We're all familiar with the expression that a picture is worth 1000 words.

And research study after research study demonstrates beyond question that a graphic depiction of a simple point is many times more powerful than explaining it by words alone.

And not only is a graphic illustration of your message more persuasive, it's also much more memorable - it sticks with clients in a way that words alone won't.

Here's a simple example:

In talking to clients about the performance of money managers, you could describe how they've outperformed the market over time.

You could show a chart with returns over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years and since inception.

Or you could show a mountain chart visually demonstrating how $100 invested in 1954 has grown, as Templeton Funds did for many years.

Intellectually, we all recognize this ...

The difficulty is that when it comes to communicating with clients, all too often we revert to the habit of using words alone.

To maximize the impact of our communication, we need to integrate a  visual element into our communication at three levels.

In conversation

When talking with existing or prospective clients, beforehand identify the one, two or at the very most three key messages you want to convey.

These could relate to the long term benefits of a balanced portfolio, opportunities in global markets or in niche sectors like emerging market or high yield debt or comparing returns on investment grade and Government bonds. Your points could focus on market evaluations or economic trends ... or they could talk to tax savings opportunities from spousal loans or pension splitting.

Whatever messages you want to deliver, to do this most effectively you need to prepare beforehand with simple graphics that reinforce your key points. This is true when meeting face to face - and it's just as true when talking on the phone; if you're talking to a client on the phone, you can email a graphic and ask them to open the file when you're talking. 

Between meetings

While using graphics when talking to clients should be a priority, it's just as important in supporting our communication between conversations.

Whether sending newsletters, client updates or quarterly outlooks, you should always try to include at least one key graphic to support your key message.  When meeting clients, at least our personal interaction keeps them focused - there's growing evidence that in today's short attention span world text heavy documents simply don't get read. And even if they do get read, chances are they won't be remembered.

Tapping into the power of video

Of course, charts and graphs to make our point are nothing new.

What is new is the use of video to communicate. Over the past ten years, online video has exploded ... and is increasingly for many Canadians become the communications vehicle of choice on many issues.

One advisor now begins most meetings by sitting down with clients and watching a six minute video interview - whether it be with a money manager that they own or he's planning to recommend, an economist talking about economic trends or a lawyer or accountant on tax planning strategies.

He then talks to clients about the interview they've just seen - and has found the conversations much shorter and easier. He's ruefully concluded that the experts on the videos  often do a better job of selling clients on ideas than he can - partly because clients see them as objective voices with independent credentials and partly because they do come across as experts.

Here's another example of the power of video. In the draft year-end letter that appeared on December 13, I included a five minute video of a Swedish development economist talking about growth trends in the past 200 years. This video makes the case in a way that clients will remember long after they've forgotten articles and PowerPoint presentations:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo. (To see more videos like this one, go to www.gapminder.org.

All advisors I talk to say they'd like to deliver their messages more persuasively and memorably. If that's your goal too, then consider making it a priority in 2011 to focus on incorporating visual images into client communication.