By Kasey Dean, Simplicity Lone Beacon’s Senior Director of Accounts.
The financial industry has historically been dominated by the male perspective. In fact, I’ve noticed a lack of fellow women in the financial space and I can say from experience that it can be like navigating a “boy’s club” at times. When I was going through college I was told that in order to be successful in the business world I had to know how to navigate this club. It seemed like every coach, mentor, friend, boss, or family member was trying to prepare me to break through. They would tell me, “Don’t show too many emotions”, or, “Think like a man would”, or my personal favorite, “Don’t share your perspective, no one really cares.”
In the finance world, I’ve come across these perspectives all too often, but the truth is that the woman’s perspective matters much more than you might think. A recent study from GoBankingRates shows that 40% of women surveyed take the lead on financial matters in a household and 30% share the financial responsibility, leaving only 12% of women who leave their household’s financial decisions to their partner.[1] We all know that there needs to be a strong level of trust for a prospective client to hand over the keys to their financial house. So, how are you cultivating that personal trust with the already large and growing female audience? Your marketing and sales strategies need to relate on a deeper level to a women-leaning audience in order for your firm to grow. To avoid a disconnect and barrier of relatability between your firm and your prospective clients, it’s not only helpful but imperative that you value women’s perspectives in your firm alongside the male perspective.
As a woman who has navigated the financial industry, follow these 3 rules to help center women’s viewpoints and include them more crucially in your advisory firm.
Rule #1 – Center Women’s Perspectives Throughout Your Business
If you’re interested in expanding your financial advisory by adding new clients and strengthening your relationships with current clients, your business and its offerings must directly address the unique perspectives and concerns of women. For example, in your informational materials, make sure you address the nuances of personal finance from a women’s perspective. Do you have a whitepaper aimed at acknowledging and guiding women on financial matters that pertain to them?
Being able to offer products and informational materials that directly acknowledge and address their concerns can really help prove to your prospective clients that you’re the right fit for them and are prepared to support them throughout their financial journey. So, having marketing, sales, and informational materials aimed at communicating that you are the financial advisor for this crucial audience.
Rule #2 – Value a Woman’s Perspective in Leadership Positions
As helpful as having audience-tailored materials is, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Ultimately, each prospective client you aim to do business with will have to trust your firm and feel comfortable enough to choose you as the steward of their retirement savings, which many have spent their working life saving towards. In short, it’s no small decision. Because of this, there are certain intangibles and subtleties about how you communicate, sell, and provide services to your clients that can be the deciding factor in whether that client ends up working with you or moving on.
In my own career, I’ve seen this come up time and time again. There have been moments where having a female team or department leader has really helped women on that team feel more comfortable to speak up, grow as a professional, and succeed not only for themselves but for the business as well.
So, when it comes to addressing and supporting the female audience, it’s highly important to have women in leadership positions who can make real-time decisions based on a tangible understanding of this audience, and in turn execute strategies that can effectively address the unique concerns and needs of their client.
Rule #3 – Seek Out Women in the Hiring Process
One of the best and easiest actions you can take to better serve your female clients is to prioritize hiring women. At the end of the day, nothing replaces seeing a familiar and relatable face when it comes to client services. First impressions are so important for turning a prospect into a client, so having women financial advisors can make a difference not just for your internal operations, but for your sales and client services as well.
For some companies, it’s commonplace to have a male-dominated hiring team. While there is nothing wrong with that, if you are looking to adopt a more woman-focused perspective, it’s crucial that you actively seek out women for your open roles. From my experience, I’ve noticed there are plenty of qualified women to staff positions in the financial industry, but there is sometimes a disconnect between a hiring manager and a candidate on the value that candidate brings to the table.
If you notice that you happen to select more men for positions rather than women, you might benefit from a different perspective in the decision room. Including this perspective can help your team highlight certain qualities in a candidate you may not have noticed before.
Conclusion
The truth is that in today’s world, one of the best ways to expand and strengthen your financial advisory business is to adapt to the female audience. These 3 rules should serve as guiding principles to help your advisory adapt to a world of women who control or have a significant sway in household financial decisions. Moreover, they’re rooted in my own experience as a woman in the financial space overseeing the marketing programs of many financial advisories across the country.
Sources:
[1] https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/woman-world-survey-finds-women-150013815.html?
About the Author: Kasey joined Simplicity Lone Beacon from the sportswear industry where she was a marketing manager overseeing the strategy, content creation, execution and analysis for New Balance Athletics’ first-ever customer rewards program. She has also managed a million-dollar media budget, creating content and measuring performance for paid and organic marketing campaigns. Kasey graduated from Brandeis University with a double major in Business & American Studies, where she was also two-year captain of the Varsity Women’s Basketball team. In her free time, Kasey enjoys being active and traveling as much as possible.
