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Grant Hicks, CIM
How do often do elite financial advisors communicate to
their best clients? This is a question I get often because financial
advisors are either feeling guilty about not talking to their ideal clients
enough or a client has decided to leave them because of a lack of
communication. Having a communication plan in writing can eliminate your
guilt and client departures.
How many communications do my best clients want?
According to comprehensive research done by Business Health in Australia https://www.businesshealth.com.au/
(key-value drivers 2018 USA ), Ideal clients want 10 or more contacts per
year. Those advisors who do earn 68% more than advisors who do less than 10
contacts per year. Yet only 38% of advisors have 10or more contacts per
year, despite all of the technology and tools available to them. How many
contacts per year do you have with your best clients? What happens when you
communicate more with your best clients? A better understanding of clients,
better relationships, referrals, and more revenue. Do you have a list of your
ideal clients segmented?
Improving your communications for financial advisors
First off take a look at the list below and determine the type of
communications you want to do with your best clients and frequency.
(remember always check with your branch manager or compliance officer
before proceeding with any communication activity and get approval in
writing) Print this article off and use it as an exercise for your
team.
Contacting ideal clients checklist
___ Meetings per year – frequency per year ____ ( coaching tip- 2-4
meetings per year, can be done online or face to face and name the types of
meetings eg planning and goals, tax and investment and risk and estate )
___ Non-investment communication -frequency per year ____ ( coaching
tip-calling your best clients 2 times per year to touch base and ask one
question, how was your summer? Building regular rapport and relationships)
___ Personalized emails -frequency per year ____ ( coaching tip- this can
be a mass email sharing what is new with you, your team and your firm, in a
casual less formatted way, and is personal, which builds tremendous
loyalty)
___ Ideal client appreciation ___ frequency per year ( coaching tip- in the
current environment, large events may be difficult, so small intimate client
events produce rave reviews)
___ Ideal client feedback and events ____ frequency per year ( Coaching tip
according to Business Health Pty Ltd only 15% of advisors have a formal
feedback process, not just an online survey, and the financial
professionals that do earn 52% more than advisors who don’t do feedback)
___ Newsletters with engaging calls to action __ frequency per year (
coaching tip – this is where you can deliver more communication to clients
who want more communication, not all clients want it, but appreciate
hearing from you. This is where the message is to join your webinar on
updating your go-forward plan and ideas to think about in the coming year
as a webinar. Most ideal clients will NOT join your webinar but appreciate
hearing from you and knowing you are on top of the latest information,
giving them more confidence in your and your team. It is what I call
“delivering more confidence”)
___ Personalized communications and special events ___ frequency per year (
Coaching tip- elite advisors are on top of birthdays anniversaries and
special occasions such as thanksgiving)
___ Special events ___ frequency per year ( coaching tip- due to the
pandemic, a lot of special events have been canceled. Financial
professionals are struggling to connect with people- Take the same events
you did in the past and deliver them online. Be creative- also consider
social distancing activities such as fishing, hiking biking, golf, picnics,
depending on your area and check with your compliance office)
___ Regular newsletters ___ frequency per year ( coaching tip- regular
newsletters are not usually recommended for your best clients, since they
are full of things to worry about. Unless it is personally written, and you
get great feedback, don’t send to your best clients. These are usually
reserved for prospects)
Now add up your communications to your best clients
Your number of communication per year total _____ Is it 10-15 touches per
year? If not, book time to work on your communication plans in writing.
What technology do you need to enhance your communications? Now you know
how to become an elite communicator from your ideal client's perspective.
Now you can say to your best clients, prospects, and COI’s,” we have a
process to deliver 10 or more contacts per year to our best clients”.
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