Over the past decade much has been written about the growth in women’s wealth and the business case for attracting female clients.
This is not surprising given that women are set to own more than 50 per cent of the wealth in the UK by 2025, inherit 70 per cent of the wealth passed down over the next two generations, and control two-thirds of household wealth in the UK by 2030, according to UBS report "Women's Wealth 2030".
Despite this, the reality is that women remain the single largest underserved group of customers in financial services. Why?
In my experience this is because there is a refusal to acknowledge that there are fundamental differences between men and women in how they manage money, how they invest and the risks they take.
In its "Serving Women As Financial Services Customers" report, consultancy Oliver Wyman found that senior executives would express concern that “treating women differently from men could be at best unnecessary, and at worst reductive”.
But the report highlighted the reality that approaches which may appear to be gender neutral in fact default toward men’s needs and preferences, and this results in unintentional blind spots in how the industry meets the needs of women.
Given this, it is not surprising that 72 per cent of women in the UK feel they are not understood by the finance industry, according to WealthiHer Network.
So how do we better serve women and win a slice of their increasing wealth?
Based on my experience working with women for more than 20 years, this is what advisers should and should not be doing.
Fundamentally, you need to adjust your sales process and service proposition; women and men go through a different process when they come to buy financial products and want different things from their money.
Buying: gut instincts vs revalidation
Men will often make a quick decision as they tend to go with their gut instincts when choosing an adviser or investing. Men will quite happily buy the sales pitch which resonates, listen to their gut instinct and follow through quickly.
Women on the other hand will want to revalidate their instincts through further research or questioning. They will not just buy because of the slick presentation or adviser; if anything they are often put off by the hard sell. They will want to verify those instincts and will go through a further process of research and questioning.
Appreciate this difference and adjust your processes to ensure that you are not expecting the women to sign on the dotted line on their first meeting with you.
Be patient, listen to their queries, address their concerns, and help them to a decision by providing all the information they seek.
Selling: performance vs goals
Men are more driven by performance and will often invest in the latest fad or fund recommended by their mate or someone in the office. So it is not surprising that the industry is so focused on selling performance and outperformance.
