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Mark Twain wrote that a picture tells a thousand words … just not nearly as often! So yes, you do need to keep communicating with words. But an important plank underpinning reputation is illustrating your point by showing, not just telling. And showing is essential for constructing messages that carry greatness.
The simple but powerful concept of showing your audience, not just telling them, came into sharp refrain earlier this week at a breakfast hosted by trade journal Money Management.
The event looked at the regulation of financial planning in Australia, and featured two keynote speakers – the Financial Planning Association CEO Mark Rantall and AMP stalwart Steve Helmich.
We heard lots of great words – words describing the journey towards professionalism, the need to fundamentally shift the culture of the industry (note to product manufacturers and large licensees) to truly embrace the purpose of reforms: putting the client at the heart of everything we do.
Problem is, how often have we heard such words recently? Lots. Not that the message is wrong or flawed. In fact, this is the right message, at the right time for absolutely the right reasons.
But, call it reform fatigue, call it the early morning start on a cold Sydney day, call it the shock of having Kevin back in the PM’s chair…but somehow the honourable words fell into the room with the lightness of a balloon made from lead.
Truth is, the impact of the message was less than ideal.
But a funny thing then happened. Steve Helmich from AMP began demonstrating why his message (a call to action for the silent majority of financial planners who do great, unselfish work every day) meant something.
Steve began to show not tell. (It’s akin to him saying: here’s what I think, but don’t just take my word for it, let me show you how others validate my thinking.) There was an immediate and palpable lift in the room. Folks lifted their heads from their bacon and eggs and switched on.
And what was it that got them activated? It was a few words followed by some pictures. The words were: we recently ran a pro bono pilot program to help people with cancer. It is now about to go national, and it is driving home the clear value of acting in the best interest of your client.
And the pictures? Some wonderful video footage showing real pro bono clients of AMP financial planners. The clients each had one sad thing in common: they had lost a loved one to cancer. And the financial planners each had something in common: they volunteered time and energy and professional duty to assist real people in real need. As the widowed female client with a nine-year-old son said to the camera: “we now have a future.”
Her pro bono adviser had found her tens of thousands of dollars more in the final days of her 46-year-old husband’s life. He took care to secure her financial position as she grieved for a loved one and worried about her young son’s future.
Leaving aside the raw emotion of the video, this was a real and impactful example of the clear power of a simple of act of showing (as well as telling).
