Building a long-term trusted relationship with clients is essential to your success as a financial advisor. Having a proactive communication approach will set the stage for easier conversations down the road.
When I was a financial advisor, we regularly discussed down markets with our clients. Even when markets were doing well, we talked about market corrections. We used visual aids and told stories so that it would resonate with our clients. I will never forget the first down market we entered. We brought out the same visuals and reminded clients of the same stories and the response was positive, despite the doom and gloom of the markets. This was because we had set the stage and that proactive approach made a big difference.
That is just one example and this can be applied in many areas of your business. Here are some easily implementable ideas that can increase your proactive communication strategy:
Schedule regular meetings and calls with your top clients to discuss their financial goals, concerns and any changes in their life circumstances. During these check-ins, be sure to ask your clients if they have any questions or concerns and take note of any changes in their financial situation or goals. If you aren’t able to address their questions during the discussion, be sure to follow up and provide more information.
When things are happening in the markets, or other relative events, reach out to your client base with updates and explain how it could impact them and their finances. This can be part of a monthly newsletter or blog. Being the first one to reach out to tell them how it's going to be okay, gives your clients the opportunity to ask you questions and allows you to steer them in the right direction.
Provide your clients with educational resources, like videos or infographics. Visual content is powerful and will help them better understand financial concepts and make informed decisions. It can also help subtly showcase your breadth of services and knowledge. Having content as part of your business development and client management strategies creates consistent messaging.
When you take a proactive approach to communications, you can start to address concerns and questions ahead of the client's needs and this will put you in a better position to solidify your position as their trusted advisor.
HeyAdvisor is a digital content library that financial advisors leverage to connect with their clients. The highly engaging educational library of videos and infographics is white-labelled with advisor branding and can be integrated into email marketing campaigns, websites, client portals and social media. The intuitive library is grouped by life events making it easy to add value to the client relationship at times in their lives that matter most. Review our plans here.
