What Does ‘Think on Your Feet’ Mean for a Financial Advisor?
This is the latest guest post by Don Connelly, originally published on Blueleaf’s Blog.
An idiom is a phrase that cannot be taken literally. For anyone learning English, it must be disconcerting to hear that it’s raining cats and dogs outside. You and I know it’ll rain cats and dogs when pigs fly.
Think on your feet is just such an idiom.
Every Financial Advisor knows what it means to think and speak without special preparation. Being forced to think this way is neither fun nor comfortable. And it can lead to an awkward moment. We all wait for the train wreck when a speaker who is dependent on a teleprompter wanders off course. We all wander off course at one time or another.
Perhaps you get caught by a surprise question. Perhaps your listener raises an unexpected objection. Either way, you’ve got to get the conversation back on track. When you are trying to bring a discussion to a pre-determined outcome, the need for spontaneity is an unwelcome intrusion. As the Boy Scout motto warns us: Be Prepared.
If these are the kinds of conversations you want to handle more confidently, this is the work I do with advisors in coaching. You can learn more here.
