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Teaming with intentionality goes beyond the importance of defining roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and processes. Consider these two questions:
- What makes your team special?
- How do you articulate your edge?
One of the most fruitful exercises for teams to resolve these questions is to develop isms—a teams' core beliefs on what clients need to fundamentally embrace to be successful in their financial lives. Isms are timeless, pithy, sound bites and connect the dots to the advice you provide.
Isms can have a multiplier effect on the growth of a team practice as they help you in various dimensions of conversation:
- Make first encounters count. Kindle some curiosity in response to the question, "what are you telling your clients right now?" while also avoiding a sparring contest.
- Generate more meetings. Lift the conversation to another level in follow-up conversations.
- Answer the inevitable "why us?" in first meetings. Breakthrough prospective client inertia.
- Capture referable moments. Empower your clients to look smart when you are not in the room.
Importantly, isms will help differentiate your brand by getting past "holistic" and "comprehensive." Your set of evergreen beliefs is often far more interesting than your description of what you do for your clients.
Bottom Line: Now is the perfect time to galvanize your team messaging by developing isms that will resonate with your ideal clients.
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