DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION
Disrupting Your Client Event Patterns for Greater Inclusivity
By Tracie Patten
We are creatures of habit, aren’t we?
Sometimes the busier we get, the more we simply repeat outreach and event strategies that have worked well for us for the sake of time. Yet, in my opinion, financial advisors should step back and analyze the (lack of) diversity around their firms because—aside from the fact that it is the right thing to do—quite frankly, your business longevity depends on it.
Case for Change
Many financial services leaders gravitate toward networking with existing clients, particularly at firm-sponsored events. This makes sense—satisfied clients who endorse you and your firm to like-minded friends and family are likely great referral sources. The challenge: If this is your only networking strategy, you may end up with a client base similar in age, interests, and retirement timing, which can be detrimental to improving your internal culture, expanding your business, and building a pipeline.
Women make 90% of household financial decisions, not limited to home improvement and operations, but also including investment and philanthropic decisions, as noted in Forbes.1 The same article projected that women will hold over $100 trillion in assets by 2025. This, on top of the well-known statistic that women have a longer life expectancy than men,2 makes the case to evaluate your engagement of female clients as decision-makers.
In addition, 2020 census data reveals that the U.S. population is much more multiracial or multiethnic today than ever before.3 The multiracial population hit 9 million people in 2010 and increased to 33.8 million people in 2020—a 276% increase. While the “Some Other Race” category increased by 129% and the Hispanic or Latino population grew by 23%, the White- alone population decreased by 8.6% over the decade.
I see successful financial planning firms revising the question, “How can we replicate clients?” Instead, they should focus on what the client base of the future should look like so we work to know them. This requires making our client events more inclusive.
It Is Personal First
As the first step to becoming more inclusive, I recommend analyzing our own interest in personal growth in diverse circles. What has held us back from expanding our experiences with people of different races, ethnicities, classes, abilities, or religions? Let us consider a commitment to an attitude of acceptance, understanding, and comfort in outreach if we want to genuinely build relationships outside our normal routines.
Being an Ally in New Circles
An ally is any person who supports, empowers, or stands up for another person or group of people. If our end goal is to build strong communities at work and home, we should recognize that we are all affected when any one person or group is not treated fairly or able to live fully as themselves. So to introduce yourself to groups unlike yourself and become an ally is to genuinely take an interest in others’ success and growth.
A Fortune 100 company I worked for had associate resource groups (ARGs) of different cultures, interests, and races. The greatest misconception was that these were to be exclusively for people with those specific labels, when, in actuality, the groups were intended for others to join to learn more about each other. ARGs openly welcomed everyone who had an interest in knowledge about their cultural celebrations, preferences, history, and rituals.
The same receptiveness could be extended if advisors approach area groups and take the time to learn more. Search online for multiethnic civic and social organizations offering meetings, workshops, and programs. Universities in your area likely have similar gatherings, like the Center for Belonging and Social Change at The Ohio State University in my hometown. Read about these organizations, and then go to their meetings or events. Building connections in networking groups with diverse executives allows you to glimpse the talent and perspectives outside of your traditional circle. Importantly, it also provides you with ideas for topics for your own events, as well as presenters.
If you work to understand new cultures over time, you can build natural friendships and appreciation of others and share resources of expertise. Without a commitment to building relationships, efforts may fall flat because they are seen as self-serving. Inclusivity is a heart issue at the core, in my view.
Disrupt Your Events
You can apply this approach to your own client events. Set a goal of increasing diversity in both your speakers and your audience. Ultimately, the goal of an event is to bring groups together to discover new perspectives and create interesting experiences. Analyze what topics and groups have been missing from your firm’s events and look for ways to extend invitations for inclusion.
You might need to assemble a diverse planning team to help brainstorm partners and topics, understand cultural sensitivities, check timing conflicts against cultural celebrations, and cross-reference dietary needs.
In considering speakers for your events, think about topics that would be engaging and interesting for your audience. Keep in mind that events are intended to build relationships and help clients flourish. Allow diverse speakers to highlight the wealth of expertise from their successful careers and life experiences, not limiting them to the topic of diversity. Some of our firm’s most engaging client events and webinars have nothing to do with financial topics and everything to do with clients’ well-being because clients appreciate holistic learning and personal growth. We deepen relationships by helping people in their personal and financial lives, and diverse speakers can offer insights into these areas. Another consideration is setting a budget to pay speakers a specific fee, so you are equally supporting contributors regardless of their race or gender.
In planning the actual event’s logistics, expand your normal routines to help provide inclusive interactions. During the registration process, allow the option of listing pronouns on nametags and ask if any special accommodations for disabilities are needed, such as ramps, parking, and seating. Also, consider switching form-field language from “husband” and “wife” to “client” or “attendee 1” and “attendee 2.”
Let’s Disrupt Client Events!
We are about to experience the greatest generational wealth transfer in history, with baby boomers set to pass to their children more than $68 trillion.4 The demographic makeup of the U.S. continues to evolve and become more and more diverse. You can choose to ignore this, or you can embrace this change and begin building a more diverse network of prospects and professional contacts.
Let’s look at disrupting client events, and break the habit of reaching the same people with the same types of speakers and messages. Check your heart and strategies on the subject and make a commitment to evolve relationships and events along with the people around you.
Start with changes to whom you are inviting to the table to make the discussions more interesting than ever. A beautiful outcome of inclusivity may even be attracting more diverse associates to the profession. We can get there.
1. Maggie Germano, “How Women Can Change the World with Their Money Choices,” Forbes 9/22/2020.
2. Life Expectancy in the U.S. Dropped for the Second Year in a Row in 2021, National Center for Health Statistics.
3. “2020 Census Illuminates Racial and Ethnic Composition of the Country,” U.S. Census Bureau 8/12/2021.
4. “Strategies to navigate the $68 trillion ‘great wealth transfer,’ according to top-ranked advisors,” CNBC 10/17/2022.
Tracie Patten is the marketing director for CI Budros Ruhlin Roe, where she manages strategic planning and execution of executive communication, client events, business development, and marketing. Tracie earned a B.A. in journalism from The Ohio State University.
image credit: istock.com/Angelina Bambina