Rethinking roles: why the words we use matter

The terminology we use to describe ourselves and others has major implications for the way we view our relationships - and our expectations of them. How do these considerations impact our daily interactions with others, and what does it mean for the wealth advisory relationship?

The terminology we use around our relationships is loaded with meaning.

The cafe from which you buy your coffee each morning: do you consider yourself a customer or a patron? Are you a consumer of Netflix or a user? Does your therapist know you as a client or a patient?

How do these terms shape your expectations for the relationship?

Let’s look at two different scenarios.

In the first, you go for dinner with a friend to a much-loved local Italian restaurant. The owner greets you like a long-lost cousin, he takes you to your favourite table, and bats away your usual order of the Scaloppa Milanese, suggesting the grilled Seabass instead - fresh this morning. It’s a suggestion you happily accept.

In the second, you’re driving back from a long trip and realise that you skipped lunch. You see the Golden Arches loom into view and without thinking you take a right turn into the services. You order a Big Mac through the speakerphone, asking them to hold the pickle. Two minutes later you’ve paid the server and it’s in your hand, your day suddenly immeasurably better. The ultimate commodity purchase, but satisfying nonetheless.

In both these examples, a transaction has occurred with basically identical outcomes: food in exchange for money.

But how do everyone’s roles differ? Which participants are active or passive, and who has the power?

“People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”

While you are technically a ‘customer’ in both scenarios, you might consider yourself a ‘patron’ of the local Italian. After all, feelings of belonging sit side by side with those of an ongoing - rather than a transactional - relationship. Despite this however, the power still resides with you. You may welcome the restaurant owner’s suggestions, but decisions about what to order remain in your hands.

When is a vendor not a vendor?

In the UK, where the NHS provides free at the point of use healthcare, relationships with medical professionals are of a different nature.

On the one side sits a professional with the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to help; on the other, someone with a health complaint who is required to trust them. Power generally rests with the physician, and the relationship is one based on advice rather than facilitation.

?The private medical sector - with the very important distinction of money changing hands - shifts the power dynamic somewhat back in favour of the patient. Commercial considerations also come into play; a customer paying money for a service generally expects action over no action, whereas a physician is required to act in the best interests of the patient.

We see similar dynamics at play in the sphere of education between state and independent sectors. The line between whether pupils and their parents are considered customers in the traditional sense, is blurred, with associated complexities over who has influence over decision-making.

?So where is the line between a vendor-customer relationship and that of advisor-client?

Guide vs Facilitate

The term ‘wealth manager’ suggests an oversight and execution role, whereas at Six Degrees we think that the term ‘wealth advisor’ is a more accurate descriptor.

However, as any stroll through Geneva Airport will demonstrate, global wealth manager brands have traditionally aligned themselves with the luxury goods market. They emphasise conservative hygiene factors such as trust, service and heritage, rendering some global bank advertising screens genuinely indistinguishable from those of Piaget or Breitling.

Within this context, it’s not surprising that clients expect a ‘yes-man’ relationship to develop with the relationship manager: a slick briefcased operator who will facilitate what a client wants within expensive offices - and take commissions in return. Indeed, even the term ‘relationship manager’ is loaded with meaning, suggesting that a relationship is somehow a commodity to be managed, rather than a bond which grows organically.

?

Stand aside

Major recent developments within wealth-tech and open banking - coupled with the emergence of innovative business models - have more or less replaced the need for intermediaries such as banks to act as facilitators.

?Previous resource-intensive and costly activities - be it share trading, obtaining a valuation or creating documents for your latest fundraise - can now effectively be done from your smartphone, at very little or sometimes zero cost.

A valuable advisor-client relationship today, is borne not simply out of the ability to execute, but the ability to listen, challenge, and provide advice based on experience and knowledge. In some ways it bears closer resemblance to that of ‘physician-patient’ than it does of ‘vendor-customer’.

Find a partner, take their hand

So who has the power? It’s not an exact science, but in our experience maximum potential is only realised from the wealth relationship when the power is balanced equally. Balance is one of the Six Degrees core values, and to us, balance means a partnership.

A genuine partnership between client and advisor creates the freedom to challenge one another, and encourages diversity of thought. It also enables a collaborative approach to creating a wealth strategy based on purpose - something that if well designed and monitored on an ongoing basis, will last for the long-term, not just the drive-thru.

About the Author

Oliver Saiman is Co-Founder of purpose-led wealth manager Six Degrees. Along with his Co-Founder Katherine Waller , he advises high-net-worth business owners on the creation and management of their wealth strategy. Six Degrees partners with families and individuals with ￡3m to ￡50m in investable assets; those who have a very high affiliation with purpose, who have a strong work ethic and continue to work hard. They are typically on the wealth journey, but have not yet arrived at their destination.

See www.thisis6.com to connect wealth with purpose, and subscribe here for more purpose-infused insights.

This blog is for information purposes and does not constitute financial advice, which should be based on your individual circumstances. The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on individual circumstances.

?