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It Is Not Rocket Science Written By 3D Man

‘Straight-forward’. ‘Simple’. ‘No nonsense’. These are words not often used in financial services. We are an industry that loves nuance, exceptions and caveats. But when it comes to communicating, simplicity can be extremely powerful – or for best results, essential.

This was the message from Carl Richards, a keynote speaker at the Financial Planning Association’s Professionals Congress in Sydney last week.

As Carl highlighted to the audience of financial professionals, we need to be simpler in what we say and the way we say it. Yet sometimes in our industry, the words ‘simple’ or ‘ basic’ have negative connotations. But simple doesn't mean stupid. Yes, we deal with complicated subject matter. But a key part of our role as communicators – and the truth is that in today's environment every successful business person must be, to a greater or lesser extent, a communicator – is to break that complexity down and express it in a way that makes it easy to understand.

How to go about it? Here are three principles for clear business expression that Carl reminded us of last week.

1. Simple language

When people are confused or can’t grasp the meaning of a term they will reject your message. Our industry, more than many others, has a specific vocabulary that inherently excludes some of the very people to whom we are trying to speak. When a customer doesn’t have to struggle with the words we are using, they can instead devote their mental energy to considering what you are offering them.

2. Short and sweet

According to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the key to a great speech is: “Be sincere, be brief, be seated!” The fewer words, the better. (See what I did there?)

3. The Rule of Three

The rule of three is a very general one in speaking, music and writing. It states that concepts or ideas presented in threes are inherently more interesting, more enjoyable and more memorable ('reading, writing and 'rithmetic'; 'sex, drugs and rock n’roll'; 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'). Often we feel the need to give our customer or clients ALL the information we have – not just the information that matters most to them. Pick your three most important messages and focus on communicating these clearly and consistently.

Carl Richards is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® whose weekly column for the New York Times distills complex financial concepts into easy to understand sketches. He is also the author of The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money. Carl was in Australia last week as a guest at the FPA Professionals Congress.

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