John Deihl [00:00:07]

Julie, I don’t know about you, but in the past couple of months, since I’ve

been out there on the road, I’ve found that people are really enjoying get getting together again.

You know, fingers crossed, maybe the COVID 19 thing is hopefully mostly in our past. And

whether now we’re doing virtual meetings or in-person meetings, it just it’s been especially inperson.

People just seem to be really responding. And I think as they come back together, having

a reason to get people together and really using them for an advantage is something that the

financial professional I think ought to spend some time thinking about.

Julie Genjac [00:00:44]

I couldn’t agree more. John It does feel like the world is open back up and

thinking about gathering individuals, but with a purpose and with structure. And I know that so

many financial professionals have so much on their plate right now, and I’m confident they would

love to do this if they just knew exactly how they were engaging their clients, why, what the

purpose was, and really had an outline, if you will, for the event. And I think that they’ll be excited

to hear what Jonathan has to share with us today regarding gathering clients with a purpose and

a very powerful and impactful outcome.

John Deihl [00:01:17]

So, Julie, why don’t you share with everybody who Jonathan Ainsley is?

Julie Genjac [00:01:21]

Jonathan Ainsley is founder and CEO of Invest in You, a leading platform

to support individuals living to their full potential. Jonathan started in financial services in London

in 1986 as a bond broker, moved to Orlando in 1999 and has been a resident in central Florida

ever since. Following time at SunTrust in 2006, he joined Schwab Institutional as a relationship

manager, developing his passion for bringing simple but powerful solutions to those in his care.

And in 2012, he joined Merrill Lynch’s practice management consulting group. During this time,

the seeds for thought leadership and providing training for longevity advising were sown. In

addition, Jonathan became an accredited financial services coach through Client Wise and also

became a Gallup certified strength finders coach recognized as a thought leader in the area of

flourishing longevity by Rethinking 65 icon. Jonathan has developed training for financial

professionals to provide a fresh perspective on longevity planning. Jonathan has three grown

children and twins, six year old granddaughters who call him Grumps.

John Deihl [00:02:30]

Hi, I’m John.

Julie Genjac [00:02:31]

And I’m Julie.

John Deihl [00:02:33]

We’re the hosts of the Hartford Funds Human Centric Investing Podcast.

Julie Genjac [00:02:38]

Every other week, we’re talking with inspiring thought leaders to hear their

best ideas for how you can transform your relationships with your clients.

John Deihl [00:02:47]

Let’s go.

Julie Genjac [00:02:49]

Welcome to the Human Centric Investing podcast, Jonathan. Thank you so

much for being here with us today.

Jonathan Ainsley [00:02:55]

Thanks to you. Thanks, John. I’m very excited to be here.

John Deihl [00:02:58]

So, Jonathan, in today’s episode, we want to dig in to this topic of client

workshops. I mean, for all the years I’ve been in the industry, I’ve heard about advisory panels and

so on, so forth. It will again help us understand in your mind what is a client workshop and what is

the purpose of that workshop is related to longevity planning.

Jonathan Ainsley [00:03:21]

Well, thanks, John. I really stumbled into this in my role at Merrill

Lynch, was in practice management consulting across 50 offices and lots of resources available

to them. But we’re also an industry and society in transition, so you’ve got the advance of

technology. So where does the value of the human advisor lie going forward? But then also this

sort of revolution in aging and, you know, retirement planning being done with pre-set notions

versus the reality of how things are changing. And so in trying to sort of persuade advisors and

support them in using these resources. One of the things that stood out was, well, we plan clients

95 or 100, but they all say that’s not going to be me and I don’t want to be old and decrepit. And

that has remained a very consistent theme in my travels and the conversations I’ve had and

literally thousands of conversations, you know, across the last decade. But also reminded me that

I think for all of us, you don’t have to go far to identify where people are living longer than they

expected. And that’s increasingly happening. And my own grandmother spent 30 years promising

me each year would be her last and made it to just shy of 101. So I realized, you know, this is a

big deal and how, you know, what are we going to do about it? And coming out of the

independent space as well. When I was at Schwab, the best practice of having a board of clients,

just like a business would do looking for feedback. So I began to. Just the teams. Well, why don’t

you put an advisory panel together and let’s run this topic of longevity by them and see what

comes back. And one of the teams said, well, would you come and do that for us? And I think

we’ve all been stuck in rooms where we get very motivated and very energized. And then six

months later. All right, what did you really do with that? And invariably, the answer is not a lot. So I

wanted to create something that was experiential, engaging. So we actually, the advisors chose

or choose around ten clients. It’s not an exact number that can be couples. It doesn’t have to be.

And the ask of the clients is to provide feedback around this topic of longevity to help the

advisors ensure that they are delivering the best experience and advice to their clients. And so

clients will typically say, absolutely, I would love to be involved with that. So the advisor then

sets it up with the clients doing some pre-work by actually watching a TED talk and coming to

the workshop with just three takeaways. And then we go through the workshop with sort of 15

minutes of me setting the table, really laying out the hour of the shift that is occurring and

engaging at large and how our mindsets have really adapted to embrace the opportunities this

offers. Then we really create the paradigm shift where the clients are responding to a series of

questions. We do it virtually now and in allowing them space, I mean, again, we’re very used to

being talked at. And so the 15 minutes of silence is really quite fun because, you know, at times

people don’t know what to do with that. That’s where the paradigm shift occurs. And then you

finish off with a roundtable where the clients are sharing with each other and bouncing ideas. And

so by the end of it, by keeping it simple, focusing on the these four pillars of flourishing longevity,

and this is really the shift that occurs. It’s a transition from the focus on the frailty side of aging to

integrating this possibility of a more flourishing, uplifting side of it. And by the end of the hour, the

clients are wanting more. And that positions the advisors to go back. Follow up, thank the clients

for participating and then seeing where the conversation goes.

Julie Genjac [00:07:25]

It’s interesting, Jonathan, as a as a practice management coach and

someone who has been fortunate to be invited into many practices and teams and look at

processes and engage on how to continually enhance what is being delivered to clients, it’s how

there’s always the age old question what changes? First, engaging clients and having that

conversation and gathering that information or what we’re delivering to our clients. And I’m

always such an advocate that if we’re going to engage clients and have these conversations and

extract the information, something does need to change on the back end, right? How does my

client experience change as a result of me giving you this information and my thought leadership?

What are your thoughts on that? As you’ve seen, teams successfully have these client panels.

How have they actually changed what they’re delivering, what the client feels as part of that team

or practice?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:08:26]

Yeah, that’s so good, Julie, because advisors obviously are very, very

proud, prideful, prideful of what they do. So uncertainty, it’s a bit like an attorney. You don’t want

to ask a question you don’t know the answer to. And so it’s finding the advisors who are willing to

take some degree of leap of faith to go and experience this. Because conversely, I’ve done the

workshop with advisors and guess what? They wear hats that say advisors. And so they’re

thinking through their own lens, not from the client point of view. And, you know, one of the

wonderful things with the workshop is what a driver it is, whether it’s deeper relationships,

broader connections, you know, across gender and generations growth. I was talking to an

advisor just before the workshop or one of them last year that we did for him. And we positioned

how you can double your business in two years, and most healthy practices want to grow. And he

said, Jonathan, I just don’t see how that’s going to be possible. And I said, That’s absolutely fine,

let’s do the workshop. And once you’ve experienced that, we then do a debrief afterwards,

generally within 24 hours we’ll discuss it then. And at the end of the workshop, at the end of the

debrief, I said, Can you see now how this can double your business in two years? And he said,

Yeah, absolutely. So there is Julie, you’ve sort of touched on it that, you know, getting the door

opened wide enough for them to go through it and discover again is there’s this whole world that

no one is talking about. And it’s incredible. It’s so much fun. And so, yeah, I’m still trying to crack

that code of how to do it on a bigger scale of of getting advisors to take that leap of faith.

John Deihl [00:10:10]

So Jonathan. I mentioned kind of at the outset of our conversation this

topic about advisory panels. Right. And I want to ask you about the mindset of the financial

professional going into one of these client workshops, because advisory panels to me are often

used as like a scorecard, if you will, on how our practice is doing on serving you. But it sounds to

me like these client workshops are less about my practice and more about the client’s reality. And

you just mentioned a moment ago four pillars that are kind of key to these workshops. Can you

refreshes on what those four pillars are? And then just help me understand, as a financial

professional, what my mindset should be, what I should be trying to get out of one of these client

workshops.

Jonathan Ainsley [00:10:56]

So let’s start with that last question, John. What you should be trying

to get out of these workshops is where ultimately you are adding value in your client’s life. What is

the difference you can making for your clients? And the four pillars, the foundation of the four

pillars are the traditional focus of the advisors is the finance. But to quote a portfolio manager, I’ve

always hidden behind the numbers. Now I don’t have to. I can meet the clients where it’s

important to them. So rather than residing almost purely in the financial side of the equation and

sure, you may touch on family and things like that, even holistic planning, you know, we are

infinite beings. Handicapped by our limiting beliefs. So our whole preconceived notions of what

retirement is, even while someone, Hey, what are your plans for retirement? After the workshop,

they have a completely different view of what the answer to that question actually is. So the four

pillars are mindset. So you know that I do want to be old and decrepit. Well, guess what? You

don’t necessarily have to be. But what actual steps are you going to take? How you’re thinking

about this will make a difference. Health, both physical and dietary. And so being more intentional

where a purpose. And again when you’re open to the possibility of one. It takes a mind set shift.

And one of the things the workshop creates is shifting the mindset from the 65 plus with a

question mark. To the possibility of 100. And when you create that space, the idea of purpose,

you may have worked very hard for 40 years. You may have been very successful in whatever

career you did. But I’ve been asking people the level of joy that their community at large, those

they commune with, what level of joy? And this is pre-lockdown. And I’ve been doing it ever

since. You know, if ten is high, what level of joy do you think most people operate at? And the

average is a four. So you’re really unlocking with these workshops a whole hidden world here that

people want more and the advisor is perfectly positioned to do that. So the purpose part, the third

pillar is it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. But on a longer time frame, it’s not

just, you know, I’ve done the workshop in the villages, you know, one of the best places in the

country, in the US for for for aging here just outside Florida, outside Orlando. And if you can go

and change the dial on how an eight year old is thinking. It really shows you, you know, this,

there’s something behind that. You know what we’ve got going on. And that really leads to the

fourth pillar, which is community. So not just, you know, the people you’re hanging out with, but

even down to the mirror neurons, you know, how we’re being with each other will impact how with

what we’re up to and what we’re doing. So those four pillars, again, just to recap on that mindset,

health, purpose and community.

Julie Genjac [00:14:01]

Jonathan, you’ve obviously been involved and participated in many of

these panels, either in person or virtually over the last couple of years. Could you share with us a

couple of examples of maybe responses or pieces of knowledge or insight that financial

professionals have gathered from an attendee at one of these workshops? That was just truly an

eye opening moment, sort of that light bulb moment where the financial professional said, Oh,

wow, I didn’t realize this. This was going on in my client’s head, or I hadn’t even thought about

that. Just to bring some tangible examples for those financial professionals that are intrigued and

are considering implementing this as part of their business plan and strategy for the upcoming

year.

Jonathan Ainsley [00:14:47]

Yeah, Julie, I’ve got a wonderful example where again, if we take our

response at face value, you kind of get a different outcome from where if you stay in the space.

And what I mean by that is the end of the workshop. 65 year old client said, Leave me alone. I just

want to grow old and die gracefully. Well, with the training, with it, working with the advisor when

he did the follow up conversation with the client, regardless of the of the comment, something

had shifted for the client in his mindset and the conversation continued to evolve. So the advisor

didn’t just say, okay, I’m leaving you alone. That’s that. You’ve got to be respectful, obviously. But

something had shifted. It ended up with the client requesting a presentation on longevity to his

Rotary Club. How many advisors would love to be invited into a Rotary Club or something similar

to make a presentation? And so, again, be careful of just taking it for. Oh, yes, they said this that

I’m good. Leave me alone sort of thing. And, you know, the opportunity to stay in the space. And

that’s really what comes as the advisors themselves, the more they experience this. You know, I’m

only consulting because of starting in 2006, being curious about people’s practices and building

the knowledge base as a result of the conversations. This is no different. It’s really being willing to

stay in it. But I think that’s a wonderful example of how a mindset shifts. And I’ve had, you know,

one advisor saying this is the equivalent to was NIAC and jobs, you know, creating Apple in the

garage. You know, we’re just touching the surface here. It really is such uncharted territory, but it

also aligns to all sorts of different things that are important to advisors. So again, broader

connections across generations. You know, we’ve had teams bring in three different generations

of a family to engage in in the workshop, you know, more engagement on the female side. Again,

that’s a big thing that the industry is trying to get its arms around and it just creates a space

where people open up. And for the advisor to experience that is part of the important thing

because they then see this this bigger picture that they hadn’t identified beforehand. And

ultimately, again, when you’ve got a $17 million client being introduced to you as a result of the

workshop, there’s nothing more powerful than something like that. You know, clients do put

someone of that ilk in front of you. You’ve clearly impacted that. You know what they’re

experiencing of you as a result.

John Deihl [00:17:28]

So, Jonathan, a couple of practical questions for you. One would be, what’s

the typical size of a client workshop? Two would be it’s a multipronged question here. What’s

that? What’s the optimal size? Secondly would be, do you mix it up in terms of it ages? Retired,

not retired. Like, do you want different perspectives or do you try to keep it homogenous? And

then third, I want to give you an opportunity to share how, if advisors are interested in this

process, how would they contact you? And what with the just briefly, what would that process

look like?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:18:02]

Well, thank you for that, John. So the size we typically aim for about

ten, but it’s not an exact science. I’ve done it one on one. It was with a doctor. So I was very

interested and curious about the overlay on the medical world. I’ve done it with about 25. You

know, I really look for engagement as well. So the opportunity for people to get involved and

engage, so we’re still sort of defining it, but but ten is about the sweet spots. And then in terms of

the the generational thing, longevity impacts everyone. And one of the things we’ve done, I’ve

mentioned this workshop is really just an introduction. We’ve had clients coming back asking for

more. So we’ve actually done a follow up, couple of pilots for a Natural Essence Living Younger

Longer workshop, which was even the advisor turned around after that and said, I’m having

conversations with my wife of 40 years that I’ve never had before. So again, very, very simple but

very, very powerful. And we’re also looking to create add on workshops for sort of avoiding the

midlife crisis and then also from the forties, the making a difference. So, you know, this first

workshop is really just engaging at whatever level. And then in terms of and keeping it simple, I

mean, again, the simplicity part is so key here. You want people walking away going, oh, my gosh,

wow. What next? Not feeling that they’ve just gotten indigestion and then getting hold of us.

Longevity Planning Dot Emma is a great starting point. I’m on LinkedIn as well. You know, there’s

lots more coming from this, but those are the two sort of best places to sort of track me down at

the moment.

Julie Genjac [00:19:54]

And before we wrap up our time together today, Jonathan, if a financial

professional were to reach out to you, do you have a fairly is it a turnkey program? Is there an

outline questions? Is it sort of a, you know, a complete kit, if you will, in terms of engaging with

you and then engaging with clients and then executing this? I’m just trying to think from a from an

efficiency standpoint. If I were a financial professional, juggling all of the things I’m juggling day to

day, how I might weave this in from a time perspective by engaging you.

Jonathan Ainsley [00:20:26]

Yeah, that’s terrific Julie and the exciting thing is that what we’ve

created is as a result of working with advisors so that peers who’ve who we started with the

workshop and the feedback was, Wow, this is amazing, but don’t stop here. You know,

something we’re working on is an accreditation. Nor a designation of sorts. But they also said

create a training program. So we have what I call the white glove, white glove offering, which is

six steps, and it starts with an introductory conversation. It’s an hour long really getting to know

and lay out, okay, what are you looking to accomplish, Mr. or Mrs. Advisor? But then also, you

know, laying out what the program looks like. So ultimately the outcome is down to the

commitment and making sure that, you know, everyone’s committed to the right outcome. So we

created the white glove experience and the second step of the six is, is facilitating the workshop.

So that’s embedded in there. But then to create a different version or a lighter version and be

able to scale as well. We’ve now got an online six module self-study course that already has 10

hours of sleep, CFP, CV credits. And whilst that doesn’t have the workshop within it, the advisors

actually focus in modules one and two on their own longevity. So, you know, by putting that

attention there, it then empowers them to take it to their clients and we’ve got the whole

framework for them to be able to deliver that. So we’ve kind of got the two levels and I’m sure

there’s more coming. I mean, again, this thing just keeps morphing and evolving, but right now

we’ve got those two different offerings in play.

John Deihl [00:22:13]

Jonathan, thank you. Before we let you go, Julian, I want to have a little bit

of fun. It is the human centric investing podcast, so we’re going to involve you in what we call the

Lightning Round. Julie and I are going to alternatively ask you questions, quick questions. We

want the first answer that comes into your mind just so that we and our audience can get to know

Jonathan Ainslie just a little bit better. So you ready? I’ll start. Jonathan, what’s your favorite

holiday?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:22:42]

My favorite holiday is Puerto Rico.

Julie Genjac [00:22:45]

What’s your favorite kind of cereal?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:22:49]

Honey nut cornflakes not available anymore in the US, but still

available in the UK.

John Deihl [00:22:55]

Morning person or night owl.

Jonathan Ainsley [00:22:58]

Both to those around me, the detriment.

Julie Genjac [00:23:03]

On a scale of 1 to 10. How good of a driver are you?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:23:07]

14.

John Deihl [00:23:10]

What is your ideal outside temperature?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:23:16]

Oh. Um, I. Good job. I’m still in the. I’m in the U.S.. So let’s stick with

68 degrees.

Julie Genjac [00:23:26]

Cake or pie?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:23:29]

Pie.

John Deihl [00:23:33]

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

Jonathan Ainsley [00:23:36]

Yes.

John Deihl [00:23:38]

Good answer. Well, Jonathan. Hey, on behalf of Julie and I and all of our

listeners. Thanks for playing along. We appreciate that. And again, we wanted to thank you for

your insights today on this topic of client workshops. I think it’s really interesting one, and I’m sure

one that all our listeners will appreciate. So thanks again for joining us.

Jonathan Ainsley [00:23:58]

Well, thank you. It’s been very exciting to be with you, and I

appreciate your energy and curiosity in this. I know you’re already doing a lot, so thank you for for

bringing me into the fold.

Julie Genjac [00:24:10]

Thanks for listening. So The Hartford Funds Human Centric Investing

Podcast. If you’d like to tune in for more episodes, don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get

your podcasts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.

John Deihl [00:24:24]

And if you’d like to be a guest and share your best ideas for transforming

client relationships, email us at guest booking at Hartford Funds dot com. We’d love to hear from

you.

Julie Genjac [00:24:35]

Talk to you soon.