- No (73%)
- Not sure (22%)
- Yes (5%)
Advisers have delivered a lop-sided verdict in our latest poll on soft skills.
Asked whether emerging advisers are being taught the right skills in order to deliver the optimal level of service to their clients, only two per cent of our poll respondents have so far answered ‘yes’ to this question.
A huge 78 per cent of advisers have voted ‘no’, while an unusually large group of voters (20 per cent) remain in the fence.
Drawing the inference that soft skills are more critical within a life insurance advice conversation than an investment advice scenario, one of our adviser comments suggested the skills of risk-focused advisers are different:
“One of the problems of presenting your persona as an investment adviser is to then switch roles and discuss someone’s medical issues… I learned long ago that you can’t be a top investment adviser as well as a top risk/insurance adviser; one has to have priority over the other.”
Meanwhile, another adviser suggests there are other more important areas in today’s advice world:
“While soft skills are necessary, product training is even more critical.” The same adviser added, “My greatest fear is that in the industry’s “regulator driven ” rush for ALL advisers to have totally inappropriate degrees before entering the industry, that risk product training and soft skills training will not be part of the requirement.”
…it’s the same set of skills, but expressed differently
There was another interesting ‘take’ on this question at our recent ANZ AFA Genxt Round Table event, namely that the definition of what constitutes ‘soft skills’ may be changing. A case in point was that relating to how Gen Y adviser, Sacha Loutkovsky, who regularly utilises online videos within her advice process. Citing this example, Millennium3 CEO, Richard Klipin, remarked, “… this generation is very different. It’s the same kind of skill set, but new generation advisers like Sacha are instead using a video to tell that kind of story to help build personal trust around her brand, and to differentiate her in what she does. So I think it’s the same set of skills, but expressed differently.”
This point was also reinforced by ANZ Wealth MD Global Insurance, Alexis George, when she commented that new generation of adults work differently, “… and it’s important to understand that the soft skills of our older generation are quite different to the type of soft skills employed by the newer generation as they communicate and interact.”
Do you support the argument that the soft skills of the older generation are quite different to the type of soft skills employed by the newer generation of advisers? Our poll remains open for another week…
Simply speaking life insurance is sold not bought as people think it won’t happen to them and procrastinate about doing it until some family or friend sufferers the consequences that makes them think
Problem is this window of opportunity soon disappears a few weeks after the funeral and complacency sets back in
If the proposed client does not like you there is absolutely no hope of convincing them they need it it takes soft skills to get through to them why you are there Then and only then can you move forward
If this is so hard what chance do you hVe of asking God a fee on top
Some financial advisers also deal in tax so people will listen if they are going to save money not spend it it can also be paid from their investments to soften the blow And of course it is mandatory to lodge a tax return not take out life cover
The two are very different and need to be treated as sucking we are to strive for success in the underinsuranxe and trust areas
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