Client Engagement Series #2
Building deeper relationships and engaging your clients requires a sustained effort, rather than providing one-off experiences. You must consistently strive to deepen client relationships in a way that is similar to the way friendships are built.
Deeper relationships lead to increased client loyalty. And deep relationships can be likened to the notion that "clients wouldn’t fire their friends."
You, therefore, have to create the feeling in clients' minds that somebody is always looking out for them.
Here are five ways to engage your clients and build deeper relationships.
1. Contact Your Clients Frequently
Financial advisors often do not pay enough attention to frequency of contact, which is necessary for keeping clients engaged.
Contact can take place through e-mail, social media, phone calls, in-person meetings or appreciation events. There are no set rules about how much or what type of client contact is necessary.
Related: Six Tips for Engaging Clients on their Terms
2. Offer Engaging Content
Providing information through various media is an effective way to engage your clients. But that information must be relevant. To be effective, content must strike a chord with clients.
Have a goal in mind regarding what you want to accomplish through the material you send to clients. For example, your objective might be to get your clients to consider increasing their RRSP contributions or to revisit their estate plans or to buy insurance.
To be more effective, your communication program should also contain "teasers," which urge clients to seek more information from you.
Make sure the information you send and the mode of communication you use are appropriate for each client. For example, some seniors might not be up to speed with social media and may prefer email, or even print.
3. Offer a Complete Experience
You should endeavor to become your clients' "quarterback." Strive to manage their household balance sheets, which will give you the opportunity to take charge of all of their financial affairs.
While you might be an expert in only one particular area, you can demonstrate that you have support — from team members and centres of influence — to manage every aspect of their financial lives. This complete experience can become a source of many conversations, and allows you to engage your clients for the long term.
4. Become your Clients' Trusted Advisor
Try to become your clients' "filter," that is, the person they turn to for a considered opinion on all matters – including personal issues. Ultimately, every decision is financial, and your goal is to be in a position to help them make those important decisions.
In addition, you must show an interest in the lives of your clients. It is important that you talk to them frequently. There is nothing like the human voice to engage clients.
5. Simplify the Engagement Process
Provide clients with the tools to make the engagement process simple. Your clients should be able to interact and communicate with you at their convenience. Leverage the use of technology to communicate with, share information or provide answers to your clients’ questions.
6. Utilize Available Technology
Find a good CRM tool that will manage the administrative tasks and free up time for you to devote to meaningful relationships and have real conversations. One such CRM tool that is revolutionizing the way advisors do business is BlueMind. It uses the power of Artificial Intelligence to create a digital office for you. It clears the clutter by managing most of the administrative tasks that usually bog you down, giving advisors you more time to spend with clients.
