the core of the issue, which is how you’re going to get there. While we are constantly questioned on what we want to be, who we want to be is not something that is usually examined, and outside of what we do, who we are is essentially ignored.
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Fortunately, there’s a growing movement to implement these teachings in a variety of professions. Early education, therapy, corrections, and healthcare have all seen an increased awareness to the value of coaching. Business coaching has been used and reserved for corporations for more than half a century, helping companies grow exponentially and creating innovative environments for their staff to thrive. However, there is an overwhelming gap in the way the coaching method is broadcast. Outside of grade school, coaching isn’t utilized by the general public; even then it is a watered down, more digestible version, that gives a very limited understanding of core coaching competencies. Therapy, mentoring, financial planning, these are all specialized services that traditionally required specific circumstances to be sought after. Therapy and mentoring are reserved for those who are unwell or feel overwhelmed in their daily lives. Financial services are normally reserved for people who perceive they can afford it and have acquired or amassed a significant amount of assets to justify the cost of the advice. Thus leaving individuals who must need a financial planner's expertise unable to take advantage of or utilize the benefits of such services.