February 21, 2012
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A recent conversation got me thinking. Losing a client is a painful experience – even more so when you realize that something as simple as an email could have avoided that outcome.
Friends had invited me over to join them for a casual dinner party. As it happens, the guest who was seated by my side recognized me from my appearances on a business news show and in short order asked for advice.
“My wife and I have been talking about the possibility of changing our stockbroker,” he said. “I wonder whether you could suggest a couple of brokers we could talk to.”
The roots of dissatisfaction
I answered that there were obviously lots of alternatives, depending on what he and his wife were looking for and how much they had to invest. Before going further, I asked him to tell me more about his current advisor.
“We’ve been working with this woman for about five years,” he said, “and in most respects we’re not unhappy with her. Before starting with her, I’d been managing our own money. She helped us develop a bit of a plan, whenever we call she gets back quickly and when we finish our annual meeting to make sure we’re on track, both my wife and I walk away feeling our time has been well spent.
“The thing is, I think we need someone who’s more on top of what’s happening in markets and who’s more proactive in managing our portfolio. We don’t get much in the way of information from her between meetings, aside from her firm’s generic newsletter which is generally a waste of time.
“And when we do meet, all she says is that we have lots of time and to stay the course and we’ll be fine. That may be true, but I really wonder how on top of markets she really is and whether we’d be better off working with someone who is more proactive in identifying better opportunities. With all the changes going on, if we had the right investments a year ago, I don’t understand how those same investments can still make sense today.”
Today’s desire for change
After hearing him out, I suggested that before exploring alternatives he and his wife should sit down and talk to their advisor and air their concerns. I haven’t heard from him since, so perhaps they’ve had that discussion and cleared the air. Or maybe he got busy, as all of us do and never followed up with his advisor – and is vulnerable to the next advisor who approaches him.
Advisors reading this may shake their heads about how fickle and unreasonable clients are. And certainly, there are clients who are irrational.
Look at this, however, from our clients’ point of view.
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