POWER Partner
POWER Live
12th October 2023
More Conversations, Better Conversations: The Keys to Successful Client Engagement
The information on this page is for professional use only.
The POWER of Financial Planning to change lives
Dimensional Fund Advisors are proud to continue our third annual partnership with Power. Like Power, we work to build committed, long-lasting relationships with advisors whose objectives are to elevate the client experience through specialist advice, techniques and financial planning tools. We believe in helping clients by tuning out the noise and allowing them to focus on what they can control. The assets we manage represent more than shares in a portfolio, they are a lifetime of value. Our work with Power helps us to provide some of our insights to PFS members that we offer through Dimensional 360, our holistic platform with a suite of services – developed over four decades of working with advisors – and offering time-tested insights and solutions to combine our expertise and resources to bring your vision to life.
Power Dimensional Resources
1. Why Financial Planning with David Jones
David Booth on the Power of Professional Advice (Video)
Dimensional Founder David Booth shares his perspective on the value of professional advice. In an uncertain world, the right financial adviser can help you determine the best overall investment approach.
10 attributes of Great Financial Advisers
Dimensional has over 30 years’ experience of working with financial advisers, a collaboration that has helped change the way the world thinks about investing. To recognize that impact, we have compiled 30 ways that investors can benefit from the industry’s transformation and consider 10 common attributes of advisers who are focused on delivering a great client experience.
Webinar: Financial Planning and the Value of Advice
The first of twelve monthly PFS POWER Webinars supported by Dimensional Fund Advisers. David Jones discusses why there has never been a more important time to be a financial adviser and what, specifically, advisers can do to build strong client relationships and successful businesses focussing on the value of advice.
2. The Power of Purpose with David Swanwick
Firm Mission, Vision and Values Statements (Practice Points pdf)
In the most recent Dimensional Advisor Benchmark Study, 77% of firms participating indicated they have written Mission, Vision, and Value statements. These materials serve across multiple areas of the business, including developing firm culture, informing the people they wish to be a part of the organization, and the client types for which they most align.
Webinar: The Power of Purpose
While many firms may believe they have a proper mission and value proposition, not all firms spend the time to understand the definitions of these key concepts and how impactful they can be for their business, for existing clients and for attracting new clients. David Swanwick illuminates the power of these critical ideas.
3. The Business of Financial Planning with Blair Anderson
Webinar: The Business of Financial Planning
Drawing on the results of Dimensional’s Global Adviser Benchmarks Study, Blair provides insights into the running of a Financial Planning firm both from the perspective of those transitioning to providing a full Financial Planning service and those currently providing one.
4. Structuring Effective Client Communication with David Swanwick
Webinar: Structuring Effective Client Communication
Having previously explored the significant value that financial advisers can add to the lives of their clients, this session seeks to provide a robust framework around how advisers can communicate their value and answer client questions effectively and clearly.
5. Engineering Robust Systems to Deliver Exceptional Client Service with David Jones
The evidence from Dimensional’s Global Adviser Study confirms that, after client acquisition, the number one challenge for advisory firms is the creation and implementation of robust systems, processes and workflow. The most successful financial planning firms recognise that world-class service delivery is a key differentiator in meeting their objective of attracting and retaining ideal clients.
This session covered
- Why service delivery is the cornerstone of a great financial planning business
- Tools and tips for designing and implementing robust workflow
- The right way to think about IT – and why it is not a silver bullet for all systems and process issues
- A practical example of a system for designing and implementing an investment policy.
The presentation was run by David Jones, Head of the UK & Ireland Advisor Group at Dimensional Fund Advisors who was be joined by Angus MacNee, Managing Director of the independent IFA network, ValidPath.
Client Feedback (Practise Points pdf)
This Practice Point explores why client feedback is so important and how you may want to approach asking clients for their feedback.
6. Back of a Napkin Financial Plan with David Jones
This session is aimed at helping financial advisers communicate their value through the use of heuristics, simple calculations and sketches (on the back of a napkin) to illustrate the importance of Financial Planning.
Designed to model a real-life conversation with a client or prospect, we will demonstrate how concepts such as
- ‘knowing your number’
- ‘understanding risk’ and
- ‘why you should expect a return’
can be positioned in a real-life interaction with a client or prospect and form the basis of a back of a napkin financial plan.
The presentation was run by David Jones, Head of the UK & Ireland Advisor Group and Blair Anderson, Regional Director at Dimensional Fund Advisors.
Learning outcomes:
- How to communicate the value of Financial Planning with simple stories and sketches
- How to position Financial Planning concepts in real-life interactions with clients and prospects
- How to guide clients to make better financial decisions and maintain a more disciplined approach to investing.
Key Questions for the Long-Term Investor
This article looks at 10 difficult questions that investors will ask themselves at some point on their investment journey and explores how we can help improve investors’ odds of investment success in the long run.
David Booth on Dealing Thoughtfully with Uncertainty
In this video, Dimensional founder David Booth looks at some simple strategies that you can apply to create a plan for tomorrow, even though you might not know exactly what may come.
7. Cutting Through the Noise: ESG and Investor Behaviour with Steven Greenfield
In a recent survey of UK based advisory firms, the most prevalent discussion topics requested were those of ESG and additionally, Investor Behaviour, Advisers often tell us that their clients feel uncertain about the level and type of information related to sustainability and ESG, and how this makes it difficult to make decisions that are best for those client’s needs, and values. This session will;
- examine behavioural aspects of individual decision making toward sustainability investing.
- explore some of the motivations of individual investors for considering sustainability in their decisions and
- offer insight into how, as communicators, we may help investors make decisions that match their own goals.
- explore the research into decision making, and use practical examples to help investors think about their ESG related choices.
Participants will learn a selection of the key findings from the research into investor behaviour, in addition to practical considerations which can help clients cut through the noise of ESG investing.
8. Back of a Napkin Financial Plan Part 2: Using the Matrix Book with David Jones & Blair Anderson
Following on from June’s PFS Power webcast, please join David Jones, Head of UK & Ireland Adviser Group, and Blair Anderson, Regional Director, who will demonstrate how to use Dimensional’s Matrix Book to build on the core ideas from the Back of A Napkin Financial Plan presentation.
In this webcast, David and Blair will show…
- How the Matrix Book can help planners interpret market returns through the decades, and reveal the stories behind the data
- How to use simple narratives and visual techniques to highlight investment principles
- How to bring key market concepts to life for your clients and prospects
This session is suitable for investment professionals and client-facing advisors.
9. The Most Important Meeting: Building Lasting Client Relationships with Regular Reviews with Andrew Walker & Emily Turgoose
A compelling and engaging review meeting is a one of the financial planner’s most important client interactions. Executed well, it enhances the planner’s relationship with their client and helps them to powerfully demonstrate the ongoing value of their advice.
In this session, led by Dimensional Regional Director, Andrew Walker, with contributions from some of the UK’s leading planners, we will draw on lessons from Dimensional’s Global Investor Survey to explore the key ingredients of a great client review.
We will cover:
- How to create a powerful client experience that strengthens the adviser’s relationship with their client and reinforces the value of advice
- How to monitor the progress of the client’s financial plan, keep them track and deal with changes in their circumstances
- How to handle the investment questions such as performance, fees and market commentary, and keep control of the agenda
Links to resources
10. The Power of a Personal Brand: How to Differentiate Yourself from the Competition with Apollo Lupescu
Building a strong personal brand can differentiate you from the competition and accelerate your client growth. Apollo Lupescu, Dimensional Vice President, will explore why developing a personal brand is so crucial and will provide practical tools that you can use to enhance your own personal brand.
In this webcast, Apollo will show…
- How to develop your niche and align your values with your clients
- Why a personal brand is so important to the client experience
- Tangible ways to build and develop your own personal brand
11. Applying Effective Communication for Referrals and Business Development with David Swanwick
Business development is one of the major challenges facing financial advisory and wealth firms across the world. It’s also the case that most new business for financial advisers comes from referrals via existing client and centres of influence.
This session aims to explore the state of referrals for financial advisers across the world, and will explore practical techniques for structuring an improved pipeline of ideal client referrals to advisers through the application of effective client communication theory and practices.
Learning objectives:
- Greater understanding of why clients & centres of influence do and don’t refer
- How to structure ‘asking’ for referrals into the financial planning process
- How to use effective communication techniques when handling the referrals conversation.
12. A lifetime in planning: in conversation with George Kinder & David Jones
George Kinder has been in the financial planning profession for nearly 50 years. In his early years as a financial planner, he discovered a more powerful way to engage his clients in conversations that transformed not only their lives but also influenced change in the financial planning profession. George developed those early conversations into a system called financial life planning and a process that could be taught to other advisers. Today, George is widely acknowledged as the creator of financial life planning. He founded the Kinder Institute of Life Planning in 2003 and has trained over 3,000 professionals in 30 countries to be life planners.
In this POWER Webinar, George is in conversation with David Jones of Dimensional and they will explore how the lives financial planners and clients, and those whom they influence, can be transformed by Life Planning.
George and David will talk for 40 minutes, leaving time for you to ask your own questions.
Learning objectives:
- How the three life planning questions can form the basis of a powerful client conversation
- Why the EVOKE process provides such a comprehensive framework for strengthening and enhancing the adviser-client relationship
- Why the ability to hold these conversations with your clients is so impactful, not just for your clients, but for your own life and the role you can play in society.
13. The Winning Financial Planning Formula with David Jones
A compelling and engaging value proposition is the cornerstone of a successful financial planning business.
In this webinar David Jones, Head of Dimensional’s UK and Ireland Advisor Group, will demonstrate a proven framework for understanding the evolution and development of a transformed advice business and the components of a successful client experience.
Learning objectives:
- How to present the financial planning formula – a simple way to communicate a compelling financial advice proposition in an initial client conversation
- Why advice is best delivered through comprehensive financial planning
- The importance of creating robust and stainable processes to deliver a lifetime of planning for clients
Links to resources
14. Advanced Cashflow Planning: Pull your planning up by the bootstraps with David Jones & Abraham Okusanya
15. How to develop a clear investment philosophy and why it matters with David Jones & Derek Walpole
16. From Prospect to Promoter with Blair Anderson
Building Client Personas
A persona represents a market segment that you bring to life through a set of shared attributes. Advisors can use personas to help build a custom, targeted client experience that drives loyalty and referral opportunities with existing clients and centers of influence (COIs). Personas may also assist in targeting the sales, marketing, and branding efforts for a niche client segment.
Client Feedback
Is your firm delivering the right client experience? Where should you focus your limited time and resources? How can you best grow your business? Your clients are a vital source of knowledge for your business. Ask them for feedback!
Client Referrals
Client referrals are the number one source of new business for advisors, according to results from Dimensional’s 2017 Advisor Benchmarks Study. When M&A activity is excluded, client referrals account for 40% of a firm’s new clients each year. Most clients are willing to recommend their advisor to others, but the primary reason they do not is because their advisor never asks for a referral.1 In addition to impacting a firm’s asset and revenue growth, referrals can be an indicator of client loyalty and satisfaction.
