Top-Rated Speaker at DAC 2015: Craig Dowden on the Power of Empathy

What’s important in building modern financial practices?  The top-rated speaker at the recent Distinguished Advisor Conference was someone who focused on the softer side of financial advice—peak performance coach, author, and speaker Craig Dowden, PhD – and his answer to the question was simple:  empathy.

Craig capped off a recurring theme of the conference with an energetic and engaging—even interactive—session on the importance of building relationships with your clients first and foremost, and the critical role of empathy in that process. Speaker after speaker, from the purely motivational to highly technical, touched on the need to understand your clients’ individual needs and concerns before recommending solutions to them. Craig Dowden’s presentation focused on how to form high-quality, trusting relationships with your clients.

Craig explained that successful wealth management goes well beyond the numbers, depending more on connection, trust, and long-term relationships between clients and their advisors. At the core of building those sustainable relationships, and at the heart of the critical conversations that enable deeper understanding and engagement, is empathy. His informative and entertaining presentation revealed that empathy is a core competency and a powerful tool that all advisors should cultivate.

Some tips to implement into your practice:

• Empathy—the ability to understand and share someone else’s needs, wants, feelings, and emotions—is the #1 predictor of ethical leadership and the third-highest predictor of leadership excellence, after strategy and communication.
• Every advisor knows that it’s a constant challenge to get clients to tell you everything. They are far more likely to share more openly and fully with you if you are empathetic towards them. Resist the temptation to demonstrate your knowledge and competence at the outset. You need to get to the heart of what you really need to know about your client first for the relationship to succeed.
• Be acutely aware of how people attribute meaning in any exchange. It’s far less about what you say, and far more about how you say it to them:
  • 55% is visual: how you look and act
  • 38% is vocal: how you use your voice, your tone
  • Only 7% of the meaning you convey is verbal: what you actually say
• How can you increase empathy in your dealings with clients? Craig outlined a four-step process for active listening, called AMPPlify. 

In next week’s KBR, read more about Craig Dowden’s session, including what AMPPlify can do for you and your clients.

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