FINANCIAL LIFE PLANNING

Mitch Anthony

Believe it or not, the simple words you use to describe yourself matter. They shouldn’ t sound hackneyed.

ONCE TALKED WITH A DIRECTOR OF PLATFORM DEVELOPMENT AT A major financial firm. He had studied the websites of more than 950 advisors to see what kind of language they were using to sell themselves and their services to the public. His takeaway was that“ they all sounded the same,” though the advisors seemed to believe they sounded unique.

The problem is that even though there are hundreds of thousands of competing financial professionals, they are all using a lexicon of about 30 words to come up with short and pithy descriptions of what they do.

Those descriptions are often distilled into“ elevator pitches” such as this one:“ Hi, my name is Jim. I try to help people reach their financial goals through proper asset allocation and personalized financial planning.”

Anybody sleeping yet? This elevator speech sounds a bit like elevator music— bland and pedestrian.

Beyond Generic

Think about the words you use to describe yourself and your services. Are there any that would make people stop and ask,“ Wow, that sounds interesting”? Chances are you are also using words from the same small lexicon, pulling out a couple dozen hackneyed words or phrases.

If you ever dive into advisor websites yourself( or look over live introductions), you’ ll hear a lot about“ developing a plan,”“ proper asset allocation,”“ diversification,”“ reaching important life goals” and“ building relationships with clients.” Words like“ fee-only” and“ fiduciary” also make appearances.

The probem is that those terms tell potential clients very little about who you are and what makes you different from thousands of others conducting the same business. How is somebody to know who does what things best? Generic

Think about the words you use to describe yourself and your services. Are there any that would make people stop and ask,“ Wow, that sounds interesting”? descriptive phrases do little to impress or move people to want to engage with you.

What prospects really want to know is this: How can you help them with a problem?

Fill In The Blanks

The best way to differentiate yourself is to talk about yourself to some degree. Specifically, what is it you do that isn’ t common and applicable to all other advisors?

I propose an exercise where you fill in the blanks on these three statements: 1) What I do is kind of like ___. This helps you get to the heart of what you do by comparing it to a similar activity. By using analogies to describe your work, you are ensuring your description leans away from“ me too” vernacular used by competitors and forcing yourself to draw upon your experiences in other realms to describe your worth in the financial realm.

2) The people I most enjoy working with are ____.

This statement helps you home in on the type of people you connect with. If prospects don’ t seem to jibe with this client ideal, you might not feel comfortable working with them, or you’ ll pay too high a price to keep them. 3) The value I strive to bring is ____. This shows how you measure success. It’ s your statement of your value, which indicates to your client that your highest level of satisfaction is based on their satisfaction.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2026 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 21