This Thursday’s Thought Leader Actiance (#TLTActiance) guest blog is from Stephanie Holmes-Winton, Halifax-based financial services educator and author of Defusing the Debt Bomb. Connect with Stephanie or The Money Finder, on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.
If you are in financial services you are probably governed by various rules when it comes to what you are and are not allowed to do when it comes to social media. And many in the industry say they’ve just given up. “Why bother, twitter is just a bunch of people posting pictures of their lunch!” uttered a Canadian advisor who says he’s not allowed on social media.
Guess what? His dealer does allow their advisors to use social media; I know this because I’ve worked with more than one of his colleagues who have indeed gotten approval for just that.
Now if you go and ask this advisor, I’m sure he’d insist that the answer was no. I bet you it was. But did you know there are two different types of “no”? I learned about the two types of “no” by arguing with my mother as a teen.
The two types of “no”:
There’s the “no” that means: Absolutely not, under no circumstances you CANNOT do ___________ (fill in the offending request)!
Then there’s the “no” that means: You haven’t given enough information to get a yes. You asked a closed-ended question. You didn’t ask about exactly what you want to do in detail, so as to give an idea of the scope of your request.
Example questions to ask managers or compliance:
How to get a “no”:
“May I commit fraud?”
That would get a Type 1.
“May I use social media?”
In many cases if this gets a “no”, it’s a Type 2.
How to get to the next step, or a “yes”:
“How would I go about getting started with social media?”
“What kind of plan, outline or materials do you need to see from me so I can get started writing a monthly blog?”
“What kinds of materials shared on social media (e.g. My own blog, an interesting publically available article from WSJ or conversations with followers) do you need to see in advance?”
“What is your procedure to monitor my social media activities?”
You get the drift, right? It’s not what you are asking but the way you are asking. And I think some people are even asking like this:
“I’m not allowed to use social media, right?”
Oh wait, I forgot a very important type of no: the above would get a Type 3 “no”, the type you actually frame your question hoping to get! I know, it’s one more thing. and it seems really big and really challenging, but hear me on social media; your client is there. You can gain amazing insights and information there. This is NOT A FAD.
Take a page from Daniel Pink’s new book To Sell is Human and try a little perspective-taking when you are pitching your social media use. Put yourself in their shoes. What are they afraid will happen? How can you help them mitigate the risk?
Understand compliance is there to do a job, and the easier you make their job, the better off you’ll both be. I’ve heard the jokes about how the compliance department is really the “sales prevention department.” But the truth is that there will be no jobs in compliance if there are no sales, so your relationship with them is more symbiotic than you may think!
There is a healthy compliant balance that can be found where financial services professionals can and should use social media. All we have to do is learn to ask the right questions.
Actiance 