In today’s unpredictable market, one truth remains constant: emotions drive decisions. For financial advisory firms, this reality poses both a challenge and an opportunity—especially when it comes to retaining and deepening relationships with high-net-worth clients. That’s where Behavioral Financial Advice (BFA) comes in. But what happens when your entire team is fluent in BFA?
Recently, we hosted a webinar to explore exactly that: the “why,” “what,” and “how” behind deploying BFA as a team. Here’s what we covered—and why this matters more than ever.
Why Team BFA?
If the answer to “why” isn’t compelling, the “what” and “how” don’t matter. That’s a belief our CEO Doug Lennick often shares, and it guided the conversation.
When a high-net-worth client leaves an advisor, it’s rarely about investment performance. It’s emotional—often tied to a lack of communication, relationship, or trust. This insight guided our first discussion: without emotional connection, even the best portfolios can’t prevent client attrition.
Two real-life examples made this clear.
In one case, a non-BFA advisor shared how a client panicked and sold everything, citing sleepless nights due to market volatility. The advisor felt emotionally overwhelmed, expressing that “the market is ruining my business.” Contrast that with a BFA-certified advisor, who had proactively communicated with clients. Only two reached out with moderate concerns—and both felt reassured. Why? Because the advisor had built emotional resilience into the relationship before volatility hit.
It’s not about suppressing emotion. It’s about validating it. As we say often: Never respond to a feeling with a fact. Empathy comes first—then comes the plan.
What Is Team BFA?
Team BFA is more than just getting everyone a designation. It’s about creating a shared language for navigating emotional conversations. In today’s world, the lead advisor is often not the first point of contact. A client might speak with an admin, service professional, or associate before the advisor ever picks up the phone.
If that first point of contact isn’t equipped to address emotional volatility—if they lack the tools to deescalate emotion or speak to values—the relationship can unravel quickly. On the flip side, if everyone on the team shares a behavioral framework, your clients feel seen, heard, and valued—at every level of interaction.
This consistency isn’t just good for business. It’s good for clients. When a team operates with shared emotional intelligence, clients receive a cohesive, values-based experience every time they engage.
How to Deploy BFA Across the Team
The Team BFA experience is structured, efficient, and impactful. The certification course takes about 20–30 hours to complete over eight weeks. Throughout the program, your team engages in weekly check-ins and support calls designed to reinforce learning and address common stumbling blocks.
Everyone—from administrative support to lead advisors—walks away with practical tools to use immediately. Smart Money philosophy. Values conversations. Emotional awareness strategies. Conflict de-escalation techniques. These become part of the everyday workflow.
In fact, many advisors say BFA becomes “just part of who I am.” One of the earliest BFA adopters now integrates a values discussion into every client meeting. It’s on the agenda, embedded into planning tools, and used to tailor advice in ways that connect emotionally and practically.
And this isn’t just about client interactions. Team BFA also supports career development. We’ve seen support staff elevate to client-facing roles faster because they’re equipped with behavioral insights and a stronger sense of professionalism. Teams experience better alignment, improved morale, and more effective internal communication—all by speaking a common behavioral language.
What’s the ROI?
Let’s talk numbers. One case study showed that by deploying BFA across a five-person team, the practice realized hundreds of thousands of dollars in new financial planning revenue, net flows, and client acquisition. The total investment, including training and time, was modest by comparison.
Even for individual advisors, the ROI is clear. All it takes is one planning client or one new AUM client with $500,000 to recoup the cost of training. That doesn’t even account for improved client retention—a critical lever for long-term growth.
As Doug Lennick often says: Retention is the foundation of growth. And when your entire team is trained to handle the certainty of uncertainty with empathy and skill, that foundation gets a whole lot stronger.
The Takeaway
We live in a time of market swings, emotional noise, and heightened client expectations. Your ability to respond—consistently, empathetically, and values-first—will set your firm apart. Team BFA isn’t just a training program. It’s a cultural shift. And in that shift lies the opportunity to elevate every member of your team—and every client relationship you touch.
Ready to explore Team BFA for your practice? Let’s talk.
