I recently took an internet and email marketing course in search of ideas for converting more of my website visitors to members. Even though I’ve been using the internet as a tool to build my business for more than 7 years, I don’t always feel like I’m solidly connecting with my advisor prospects. Like you, I understand the value of my work, but this value doesn’t necessarily translate into a steady flow of new business.

You may have noticed some changes I’ve recently made in the emails I send you. These adjustments are a direct result of the course I took.

For example, I’m sending fewer emails to keep from overloading your inbox. After all, you can always check my website for the latest postings or search the Member Library when you’re looking for a specific idea. And when you do get an email from me, you’re more likely to open and read it.

I’m also trying to write in a more conversational style. I want to be more personal and less corporate. Even though sometimes I’m writing to thousands of people, I’d like you to feel as though I’m sending you a personal note. This way, you’re more likely to relate the subject of the email to your business. This is an important step in my making your membership to my website an invaluable business building tool.

The bottom line – I need to keep you engaged in an ongoing electronic “conversation”. By respecting your time and personalizing my messages, I’ll build greater loyalty and we’ll both win!

So, you’re probably wondering, how you can relate these same ideas to your business. At first blush, you might think coaching financial advisors is very different from the work you do on a daily basis. Certainly, managing an information based website is not the same as managing your clients’ finances.

Well, on one hand, you’re right – the subject matter is very different.

But, when you think about the relationships we’re both trying to build with our clients, there are a lot of similarities. These similarities exist in most every business.

Personal Connections Build Trust that Open Up Opportunities

• The more you can personally connect with your clients, the more loyal they will be. I’ve sited numerous studies of financial advisors and their clients that support this point. Email, in particular, can improve this process.
• Once you bring a client into your practice, you want to find opportunities to deepen the financial aspect of your relationship. This may mean adding assets to an existing investment or up-selling to another product or service. As long as you don’t overdo it, your electronic communications give you a chance to introduce new concepts.
• Our recent polls have told us referral marketing is the preferred prospecting method for most advisors. A steady flow of high quality emails allows you to regularly promote referrals. Plus, if your content is truly relevant to your clients needs, some will forward email to people they know who have similar interests.

I’m sure you get the point. The more your clients view you as a trusted and consistent communicator, the more loyal they will be.

Now, how do you apply these ideas to your practice? It may sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Give these 9 steps a try:

1. Start by collecting or organizing your clients’ email addresses. An advisor survey I ran a couple months ago indicated that 70% of advisors actively collect email addresses. My personal conversations with advisors anecdotally indicate that many of the folks who collect these addresses don’t have them organized.

If you’re serious about having an electronic dialogue with your clients, you need to maintain your clients’ email addresses in your contact management system. For those of you who don’t have a contact management system, you could begin with a simple spreadsheet. The client survey and profiling exercises in my Online Library are campaigns that could help you collect email addresses. I’ve also placed a letter in the Article Resources box you could use as a standalone campaign.

2. Ask your clients for permission to send them emails. Aside from industry and email marketing regulations, this strategy is central to proper email etiquette. It’s polite. Even if your intention is to use email to improve client service and communication, make sure it will be okay with each of your clients.

For example, you may require an email address on your new account forms or collect client business cards that contain email addresses. This does NOT mean you have permission to use that address for regular email correspondence. All the campaigns I mentioned in step 1 above help you ask for permission.

3. Make it easy for your clients to “opt-out” of future emails. Now, I know I’ve just started telling you how to collect email addresses, but you also need to give your clients an exit strategy. It will keep them from feeling trapped. Not everyone will appreciate your emails, so you shouldn’t annoy the clients who don’t want them. A simple statement at the end of each of your emails with “removal” instructions is all you need. By the way, the vast majority of your clients will be reluctant to cut-off your communication.

4. Each time you compose an email, try to have one client in mind. This writing technique will make each of your clients feel more comfortable. They may know they’re one of a zillion clients at your broker/dealer, but they still want to have a personal relationship with you and your team.

Once you get used to it, this conversational writing style is quicker than writing a formal letter. Think about it this way. Would you rather write a long letter explaining a recommendation or have a one-on-one call or meeting? Most advisors I know prefer the personal interaction. Your friendly emails are just an extension of these conversations.

5. Measure your promotional content against your informational content. If you’re going to use your emails to recommend additional products or services, don’t be pushy. Resist the temptation to send an over-abundance of promotional material. Remember, you’re trying to strengthen your relationships.

A good rule of thumb is to send no more than one promotional idea for each piece of value-added content you send – preferably less. If your clients are going to get 2 emails per month, only one of them should be promotional. If you send one email per month that contains multiple topics, limit your sales content to one idea.

6. Make sure your clients know its okay to forward your emails to family and friends. This may sound obvious, but sometimes your current clients don’t know you’re looking for new clients. A simple reminder in each of your emails will keep this on their minds. As they come across folks who might benefit from your services, your name will come more quickly to mind. Better yet, when they’re reading your emails they may forward them to others who will now have your contact information.

7. If possible, use an email service to track your results. There are many internet based services that will allow you to manage your emails the way I’m suggesting. Plus, you can track your effectiveness. Once you send an email to your clients, you can see if it went through, if it was opened, which topic they liked, who opted-out and who forwarded to a friend. I’ve been very happy with www.mailchimp.com, but a simple Google search will lead to a large number of alternatives.

8. Educate your compliance officers. In our overly scrutinized industry, compliance officers have a tough job. They don’t necessarily understand that a well orchestrated email communication plan will make their jobs easier. Take time to understand your firm’s email policies, map out your plan and ask for your compliance specialist’s feedback. This way you’ll head off problems before they occur and you’ll have a friend in compliance who’ll benefit from your knowledge.

9. Next, build an email list of your prospects and connections. I’ve intentionally focused on clients. But you can develop a similar process for your prospects and connections.

Okay, that’s enough to get you started.

When you commit to using email and the internet to improve your client communication, you’ll have a system that can be simple, quick, reliable and inexpensive. It can also pay big dividends in the form of greater loyalty, new business opportunities and increased referrals.

You just have to remember you’re having an ongoing “conversation” with your clients!

“Have you ever stopped to think and forgotten to start again?”

(Bumper Sticker)

During the summer vacation season, you and your clients will may be heading off for beaches, mountains and other far away places. This may make it more difficult to stay in regular contact with your clients. As a way of saying thank you for their business so far this year and to give them something special to remember you, send your best clients a book. Consider how your clients will feel as they sit under a beach umbrella and enjoy your token of appreciation.

Here are a few simple guidelines:

1. Don’t get carried away, reserve this service approach for your most important relationships. Consider your “ULTIMATE” clients; these 50 to 100 clients are worth this small investment.
2. What kind of book?
   a. Start by thinking of books you have read recently. If you enjoyed one of them in particular, your clients probably will too.
   b. It shouldn’t be a book about money, investing or wealth management, you don’t want your act of kindness to come across as a sales tool.
   c. You don’t need to spend a lot of money and it doesn’t need to be a recent title – $20 can go a long way.
3. Though this may sound like a time consuming task, it can easily be done by breaking it down into bite sized pieces and using a little automation. Start with an amazon.com account and simply send out 10 books a week.
4. Finally, don’t be in such a hurry you forget to personalize a note with each book you send. Even with online ordering you can put together a 4 or 5 sentence note that clearly explains your intentions.

If this idea makes sense for your practice, don’t put it aside for a later date. Make a quick list of your clients, pick a title and get going this week. Your best clients will be thinking of you all summer.

Your clients deserve to feel special!

In a world where emails and text messages can be overwhelming, sometimes it’s nice to get a handwritten card. At a time when your firm and strategic partners may be practicing “mass customization”, a personal letter can be a door opener.  In an environment where even your most loyal clients are considering new advisors, personal communication tops the list of client retention strategies.

And a dose of old fashioned letter and note writing may be just the right remedy:

• When is the last time you wrote your clients a personal letter that wasn’t filled with market statistics or somebody else’s words?
• In the past few months have you penned a handwritten thank you note or birthday greeting?

Handwritten notes stand out; the extra attention creates a bond of loyalty.  Think of the birthday cards you receive (or don’t) from businesses and other professionals with whom you do business.  There is a big difference between the cards that are signed by “Your Fiends at XYZ Company” and the ones that comes with a handwritten comment (even if the handwriting is hard to read).  In both cases, the intentions are appreciated, but the second card is more memorable.

In some cases, your personal attention will also counter the “mass customization” practiced by your firm and strategic partners.  Your clients are tired of phony personalization.  They see right through communications that begin “dear valued client” or pretend to offer “important information about your account”.  Only to be followed by meaningless market news, empty thanks for their loyalty or offers of a new product or service.

Let me repeat, your clients deserve to feel special!

Yesterday, I read an article in Investment News in which a consultant predicted that 20 to 30 percent of clients will leave their advisors.  It won’t happen all at once.  But wealthy clients are shopping; they’re taking a wait and see attitude with their current advisors.  And the level of personal communication you bring to your relationships will be paramount to your success in retaining your clients.

Does this sound like a difficult challenge?  It may be.  Changing your client communication routines can disrupt your everyday routines.  You may have to break habits you’ve been practicing for years.

But you must remember that you’re in the relationship business.  Personal attention is NOT an unrealistic expectation.  It may take some extra time and effort, but the payoff is huge.  You end up with a book filled with happy clients who are willing to give you all of their business and promote you frequently to their friends.

Let me offer some concrete ideas to get you started:

 

• Create a routine for sending your best clients a personal note, card or letter at least once per quarter.  (See chapter 8 of “Delivering the Ultimate Client Experience”)  When you consider birthdays, holidays and other special events, some of your efforts to provide personal attention may already be a part of your practice.  You may only need to decide how many “other” personal touches you would like to make via handwritten notes or personal letters each year.

 

• Write a short note on your regular monthly statements or quarterly performance reports.  Most advisors have a system for reviewing electronic or paper statements.  This review process represents an excellent opportunity for sending handwritten notes.  You do NOT have to write a note to all of your clients in the same month; simply divide your ideal clients by the number of months you plan to undertake this process.  For example, if you have 120 ideal clients and you spread this activity over 12 months, that’s only ten notes per month.

 

• Develop a system for calling your clients based on their importance to your practice.  While on the surface, this approach may seem to require an inordinate number of phone calls; your focal point should be implementing the process, not the actual number of clients you contact on a monthly basis. Over time, the discipline of the process will have a dramatic effect on your practice.  From business you uncover on your outgoing calls to clients calling back when they need investment help, you have all but guaranteed that you are their advisor of choice.

 

• Use the EncorePartners.com communication planning tool and our customizable letters to generate your personal client communication plan.  EncorePartners.com is filled with communication tips which can easily be customized for your style of doing business.  We add new ideas every month.  Whether you’re making calls, writing notes or sending letters, you can use the ideas in our library to design your own client communication plan.

Well, I’m not a doomsayer, but the volatility we’ve seen in the stock market tells me it’s time to redouble our efforts in maintaining client contact.  The best way to head off problems or a panic call is to beat them to the punch.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking something like, “I run a fee-based business and I’ve trained my clients to expect a few bumps in the road, so they don’t want me to call.”

What if you’re wrong?

Would you rather your clients get their comfort and reassurance from the “talking heads” or from you?

Would you rather your clients get their advice from an ambitious young advisor who has them on their prospecting radar screen or from you?

Plus, they’re YOUR clients, they deserve the best!

And regular communication, even when you’re not exactly sure what to say, is a great way to uncover new business opportunities.  You can gain referrals and build even more loyalty.

So, if you’re convinced you need to spend more time with your clients and you want an “excuse” to make a call, I’ve listed 6 great ideas below.  Decide which one(s) will work for you.

1.  The tax season call:  “Did you have any tax surprises (good or bad) this year?”  With April 15^th approaching, your clients should have a clearer picture of how they’ll fair with Uncle Sam – even if they’re going to file for an extension.  Sure, you should already know the effect of your work on their taxes, but what don’t you know?  If it was a rough tax year, what can you do to make the current year better?  Use your call to set the stage for a 1040 review and spend time pointing to those areas over which you have influence.  You will also have a built-in excuse to look at investments or savings you may not control – brokerage and bank accounts, 401(k) plans, employment related stocks and options and the list goes on.

On the other hand, if a client had a good tax year, you still need to find out why.  Is it repeatable?  This information will help as you work with them to plan.  Again, look at the 1040.  Look for extraordinary events of which you were unaware; this may signal new opportunities for business.

2.  The second opinion call:  “With the volatility we saw in the market last week, I wanted to check in and see if you had a (stock, retirement account…) on which you needed a second opinion?”  If you set this question up as a “service” to your clients, you’ll score points for great service.  If you preface it by stating you’ve already reviewed their holdings with you, you’ll have an opportunity to capture new assets.

3.  Gathering email addresses:  “May I use your email address, text messaging or social media to stay in even better contact?”  This may sound pretty basic to email junkies, but in our polling of advisors we have been surprised to find that many limit their email use to internal or personal correspondence.  We think this is a big mistake.  Once you know the rules (not very complicated) and have your clients’ permission to send updates via email, you have a quick and inexpensive communication tool.

High net worth clients in particular are requiring more frequent contact from their advisors.  Many top producers send weekly or weekly messages (mini-email newsletters) to their best clients; they range from a few paragraphs they write themselves to hyperlinks to news of importance to research reports.  When you add these scheduled emails to periodic communiqués with breaking news, a personal note or a new idea; you are using a new technique to once again show your clients the value of your relationship and work.

4.  The advocacy question:  “Do you think (your friend, neighbor, work associate…) would be a good fit for my practice?”  We call this technique building advocacy; it is a powerful referral strategy.  Simply call your clients, mention to each the specific name of someone they know personally or professionally and ask if that person would fit in well with the way you run your practice.  Obviously before you call, you will need to take some time to research (using phone books and the internet) the neighborhoods, places of employment, civic organizations or social clubs with which they may be associated.  The extra step of doing this advance homework pays big dividends because it increases the likelihood of a referral and removes the blank stare that often accompanies an open-ended referral request.

5.  Reciprocation call:  “Thank you for your business and your loyalty to my practice.”  When is the last time you went out-of-your way to say thank you to your clients?  Sure, anyone with good manors expresses their appreciation during the normal course of business, but making a call just to say “thanks” is the mark of a world class advisor.  Everyone enjoys being told how much they are appreciated.  Remember, your clients are not just their money; they can be friends, supporters, cheerleaders and so much more.  Let them know you don’t take their loyalty for granted and how important they are in making your work so rewarding.

6.  Cross-selling call:  “I recently came across some new information and would like to introduce you to…”  Last but not least, taking extra time to introduce your clients to a product or concept with which they may not be familiar is a terrific way to uncover new opportunities and cross-sell.  This does not have to be a sales pitch, you could call to let them know you are dropping a report or news item in the mail (or email) and suggest they call you back if they have questions.  For example, if your practice focuses on asset allocation, but also has the capability of providing an estate plan review, make sure your clients know it – never assume.  An article about tax law changes or a complex planning strategy can go a long way in deepening your relationships.  All too often clients only think about you in relation to what you are already doing for them.  Be sure you regularly remind them of the full scope of your services. 

These client communication ideas have stood the test of time and are easy to implement.  If you’re looking for good excuses to stay close to your clients, find new business opportunities and provide value-added service, you now have plenty of ammunition.  As you settle on your activity plan for the coming weeks, put these common sense calling ideas to work and good