People who want to do financial services and jobs (as opposed to being the kind who like to just fantasize about being big shot armchair economists) have to be able to sympathize and empathize with other people, but without getting lured into their own misconceptions about what they think they should be getting or what they believe they "need." In this sense, jobs in financial services are similar to psychiatric counselor jobs.
Now this may not seem obvious at first, but it's important to realize that if you take on a financial services job, your time is valuable just like a doctor's. It's possible that you may get paid at least some kind of salary with possible bonuses included, but it will be more likely that you'll be working on commission structures and/or fees. As with a doctor, you must maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of how you manage your time, a large part which is getting clients and prospects to give you the utmost respect and not waste your time. At the same time, you must remember that if you don't serve them, you aren't getting paid, or at least if you don't serve them well you're not getting paid much and will lose all of their future business, along with any potential referrals that they would have brought along with them.
If you are going to be successful with financial services jobs, you will need to acquire and retain clients. This can take time when you're first starting out. Contrary to myths, most people are NOT successful at getting their friends, family members, and next door neighbors to give them business. Yes, this might eventually happen, but these people are not going to do business with you just because they "know and trust" you. This can eventually help you, certainly, but in the meantime you need to prove to them that you have something of value to offer them; something of such good value that they would be willing to pay you for it.
People are reluctant to part with their money for financial services unless they are already sophisticated financially themselves and feel like they at least partly know what they are talking about. Financial matters can be very unnerving to people. Money is a person's metaphorical lifeblood, after all, making all of the joyful, dreamed of, and necessary things in life possible. They are afraid of losing it, and they are even more afraid of having it cleverly stolen from them. But, at the very same time, everyone thinks they know everything about their own money, even though it's obviously not true. So, the primary focus for you in what even a commission-based or commissions-only financial services job has to be services.
There are financial services jobs that rely heavily on salesmanship. This is a set of skills that must be learned by some, while others seem to take to it naturally. But the important thing to see is that even with these jobs, you have to focus on service. There is a great deal that you must do before any sale is made in financial services jobs. You may have to perform a full financial needs analysis on a prospect or client. This could take a couple of hours. In fact, you might even need to call the prospect back for several meetings—none of which you get paid for—before you are to the point where you are in the right position to try to close a deal or make a sale with them.
Some financial services jobs give you training in the "one time close". You are supposed to uncover the prospect's needs and desires, as well as their realistic financial means, for both the short term and long term and then, once you have done that, you are to provide them with a plan for achieving what they want to do. Once again, the counseling aspect comes into play here very strongly. Remember, people believe themselves generally astute with their own money, but they aren't. They will require you to be a guide and advisor for them. You have to take this job with the utmost seriousness. People generally are already on the lookout for "cutpurses" in financial services that are going to try and finagle their money out of them. It will be up to you to do such a good job for them that they are disabused of this notion, at least when it comes to you.
So, people will need to be told gently but firmly what they must do for their own financial health and dreams. It's up to you to make boring topics and abstract numbers seem alive, emotional, and meaningful. If you are sure that you are giving the person across the desk or table or telephone line from you sound financial advice, then you deserve your money in whatever form, whether it is fees, commissions, or bonuses. This is what it's like getting involved in financial services jobs.
