The Trust Company Vice President for Chattanooga Zach Hurst spoke with WealthManagement.com about getting back to basics by thinking first of the customer.
When you consider the last five years in the financial planning industry, what are the big topics that come to mind? What about the last 10 years? For me, technology is at the top of the list. We’re seeing fintech tools being launched left and right, and now companies are looking to leverage AI to optimize efficiency in workflows.
Of course, this isn’t a concept unique to financial services. On an average day, I’m met by chatbots responding to customer service inquiries, Google Home controlling my thermostat and eerily accurate product marketing following me around the Internet. Ultimately, AI isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But there are aspects of life — and work — that it just can’t replace.
In the financial planning industry, we’re tasked with a big job: We need to efficiently understand our clients’ future goals so we can implement strategies that will help them achieve them. That requires getting to know people as human beings, asking good questions and listening—really listening—to their answers. In this facet of our jobs, human connection is key.