Secrets of Successful Advisors℠ with Ken Haman

Too many financial advisors fall into the same trap: slashing fees to win business, then spending years overdelivering for a client who's paying far too little. The result? A regretted acquisition. Raising your fees should be the obvious next step. But the fear of rocking the boat—and losing a valued client—keeps most advisors stuck. Using insights from behavioral science, this master class will s...

One of the fastest growing opportunities for advisors who are committed to growing their business is the acquisition of retiring advisors' businesses. In the 1980's and 1990's thousands of advisors started new businesses, and these are all now coming of age with advisors who are eager to sell. There are few opportunities more motivating to a growth-oriented advisor than the chance to add hundreds...

Life is complicated and it moves very fast. To cope with complexity the human brain learned long ago to create a model of the world from experiences and to use that model to understand everything that happens. What a person believes about the world (their model of the world) defines everything decision they make and every action they take. Unfortunately, beliefs are often the result of a few, unfo...

Most advisors know that clients don't walk into their office with their financial hopes, dreams, goals and concerns all neatly organized on a mental spreadsheet. New, prospective clients especially experience their financial lives as a jumble of competing priorities and wishes. In this deep-diver conversation Scott and Ken explore how advisors can use a simple exercise with 5x8 cards to help clien...

In AB Advisor Institute's "Masterclass on Pricing" we propose that advisors can confidently charge a premium fee for their services if they do change their approach to the first few meetings with the client. We recommend that they slow down, complete a thorough Discovery and Fact-Finding process before establishing the price of the services and provide impactful experiences for the prospective cli...

Every advisor knows how important it is to respect the perspectives of their clients and to avoid emotionally charged conversations about religious or political topics. In spite of an advisor's best efforts, there are going to be times when a client will want to discuss their political views and will want to discover what their advisor thinks about the political narrative of the day. In this fast-...

For years advisors have been taught the importance of closing a  prospective client quickly – if possible, during the first meeting. On closer look advisors will have much more success if they slow down, take their time and give the client time to fully appreciate what the advisor has to offer. There has always been a dynamic tension for advisors between  taking the time to build trust in a new re...

It takes time for trust, perception of value and feelings of confidence to  develop within a client. Observations over time have revealed that trust, confidence and value reach their highest point about 3 years into a relationship between an advisor and a client. Unfortunately, most advisors are in such a rush to "close" a new relationship they set the price of their services before the client has...

For almost two decades, financial advisor fees have been under pressure. Factors such as clients expecting discounts, skeptical next-gen clients and anxious competitors willing to do anything to secure a new client make it difficult to set attractive fees. But slashing fees isn't the answer—it's time to shift the conversation. In this episode, we discusses how to position your value so clients see...

Market volatility continues to threaten the advisor-client relationship. At the end of the day, the advisor's role is not just about managing a client's wealth—it's helping navigate experiences and surprises. In this episode, ABAI's Ken Haman explains why the main reason clients hire an advisor is to manage their own emotions. He'll also dive into how advisors can go beyond wealth management to em...

Many advisors feel a compelling need to discount their fees in order to seal the deal with a new client. As a result, average fees across the industry have been steadily dropping for years. In this fast paced episode, Scott and Ken look at the psychological dynamics that cause advisors to automatically assume they need to discount their fees, and then explore what they can do differently in the fi...

Our modern financial services industry is designed to help clients prepare for a financially comfortable retirement. Observations over time have revealed that many people prepare well financially, but launch into retirement without a clear vision of what they will do in the next stage of their life. In this episode Ken talks with Cara Gray about her consultancy Good Morning Freedom that helps succ...

Thousands of established financial advisors are either actively seeking a buyer for their business or starting to think seriously about their exit strategy.   There has never been a time in the history of our industry where so many businesses were available for acquisition.   Acquiring another advisor's business can be one of the best ways to add new clients but observations of many transactions h...

A big challenge for advisors is recognizing when their clients have shifted from rational decision-making to one of the mental "shortcuts" that are built in to the way humans make decisions.   Even advisor's struggle to maintain their rational process when decisions become complicated or have potential negative consequences.   In this program Scott and Ken discuss how to recognize when a client ha...

One of the most powerful trends in Financial Services in recent years has been the rise of advisory teams.   Most firms are encouraging advisors to join or form teams, and many advisors feel that   their team gives them a competitive advantage over sole practitioners when they engage more sophisticated clients.   Unfortunately, most advisors are not well equipped to define the roles they need on t...

For years advisors have been fascinated by the insights coming out of the discipline of Behavioral Economics about how human beings make decisions.   In this provocative conversation, Ken and Scott explore how advisors are uniquely vulnerable to making series decision-making mistakes because of the way the human brain reacts to complexity.   Several common, built-in types of mistakes are explored...

A socially active financial advisor may have dozens of opportunities every week to meet potential clients.   Unfortunately, most advisors don't know how to manage a first encounter so that the first conversation naturally leads to a deeper conversation.   In this podcast, Scott and Ken uncover the psychological principles that advisors can follow to create more compelling social encounters. Also i...

Everyone has heard the phrase "Target Marketing" but few advisors actually understand what a "target" market actually is.  In this episode, Scott and Ken look at what constitutes an actual target market and what is merely another way of talking about "people who have money". Also in this episode, the AllianceBernstein Digital Coach – see practice management solutions for advisor success: abfunds.c...

Everyone has to make decisions that have consequences from time to time in life.  We call these "big" decisions that can impact the quality of life for years.  Research in Behavioral Economics over the past several decades has revealed an important insight that goes counter to our usual intuition;  that is, the bigger the decision we are facing the  MORE  likely   we will be impacted by built-in v...

Formal research into workplace Burnout has only been expanding for the past 30 years. Insights from this growing body of research reveal that client-facing retail financial advisors are frequently working in conditions that are likely to lead to Burnout.  In this fast-paced Podcast Ken and Scott discuss how to recognize the workplace situations that can cause Burnout and how to recognize the early...

Ken Haman sits down with consultant CJ McClanahan to discuss the challenges that his high-achieving clients have with finding meaning and purpose in their lives. Many successful people struggle with a sense of emptiness after they have realized their goals for wealth and success, and CJ offers some practical insights for how an advisor can work more effectively with people who have reached this im...

AB's Advisor Institute has developed a rich library of principles adapted from the Behavioral Sciences to support the commercial success of retail financial advisors.  In this podcast, Ken interviews Grant Kunkle, one of AB's Region Managers who works closely with advisors to help them with the practical challenges of executing AB AI strategies in their businesses. Note to All Readers:   The infor...

In this fast-paced Podcast Scott and Ken explore the implications of narrow framing on individuals and families who accumulate wealth, and reveal how financial advisors can use this understanding from Behavioral Economics to work more effectively with both prospects and clients. Because narrow framing happens automatically and outside of the human being's awareness, revealing how the brain can be...

In this wide-ranging conversation Ken and Rob explore how the simple act of listening carefully to what a client is saying - and what a client is not saying - to more deeply understand what they actually need. It is far too easy for advisors to get caught up in explaining what they do and how they do it, and to neglect the simple act of actively exploring a client's hopes and dreams and fears abou...

The annual client review is one of the best times for a financial advisor to strengthen client trust and support retention. To reach its full potential, an annual client review meeting should be distinct from a typical portfolio performance review, and advisors should have an explicit plan for how to deliver their message. In this episode, Ken Haman, Managing Director of AB's Advisor Institute, de...