For Client-Facing Teams
The Persuasion Lab
Active listening for shared understanding, simplifying complex products for faster client alignment, and framing that builds trust instead of resistance.
See the Persuasion Lab →Communication Training for Financial Services
Trust Isn't Built by Credentials. It's Built in the Conversation.
A client wants to know if their retirement is safe. A direct report is quietly checking out because leadership doesn't sound like it means what it says. Financial services runs on conversations like these, and most training never gets near them.
Where This Shows Up With Clients
Clients Aren't Buying Your Returns. They're Buying Whether They Believe You.
Financial products are complicated by design and often frightening in practice. Retirement, a market downturn, a mortgage, an insurance claim. The advisor or relationship manager in that conversation is translating real complexity into something a nervous person can act on. Getting it wrong costs more than a sale.
In the CFA Institute's 2022 Investor Trust Study, retail investors ranked being trusted to act in their best interest as the top reason for hiring an advisor (34%), ahead of the advisor's ability to achieve high returns (21%).
CFA Institute, 2022 Investor Trust Study
Client Conversations That Actually Get Tested
Explaining Complex Products Simply
Turning a prospectus, a fee structure, or a risk disclosure into something a client actually understands well enough to decide on.
Talking Clients Through a Downturn
Staying credible and calm when a client is scared, without minimizing what they're feeling or overpromising what you can control.
Managing Expectations Early
Setting a realistic expectation before a client is disappointed, not after.
Where This Shows Up Inside Your Firm
Firms Are Also Losing Trust From the Inside.
Trust in financial services has grown for a decade. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer puts sector trust at 63%, up 10 points in five years, the only sector with double-digit growth since 2021. But that growth sits on top of real internal strain: in the same report, 42% of financial services employees said they'd rather switch departments than keep reporting to a manager whose values substantially differ from their own. A firm can be trusted publicly and still be quietly losing people internally over how its leaders communicate.
The Financial Services Skills Commission's 2026 Annual Skills Report found relationship management is one of the widest gaps between what the sector needs and what it has among future workforce skills. 59% of firms say they need it. Only 31% say they have enough of it.
Financial Services Skills Commission, Annual Skills Report 2026
Leadership Conversations That Actually Get Tested
Leading Through a Values Gap
Managing someone who disagrees with a decision or direction from above, without pretending the disagreement isn't there.
Feedback That Doesn't Get Deflected
Performance conversations that land, in an industry where it's easy to hide behind the numbers instead of addressing the behavior.
Getting Teams to Actually Hear Each Other
Compliance, sales, and advisory functions that talk past one another in the name of process instead of working from a shared understanding.
How PSL Is Different
Most Financial Services Training Teaches a Script. The Lab Tests Real Conversations.
"Trust is built in the conversation, not the credentials."
Most communication training in this space is either compliance and media training (what you're allowed to say) or generic soft skills content borrowed from other industries. Neither one is built around the specific conversations financial services actually has to get right.
Public Speaking Lab works differently. Every session is built around live experimentation: participants bring a real client conversation or a real team conversation they're facing, test an approach in the room, get specific coaching on what actually happened, and try it again. Nobody leaves with a script to memorize. They leave having already had a version of the hard conversation, with the reps to prove it.
Built for Both Sides of the Business
For People Leaders
The Leadership Lab
Feedback and accountability conversations, leading through disagreement, and running meetings that end in a decision instead of a follow-up meeting.
See the Leadership Lab →Both Labs customize scenarios to your organization's actual products, compliance context, and terminology, not generic case studies. For conferences and leadership offsites, Catalyze (the keynote version of this same thinking) is also available.
After This, Your Team Handles the Conversation Instead of Avoiding It
- Explain a complex product or a piece of bad news so a client actually understands it
- Stay credible and calm in a client conversation during a downturn or a complaint
- Give feedback that addresses behavior instead of hiding behind performance numbers
- Lead a direct report through a disagreement without pretending it isn't there
- Run a cross-functional conversation that ends in a decision, not just another meeting
Built Around Your Products, Your Compliance Context, Your Team
Every engagement starts with time spent understanding your organization's specific products, regulatory environment, and terminology. Scenarios used in the room are built from real (anonymized) client and team situations, not generic case studies.
Keynote45 to 60 minutes
Training Lab90 minutes to 3 hours
Full dayup to 50 people
Multi-day cohortup to 50 people
Trusted by Teams at CIBC and RBC
"Ivan has coached both myself and my team on both presentation skills and emceeing large scale events, and his impact was incredible! My team refers to his teachings frequently, often highlighting how simple yet effective his best practices are, and I can't even begin to quantify how much confidence and support he has given me in training for emcee events. I would recommend Ivan to anyone who is looking for a fun, engaging and empowering public speaking coach!"
Alice Ambrosie
Director, Advisor and Client Experience
Director, Advisor and Client Experience
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this training specific to financial services, or is it generic communication training with your logo added?
Every engagement starts with understanding your organization's specific products, regulatory environment, and terminology. Scenarios used in the room are built from real, anonymized client and team situations from financial services, not generic case studies from other industries.
Does this replace compliance or media training?
No. This is separate from and complementary to compliance training (what you're allowed to say) and media training (public-facing messaging). This training is about how your people actually communicate with clients and with each other day to day.
Is this for client-facing advisors, internal leaders, or both?
Both. The training addresses two related but distinct problems: client-facing teams building trust in complex or high-stakes conversations, and people leaders communicating through disagreement, feedback, and internal alignment. Sessions can focus on one or cover both, depending on your team's needs.
What's the evidence that communication training matters in financial services specifically?
Financial services employees report real internal strain around leadership communication (2026 Edelman Trust Barometer), and relationship management is one of the sector's widest workforce skills gaps (Financial Services Skills Commission, 2026). Separately, investors consistently rank trust in their advisor above investment performance when deciding who to work with (CFA Institute, 2022).
Do you have experience with financial services clients specifically?
Yes. Public Speaking Lab has worked directly with financial services organizations including CIBC and Royal Bank of Canada.
What formats are available?
Keynote (45 to 60 minutes), Training Lab (90 minutes to 3 hours), full day (up to 50 people), and multi-day cohort programs (up to 50 people).
The Next Hard Conversation Is Already on Someone's Calendar.
Whether it's with a client or a direct report, tell us what your team is avoiding, and we'll help you figure out where to start.