/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
Financial advisors with any ambitions of growing their practices in the next couple of decades can’t ignore the emergence of Gen Z as an economic force. Though the estimated $143 billion in assets held by Gen Z is dwarfed by the trillions held by millennials, Gen Z workers are expected to outearn millennials as soon as 2030. They will be more educated and more ambitious than their generational predecessors, and they will be starving for financial advice.
The challenge for financial advisors is that while even today, the members of Gen Z are looking for financial advice, most prefer to find it through social media, the internet, and their parents or friends, according to the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.
The good news for advisors is that the same study found that 71% of Gen Z investors are receptive to working with financial professionals, counting them among the most trustworthy sources of financial information, second only to their parents.
The critical issue for any financial advisor hoping to attract young clients is whether they are perceived as someone who can be trusted to serve them in the manner they expect.
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Leveraging Behavioral Finance: Understanding Client Decision-Making Patterns
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Financial advisors looking for an edge in influencing their clients’ decision-making need look no further than behavioral finance. Behavioral finance is a game-changer for advisors seeking to deepen client relationships and drive better decision-making outcomes.
Understanding how psychological factors influence financial decisions can help you build trust and guide clients through the emotional and cognitive challenges of investing. When clients feel understood and supported, their confidence in their financial plan—and their advisor—grows exponentially.
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Using Client Feedback Loops to Build Trust and Loyalty
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Wouldn’t it be great if you could read your clients’ minds to know how they feel about you and your service? If you knew what they were thinking, you could ensure you’re doing all the right things to exceed their lofty expectations, leading to stronger and more trusting client relationships. Fortunately, you don’t need to read minds. All you need to do is ask them.
Successful, customer-centric companies constantly ask their customers what’s on their minds through a mechanism known as a customer or client feedback loop, a system where they regularly gather, analyze, and act on feedback to improve their products and services. Successful, client-centric financial advisors do the same thing, enabling ongoing communication with their clients to help refine and enhance their experience.
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Strategies for Handling Resistance and Rebuilding Long-Term Engagement with Dormant Clients
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
If you’ve been in this business for any amount of time, you’re probably building a nest of “inactive” or “dormant” clients. These clients were once actively engaged with your advice but have since drifted away for various reasons, including changes in life circumstances, a lack of consistent communication, or a bad experience. Whatever the reason, it may be time to “fish or cut bait” to either reengage with them or move on completely.
Keeping inactive clients on the books who have no intention of doing business with you is nothing more than a distraction or a false sense of security. They need to be let go. On the other hand, there may be some golden opportunities lying in wait, but they’re not likely to come to you. Either way, you need to take the initiative and find out.
Reconnecting with dormant clients can be challenging. When reaching out after a period of inactivity, you may face some resistance. Some clients may be hesitant to reengage, perhaps harboring concerns or dissatisfaction. For any chance of rekindling trust and the relationship, it’s vital to understand how to manage these reactions and rebuild the foundation for long-term engagement.
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How Financial Advisors Can Use AI to Free Up Time for More Client-Facing Activities
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Despite the shortfalls of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial advisory business in that it cannot replace advisors as relationship builders, there are several ways advisors can embrace AI to achieve higher efficiency and have more time for the human element of the business.
We know that AI is rapidly transforming industries, and the financial services sector is no exception. Financial advisors are often overwhelmed by managing multiple tasks at once, especially when much of their time is consumed by administrative and back-office duties. And, with the increasing complexity of financial markets and compliance requirements, advisors must spend more time on data entry, paperwork, and compliance at the expense of more client-facing activities.
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How to Attract Emerging Affluent Gen Z and Young Millennials in their 20s
/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
Financial advisors with any ambitions of growing their practices in the next couple of decades can’t ignore the emergence of Gen Z as an economic force. Though the estimated $143 billion in assets held by Gen Z is dwarfed by the trillions held by millennials, Gen Z workers are expected to outearn millennials as soon as 2030. They will be more educated and more ambitious than their generational predecessors, and they will be starving for financial advice.
The challenge for financial advisors is that while even today, the members of Gen Z are looking for financial advice, most prefer to find it through social media, the internet, and their parents or friends, according to the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.
The good news for advisors is that the same study found that 71% of Gen Z investors are receptive to working with financial professionals, counting them among the most trustworthy sources of financial information, second only to their parents.
The critical issue for any financial advisor hoping to attract young clients is whether they are perceived as someone who can be trusted to serve them in the manner they expect.
Read more
For Clients Expecting 5-Star Service, Exceptional Communications Is Not Enough—Proactive Communication Is the New Standard
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Top financial advisors understand that superior client communications are paramount to building a successful practice. That is supported by a widely published survey by Financial Advisor Magazine, revealing that 72% of clients cite poor client communications as the number one reason they leave their financial advisor.
If 72% of clients expect exceptional client communications as a condition for staying with an advisor, it’s no longer a differentiator—it’s merely table stakes for advisors who hope to compete for their business. So how can financial advisors who do focus on elevating the client communications game stand out to clients with higher expectations of what five-star service should look like?
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How to Provide the Level of Service Clients Will Talk About
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
By now, financial advisors with any ambition of success know that the only way to stand out in a vast sea of sameness is by providing an extraordinary customer experience—one that can turn your clients into stark raving fans. To do anything less relegates you to the ranks of every other advisor who prides themselves on providing “excellent service” to their clients. “Excellence” is now a minimum expectation of clients who have been raising the bar for advisors for the last decade.
So, what is an extraordinary client experience, and how can advisors consistently deliver it? The challenge for advisors is there is no standardization for delivering superior client service. One client is different from the next in how they view the level of service provided. The level of communication and engagement that suits one type of client may fall short for another type.
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Want Your Clients to Take Their Financial Plan Seriously? Keep It Front and Center in Your Relationship
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
It wasn’t so long ago that clients perceived financial plans as an extension of the prospecting process to entice them to open an account and hand over their money. Many financial advisors feigned the role as a financial planner to create the perception of objectivity with the recommendations they would make. Clients received a faux leather-bound financial plan that just took up shelf space, never to be revisited by them or their advisor.
Fast forward to today, and we see an increasing number of financial advisors who are committed to a more holistic approach to working with clients, making the financial plan a critical cornerstone of their relationships. That, of course, is in response to what more and more clients are looking for in their advisor relationships—a plan that addresses the entirety of their financial life to guide them in life-critical decisions.
Why is it then that the value of a well-conceived financial plan seems to wane among clients who, further into the advisory relationship, begin to question their advisor’s advice or express disenchantment because their investments are underperforming their neighbor’s or colleagues’ portfolio? What do advisors need to do to get their clients to refocus on what’s really important?
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Overcome the Fee Discussion by Focusing on the Things that Matter to Your Clients
/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
Among the many trends affecting the way financial advisors must operate these days, fee compression has been the most impactful. The discussion of fees charged by advisors has moved to the forefront due to the low costs and transparency of digital advice platforms and the highly competitive arena in which they find themselves. As a result, clients are more willing to confront their advisors on the subject of fees and the value they receive in exchange for them, catching many advisors off guard.
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