{"id":7881,"date":"2022-08-10T14:50:09","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T14:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emoneyadvisor.com\/?post_type=thought_leadership&p=7881"},"modified":"2023-07-27T20:13:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T20:13:27","slug":"moving-clients-to-action-with-motivational-interviewing","status":"publish","type":"thought_leadership","link":"https:\/\/emoneyadvisor.com\/blog\/moving-clients-to-action-with-motivational-interviewing\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving Clients to Action with Motivational Interviewing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gathering client data, creating a holistic plan, making recommendations\u2014you think you’ve done everything necessary to set your clients up for success. But how do you motivate them to take action towards their own financial goals?<\/p>\n

An understanding of the motivations behind human financial behavior is a great place to start. According to our research,1<\/sup>\u00a0a majority of clients struggle with a mismatch between their goals and their behaviors. And 45 percent of clients\u2014almost half\u2014struggle with a lack of motivation.<\/p>\n

\"Top<\/p>\n

To help motivate your clients to take action, you can use techniques like motivational interviewing to address your clients’ goals, understand the reasons behind their financial behaviors and habits, and enable them to make impactful changes.<\/p>\n

Building Trust in the Relationship<\/h2>\n

Creating trust in the client relationship is the first step to getting to the core of client issues, motivations, and expectations. To use motivational interviewing, clients first have to trust you.<\/p>\n

Financial professionals should understand that clients are experts about their own lives and have the resources within themselves to create change. Offering an open, non-judgmental environment helps your clients feel comfortable sharing which creates a trusting partnership that opens the door for collaboration.<\/p>\n

Your clients may agree to the goals you have set together, but their actions may not align. Unaddressed spending patterns and unhelpful financial behaviors can easily get in the way of their progress and the success of their plan.<\/p>\n

Getting to the root of these problems is critical to enabling change, but it can be difficult to identify and\u00a0talk about sensitive money topics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Motivational Interviewing to Understand Client Financial Behaviors<\/h2>\n

Once clients feel comfortable collaborating with you, simple motivational interviewing techniques can get them to start taking stock of their financial situation. Motivational interviewing includes guiding your client in conversation and empowering them to come to their own conclusions and meaning.<\/p>\n

It involves active listening, treating the client like an equal partner, and staying away from offering unsolicited advice. Motivational interviewing is especially useful to help clients understand their own situation, behaviors, and options when they feel ambivalent about change, a lack of confidence or understanding to act on change, or low motivation to take action.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

These techniques can create an open dialogue and help you dig deeper into\u00a0what’s driving your clients’ spending habits<\/a>\u00a0and behaviors. This requires asking the right questions and listening to what the client is really saying.<\/p>\n

Some common motivational interviewing techniques include:<\/p>\n