student, we hope that you gain practical skills to help you in your career. If you are already a financial planner, our hope is that this small book will help you become even more successful.
On a personal note, we would like to thank our spouses for their unwavering support during the writing process. To Emily, thank you for helping me stay focused on the bigger picture. To Lindsay, I cannot thank you enough for your overall support, and particularly, for taking care of so many important tasks as I dedicated time to this book.
How to Use This Book
This book was written with two goals in mind. The first was to help aspiring financial planners develop core competencies related to interpersonal communication techniques. The second was to provide tools and techniques to those already working in the profession to gain mastery of the interpersonal communication process. A key element of the book involves not only reading about “how to communicate,” but also watching examples of what to do and what not to do.
Throughout the book you will see text boxes that look like this:
SAMPLE TEXT BOX
Provides title of video relevant to the discussion (for example, Video 4A).
Whenever you see a text box, you should recognize that an accompanying video showing an example of the topic is available online. The text box will provide a code, such as 4A, that will help you find the appropriate video clip. In this example, the number 4 represents the chapter, while the letter A represents the first video in Chapter 4.
While you do not need to watch the videos to gain an understanding, or even a mastery, of the tools and techniques provided in the book, we have found that sometimes watching others do something can be quite informative. We certainly hope that regardless of whether you watch some, all, or none of the videos, you will nonetheless practice what is presented. Mastery comes only with repeated practice.
You can find each of the videos from the book at: and enter the password: grable234.
Introduction
The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning is pleased to begin the first in a series of books intended to expand the body of knowledge for financial planning. We envision this series as a platform for discussion for the entire profession, including practitioners, faculty, students, and researchers. We are excited about the opportunity to exchange ideas, validate and challenge assumptions, and help theory inform practice and conversely, practice to inform theory. This series will embody the characteristics of a practitioner-based profession, in which researchers learn from practitioners; practitioners learn from researchers; and ultimately, the profession is even better prepared to help all Americans achieve their financial potential through competent and ethical financial planning.
Although this series is a large step forward, it is not CFP Board’s first effort working within the financial planning body of knowledge. For decades, CFP Board has conducted the Job Task Analysis, the largest quantitative study of financial planning practice, to develop a framework for many of the requirements for CFP® certification. CFP Board has also collaborated with hundreds of colleges and universities that house CFP Board Registered Programs, working together to not only meet rigorous curricular standards, but also to enhance student achievement and program sustainability in a variety of institutions, program types, and instructional delivery methods. We also worked together to develop two editions of the Financial Planning Competency Handbook, a seminal work that outlines both the breadth of the body of knowledge of financial planning, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of this profession. All of this work, a decades long collaboration and strengthening, is vital to the profession and we look forward to continuing it in the years to come.
We begin the series with Communication Essentials for Financial Planners: Strategies and Techniques. We were purposeful in starting with communication, given the importance of client engagement, and all of the actions associated with it, to financial planning practice. Dr. John Grable, CFP® and Dr. Joe Goetz are ideal for this first publication. They both are the embodiment of leaders of a practitioner-based profession: strong researchers who have added relevant theory to the body of knowledge; master educators who have prepared hundreds of current practitioners; and scholars whose work brings tangible impact to financial planning practice. They are respected colleagues and good friends that I have had the pleasure of collaborating with on this important work. I believe this book fills a needed void in the library of financial planning, as it is intended for both future financial planners as well as experienced CFP® professionals both in better engaging the most important element of the financial planning process: the client.
I hope that practitioners who read this book will reflect upon their own client communication and maybe discover ways to perhaps challenge and refine past approaches. Practitioners in a supervisory role may find this book as an effective induction instrument for new hires in their practice. And last, but not least, I hope that students will not only learn some important communication techniques in serving future clients, but also be further motivated to begin a life’s work that can be so impactful on the lives of many.
So let us begin our journey together. The intent is not for the reader to passively accept the ideas and theories in this book series. Rather, I hope these books – refined discoveries from the past and incubators for ideas for the future – help practitioners, researchers, educators, and students do their work in making this maturing and evolving profession even better.
CHAPTER 1
An Introduction to Applied Communication
INTRODUCTION
The primary premise of this book is that the financial planning process can be significantly enhanced through the appropriate application of communication theory. By theory, we mean one or more models based on a set of premises that lead to explanations and conclusions. In the preface to this book, we introduced a nine-step framework as a way to conceptualize how financial planners interact with current and prospective clients. A key assumption embedded in this framework is the notion that financial planners who understand and practice the process of communication will be better prepared to help clients reach their financial goals. If you are a student enrolled in a CFP Registered Program, the nine-step process of communication may provide new insights into better ways to communicate with others. If you are already a financial planner, you may find that the framework validates much of what you are currently doing when working with clients. That is, the framework – and communication theory in general – can be used to endorse many of your current practices while providing information to help improve other aspects of interpersonal communication.
Consider the following example. Begin by visualizing a financial planning office. A prospective client makes an appointment to meet with a financial planner. On the day of the meeting, the prospect arrives 10 minutes early. She is seated in the office waiting area. At the appointed time, she is escorted into the financial planner’s conference room. A few minutes later the financial planner arrives. She sits down across from the prospect before introducing herself. So far, in this imaginary scene the financial planner has yet to say a word to the prospective client. The question at this point is: Has communication taken place? A novice financial planner might say, “No.” Someone who has more experience probably will say, “Yes.” Communication theory would support the experienced financial planner’s insight.
Let’s evaluate what communication has occurred thus far in this scenario. We know that the prospective client reached out to the financial planner in one way or another to make an appointment. This might have
