I could not agree more with you SJ! There is no doubt that all clients may not listen to you, nor should you expect that. After all we listened only to people who met 2 criteria:

– we were sure had the competence to give the advice (first parents, then teachers, then friends, then parents once we had out own kids!!) and

– those who had our good at heart.

We did not listen to good but proud people. We did not listen to TEACHERS whom we did not like. Sure some of our teachers shaped our lives – but 30 years after leaving school we cannot be at a consensus which teacher did how much.

So a client listens to an adviser as long and as much as they think it is necessary. When a client does not listen or does something different – it is a message. Either WE sounded too rigid, too arrogant, too proud (vidya garvam) – all these caused the communication barrier. So we should listen to the client. He/she may be wanting to talk to us, we may have made it difficult. Clients emails may have gone unanswered. Client may have hinted, we may have been impatient. We may have rubbished his/her ideas – remember clients who can do monthly SIPs or Rs. 100,000  are not exactly poor, are they? And if they are more than 40years of age, they have met other ‘advisers’ too, correct? A banker who sends them 2 tickets for IPL can surely pull the AUM, can he not?

SJ to listen to the client we may have to crush our ego. Hitler lost the war because he was too proud to listen. Remember in Ramayana, Ravana had everything – a great wife, a golden kingdom, strong and intelligent brothers, an all conquering son, a magnificent army, a natural moat – a huge ocean itself – what killed him was his EGO. His lust was fueled by his ego – ‘what could a mere mortal do’ is where he started.

Many of us are individually guilty of the same error. We do not like to admit to ourselves our mistakes, errors, shortcomings, or ever admit we have been in the wrong. And because we will not see the truth, we cannot act appropriately. My equity portfolio stares at me – with companies that had no cash flow. With companies that were run by ‘friends’ – who were perhaps incompetent.

Someone has said that it is a good exercise to daily admit one painful fact about ourselves to ourselves. I am afraid I may not enough time left in my life if I go at such a slow speed 🙂

Look for and seek out true information (without the emotional content)  concerning yourself, your problems, other people, or situation, whether it is good news or bad news.

Adopt the motto – “It doesn’t matter who’s right, but what’s right.” Ultimately remember the relationship between the client and the adviser is like a truck and a cyclist – have you heard of a truck driver killed in an accident with a cycle? I have not. So whether you are right, or the customer is right, you will lose the client. L O L.

Admit your mistakes and errors but don’t cry over them. Correct them and go forward. In dealing with other people try to see the situation from their point of view as well as your own. The clients view is more important than what is right. Like James Hadley Chase would have said, it is not the truth that is important it is what the cops believe that is important.

At each stage – Rama killing Karan and Dooshan,  Rama meeting Sugreeva, Rama killing Vaali, building the bridge, killing of Kumbhakarna – were all signals. Ravana COULD not see the signals – his ego prevented his vision.

So I agree with you deliver what the client wants – after all if the client gets 24% instead of 34% return that you could have (perhaps) got for him/her it does not result in the client suffering, correct? If nobody points it out, he will be in bliss. Clients bliss is more important than whether it is one of you being right.