Clients are anxious and likely to bolt. A study last fall by wealth analyst Russ Alan Prince found that 81% of those with $1 million or more in investible assets plan to take money away from their current adviser.
The challenge: Clients are anxious and likely to bolt. A study last fall by wealth analyst Russ Alan Prince found that 81% of those with $1 million or more in investible assets plan to take money away from their current adviser. How do you maintain your service levels — and keep your clients happy — while revenue declines?
The answer for successful advisers is building deeper relationships with their best clients. So where do you start?
The solution: Over the next three weeks, we’re going to examine three steps you can take to get closer to your top clients, while keeping costs down. This week, we’re going to focus on communications. That will be followed by using technology to streamline communications and outsourcing certain administrative functions.
This week: A communication plan for top clients
The key to success in today’s markets is concentrating on retaining your top clients. In most practices, these can be just your top 20 to 50 clients. Since regular and consistent communication is the glue that binds these clients to your practice, put together a simple communications calendar that is focused and tied to top clients’ interests. Look at the entire year and schedule your four most important meetings in advance.
These four meetings should be two semi-annual reviews, a financial seminar and a lifestyle event.
For illustration purposes, let’s use a post tax-filing recap as the subject of our client reviews, college funding for the financial seminar and gardening as the subject of our lifestyle event. Of course, you should employ the seminar and event topics that are most valuable to your top clients. In working with many advisers across the country, however, I’ve found the subjects above to be consistent winners.
Here’s your top-client communications calendar for the remainder of the year:
April: E-mail your quarterly newsletter. Cut staff time and costs by piggybacking on your broker-dealer’s newsletter, if there is one, or leverage a pre-approved newsletter from a product team. The key is to send the publication via e-mail to lower-level clients and to mail it to your top 50 or 60 clients. Be sure to get sign-offs from your compliance department, if applicable.
Next, plan post tax-time updates. Believe it or not, April is a great time to start planning for next year’s tax return. The subject is fresh on clients’ minds, and they are eager to minimize the tax bite. Call and e-mail to schedule and confirm, and put together an agenda. Again, if you do 10 reviews a week and block time for follow-ups, it will take six to eight weeks to complete your reviews.
May: Continue with your post tax-time reviews. Use these meetings as an opportunity to review financial issues in general. If you set up 10 meetings a week, you’ll have most of the work done by Memorial Day. Remember that meeting about taxes is a great way to discover hidden assets that you are not currently managing.
May is also the time to hold your annual financial-interest seminar. This year, with clients’ college savings plans down, consider holding a seminar about college funding. You can discuss Section 529 plans and other tax-advantaged ways to save for college. Explore bringing in an expert on college admissions — you’ll find that clients are very interested in this topic.
June: Finish your tax reviews and be sure to follow up. This is the opportunity to ask clients if they have friends or family members who would benefit from a similar review. Set a goal of one or two referrals from each top client.
Send e-mails or letters to invite clients to your July or August lifestyle event.
July: Send out your quarterly newsletter and hold your annual lifestyle event. I’m a big believer in anything connected to gardening, because many high-net worth clients love to garden, enjoy learning more from experts and like to meet others who enjoy the activity. A hands-on meeting at a local gardening center or botanical garden is a great forum for advisers.
August: Hold your annual lifestyle event —or take the month off.
September: Send e-mails or letters to schedule your second semi-annual client meeting, which will be a year-end review. Follow up with clients and guests who attended your lifestyle event.
October: Send out your final quarterly newsletter. Begin your year-end reviews. Strive for 10 a week with your best clients.
November: Continue your year-end reviews.
December: Hold a bonus in-person annual event — a holiday gathering for top clients and prospects tied to a local charity.
Next week: Using technology to streamline communications.
