PIMS 2011: The secret to securing clients' trust in three minutes

Life coach Maria Nemeth's top tips for forging, not faking, trust-based client relationships in less than the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.

Nemeth (pictured) told PIMS conference delegates: “When you're working with someone and their money you are working with their lives.

“People will pick you and stay with you based on the trust relationship you have with them.”

She should know - she started investigating financial advice twenty years ago when she was stung for $35,000 in a Bernard Madoff-style Ponzi scheme.

Here she shares the secret of getting, and keeping, client trust in the first three minutes of meeting them using the Art of Acknowledgement.

1)  People will not form trust with you intellectually

Trust is an emotional experience. People who are successful in relationships built upon trust have developed the ability to bring out the best in others. This is best achieved by the art of acknowledgement. When we acknowledge the best in others they sense our trust in them.

First minute: - Before you do anything with a client, acknowledge you are happy to be with them.

2)  Stop thinking about you, think about them

People select advisers based on their trustworthiness first and their competence second. Most people feel their money is a more private subject than their sex life.

Second minute: Let your client know they are being very courageous in coming to see you.

3)   Boost your client's financial confidence

When people come to see a financial adviser they are thinking about all they have done wrong with money, as a compentency they didn't have. Don't look at how you can add value to them - look at how your client has added value to others.

Third minute: Tell clients they must have made good financial decisions for themselves and their families so far to get to this stage.

Also from PIMS 2011:

Commission to fees in three steps