Monday Morning Jumpstart with Dan Richards

10 minutes to drive your week

Topic for November 16, 2009: Six ways to reach clients in the new normal

Listen to the interview

1. With many investors implicitly or explicitly bracing for the New Normal and lower returns from the capital markets, advisors need to rethink their marketing programs to be consistent with their clients' tempered expectations.

2. Approach one: Focus on facts

   Cold, hard, verifiable, unambiguous facts bring comfort in this unsettled environment. Transparency is the key. As an advisor, you have to answer: How do you make your money? Who has custody of the assets? If you are honest, compensated in a way that's fair and put clients' needs first, it's time to prove it.

3. Approach Two: Adopt a client-centric tone.

   Financial services firms once universally addressed prospects in a patronizing tone, they acted as a parent, saying "Just do what we say, we know best."

   Now many firms, are cultivating peer-to-peer relationships. Generation after generation, bear or bull market, we wrestle with the same worries: Will I be able to afford to send my kids to college? Will we outlive our money? While firms once positioned themselves as a parent with all the answers, now we're seeing them operate collegially with clients to offer friendly advice and empowering guidance.

4. Approach Three: Show, don't tell.

   Given the level of skepticism, we don't persuade prospective clients by talking about how great we are.

   The solution is not to talk not about what you do, but what the client experience will be. Instead of a brochure, advisors are often better served by series case studies highlighting specific problems and the detailed solutions. A little block of copy on the back of the sheet can include the firm information, designations, etc., but the main focus should be "How we helped Bob." Tell a story and your prospects will get it.

5. Approach Four: Focus on your online presence.

   More and more investors will pass through the Internet on the way to a commitment, particularly if they're younger clients.

   For many investors, how you present yourself online is key. With customers seeking more information than ever before they make financial decisions, it's imperative to invest in an online presence. Going forward, advisors will have to develop new ways to communicate with existing clients and prospects alike through targeted emails, online seminars, and webcasts.

6. Approach Five: Find new ways to connect through smaller more targeted events.

   Less formal, more interactive and smaller gatherings work in this unsettled market. This is particularly true if they are primarily focused against clients so you're able to legitimately say to prospects, I'm running a sandwich lunchon on the market outlook for my clients, but do have a spot available should you like to sit in.

7. Approach Six: Implement a process to manage contacts.

   Very often communications programs produce product information that nobody really cares about. Clients and prospects alike want something tailored to them and delivered when and how they want it.

   Involve prospects in the process. Ask your prospects what they want and then give them some choice as to what they receive, how often they receive it, and in what media you communicate.

   When a subject line reads, "Here's what you asked for," they know the information has been prepared just for them and, more importantly, that you know who they are.