One common area of concern among financial advisers is attracting and retaining female clients. Some advisers are doing a great job serving female clients, while many are struggling to connect.

It’s not rocket science. In fact, it’s not scientific at all. However, there are six universal truths we seem to hear over and over again.

GET THE BIG PICTURE: LISTEN

Women don’t necessarily want a female adviser. What women want is an adviser — male or female — who will take a holistic approach, get to know them on a personal level and clearly understand what they need their investments to do for them. In the end you will probably find that you’ve learned a lot about her whole family — spouse, children, parents, grandchildren — and how she wants her financial plan to include and address their needs.

To get to this deep level of understanding, you will have to do a lot of listening, especially at first. This is good because women al