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How Do You Shake Hands Through a Screen? Experts Weigh in on the Future of Advising
As part of the Future of the Trusted Advisor project, the Maddock Douglas team has spent the past several weeks speaking with more than 50 experts about the impact of COVID-19 on insurance, finance, employee benefits and real estate advising. Our experts included entrepreneurs, C-suite executives, agents, advisors and strategic thinkers, and they helped us uncover several interesting hypotheses for how the role of the trusted advisor will change in a post-pandemic world.
Here are some highlights from what we’ve heard, along with quotes from some of our experts:
Virtual connections are stronger than we thought
Perhaps one of the most striking themes we heard is that virtual meetings not only work, but they also create space for a whole new level of connection. Almost counterintuitively, social distancing has given us unprecedented access to the more personal aspects of each other’s lives. Our experts described the increased intimacy that results from connecting outside the office – during a video meeting, you can see a colleague’s child or get a glimpse into your client’s home.
“Advisors are now relating to customers temporally and physically. All conversations start with ‘How are you doing?’ and then go to business… It’s a totally different way of relating.”
Not surprisingly, this deeper connection means we’re no longer able to ignore the “soft stuff.” Advisors must relate to clients on a human level, eliminating the “business as usual” approach as we knew it.
“We’re in the middle of redefining the human experience…We swung the pendulum back to the human experience in a digital world.”
Can we build trust without a handshake?
But what effect does virtual have for new clients or coworkers, where there isn’t an existing relationship to build upon? Without an office to walk into or a hand to shake, how can we establish authenticity with strangers? Can we trust someone new through a screen?
“In this new era, where time and space are delinked, trust is even more important. There’s no hand to shake. I don’t know where the office is. It’s all about mutual trust.”
Some experts say yes. In fact, one expert in particular believes that virtual environments can eliminate the distractions that might otherwise inhibit an honest connection in person.
“Developing empathy virtually isn’t really a big deal. Sometimes the non-verbal cues can actually be distracting, so trust might actually be easier to build in a virtual setting.”
Others anticipate the emergence of new types of credentials or certifications that will verify an advisor’s trustworthiness. And even further, some experts predict that trusted referrals will develop as an entirely new service offering — to these individuals, the network approach of connecting clients to professionals you can personally vouch for might be just as (or even more) important as the core service you provide.
“You don’t have to have the answer, but you need to know someone that does.”
While we might foresee ways to adapt one-on-one meetings to virtual space, what about groups? One expert specifically described how visceral energy is missing from the remote group experience and hypothesized how workshops and conferences will need to adapt to recreate this essential dynamic.
“If we change our major conference to adhere to social distancing guidelines, how does the value proposition change? If we can’t offer organic interactions with new peers, what will take its place?”
Can we expect VR technology to help us replicate group dynamics, or will we see new tools emerge in a post-COVID-19 world?
Hybrid-ized advice and greater competition
The virtual world that has become our reality during the pandemic has also made it easier to access information, tools and advice. People are sharing their expertise and advice at no cost across countless platforms. Some experts see the positive: advisors can connect with clients at nontraditional times with minimal effort.
“I’m finding that I now have access to a whole new subset of clients that I could never get before…because they had families to get home to, young kids, or they were juggling work and travel. Now we’re Zooming!”
But all this access to information and self-service tools also means that many advisors need to find new ways to prove their value. Some experts predict that new hybrid models for advising will emerge to take advantage of the blend of robo-tools, independent research and human advisors who understand complex situations. Can advisors create a symbiotic relationship between humans and machines?
“People will still want human advice, but it will have to be a hybrid.”
Others worry that the proliferation of options will just lead to increased noise, making it even harder for consumers to parse out the good advice from the bad (or even to find the right advisor to help them do so). Could new advising platforms emerge to help people find and connect with top-quality advisors?
Relatable brands and authentic advisors
Many experts also described how the current climate is accelerating trends that we’ve long felt coming. For example, consumers have increasingly desired to work with humanized brands and companies who share in their personal beliefs and causes — something COVID-19 continues to amplify.
Prior to the pandemic, companies could take a planned approach to developing new messaging, but right now there’s little time (if any at all) to figure it out. COVID-19 has forced many brands to speak out about what they stand for at a rapid-fire pace, and those who miss the mark are faced with increased scrutiny. Some experts predict that the best advisors will realize that being completely “right” is less important than being responsive and honest in the moment.
“Everyone’s got a new commercial about how ‘We’re all in this together’…But the only companies that are doing well are ‘on purpose’ and making decisions based on their core values.”
Our experts believe the trend favoring brands, companies and advisors who are focused on more than just shareholder value – those who care deeply about the people they serve and who are relatable and “human” in key interactions – will continue.
“There’s almost nothing that is out of bounds now. Honesty and transparency are just expected.”
Who gets left behind?
From our conversations with experts, one thing is clear: the present moment is forcing advisors to adapt to new ways of working with clients, brands and peers. While the full picture of how current pressures will ultimately resolve in the coming years is still unclear, those advisors reluctant to meet the new demands will almost certainly get left behind.
“The advisors that really can adapt and understand how to treat clients in a post-COVID world will make it.”
What happens next?
These experts’ insights and hypotheses, combined with our team’s secondary trend analysis, fueled the development of predictions for how industries will change, and ultimately how the role of the advisor will evolve post-COVID-19. Now, with our patent-pending ForesightRx research methodology, we are tapping the wisdom of the crowd to uncover the likelihood of these predictions.
To receive the report when it’s available later in June 2020, sign up by clicking the button below.