May 7, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Saying goodbye to clients often seems counter-intuitive to new advisors, whose primary concern is to grow a customer base. But failing to ‘weed out’ unprofitable clients is a bad idea for any advisor’s business. To succeed in this industry, you need to spend your time servicing your most profitable relationships and this necessitates dropping unprofitable accounts from time to time.
There can be many reasons why certain clients are no longer a good fit for you. Perhaps you’ve identified a need to downsize your business because it’s become impossible to serve a multitude. Or maybe you’re working with clients who ignore your advice, are too needy or blame you for poor market performance.
Whatever the reasons your focus should be on providing great service to your most valuable clients – which means you need to let the others go.
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In this category you will find blog posts about clients relationship management – including but not limited to establishing trust, building a relationship, ending an advisor-client relationship, and more.
Poor Communication Is The #1 Reason Advisors Get Fired
July 2, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
The chief reason clients fire their advisors is not, as you may have thought, poor performance – it’s poor communication. A survey by Financial Advisor Magazine revealed that 72% of clients said they fired their advisors due to their advisor’s failure to communicate on a timely basis.
The best advisors put their communication strategy at the very heart of their business – and so should you. Not only should you build in time to communicate with clients – but take time to develop your soft skills so that you communicate effectively.
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5 Things That Could Ruin Your Clients’ Trust in You – in Seconds
May 21, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
It can take many years before clients come to know you and trust you, and during this time you’ll need to work hard to win them over. In order to earn their trust, you’ll need to demonstrate exemplary behavior and deliver a service that goes above and beyond.
But that’s not where it ends. It may have taken you years to build up trust but it takes just seconds to break it down. Just one slip and all that hard-won trust is gone forever. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you by avoiding the following behaviors.
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Best Practices for Letting Go of a Client
May 7, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Saying goodbye to clients often seems counter-intuitive to new advisors, whose primary concern is to grow a customer base. But failing to ‘weed out’ unprofitable clients is a bad idea for any advisor’s business. To succeed in this industry, you need to spend your time servicing your most profitable relationships and this necessitates dropping unprofitable accounts from time to time.
There can be many reasons why certain clients are no longer a good fit for you. Perhaps you’ve identified a need to downsize your business because it’s become impossible to serve a multitude. Or maybe you’re working with clients who ignore your advice, are too needy or blame you for poor market performance.
Whatever the reasons your focus should be on providing great service to your most valuable clients – which means you need to let the others go.
Read more
How to Get Clients to Stick to the Plan
April 23, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
It’s crucial that you get your clients to stick to the plan. If they don’t, they could forgo their comfortable retirement or build up debt when they put their kids through college. Your responsibility, as their financial advisor is to keep them on track. Here are three effective ways to do that.
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5 Costly Mistakes That Could Lose You Clients
March 5, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
When a client takes you on, they’ve decided they’re comfortable getting into a long-term relationship with you – and that’s a huge compliment. If you want to retain them, you must work hard to maintain the integrity of that relationship over the long term.
Don’t make one of these errors, or you could end up in the firing line.
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4 Behaviors to Avoid if You Want to Allay Client Concerns
January 29, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
In the first meeting with you, prospective clients may be unsure if investing is the right thing to do. They may also have concerns about whether you are the right person to advise them. How you behave in your first meeting will dictate what happens next. You need to act to allay not only their objections around the investment process itself, but to eliminate any concerns they may have about working with you personally.
To make sure you leave them in no doubt about your ability, never do the following four things.
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Getting Clients to Talk about Money
December 18, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
As financial advisors we’re comfortable talking about money, it’s what we’re trained to do. But for everyone else it’s a different story. Most people feel uncomfortable talking about money, so you need to consider how to introduce the topic in a relaxed way.
Don’t dive into the numbers at the initial meeting. Instead focus on building rapport with clients; then ask them what it is they want money for. The goals must come first – then the money. Once you understand your client’s vision of the future you can start doing the math on how to get there.
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How to Connect with Clients Emotionally
December 11, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
As financial advisors we’re objective thinkers. We use the left, logical, side of our brains, to work out the technical aspects of financial planning. But simply being able to do the math won’t differentiate you from the competition – even robo-advisors are pretty good with interest rates and algorithms. The way to stand out is to make an emotional connection with people.
Your clients won’t make big decisions based on the numbers. They will base them on how they feel about you, using the right (emotional) part of the brain. To form a connection with clients you need to work out what it is you have to offer them on an emotional level.
Here are three suggestions to help you connect with clients emotionally.
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