client loyalty Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Why Mediation Skills Matter for Financial Advisor Success

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

When most people think of mediation and negotiation, it typically refers to lawyers or third parties who facilitate dialogue between two or more parties to help them reach an agreement. In practice, financial advisors sometimes find themselves in the same position, having to resolve conflicts between a client’s family members or within their advisory team, where it’s essential to find win-win solutions.

Disagreements about money are common among married couples. Money conflicts are often rooted more deeply in people’s attitudes and beliefs about money, or, in some cases, money is not even the primary issue. However, in almost all cases, it involves two or more people who don’t know how to engage in productive financial conversations.

5 Ways You Should Be Asking for Feedback from Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Advisors who are in the dark about how their clients view their relationship or feel about the level of service they receive risk losing them to advisors who care about what they think. It’s not that you don’t care; it’s that your clients won’t know that you do if you don’t periodically ask them for their feedback.

Without direct and honest feedback from your clients, you won’t know what’s working and what’s not. You could be perpetuating a less-than-remarkable client experience that could drive clients away. At the very least, you won’t know the reasons why you’re not getting referrals from your clients.

Want to know how you differentiate yourself? Be the advisor who demonstrates a sense of partnership and commitment to the relationship by proactively asking for your client’s feedback. When you do, it’s an opportunity to learn how to improve and grow your practice and make your clients appreciate that you value their opinion.

Here are five ways you can gather valuable insights from your clients while deepening your engagement with them.

Keys to Building Life-Long Loyalty with Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Successful financial advisors know that client retention is vital for sustaining and growing their business. Replacing a client who leaves with a new client is expensive and hard work, costing five to 25 times more than retaining an existing one. Success at retaining clients enables advisors to focus on delivering value to them instead of having to pursue new clients.

However, advisors who shoot for a high client retention rate, as crucial as that may be, might be falling short of the mark. Building client loyalty is much more critical. Is that a difference without a distinction? What does it mean when you have a client’s loyalty?

Many clients stick around for various reasons:

How to Turn New Clients into Loyal Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

You have just opened a new account and you are excited to start working with this new client. Of course, you are more than qualified to provide them with the services they need, but how are you going to ensure that your relationship with them will flourish over time?

Here are few good ways to create a loyal bond between you and your client.

What Is Buyer’s Remorse and How to Overcome It in 3 Easy Steps

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Buyer’s remorse is defined as ‘a feeling of regret experienced after making a purchase – typically one regarded as unnecessary or extravagant’ (Oxford Dictionary).

Most of us have experienced this type of feeling at some point – maybe after buying a pair of expensive shoes that with hindsight we considered an unworthwhile purchase.

But buyer’s remorse doesn’t just apply to shopping – it’s possible your clients might feel similarly disenchanted about their decision to hire you.

Make sure your clients don’t experience post-hiring disappointment by doing the following three things.

11 Best Practices for Gathering Referrals

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

People trust recommendations from people they know, and the lifetime value of a new referral customer is higher than of a client acquired in another way. Despite this, advisors shy away from asking for referrals – citing that to be one of their most awkward tasks.

The good news is that, if asked at the right time, most clients would be happy to advocate on your behalf. Less than a third of advisors ever ask though. Don’t act like the majority – because referrals are at the core of growing your business.

In this post we’ll look at some best practices for gathering referrals.

How to Add Value to Clients’ Lives

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Prospects often struggle to find the right financial advisor – in their eyes all advisors tend to look the same, sound the same and sell the same products.

Make it easy for prospects to choose you by communicating your value to them in your first meeting. And if they decide to work with you, make sure you continue to communicate your value to them as clients. If you bring the value you promised, there’s a high chance they’ll remain loyal and refer you to others.

Here are some ways to bring value to prospects and clients.

Four Client Retention Strategies to Try Out

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As in so many other industries, your business model as a financial advisor is to open new accounts and gather new assets on a continual basis. However, in order to succeed you need to combine this approach with a plan that ensures your clients will stick with you for the long term. You need to allocate time to both looking after existing clients as well as time to prospect. If you don’t, your current clients will feel discontented; they may start to look elsewhere, and they certainly won’t recommend you to others.

What’s Most Important for Client Retention?

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What's Most Important for Customer Retention

Client loyalty is getting harder than ever to achieve. Clients are bombarded with options when it comes to financial advice and they know they can switch to another advisor in the blink of an eye if they are dissatisfied. So it’s essential to understand how to ensure your clients remain loyal and stick with you for the long term.