I am not a financial advisor – so I could be completely wrong in my view here. I could also be missing several other elements that you may feel are more important, and if that is the case, please DM me. Let’s all learn and grow together!
After reading that first paragraph, you may think – Shucks Tim… why are you even writing this then???
Good question.
Here’s why I’m taking a stab at this; in helping financial advisors stay in touch with their clients for almost seven years, I’ve heard their success stories and their frustrations.
Whether you’re a tied agent in Century City (South Africa), a full-service financial planner in Auckland (New Zealand), a broker consultant in Canada or Scotland or a new recruit in Abu Dhabi, Rome or Namibia – one of the biggest challenges facing the financial advice industry is this: valuable client engagement.
From online engagement to face-to-face engagement to engaging with their financial plan; it’s getting harder and harder with traditional methods of communication, business models and planning tools to create and implement valuable client engagement strategies that are both authentic and sustainable.
So… here they are, the three areas where financial advisors need to be engaging more with their clients:
ONE – Through their online communication/online brand
As your business grows and your clients refer you to their network, you can’t be everywhere all the time. But your internet presence can – because… the internet never sleeps. Your online brand will very quickly (actually… right from the start) become a crucial tool in helping you engage, and stay in touch, with your clients. If you’re not using your online brand to engage with your clients (not colleagues and other industry leaders) you are most likely over-working in other areas that are no longer efficient, measurable and perceived as value-adding to your clients. It could be time to work smarter, and not harder, on your online engagement with your clients.
TWO – In face-to-face meetings (first meeting being the most important)
The traditional industry-created conversations that happen in the first meeting with a potential client, and all followup meetings thereafter, are attracting less and less engagement from clients. The questions being asked from both sides of the table, the need to establish a confident value-proposition (for advisors) that is not linked to products, and the opportunities to talk about life-centered issues is where clients (and advisors) are wanting to engage more deeply and authentically. But this can’t happen overnight, nor is it a one-size-fits-all model. This would most likely require a complete rethink of the first meeting, business model and all that happens thereafter.
THREE – With the planning tools that they use
Clients value what they can see and experience for themselves. They are easily overwhelmed by jargon and industry-speak that was never designed to exclude them, but ultimately has. They are tired of submitting their details again and again, and signing page after page. They are looking for a simple presentation of their financial plan where they are siloed and acknowledged for their uniqueness. Multi-page presentations that have a client attached to siloed products and services quickly disengage the client and make captivating them almost impossible.
My team and I are committed to helping financial advisors with the first point above, and we’re connecting to product-agnostic experts who are committed to helping with points two and three.
There is an exciting future ahead for all of us – but we need to be willing to change faster than the needs of our clients and lead the way.
Do you agree?
