Susan Theder

I’m guessing you’ve already had a client show up to a meeting with a list of questions, or a retirement projection, or a portfolio critique that was suspiciously sophisticated, perhaps too much so for them to have come up with it on their own. That’s because nowadays clients and prospects are using artificial intelligence to research advisors, compare options, and prepare for conversations before they ever pick up the phone. You shouldn’t take this development as a threat to your relationships.

I think we've gotten too comfortable blaming the audience. Nobody reads anymore. Attention spans are shrinking. You have eight seconds before someone decides whether to keep reading. That number gets repeated at every conference, and it's shaped the approach many people take to developing content. I'm not arguing with the number. I'm arguing with the conclusion everyone draws from it, that people are simply incapable of paying attention for very long.