Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory is playing out in the jungle land of personal finance. Over 300,000 financial advisors and related professionals in the U.S. compete against each other, and against online technology, to stay alive. Advisors are realizing that planning, investment strategy, and other traditional expertise may not be enough to keep a thriving practice anymore.

Enter Rachel Flower, coach trainer and branding specialist for wealth professionals, who also studies brain science and human behavior. She helps advisors understand the human side of their business and the importance of a “deskside manner,” akin to a bedside manner that people attribute to their favorite doctors.

As a business coach for nearly 25 years working with entrepreneurs and executives from IBM, CISCO, and Ernst & Young, Flower more recently has focused on financial advisors, particularly Registered Investment Advisors (RIA). “I found that they were hungry to learn coaching skills because it wasn’t something that many of them had training in and they realized that they needed it,” said Flower, who is pleased with the organic growth of this niche.

“Coaching is not just getting financial information from your clients, it’s more about finding out what makes your clients tick, what their values are, and what they care about. It’s not just about the money, but what does the money mean to them?” she explained. “Bringing that ability to help people find their core values and passions is really the heart of coaching. If you can’t access somebody’s deeper drivers, you’re just working on the surface and it’s just window dressing. Like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic, it might look prettier but it’s not necessarily going to end well.”

Emotional intelligence, communication skills, and building rapport are covered by Flower, and she shares a concept called parental authority coaching.

“It’s about asking the difficult questions sometimes. Maybe a client is overspending and taking a lot of money out of their IRA. Somebody with coaching skills might say, ‘Let’s see if this makes sense, not just on a financial level but on a family dynamic level as well.’ You look at the broader scope and call out the elephant in the room. Some advisors are timid or squeamish about this initially because they don’t want to seem as though they are crossing a line and asking too many personal questions,” said Flower.

Creator of a training system called the Choose Model, Flower begins with basic principles that form a structure to address most every aspect of their practice, including branding strategies such as creating the right name for a firm, and developing email subject lines that increase open rates. Another area covers how to work with a CPA. “Many times, CPA’s are wonderful referrals for the RIA so they need to understand how each other operate. Skills learned through coaching can help the RIA stand out in the industry.”

What kind of results is Flower hearing from her clients? “They feel that their clients are much more loyal, that there is a deeper level of loyalty and therefore retention. They also report that it is easier to get referrals. You really are changing their lives if you’re a really good coach, clients are happier.”

Coaching skills do help to differentiate an advisor, but Flower said that it doesn’t happen instantly. “It has to be proven by demonstrating it with your clients and getting the results. It’s much more organic and it does increase referral rate for people when they can coach their clients very well. Even if you’re going through a rough time in the marketplace, if clients really trust you and believe that you’re doing your best for them and showing that you care, and working to help improve their life just through the coaching itself, that goes a long way. People are wondering who they can trust and who they can’t. There is so much information online and schools of thought on financial matters that people need a navigator to help them chart their path.”

Based in the Lake Tahoe area, Flower grew up in England, and then lived in Australia before coming to the U.S. in 2005. Currently she coaches wealth professionals across the country including individuals and groups in person and online.

To learn more about Rachel Flower, visit: rachelflower.net