Flora Stamato

We meet Flora Stamato, financial planner and partner at the investment consultancy firm St. James’s Place. Early on, Flora wanted to work in a luxury hotel, possibly in Italy where her family roots are.  She now works in a luxury place indeed – right opposite Harrods in London – but not organizing hotel rooms but instead she is handling people’s investments, pensions and savings. While still training in hospitality she had already noticed her joy and talent for working with numbers and soon after leaving the hospitality sector she found herself climbing the career ladder in finance.

Managing high client expectations is still a key element of her job. “I figure out what is best for which client: are they people who prefer phone calls or do they rather want to be emailed. What makes them worry?”, Flora explains. “I make sure to let them know when they will hear back from me and I create many touchpoints with my clients, keeping them updated with what I’m doing for them.”

Flora’s advice is to use action steps as opportunities for connection: “Clients love it if you`re doing something for them and some things may seem easy and not worth mentioning but you can still make it an action point and use it as a touch point to the client. It may be small for you but for the client it`s big and it makes them feel special. After all it`s just another reason to adore you. Clients will never know the complexity of your job if you don`t let them know. You need to make it clear to them what you are doing – you are the expert after all.”