This episode of Digital Marketing for Financial Planners comes to you from the other side of the world, or at least my guest does.  Ronald Sier, CFP® is a Dutch CFP® Professional who wants to help you be a smart financial planner. I’ve really enjoyed everything he shares on his blog See Beyond Numbers for a few years.

Ron has a wonderful combination of classic, Financial Planning 1.0 skills and also brings a lot of awareness to the “softer side” of planning.  He has some great internet marketing strategies and training tools to help planners.  His newest course teaches Certified Financial Planners™ to be a Smart Financial Planner.

Ron’s focuses on expanding your suite of skills by bringing attention to your emotional awareness.  Your “EQ” can be a large component of the value you provide to your clients.  He notes that the CFP® program barely touches on the emotional elements of your clients’ process.  A lot of his focus on his blog has been about being a “Right Brain Planner,” which is about capturing the ineffable qualities around the ways you support your clients not just through investing but more so by giving them peace of mind.

At the Colorado FPA Symposium in 2014 I heard Rick Kahler say that he thought 95% of decisions had an emotional element to them.  Later that day Marty Kurtz disagreed and upped the ante.  He said he thought 100% of the decision making process was tied to the client’s emotional process.  I’ve reflected on this point from these leaders of our profession shared for a number of years.  The memory also has a slide from Rick’s presentation that involves an iceberg to explain exactly how much is going on under the surface with your clients.

These emotional elements are helping advisors distinguish themselves from the pack.  Plenty of planners, and even robo advisors, can create a plan and a portfolio but only planners who understand these “soft skills” are able to help clients with how their emotions affect their personal financial lives.

I like the suite of skills that he offers in his Smart Financial Planner course.  Check it out and let me know what you think!