#39 Emily Blanch – Transcript

Louis van der Merwe
Welcome to another episode of Financial Planners, South Africa for episode 39. I’m very excited to have with me in the studio, Emily Blanche. Emily is the head of xy advisors community and we get to connect from the other side of the world. Emily, thank you so much for being here on a rainy morning. I’m not sure how things are looking on your side. But I hope it’s it’s looking Sunny.

Emily Blanch
I wish I could say it is Louis. But I feel like you were almost anticipating or you know, saying Good evening to me knowing that it’s pouring rain outside at the moment. It’s we’ve had huge storms and lots of rain. So I wish I could share some sunshine with you. But I just don’t have any at the moment. I’m sorry.

Louis van der Merwe
Well, our conversation would just have to brighten things up. It’s wonderful to to have you Yeah. And I know that you have a passion for people, you seem to get excited through interactions and connecting people and helping people. And so I’m curious Emily, like we waited to start, you know, was that just the natural way for you to show up?

Emily Blanch
Yeah, I, I think it was a bit of a combination. It was I have this, there’s definitely a natural and natural ability or this this drive to this curiosity, I should say to meet people and learn from people. So I think I’ve naturally had that my entire life. But I’ve also put myself into situations and environments and different industries, and moments of my career where I’ve been able to really nurture that even more and really learn and understand more about myself how I show up in the world, and how I connect and adapt with with people, customers, clients, all of that. So, I mean, there’s a lot I mean, we could dive into all sorts of different areas or elements. So happy to be guided by by your questions. But I’ve, I’ve traveled I spent two years working and traveling overseas. After graduating from university and after working in financial advice for about two years. And I’ve worked I consider my career path to be a process of elimination. I’ve tried lots of different things. I’ve worked in different industries. And through that experience. I’ve learnt what lights me up what gives me more energy than 10 espressos and what is it that I truly love doing and connecting with people and being able to connect other people to help forge great relationships and ultimately help people find their own version of success? That is truly what fires me up. So there’s a little sprinkle of it, we can take it any which way you like.

Louis van der Merwe
I love that Emily and it’s so similar to what we see in the financial planning world. It’s so much about connecting people getting that gratitude and excitement from being able to help someone you spend most of your days connecting funds advisors, what are the things that are popping up at the moment that advisors are struggling with? Because you’re not only dealing with Australian based advisors? It’s advisors from across the globe. So I’m curious what’s popping up?

Emily Blanch
Oh, yeah, there’s, I mean, if we focus specifically on Australia for a moment, there’s a lot of a lot of industry change, and shifts happening. And that can also be attributed to like regulatory change. But even just the way that people work COVID The last two years has really thrown a spanner in the way that people run their businesses and deliver their experience to clients. And that element is actually very much global in nature. I’m I know that advisors in the UK advisors in South Africa, are experienced this period of adjustment in the way that they deliver their advice. So if I think about the the conversations that are happening on the X, Y platform, a lot of it centers around, being able to drive more efficiencies into their advice process and the way they deliver their advice, without sacrificing on the personalized experience for those clients. So still being able to deliver that individualized experience tailored for clients. But being able to do it in a way that really leverages tech and this digital world, to do it at scale to drive efficiencies in the back office. So that advisors can spend more time on the part that they love, which is what you mentioned, connecting with people, helping their clients to move from one milestone to the next. And being able to show them that progress, and celebrate the wins and the achievements that they make when they do it. So that is certainly a big one that I’m seeing. And this drive from advisors to dive into technology, to understand it better to think about how they can implement that into their business to, like I said, drive those efficiencies and ultimately create a better client experience. Because the way that a lot of us operate these days is on our phones is with our computers with we’re so spoiled with technology and the experience that we get from digital platforms and products, that there’s this expectation that we want to we expect that from every interaction or as many interactions as we have. So yeah, this real paradigm shift in advisors really leveraging and improving their that their advice delivery capabilities with the by leveraging Tech has been a big one for sure.

Louis van der Merwe
So Emily, you know, COVID has had a massive tailwind and a big benefit for a lot of financial advisors, as you mentioned, you know, we’re moving to this almost digital first engaging with clients. But at the same time, I’m seeing the downside of that I’m seeing that a lot of clients are expecting immediate responses and the kind of the lag time between someone having a connection and delivering a financial plan or having a follow up conversation is much shorter. What are you seeing through your conversations with advisors?

Emily Blanch
That’s a really interesting point. And I’m so glad that you brought that up. The first thing that comes to mind for me is advisor mental health and well being like that is just the first that first thing that stands out at me is that the nature of advisors is wanting to help, right they want to be there to support their clients and sometimes at the detriment of their own well being. And I mean, you bring it back to that concept of you need to put your oxygen mask on before you can put anyone else’s on. And yeah, advisors feeling like they are on call or need to be accessible and available to their clients all the time. Or feeling like they have to everything’s time critical. Having to get back to emails is time critical. Or you know, get those phone calls done or push and push and push. Yeah, it has become it has become a real problem. I know that. Just Brady who now looks after the Thursday episodes of The X Y podcast in Australia, her overarching theme that she’s running with with the conversations that she’s having in the podcast is sharing practical strategies with advisors to run sustainable businesses without feeling burnt out without becoming burnt out. And there’s a real, you know, truth behind her wanting to do that is that so many advisors are feeling like that. I had an advisor reach out a while ago actually who’s super passionate about mental health and well being and really lifting the bar and having more of these conversations within the industry and externally. And he actually reached out and said, hey, could I, you know, I’m trying to think of a way that I can contribute best to the xy platform, you know, I get so much value from all of the amazing conversations and discussions that are shared, it got me thinking, how could I give back. And so he started recording short little conversations and podcast episodes, with people in his network to have these conversations to open this up and to allow advisors to be more vulnerable and open about these types of struggles, and how we can help each other or little ways or things that we can implement to improve this. So that’s, it’s been really like your point around that the downside of it 100%, like, it’s, it’s, it is definitely happening, I definitely agree with you, they’re being able to have the awareness of it. And then being able to share practical strategies and ways to help each other is another thing, something that I did recently, and, you know, this may may land or resonate with with listeners, is just around setting some expectation management. So I have found myself just being, you know, having notifications, left, right, and center for emails and pings and dings on X, Y, or from LinkedIn messages. And I like me, you know, in a very similar way to an advisor wanting to support their clients, I feel like I need to get back to everyone and I need to be there to, you know, give them answers or help them or support them. And I thought about it. And I thought how, like how can I set an expectation that looks after my own well being, but also creates an experience of transparency for the person on the receiving end, so that they’re not reaching out to me, and then wondering why I’m not getting back to them instantly. So actually put an autoresponder on my email just this week, actually, that says, staying focused. And I basically lay it out in my autoresponder that, hey, thank you for your email, it is super important to me, I’m really focusing on doing the best work that I could do. So I’m making a point of just checking emails once a day. So if your matter is super urgent, please pick up the phone, give me a call. Otherwise, I will get to this within 24 to 48 hours. And so in that one little thing there, they’ve got that reply, or they’ve received that immediate reply. So they’re getting that feedback loop and setting the expectation that hey, I will I will get to this, it’s on my radar, I just can’t get to it right now. And so it kind of breaks down that barrier of like, what am I going to hear from them, I need to hear from them right now. And having that layer of transparency and honesty that, hey, I want to do my best work. And if I’m constantly getting pulled and distracted all the time, I’m not going to be able to do that and to be able to show up in the best way for the advisors in the network. So I can’t report back on the on the outcome of it just yet. I’ve only just done it. But there’s just a little nugget of an idea that might be helpful to the listeners and advisors in being able to still deliver and show up for their clients in a meaningful way. But in a way that isn’t going to be of a detriment to their own well being right and still being able to put their own oxygen mask on before putting on everyone else’s.

Louis van der Merwe
That’s such a brilliant example, Emily and being on the other side of receiving that autoresponder I immediately thought, wow, this is exciting. I’m wondering what she’s working on what she’s putting out there. And that she’s actually carving out the time to do the Deep Work by Cal Newport talks about the other side of the spectrum. We have advisors in the US like Matthew Jarvis that are putting out the amount of days that he’s not working. And I think last year was 232 days that he actively didn’t work, yet his revenue increased. And so we’re seeing a little bit of a pressure of, I guess, people taking timeout and setting setting the boundaries. I’m curious what else you’re seeing you seeing these autoresponders you’re seeing people using email booking software to say hey, here’s the parameters. Here’s the boundaries. How can we help nudge our clients to respect our boundaries without saying no, Mr. Client? I don’t have time for you know, Mrs. Client. I don’t have time.

Emily Blanch
Yeah, really good question for me, and in my experience, and from that have advisors who I know who have set really healthy, healthy boundaries. It’s that layer of when you’re open and transparent about things. It breeds a level of authenticity and integrity. And people resonate with that, and they’re respected. So if you’re on the receiving end of that, so a great example, or an analogy that I would share is if you think about working at a restaurant and running a restaurant, or being at the front of house with very much customer facing and customer service. And imagine if you’re the white person, and you take an order for a table of four people, and you accidentally forget to put one of the meals in human error, right? It’s a honest mistake. Think about the two different experiences when you realize that the fourth meal has been missed. And all other three meals have come out? How do you handle that experience? Or that that scenario? Do you not tell the customers and then quickly scramble and try and get the kitchen to bring something out immediately and try and cover it up? And just hope to God that they’re going to put it together quick, smart? Or do you go over to them and say, Look, I just want to let you guys know, I’m terribly sorry, for whatever reason, there was a glitch or human error. We missed one of the meals, but we’ve, we’re onto it. We’ve got the kitchen on it ASAP. It’ll be coming out as soon as possible, you know, put a drink on the house in the meantime, is that okay? So you think about those two scenarios. The first one is, you’re scrambling in the background trying to fix it. The customer has no idea what’s going on. They’re sitting there going, where’s my meal? Where’s my dinner? Why am I the only one without anything here? And there’s no communication. But if you look at the other scenario, you’ve admitted the error, you’ve been open about it and transparent about it, and said, Look, you know, things happen. But we’re working on it, we’re getting it sold, we’re getting it fixed, how much more accommodating and receptive to that, are they totally, not nine times out of 10, they’ll be like, no worries, that’s fine. Like, all good, you know, you’ve, you’ve managed that situation. So similar sort of concept, in the advice world, where have that extra communication, like have that openness, and that transparency with people, and there’ll be so much more accommodating, and so much more forgiving, because at the end of the day, we’re all people, we’re all running busy lives, we’re all running 1000 miles an hour trying to do, you know, run businesses, look, after teams, raise kids have, you know, look after family life, so they get it. But if you but with without kind of having that layer of transparency, and just being open with them, that leads leaves the gap for them to then come up with the story in their own head that all my advisor doesn’t have time for me, or my advisor thinks I’m not important. And they’ll come to a conclusion about a scenario that may not even exist, because you haven’t filled that gap by communicating it with them and setting that expectation. So you can 100% set the expectation that, hey, we only take meetings from this time to this time on these days. And the reason we do that is because that is when we’re able to dedicate the best time for us to show up 150% for our clients. And the reason we don’t take meetings on Fridays is because that’s our day to come together as a team to celebrate our wins to look at what we achieved and what we’ve helped our clients do. And sometimes we take the afternoon off for a bit of rest and digest so that we can recharge our own battery and show up for our clients 100% of the time all the time. So like in that situation there. How much more receptive Do you think a client is going to be to that? Are they going to reply and say, No, I demand a meeting on a Friday, they’re probably going to go wow, like, what a great idea exactly what you did Louis saying in response to my autoresponder, like I was it made me curious, it made me really interested like what’s I’m working on, like, I’m intrigued and, and I appreciate the update. So simple sort of example. So that’s one thing, I think, where an advisor can really leverage transparency and showing a little bit of vulnerability and authenticity with clients, and it’ll pay off in a big way.

Louis van der Merwe
Wow, there’s so many gems in there. And just that feeling of being included and not being rejected. And I think it’s a super valuable for us to remember like what are the feeling that we’re trying to convey? Part of this makes me almost think that we have an opportunity to improve our marketing or to get clients to tell a story when things go wrong. And people don’t generally have something to say when everything runs smoothly, but when the opportunity shows itself, and you step up, and you correct In an even better way than they expected, you know, you create the story and you allow them to start talking about, about you and about your practice. Emily, there’s a lot of studies out there talking about the role of communication in a financial advisors practice, and that most clients just leave because of a lack of communication, not necessarily a lack of returns or bad experience or bad planning. They’re just not kept up in the loop or kept in the loop. What are the practical things that you think advisors should tackle? You know, if someone’s thinking of a need to improve my communication to my clients? What are the easy wins that you would say, would be the first thing to look at?

Emily Blanch
Hmm, yeah, great question. So kind of lends to what I was just talking there about having that communication piece to bring them into the fold of what you’re actually working on, so that they feel like they’re a part of it. And they know what’s going on. In terms of, like ongoing communication opportunities with clients, I like to refer to these little instances as surprised and delights. So I’ll share like a practical example. So I can actually use a story with this, from my own experience with X, Y, there’s a lot of similarities. I’m obviously not running an advice, practice. But the work that I do in nurturing the advisors within the XY community is very much there’s a lot of alignment in similarities to how an advisor can interact and, you know, enhance the experience and interaction that they have with their clients. So one thing that I would do, or that I used to do, when x, y was a much, much smaller growing emerging community of financial advice professionals, is whenever someone joined the the community or the group were on Facebook at the time, I would make it my mission to learn something about them and make a note of it. So in the early days, I had a pretty good memory. So I would just like I was able to remember these things. But as time went on, I would in fact, use technology to help me in being able to execute on this. And so I would find something about the advisor, or learn something about them. So it could have been through the questions that they would answer when they joined the group, it could be through the initial conversation interaction we would have, as I would welcome them to the group. And whatever it is, I would remember that and then use it as a communication piece later down the track. So Louis, let’s take if you if you joined x, y, for example, and I realized that you were really interested in being able to do more videos, and really focus on your marketing this year, I’d take that little bit of information. And I’d pop it into like CRM, or make a note of it somewhere on your file, or just any, you know, wherever an advisor would store information on their clients, let’s just say that, and I would just keep that little nugget of gold for when it would be fitting. So maybe I set myself a little reminder to check in in a month or two, or maybe something pops up, that is a bit of a trigger for this. And so let’s say a few weeks down the track, I wanted to reach out or I wanted to be able to connect and have have a reason to reach out without needing a signature for something or without it needing to be directly attached to advice, I would reach out and say hey, Louis, like hope you’re well, I remember you telling me that you’re really interested in diving into video and being able to do this more in, in your work. And in your practice, I came across this awesome person on YouTube, definitely worth checking out, I you know, or I came across this great blog, or this website, or someone who’s doing this really well and it made me think of you. So I thought I would send it through. Hope this helps. You know, if you are you know, going down that route of video, let me know how it goes, I’d love to hear it. And the reactions that I get from that are incredible. People are shocked that I remember that they had told me that they feel really special, because I’ve gone out of my way to give them that piece of information for no other reason than to just you know, with the knowing that it might help them in their journey of success. And just the what that does to the to the relationship and the trust building between the two of us in that in that professional relationship is incredible. So if you relate that to being in an advice practice where these opportunities that you can surprise and delight your clients by, I mean, advisors know so much about their clients, like aside from a client, spouse or partner, there’s probably no one else that really knows the intricacies and the depth to someone’s life, then a financial advisor. So with all of that information, where are the opportunities that you can leverage that to enhance the relationship and have a reason to reach out to help them with something that isn’t directly related to the financial plan? Like to bring them along? On the journey? Get them excited about something? I mean, if you bring it back to like, goals based advice, right, like, and what clients are genuinely trying to work towards, I’m assuming rarely do they come into the practice with a goal of saying, I want to get an X percent return and I want to have this much in my investments account by this date. No, what do they want, they want to be able to retire and travel around, you know, South Africa, in a camper van, if that’s if that’s the type of thing that happens over there. Or they want to be able to, you know, put their their kids or their grandkids through a great school, like, there’s always an underlying thing that isn’t directly monetary related, but the financial plan is going to support that goal. Maybe they want to save up the money to do their yoga, training, teacher training or something like that. So with all of that information on hand, you know, being able to send them something, and maybe it’s a part of the review pack that you send, or maybe it is weaved into the communications that you’re already sending, because let’s be honest, uh, you know, an advisor, his time is already precious as it is. So you may not have the the chance to, you know, have these extra communication opportunities. But if you wave something like that into what you’re already sending to them, Hey, here’s, here’s an update a snapshot of what we’ve been working on so far. By the way, remember, you told me about wanting to be a yoga, you know, and get your yoga training done? How’s it going? I just popped up on my on my Facebook the other day, you know, made me think of you I thought I would send it through, or, you know, here’s someone I can introduce you to who I know has actually done that. I you know, let me facilitate that introduction, I hope it helps. And like that interaction right there, which took what, maybe five minutes to do to add into the the communication that you’re sending, is going to be so powerful for the client, and it’s going to enhance the relationship that you have with them tenfold. And the effort required was really quite tiny, but the impact and the ROI massive. So yeah, that’s one one practical little strategy that I would recommend advisors could give it a go for sure.

Louis van der Merwe
That is brilliant. I really enjoyed that. That example. And it, it makes me think of the author of resilient advisor that talks about in creating this cadence of interactions with your clients, of which every second one should be personal. In so one business one personal. And that’s such an easy thing to remember. And as soon as you start thinking, what is that personal connection going to be? Hey, is this person? How’s that going? How’s it going on there yogi? Training, and now moving into that. And so now you can start noticing it and you pay attention. And it’s so simple. It is almost feels like it’s too simple for us to implement. What do you think are the barriers? Why are we not doing more of this apart from, you know, as running around and always being busy? Why do you think most advisors don’t do this?

Emily Blanch
Maybe it’s just this. I mean, you don’t know what you don’t know, right? Like, it’s so easy to get stuck in the, you know, the lane that you’re swimming in and just get so focused on just the work that needs to be done. I wonder how many advisors and their teams take the opportunity to come together as a team, and to kind of, you know, try to take the business and team hats off and step outside of that and look at how could we bring something different to the experience? Or what do you think clients might be feeling or thinking or confused about with the experience? Like it’s so easy to get caught in that mindset of We do this because this is how it’s done, and not take the time to talk to clients even to get their feedback. And yeah, it’s really easy to get stuck in the working in the business versus on the business. So one of the things that I’ve done a lot in the last 12 to 18 months This is I’ve been conducting one on one interviews with advisors with the goal of diving deep into their feedback and ideas. So as much as I try to take my x y hat off and put myself in the shoes of what an advisor would be experiencing and feeling on our platform, sure, I can have my ideas and thoughts about what I think would be valuable to them, and what would work. But what’s way better than that is to actually get it from the advisors themselves. So I’ve hosted well over 101, on one interviews, and those conversations have uncovered some absolute gold for me. And it’s really helped in directing some of the different projects that we roll out for X, Y, and the different ways that we utilize the ecosystem to better support advisors and to help solve their problems. And if I didn’t do that exercise, if I haven’t done those interviews, it would be harder for me to think about what would really enhance their experience. So I think it’s just that that trap of being caught in the comfortable or the like, you know, just so focused on the financial plan, because that’s, it’s almost like this assumption that that’s what the clients have come to us for. But there’s this whole other world, or, you know, kind of sphere that sits around the financial plan, where an advisor can add so much value to clients. And often it really is, it’s the things that you think that’s so simple. Why didn’t I think of that, or it just seems, it just seems so simple and easy that, like, I can’t even believe that’s the thing that that works. And it’s so powerful. And sometimes it honestly takes just a few people getting together to brainstorm ideas to throw concepts around, and to come up with something that you may never have thought of. And I would actually suggest bringing your team together, because you’ve got diverse personalities, you’ve got diverse interests and diverse ways that people think like me, I’m highly empathetic, like I’m just naturally have this innate, innate drive to, like learn about people, but I have this wonderful skill to be able to, you know, really put myself in their shoes like, genuinely think about or feel how they might be feeling. But not everybody’s like that. So if you were more analytical or practical, Louis, we could get together and we would throw ideas around that I’d throw things out there that you would have never thought of before. And vice versa, you’d be able to give me some ideas and things that I may not have considered before. And that is innovation, like ideas, breed ideas, breed ideas. And that’s when things like what I just shared, where, to me, it is just so natural. It’s just such a easy thing to execute on, that I sometimes think doesn’t everybody do this? And then I’m quickly reminded that No, like people don’t, because not everybody thinks in that way that you think so coming together, brainstorming some ideas, that will uncover some wonderful little nuggets of gold, or ideas or things that could be tested and implemented with clients. And aside from that, talking to your clients, literally getting their feedback, what do they like about the experience? What What’s something that they, you know, were pleasantly surprised about? Or what something that they expected but maybe didn’t receive? Or, you know, a question I love is, if you could wave a magic wand over insert, you know, advice business or client experience, what would you change? What would you add, and you will honestly get responses that you never, ever would have considered. And that will help direct some fresh ideas or ways that you can, you know, enhance the clients client experience. And it could be as simple as sending them a link to a yoga training course that popped up, you know, on your on that you could Google or it could it could have popped up on Facebook. And the flow on effect of that is you will shock them, and they’ll be so surprised that you even remembered, they’ll feel really special that you went out of your way to deliver that. And you might even that might even be the thing that motivates them and inspires them to go and do it. And like imagine them coming back to you and saying, hey, you know that thing you sent me? I went and did that. And it was amazing. And who are they going to contribute attribute part of that value to you the advisor. So yeah, that’s definitely what I would share in in that space. Does that make sense?

Louis van der Merwe
As you’re talking these things Thought almost connecting, and it feels like it could be very similar to dating, you know, we don’t want to reject someone want to pay attention, we want to make sure that they feel loved at a certain level that you paying attention and that you care. And you know that you sharing this, it’s not just a one way street of, you know, we just want to bring in your assets. And then there you go, we’ll we’ll never see you again, this is this is a very deep relationship, and oftentimes, one that last for many decades now. And it’s a it’s a big commitment from a client. And from an advisor perspective, what are the struggles that young advisors are having with ease a longer term relationship? I’ve had a conversation recently with someone saying, I’m not ready to commit to a 20 or 30 year client relationship. So I’m curious what what you’re seeing and how you would, how you would approach that because Emily, you could basically just be an advisor tomorrow, because you have everything already, maybe just a little bit of a technical

Emily Blanch
Do you? Well, thank you very much for that, Louis. And it’s interesting, because when I first started out and advice, I was, you know, doing client services and moved up to paraplanning. And I was probably on the trajectory towards becoming an advisor, but I had this insatiable drive to go and travel and experience the world. And, and I’m sure my boss at the time really wanted me to move into the trajectory of becoming an advisor as well. But like I mentioned, you know, my, you know, process of elimination with my career path, I, I stepped out of advice, and I’m so glad I did, because it made me realize what my true purpose is, and what I love to do. And it’s really that nurture building that, you know, relationship building community building, which is, which is very much such an important part in the advice piece. But I love that more so than than the technical side of things. And so, I do wonder if I had never had never gone and done the traveling, would I have what I have really moved off into that advisor role, and I would have loved it for sure. But I really thrived in the the communications and the nurture building piece. And look, if I can support the advisors who have the technical brilliance, then to beautiful, harmonious relationships. So you know, we’ll definitely run with that. Back to your question around the ongoing relationship piece. Are you are you referring to a client? Is your example a client sort of hesitant to step into that 510 15 year relationship? Is that what you mean?

Louis van der Merwe
I think more specifically, the advisor, you know, starting out, you might have had your training, you’d come through the ranks, maybe administrative, maybe some paraplanning. And now you’re in a position where you’re saying, Okay, Mr. Client, and this slide, we’re going to have this 2030 year relationship, it’s almost like getting married every time. And I’m curious, you know, if younger advisors always ready for that commitment, or what the alternatives would be,

Emily Blanch
I think you’re right, it’s very similar to dating, right? There’s a reason that it takes years, months, years, before two people get married, or before someone actually acts as the other one, to marry them. Because you need that time to build trust, and to get to know them. And the adviser and client relationship is no different. I would say to a younger younger advisor is to change your mindset. And, like remove the if the block and the barrier is Whoa, like, I don’t know, if I’m ready to commit to this 510 Year 20 year relationship, like that’s really overwhelming to think about, then scale it down and just focus on like, really, you know, focusing on the next 12 months with a client and how can you give a great experience and give within those 12 months really built focus on building the relationship? It’s you don’t have to focus on 20 years down the track. Gosh, it’s overwhelming as a client, even to think about, you know, what, what are the goals that you want to achieve? 10 or 15 years from now like that’s, that can be overwhelming in its own right. So I would just remove the big like massive milestone rock of 20 years, and chunk it down into more manageable or digestible little milestones and just focus on the next six or 12 months. What can you do in that six to 12 months to really get to like that’s a discovery phase. Like if you think if like if we if we take the dating analogy, that’s the honeymoon phase. That’s the discovery phase. It’s learning about About About the client or about your potential partner, what do they like? What don’t they like? What, you know, what interests them? And, and what commonalities Do you do you have, and I would really focus on, like nailing that getting to really understand and know your client. Because when you are able to do that, the what you deliver, the service that you provide, will be so much, it’ll seem so much more natural and easy to do, it won’t be so, you know, won’t seem as difficult or aren’t seem as hard and you won’t be so overwhelmed that oh my god, I have all these things that I need to deliver on to prove to them that we’re going to have this 1015 year relationship. If you, you know, like if you again, if you think about dating or marrying someone, it’s when you when you find that partner you marry them, it’s because it feels so you’re comfortable, and it feels so natural. And it’s not hard. It’s not it’s not hard work, it’s easy. So it’s the exact same with the adviser client relationship, when you really take the time to get to know your client, to be genuinely interested in them. To understand them, the actual delivery of advice is just become so natural, and it becomes a lot easier. I know that’s, you know, very easy to say, without any kind of practical example. But all the stuff that we’ve discussed so far really lends into that, like being curious, you know, just asking them questions. What are they interested in? You know, what do they like? What, what interest do they have that resonate with the stuff that you’re interested in, you know, making, the quicker, you can make that emotional connection with someone, the easier it is to build trust with them over that period of time. So if we, if you’re both basketball fans, like you know, you’ve got something to connect on. Like, that’s just one tiny, tiny little example. But the overarching thing here is really taking the time in the focus to get to know your client and understand them, and just chunk it down to little milestones don’t focus on the huge, you know, huge, huge goal of a 10 2015 year relationship, focus on the now. And just as time goes on, and that trust builds and the relationship develops, the delivery of advice becomes a lot easier.

Louis van der Merwe
If there was a dating advice for financial advisors, this, this is it. And it’s so valuable in our love how you break it down to something so small and easy to say, think of think smaller, you know, we often talk Think bigger in terms of business. But when it comes to relationships, maybe it’s worthwhile just scaling it down and saying, Okay, what do we want to accomplish for the next 12 months, and then see, are we going to continue working together and maybe tackle the next big thing that pops up? Instead of this massive, big rock? Like you’ve mentioned, Emily, as we come closer to the end of our conversation, I’d love for you to talk a little bit about where XY advisor is heading. You know, you’ve launched the SA Resource Center, which is brilliant, thank you so much for helping South African advisors and financial planners deliver better advice, but I’m wondering if you can share anything to us icon of the next chapter? And what that might hold?

Emily Blanch
Yeah, of course, of course. So there’s always lots in the works with x, y. And you know, we live in this constant loop of listening to what advisors are struggling with, what are the problems they’re trying to solve, and then thinking about how we can utilize the XY platform in the ecosystem to to help solve those problems. So the South Africa Resource Center is just one of those, we’ve, you know, fully aware that the conversations on the main XY network are, you know, over indexed to Ozzy based conversations. And that’s really just the nature of starting a platform for financial advisors in Australia. But having had lots of South African advisors joining the platform and from other countries as well, we realized that there wasn’t a dedicated space for South Africans to really harness collaboration and idea sharing specific to the way advice is delivered in South Africa. So being able to create a dedicated space to to harness that is going to be awesome, and I’m really excited for that to gain more traction. But in terms of you know, beyond that, in the future, it’s expanding even more globally. So whilst it’s great to have, you know, like specific conversations for, say, Australia or for South Africa, there’s so much that we can learn from each other on a global scale. And I know you can attest to this, Louis, like there’s so many universal conversations So being able to amplify that in the UK, the US, New Zealand and being able to really become this central hub for some phenomenal, like, you know, advisors and communities and groups within advice, who are really, you know, championing this new way, or this, you know, being a modern adviser and what that really means. And that really boils down to collaboration, and breaking down these silos of trying to do things on your own and trying to figure it out on your own. Because, you know, the jury’s out, the fastest way to improve is by sharing with others, and, you know, collaborating and teaching and learning. And X, Y has got the environment for that to thrive with, you know, peer verified, you know, ideas and experiences. So being able to bring these global communities together on the platform in both a collaborative kind of universal way, but also allowing an advisor to tap into those areas and parts of the platform for those countries specific regulatory, you know, conversations and being able to connect with, with members who may just be down the street from you, or who are on the other side of the world, who can, like leverage, leverage experiences and be able to improve quicker as individuals, but also really drive financial advice forward on a on a global scale. So yeah, in terms of where we’re headed, you know, we’ve got some some events happening here in Australia. Later on in the year, we’re hosting it and all licensee PD day. But in terms of the listeners tuning in now for the South Africa, podcast, and, and those globally as well. Being able to really harness the power of digital on a universal or global scale, to bring the best minds and advice together, and to really raise the bar in what it means to deliver to deliver great advice. Emily,

Louis van der Merwe
thank you for making advisors lives, happier, healthier, and just a lot more fun. You know, it’s great to receive video email from you, it makes a lot of advisors days, and thank you so much for today’s conversation, it’s been wonderful your energy really shines through in everything that you do. And I hope that you will do this for a very long time.

Emily Blanch
Well, thank you, Louis. And vice versa, you know, I, I really bring so much energy to x, y, and to the industry as a whole because I’m surrounded by amazing advisors who are just so dedicated and passionate about what they do. And so if I can help to raise the bar with that to, you know, make it easier for them to better support clients, it’s only going to be a win for for everybody. So yeah, being able to have conversations like this Louis and surround myself with people who are doing some amazing stuff in this space. It it really, it really makes it less about work and a job and more about, you know, a lifestyle and, and doing something with with real meaning and purpose. So yeah, thank you so much. Always, always great to chat to you, Louis. And I hope everyone tuning in and listening has gotten some value out of this as well.

Louis van der Merwe
I’m sure that absolutely. Well. Thank you so much Emily. Bye bye