Key takeaways:
- First impressions happen quickly and have lasting influence. Clients begin forming judgments about credibility before the conversation fully begins.
- The way you show up influences not only client experience, but also referrals and long-term relationships by turning credibility into trust.
- With feedback, practice, and coaching, executive presence is a skill that can be developed and improved over time.
I was presenting at a firm event recently on how financial professionals can use artificial intelligence to work more effectively in their practices.
After the session, one of the attendees approached me. I assumed he wanted to ask a follow up question about the content.
Instead, he said something unexpected.
He shared that while he found the material helpful and had taken notes, what stood out to him even more than the topic I was presenting was my presence.
He noticed how I responded to questions, how I engaged the room, and how I carried myself throughout the session. It made him wonder whether that presence was something that came naturally to me or was something I had intentionally developed. He assumed it was practiced and became curious about whether it was something that could be taught to others.
That comment stayed with me, because it reinforced something I have seen consistently in my work.
Presence is learned, not innate
Over the years, I have spent a significant part of my time coaching financial professionals on executive presence. Again and again, I’ve found that what many people believe is innate is actually learned: Presence is developed through awareness, feedback, and intentional practice.
More importantly, I have seen how much a person’s presence can change outcomes. Because in this profession, how you show up can matter just as much as what you know.
That idea is not just anecdotal; it is supported by research. Studies on what psychologists call “thin slicing” have shown that people form impressions of trustworthiness and competence in as little as 100 milliseconds, and those early judgments tend to influence how they interpret everything that follows.
In other words, before a financial professional explains a strategy, answers a question, or walks through a plan, the client’s brain has already started forming a conclusion. And that conclusion is not built on credentials or performance data; it is built on presence.
Three key implications for financial professionals
In a business built on trust, this has meaningful implications for financial professionals:
1. Presence accelerates credibility for newer advisors.
One of the most common questions I hear from newer professionals is how to establish credibility without years of experience. Executive presence helps bridge that gap.
Clients are rarely able to fully evaluate technical expertise in an initial meeting. Instead, they rely on signals such as clarity, confidence, composure, and communication. Presence becomes a proxy for competence.
When a financial professional communicates clearly, maintains composure, and demonstrates conviction, clients associate those behaviors with expertise. Importantly, it is not about being polished for the sake of appearance, but rather ensuring how you show up reinforces what you know.
2. Presence shapes the client experience and what clients remember.
Clients don’t just remember what you say; they also remember how they feel.
In client experience research and conversations across advisory teams, the moments that stand out most are when clients feel understood, supported, and confident.
Executive presence plays a central role in creating those moments. It dictates how engaged you are in the conversation, how well you listen, and how clearly you communicate. All these things influence whether a client feels rushed or heard, uncertain or confident.
Over time, those small moments shape the overall experience of working with you. And that experience is what clients carry with them long after the meeting ends.
3. Presence directly influences referrals and organic growth.
Referrals are rarely driven by technical expertise alone; they are primarily driven by trust.
Research on financial planning relationships shows that when professionals focus on the psychological side of advice, including how clients think and feel, referral activity increases.
Executive presence is one of the primary ways clients experience that connection in real time. When clients feel heard, understood, and confident in your guidance, they are more likely to share that experience with others. And when they make a referral, they are not describing your portfolio construction, they are describing how it feels to work with you.
Action items
As a quality that is learned rather than innate, presence can be purposefully developed and refined. Here are a few ways to build a stronger, more dynamic presence:
- Ask a colleague or mentor for specific feedback on your communication style and presence.
- Reflect on your last client meeting and consider what the client likely felt, not just what was discussed.
- Invest in building this skill. Consider reading Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success by Sylvia Ann Hewlett or similar resources to deepen your understanding and continue developing your presence intentionally.
Financial professionals spend years building expertise, but clients often decide whether to trust you long before they fully understand that expertise.
Executive presence is what bridges that gap: A strong presence is how knowledge becomes credibility, and how credibility becomes trust.