The Big Metal Bird

The Big Metal Bird          

We all travel from time to time.  In fact, many of you flew in for our Horizon Advisor Network Leadership forum this week.  When you travel often you form a routine;  you  go through your routine like it is second nature and find yourself completely tuning out the announcements.  Most airlines have moved to a digital version of the pre-flight briefing announcements.  United Airlines has a series referred to as the Big Metal Bird.  The Big Metal Bird walks you through some of the behind the scenes of United and their suppliers before going into the information you have probably heard 100s of times.  Their tactic for presenting something unique is working. The last few times it has caught my attention more so than the standard briefing.  I find myself interested and paying attention more than I have in the past.

As financial advisors we all have a “preflight message” with clients as well.  We typically spend some time getting to know the client and their story.  We talk about our expertise, our firm, and ask clients some questions about their particular situation.  The question is, does your message sound different than your competitors or does the client feel like they are hearing the same message from you that they just heard from their previous advisor?

Challenge yourself to make that message personal, develop your own big metal bird.  Think of your unique skills and processes you bring to the table and tell a story about your values and why you do what you do.  Many of you already do this on a daily basis, but have you positioned it in a way that it becomes what you are selling, does your unique process have a name, and can others in your organization articulate this process?  Those things are what truly sets you apart from your competition.