Delivering on woman’s needs in a wealth management relationship often requires a different approach. However given the obvious diversity amongst women there is no simple solution, but rather a need for varying approaches depending on their knowledge, comfort, vision, experience and so on.
With women controlling over half of North American wealth they deserve to be given what they want, yet 91% of women say advertisers don’t understand them and incredibly only 3% of creative directors are women.
The banking and investment industry recognized the importance of women many years ago and have evolved somewhat in segmenting male & female marketing and service offerings, but much more work and understanding is needed
The Boston Consulting Group conducted a global survey into Women and Consumerism; they interviewed more than 12,000 women in 22 countries. The survey results show:
- women are dissatisfied with the products and services available to them
- women are overwhelmed by demands on their time and the challenges of dealing with the many roles they typically play
- They are most dissatisfied with three of today’s most important consumer-goods categories: financial services, health care, and consumer durables
- The survey also revealed that women place a premium on values and have lofty goals. Most important to them are love (77 percent), health (58 percent), honesty (51 percent), and emotional well-being (48 percent).
- The category that ‘most frustrates’ women is financial services.
Wealth managers are simply not delivering the goods, but what exactly do women want from a wealth manager?
To answer this question I draw on my many years of experience working with women, marketing women’s products such as Bristol Myers, Revlon and L’Oreal cosmetics, discussions with friends & colleagues and industry research. Here is the scoop.
Women do not have a desire to accumulate money for its own sake or to experiment with complicated financial instruments. They typically value money only as a means for caring for their families and themselves, improving their lives, and assuring long-term security.
In a Spectrem Group survey, 98% of women with a net worth ranging from $100,000 to $25 million said that trustworthiness was the most important criteria for selecting a financial advisor, however, they are leery of advisors, even more so now in the aftermath of the Madoff fraud.
Common attributes amongst both men and women include time efficiency, competence and reliability, but trust, empathy and emotional well-being appear to have significantly more relevance to woman and remain a pre-requisite for a satisfied woman client.
The level of support and attentiveness required by women is also typically higher than their male counterpart. Women want more engagement from wealth advisors.
We know women think differently from men, which is commonly blamed on male testosterone. Research suggests that the female brain has four times as many connections between the left and right hemispheres, which explains their heightened emotional make-up. The concept is that a woman does not only read, she attaches feelings to what she’s reading – just look at Harlequin Book’s success and fact that almost 100% of their readers are women.
A women’s heart is in her brain typically (this is a compliment) and wealth advisors need to deliver messages with an emotional touch and explanation why the solution is relevant to her emotional well-being.
Women also need to trust. This means that advisors must maintain honest communication and constantly demonstrate values consistent with a meaningful relationship – ongoing caring, relevance and genuine interest.
To properly engage with women clients, wealth advisors need to, not just listen, but hear and absorb what is really being said.
At TriDelta Financial we have an attentive approach and strive to deliver superior service. We have a dedicated Director of Client Service to complement the service delivered by each client’s Wealth Advisor.
We’re believers in delving beyond the numbers by considering all the primary aspects of people’s lives, see https://tridelta.ca/The-Canadian-Financial-Planner/2012/06/08/how-to-achieve-true-wealth/
We’re also ideally suited to work with female clients and pride ourselves on delivering what women want from a wealth advisor; an engaged advisor that really listens, is transparent, trustworthy and focussed on your emotional well-being.
We pride ourselves on our variety of Wealth Advisors to suit your needs; Female, male, specific area of expertise (divorce, tax, eldercare etc) and location.
Article written by Anton Tucker, VP TriDelta Financial
905-901-3429 Email: anton@tridelta.ca
References: Forbes, She Conomy Blog, Boston Consulting Group and Spectrem Group
