Mitch Anthony
Mitch Anthony
FINANCIAL LIFE PLANNING
More On Analogies
The first statement, the analogy, comes in handy because when you make one you’ re almost guaranteed not to sound like someone else— say, the last advisor they talked with. Keep this in mind: There is no advisor in the world with your exact background, work experience, career path, trials and successes. No one has your exact story.
Now you just need to figure out how to communicate that to the people you meet.
Clean Sweep
I’ ve gleaned some new ideas on the topic from the workshops I’ ve conducted through the years. For instance, an advisor in Pennsylvania told me that she had been using her own analogy for a number
of years and that it really resonated with prospects. She would ask them if they had ever seen the old TV show Clean Sweep on HGTV, a show in which the hosts went into the home of someone whose life had become cluttered with too much stuff. The featured consultants would take everything out of the house and put it into three different piles:“ Keep.”“ Get rid of.” And“ Let’ s talk.” She described this as what she did with most people’ s financial situations.
“ Most people have some degree of clutter, chaos, or redundancy in their financial situation,” she would tell her prospects.“ I help them to solve that, and we’ re going to use a very similar process. We’ re going to go through everything you have, and together we’ ll work to unclutter, organize, and synchronize your situation. Once we achieve this, we’ ll work toward keeping the clutter out and the order in place.”
She said people loved the analogy— and loved working with her. More important is that she was touching on a problem that resonated with people, who often really don’ t know where things are. They’ re dealing with a pile of stuff in no order, not knowing where the holes are, where they are vulnerable, and where they are oversupplied.
Her process invited clients to bring all their records to the table, not play coy with their assets, and work in partnership to make their situation clearer and calmer.
She would point out where they were weak, where they were strong, and where there was unnecessary duplication that needed to be adjusted.
Best Man An advisor in another workship compared himself to the best man at a wedding.“ The best man,” he said,“ isn’ t just there because he was your best buddy. Originally, the best man was there to listen to the promises you made that day and to do his best in the future to hold you to them. I ask my clients what they want out of their money and life, and I then hold them accountable to the promises they make to themselves and those they love. That means taking care of family, staying on track with savings goals, and overcoming bumps along the way.”
He said many people have good intentions with their financial lives but unwittingly fail to follow through. He knew that most people need someone to hold their feet to the fire if they want to succeed and make good on their intentions. He was going to be that person for his clients.
What’ s more, he found that they were willing to pay for that. Which isn’ t hard to understand. Look at the money that prominent executives spend on coaching, life coaching, and similar sevices.
And it’ s good to keep in mind: No other advisor addressing clients is going to sound quite like this one.
Architect Or Home Builder
A third advisor I spoke with opened his presentation to clients by sharing his personal experience dealing with both home builders and then an architect, the point being he wanted to act more like the latter.
“ When I decided to build a house near the shore,” he’ d tell prospects,“ my wife and I sat down with some of the leading home builders in the area, and they brought their designs to the table and said,‘ Here’ s what we can do for you.’ We were expected to like and pick one of their predesigned plans.’
“ Next, we sat down with an architect who said,‘ Tell me everything you can about what your dream home by the shore looks like and feels like … that’ s what I want to design around.”
He’ d go on to say that he needed to know what the prospects wanted to accomplish and how they wanted to live with the money they earned.
“ We want to be your financial architects and build a plan that reflects who you are and what you want,” he’ d say.
In another article, I will discuss the other two fill-in-the-blank statements that you will also want to address when you’ re finding out how you’ re unique:
• The people I most enjoy working with are ____.
• The value I strive to bring is ___.
We are all unique creatures. It’ s high time that we let the language we use reflect that reality.
MITCH ANTHONY is the creator of Life-Centered Planning, the author of 18 books for advisors and their clients, and the co-founder of ROLadvisor. com and LifeCenteredPlanners. com.
22 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2026 WWW. FA-MAG. COM