Are you telling the right story?

Speaker 1: (00:08) Hi, and welcome to Your Thriving Practice. I'm your host, Dan Corcoran. Today I'm joined by Jeannie Underwood, senior Vice President and head of Global Atlantic Consulting, and she's here to introduce Message Mapping, getting to the buying zone, a new workshop she and her team have developed. It's designed to show financial professionals how important communication really is. Jeannie, it's so nice to have you here.

Speaker 2: (00:31) Thanks, Dan. I'm really looking forward to our discussion today,

Speaker 1: (00:34) As am I also joining us is Kristin Pondel from Storyline Strategies, an agency that's dedicated to the art of storytelling. Kristin, welcome to you.

Speaker 3: (00:44) Thanks, Dan. Pleasure to be here today.

Speaker 1: (00:46) So let's get started. Jeannie, tell me what prompted the development of this workshop?

Speaker 2: (00:50) Well, Dan, there's a couple reasons. Uh, first of all, I've always been really big on communication in this industry from a different perspective, not kind of falling into like the sea of sameness. And I was told early on in my career is that, you know, Jeannie don't get stuck in this trap of thinking that you are in the business of selling product. He said, because you're into. In your industry, you're really in the business of communication. You're in the business of people, and that's what will drive your success. So, we are always as a team looking to create content based around communication principles and offering communication principles to financial professionals to help them be more successful in their conversations. Another thing that, that we noticed is that when we go to all these conferences and we present some of our programs around the idea of communication, that they're the most attended sessions, not only of our content, but for that particular conference.

Speaker 2: (01:41) So we know that financial professionals are eager and hungry for any information that's gonna help them improve on their communication. And I love that. That's, that's good news to me because it's really, really important. And in fact, we recently came across a study, a 2022 study from YCharts, and it was entitled, How Can Advisors Better Communicate With Clients? They found that 88% of the respondents, so these would be investor clients, would consider their advisor's frequency and style of communication when deciding whether to retain their services. And so, I loved seeing that because it really validates all the other research that we've seen is that today, look, people, investors, clients do not leave financial professionals because of performance, because of strategy, because of products. They leave because there is a breakdown in the relationship and there's a breakdown in communication. And if we can constantly be putting communication ideas in front of financial professionals to keep them healthy in their business, then we are doing our job and we're keeping them successful.

Speaker 1: (02:42) That's a really interesting statistic. 88% is a huge number. What, Jeannie, did you do with that information?

Speaker 2: (02:49) We were looking for communication experts and we kept landing on this company called Storyline Strategies and all the research they do on communication and words and, and we put this out there to them and here's what we're experiencing in the industry and we wanna do some research to put out a program, design a program around the best communication tactics available to the financial professionals to put them in a better position, really to enhance their success. And so I reached out to Kristin and, and here we are today.

Speaker 1: (03:14) So Kristin, tell me a little bit more about Storyline Strategies and a brief background on all this work.

Speaker 3: (03:20) So Storyline Strategies is a strategic consulting firm. Our team is really a blend of strategists, writers, designers, and research experts. And together we're distilling data into insights-driven narratives and stories that help transform business challenges into opportunities for folks. And for this work, we started with two round table conversations among financial professionals in order to really understand what types of resources they have an appetite for, what are they actually going to be using in their practice. And so, we wanted to equip these financial professionals with an understanding of annuities so that they can position them better. And in some instances, reframe annuities as a potential strategy. Following those conversations, we were then literally Zooming into the living rooms of investors. So, we conducted six qualitative sessions with investors in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, all with investible assets of $250,000 or more. And that really represents the different contours of this audience, different mix of risk tolerance, different appetite for control in investing situations.

Speaker 3: (04:29) And we were looking for a more nuanced and textured understanding of their expectations, needs and concerns. So, what do they really want when working with a financial professional, what they want that relationship to be like? And then also supply them with a lot of different messaging to dissect the words that do and do not work. And why, because that why is so critical when helping financial professionals gravitate to and use the terms correctly. Because when they understand the why, then they're more apt to just glom onto it and to start utilizing it in their practices.

Speaker 1: (05:03) So you did the research and what Kristin, did your research show you about the importance of language and the buying journey?

Speaker 3: (05:11) Our research shows that both the language itself and then the sequencing of the conversations is really crucial to the buying journey and getting investors and clients into that buying zone with everything that is happening in our world and the market. And let's not forget about the proximity that this audience is to retirement. They are really craving that feeling of security. They value safe, protected investment strategies. And so, what we wanted to do is anchor some of our framing in that security and protection and then also minimize their sense of ”FOMO”. They do wanna see some upside in that. So how do we provide the best of both worlds to them? And we really learned that framing is everything, especially when we're thinking about annuities. They're not as well known and there are some misperceptions out there. And so financial professionals need to and can correct some of these assumptions. We found that when financial professionals introduce annuities by positioning them in terms of the outcome they deliver rather than by the name itself, there's a lot of receptivity to them.

Speaker 2: (06:18) Yeah. And Kristin, one of the things that we learned is there has to be different language around these products. Annuities isn't just one product. There, there's segments of them and there's several of them. And so that, what that did is that gave us an understanding about where there were door openers and then where the buying zone was. That's critical for financial professionals and we can get them to right at the edge of that buying zone, then we've done our job. And then when they step into that buying zone, then there's a process for that as well. And so, all of this research has been built on the journey of listening, really designing these really good open-ended questions and providing them kind of the, the tactics of listening to their investors and clients to guide them from discovery to buying. And there's several steps from discovery to, to buying.

Speaker 2: (07:02) And so right now, unless annuities are something that financial professionals really know and have the confidence to speak about, it's just not as top of mind as maybe some of their other investment options to talk about where they feel like they're more of an expert. So, what we found in the research is that, and this is where the disconnect is, is that three in four investors see value in protected income, really anything protection. If you can protect their income, they wanna know more. If you can protect their growth, you can protect anything when it comes to their money, their ears are open. I mean, they're really in, in their head saying, tell me more, but here's the disconnect. Only two in five advisors recommend protected type products as a part of the overall client portfolio. So, what the client wants and what the advisor's talking about, that's not matching up. There's a big gap there and that's why we're here with this research is to help close that gap.

Speaker 1: (07:53) And Jeannie, let's just drill down on that a little bit more. The research does seem to show that investors are open to discussions about annuities. They're open to it, but in a way that will resonate with them. So what does the research show about how financial professionals can really take advantage of this open door, as you say?

Speaker 2: (08:08) They do want the conversation. So let me, I wanna be very, very clear about that. To the financial professional community, they want to have this conversation. If it's a conversation around their money in a way for them or you to protect their money, they wanna have that conversation. So, the research shows that people were very receptive to finding, and I love this phrase, right, “safe spaces.” And I think financial professionals can use that word in the conversation. Look, think about this, where we're gonna potentially move your money or take a portion and put money here. This is a safe space. They, they respond to that. There's a level of exhaustion with all of the recent financial volatility. Investors need somebody to have strategies without telling them or, you know, selling them something. They want a different conversation so the research shows that financial professionals should look to get to know the client at a deeper level and then guide them to ask for an annuity without actually asking for it.

Speaker 2: (09:00) It seems a little gamey, but that's, that's really what we're getting here is, is asking these really good open-ended questions, getting them to open up what they value the most and really what they want out of any sort of strategy. So, for example, a financial professional could ask, you know, what are you really trying to do with your money today? Have your goals changed? Are they still aligned or we, do we need to make a few adjustments to keep you on track? Are you trying to protect your income today or your future income? Are you trying to protect your growth? You know, where, where in this market today are your most important? Or were you putting a priority in terms of protecting your money? And then the financial professional can position their response without even saying the word annuity. So today I wanna talk to you about a strategy that's gonna do just what you spelled out for us. It's gonna protect you in environments where there's volatility, while at the same time we still can provide growth when that market does start to take up a little bit.

Speaker 1: (09:48) So Jeannie why do you think that communication is so important?

Speaker 2: (09:53) I can't stress enough. I, I think this is one of the most important things that we should focus on, mm-hmm, in the financial services industry, but specifically financial professionals. We all spend so much time on the product and the performance and the markets, but we can't even get to a point to share that information unless we have the proper communication with our clients. And so the, what the research tells us is that financial professional success is directly affected by their communication strategies. Having a strategy in the first place and then having like the awareness, like if you are gonna pivot a little bit in your communication, like is it resonating? Like, I mean, you can tell there's, tell, tell signs that you can tell when it's working versus when it's not working. But having that awareness factor in there. But nearly nine of every 10 clients consider their financial professionals communication frequency and style when deciding whether to retain their services or when to, this is the key here is when to make referrals.

Speaker 1: (10:49) That's so interesting because the referral part, like you're alluding to that is how businesses expand. That's how you grow your clientele. That's so important.

Speaker 2: (10:58) It really is. And in fact, when you look at, when you ask financial professionals how do you grow your business, what do you think the best way is to grow your business? The number one answer always referrals is referrals. Yeah. And you're not gonna get the referrals if you don't work on your communication process. So Kristin, from, from a research standpoint, you know, what do you have to say about this?

Speaker 3: (11:15) We completely agree, Jeannie. So communication is the underpinning of any good relationship and communication style, communication frequency, the sequencing of communication, again, Jeannie mentioned those open-ended questions. We wanna work backwards from the client's end goals. But that starts by listening to and learning from who your client is, who the person sitting across the table from you is. And it's their goals, their needs. We can hear people talk about healthcare concerns, especially in this day and age, and then begin to transform what it is that we know about this client into educating them about different opportunities, informing them about different strategies, then identifying opportunities and getting them into that buying zone. Finally recommending a product to them. But communication is the basis for relationships. And so it's essential that the communication strategies that financial professionals are employing are strong and match what it is that their clients want and need.

Speaker 1: (12:15) So what is the most important aspect to building a strong communication strategy with a client?

Speaker 2: (12:21) Well, what we learned is that the very first step in establishing or building a relationship with a prospect or enhancing a relationship with an existing client is that, as Kristin mentioned, that the trust is foundational. And, and nearly six out of 10 people say their default tendency is to distrust something. We're all skeptics until that trust is built up. And so until they start seeing some evidence that, that they believe in something or they're leaning into it, they're naturally going to be skeptics. And so that's particularly true. And unfortunately, in our industry, you know, we all work in this industry, so we're, we're insulated a little bit. We think we work in the best industry ever and we do from our point of view, but from the opposite point of view, from the person sitting on the other side of the table from us, the trust factor for our industry is the lowest out of any other industry out there. Just under actually fashion and way below tech, for instance, in education and entertainment. And I'm gonna tell you right now, I know that has to do all with, we just don't have in a lot of situations the best communication strategy.

Speaker 1: (13:25) It's so sad to see those numbers, but I mean the numbers do tell the story. So being proactive about it and the communication is certainly key. And Kristin, when you look at the research, what did it show you on the words and the phrases that really resonated with people the most?

Speaker 3: (13:39) What we found is there was a lot of consensus. Again, we talked to a variety of different folks, different ages, different genders, all of that. And we're seeing this consistency around a lot of the terms that folks gravitate to like and resonate with them. For example, investment strategies, investment solutions, solutions came across as here is a product here is a one size fits all approach to get you to your destination. And what didn't work about it is that investors felt as though they were being sold to too early on in the conversation. And they wanna make sure that that relationship, that foundational trust that Genie mentioned is being developed first before they ever transition to a conversation about a product. Strategies sounded like a vehicle to get them to where they wanna go and where they wanna go is comfortable retirement. That's one of the interesting things that we found as well. So we gave folks the choice of dream retirement, comfortable retirement. Surprisingly, investors are very pragmatic. Now, what a comfortable retirement looks like varies person to person, but they don't wanna be sold on this idea of a dream retirement.

Speaker 1: (14:46) So they loved comfortable over a dream.

Speaker 3: (14:47) Oh, verbal, yes. Okay. It's all about comfort. Another thing that we heard, financial security versus freedom, security far and away what it is that they want in the here and now. And that speaks to the different types of products that they're gravitating to that they wanna learn more about as well. Something that's secure, something that's protected, something that mitigates the risk that was very attractive to the investors. And then finally we tested some of these other terms regarding the idea of a retirement paycheck or retirement income. This was fascinating to us as well because everyone loved retirement income. Why retirement paycheck didn't work as well is because paycheck has too much of a connection to work and they wanna be done with work when they're in retirement. Mm-hmm, they feel as though they've already put the work in. So the idea of paycheck just doesn't reflect the reality that they're living in currently. And these folks are used to a paycheck. And so we thought that that would be a benefit. But it turned out that because a paycheck is the same time and time and time again, you don't look at your pay stub and expect to see changes. Retirement income, it allowed for that growth potential. And that was very attractive to investors. The idea that yes, it's stable, but we wanna see it grow and grow. So income allowed for that growth potential, whereas paycheck was a little bit too fixed. And then all its connections to work.

Speaker 1: (16:18) So income over paycheck, comfortable over dream, those are all just words, but they do have different meanings depending on the audience you're speaking to. And Jeannie, you've seen that too. Talk about that. How communication and using the right words can make a difference.

Speaker 2: (16:34) It's also important to determine what kind of communications will resonate with, with the client. And I know in our industry we, you know, we, we tend to move towards that jargon cuz that's our comfort zone, that that's what we know. But unfortunately, the person sitting across the table from us, that's not their comfort zone and that's really what turns them off. And so, jargon does not equal expertise. Okay? So, let's think about that for a second. Jargon does not equal expertise, but a lot of financial professionals, that's kind of what they're unknown. That's their subliminal in their mind is the more jargon we speak, that's gonna show my knowledge base. And that's not necessarily the case. And so what we found is we were studying certain language that we speak around our products, 90 to 95% preferred plain English, very simple plain English explanations.

Speaker 2: (17:24) I'm talking about third grade words, right? I always say let's talk in third grade words here. However, I will say the missing percentage points there, the five to 10% do prefer a techy jargon we found, and we did expect that it's not a hundred percent this way versus that way. You know, there's certain personality types that do like the more technical information and that's okay. So what we did to appeal to both sides of that equation is our research now provides financial professionals with the specific language to be used in both scenarios. So very third grade, very simple language to talk about this product set and then techie jargon that's also been studied. So not only did we say, okay, well just throw in some techie jargon, we actually tested that techie jargon and found the best script for the people that really lean into more of those techy definitions.

Speaker 3: (18:11) And Jeannie’s so right on that too, because even though folks prefer the plain English, it doesn't mean absent details, it doesn't mean absent information. And so it's taking that expertise and boiling it down into a set of words and phrases that everyone can understand. And that is oftentimes the true showing of knowledge and acumen around the subject is help me understand it without relying on the techie speak.

Speaker 1: (18:35) And at the root of it all financial professionals really should just want their clients to understand what they're trying to communicate to them. I know it sounds very basic, but that's what we're talking about here. Kristin, what did the research show regarding preferences consistent among the various demographics in those focus groups?

Speaker 3: (18:52) Yeah, so we were frankly surprised by the level of consistency and the consensus around what is and isn't working. Again, we captured a diverse set of investors and put them into these groups very purposefully and intentionally. And investors are by no means a monolith, but there was a real consistency and a consensus, again around what words work and what words don't. Jeannie mentioned numbers like 90%, 95% when I was talking about some of the phrases that do and do not work. Again, these weren't margins of 51, 49, these were, everyone liked this, no one liked that. And so yes, there's a lot of consensus here.

Speaker 1: (19:55) So now let's talk about that new workshop, Message Mapping, getting to the buying zone. Jeannie, what will a financial professional who attends actually learn.

Speaker 2: (20:03) Financial professionals who attend this workshop will, will learn about communication strategies, messaging, and in timing, as well as how to position annuity type of strategies in a way that resonates well with each individual client or prospects, but then at the same time aligns with their goals. So we're gonna give financial professionals a better way to communicate based on this research with their clients, by providing them with these key takeaways. So really number one is a framework to unlock the buying zone. So we have specifically identified steps in the conversation that they have to address. And underneath each one of those are stops along the way. So really what we've created here is kind of this conversation journey, so that from the beginning to the end and the end is that buying zone. So they're gonna get that entire framework. And I've gotta tell you right now, in my experience in working with financial professionals, it seems overly simplified, but really what this is, it's, it's a checklist.

Speaker 2: (21:00) People live their entire lives and checklists and, and that's what really at the end, you have a checklist and if you check the items, you're typically successful. So we created this framework and kind of this checklist format. We also created open-ended questions. You know, in our industry we're always talking about, look, if you wanna get to know your clients better, you gotta ask 'em really good open-ended questions. And a couple things happen when you do that. Number one is when you're asking really good open-ended questions about who your clients are, your prospects are, it creates likability and people do business with people they like and trust and not vice versa. But I think that we've, up to this point, we're leaving them a little short-handed. We tell 'em to ask really good open-ended questions, but then we don't tell 'em what to ask. And so what we did in this research that's different, and I haven't seen anyone else research this, is that we tested questions in these focus groups.

Speaker 2: (21:47) And what we are looking for is almost this lean in meter. Okay, was that question, did they expand on that? And so what we did is we collected all these really good open-ended questions that were gold mines. As soon as we asked the question, people couldn't keep their mouth shut. They just kept going and going and going. So now we know the questions for you to ask to create this likability and to continue a successful journey to that buying zone. We also, as we've mentioned, we research words, words to use and words to lose. And, and these are words, these were new words that we found like, hmm, we didn't know that would work so well. And then others that we thought would work really well and, and they didn't work at all. So now we have a list, almost like a call it a, a dictionary of words that work.

Speaker 2: (22:26) And then we also tested the tools, the right marketing type of tools to use. Our industry inundates financial professional with tools, use this, we equip them with everything, but no one's ever tested. Do those work with the end user. So now we have a whole, let's call it a toolkit of tools that we know work. And then what we educate them on is not only the tools that work, but then how to use them in the sequence of using them. So really what this does, this workshop breaks it down even further to the four main steps of the journey. Listen and learn, form and educate, identify opportunities, and finally propose a strategy. 

Speaker 1: (22:59) Kristin, I see you getting animated about what Jeannie’s saying here, especially when it comes to the questions that were researched and the, and the words that we learned more about. Talk about that.

Speaker 3: (23:07) What Jeannie mentioned is so right, everything that we found with the framework and the questions to use are iterative and additive. Everything builds on what this financial professional is learning about the client, and we take what it is that they say that want, and then we anchor everything moving forward in that journey to the buying zone based on their answers. All right,

Speaker 1: (23:27) So Jeannie, can you give us an idea of how our listeners can put these steps into action? Well, first

Speaker 2: (23:33) Let me make a comment on those four pillars that I talked about earlier. What those do for you as a financial professional is it instills confidence where we're providing you a structure for a journey that leads to success. And I'll tell you just from a psychology standpoint, structure is really, really important to the human mind. You see, we live our entire lives in patterns and structures, and when we don't have one, we don't perform as well because the brain is always trying to find a pattern or a structure to jump into for any situation. So, if you have a structure for that conversation, you’re gonna perform so much better. So, what this really is, it's a new structure that leads you to a more successful conversation. You'll leave here studying kind of those, those four GPS checkpoints on that map to that journey. So, and they're really easy. It's not like learning a new kind of algorithm or math equation. It's for instance, listen and learn, you know, and then we give you the steps to listen and learn and inform and educate and so on and so forth. So then what you would wanna do is we provide you in this workshop, all these questions that work, that are studied. We know these are the questions people are leaning into and they're opening their world to you. So now what you wanna do is you wanna really have kind of in your back pocket at any given time, five questions to be opening your clients up. Okay? So that's easy. You know, questions are easy, but you just gotta know the questions to ask. And we provide those for you. We also give you the words to use and lose. This isn't memorizing a new dissertation, this just is inserting a word that works into any conversation. And then you can now customize your own toolkit based on the pieces, the tools that we've tested that are gonna lead to successful conversations. Think of them as props, but props that work and that are gonna be additive and enhance the conversation. Very, very easy implementation.

Speaker 1: (25:24) So Jeannie, you've been doing workshops for a while now. This one you seem really excited about. What do you want people who are listening today to really walk away with when they hear this conversation? Yeah,

Speaker 2: (25:33) I, I'm really excited about, yes, you are about this, about this content and this topic. It's like a labor of love here with this, this content. And the one thing that we've always implemented into all the programs that we've created, I think that it really is our formula for success is that we always offer the what and why on anything. So what is this? Why is it important? And then what we always do is follow up with a very meaningful how so how do you take everything that we shared with you and now implement it into your practice to find success? And I feel like that formula within this content is really, really strong. Literally when you leave that room of hearing this content, you will be able to take one or two of those ideas and use it on the next phone call, the next meeting that will make a difference in that conversation and lead to more success.

Speaker 1: (27:27) Jeannie, thanks to you for being here as well. Absolutely. Thank you. Really enjoyed this discussion today. And if you wanna learn more about the message mapping workshop and what we discussed today, or if you'd like to review all of Global Atlantic's workshops, you can visit your thriving practice.com. I'm Dan Corcoran. Thanks so much for listening.

Speaker 4: (27:52) The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the guests on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Global Atlantic Financial Group. Global Atlantic Financial Group, global Atlantic is the marketing name for the Global Atlantic Financial Group LLC and its subsidiaries including for thought life insurance company and Accordia Life and Annuity Company. Each subsidiary is responsible for its own financial and contractual obligations.