Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
Many advisors generously support charities and good causes in their communities and around the world. Here’s how to communicate that support to clients.
Last week I got a call from an advisor who mentioned how a small initiative had sent a positive signal to a significant prospect whom she’d been trying to get in front of for some time. The conversation with this advisor – let’s call her Emma – demonstrated once again that it’s the little day-to-day decisions that make the biggest impact on our business.
Each week, I send out an email to over 25,000 advisors and head-office decision-makers. Earlier this year, one of those emails profiled “social enterprise” catering companies. Guided by professional chefs, these firms provide training and jobs for people who have had challenges finding work, whether it’s because they are new to the country, youth who’ve been on the street, or people suffering from physical or mental disabilities.
How to win multi-million dollar clients
Tired of ho-hum conference speakers? Dan Richards delivers leading edge keynote talks on what it takes to attract high end clients today.
To energize your next conference, click for more information on Dan's speaking topics and to hear from past clients.
Dan Richards
ClientInsights-President
6 Adelaide Street E, Suite 400
Toronto ON M5C 1T6
(416) 900-0968
Among those catering firms is one in Emma’s home city that focuses on providing employment for people with mental disabilities. Emma happened to have a client lunch coming up to provide an update on markets and decided to give this firm a try.
What really stood out
When the sandwiches arrived, Emma’s assistant put them on the sideboard, along with some business cards and a couple of brochures describing the firm. About a dozen clients came to the lunch, which she offers on a quarterly basis to anyone interested. Among those attending was an accountant Emma has worked with, who brought along one of his clients.
The lunch went well, with good questions and dialogue after her presentation. Later that afternoon, Emma followed up with the accountant to get his feedback.
“Frankly, I had to twist my client’s arm a bit to get him to come,” said the accountant. “But as we were walking away, he thanked me for inviting him. He said he’d found your presentation interesting, had learned a couple of things and that he’d likely be in touch about sitting down to talk. If you don’t hear from him in a week, let me know and I’ll follow up with him.
“The other thing that really stood out for him was the company you used for the sandwiches. He took one of the brochures and asked me if I’d noticed this – it turns out that his grandson has a mental disability. He’d never heard of them and plans to talk to his daughter about looking into this organization. He’s also going to start using them for his own business.”
A stroke of luck
Emma won’t know the outcome with this prospect for a while, but it certainly sounds promising. The fact that this prospect happens to have a disabled grandson was a pure fluke; there was no way to anticipate or plan for this.
All that said, the reaction from this prospect is indicative of a broader trend. More and more consumers want to feel that the companies and individuals with which they do business have a broader objective than just providing good value and maximizing their bottom line. Getting excellent value is still essential, but many people are looking beyond the value they receive and want to feel good about the sense of social responsibility of the places where they spend their money.
This was demonstrated in a recent survey of U.S. millionaires conducted by Spectrem Group on the importance of companies’ social responsibility. Overall, 37% of millionaires said that “social responsibility of investments is an important selection factor”; results ranged from 31% of older millionaires to 50% of those under 45.
The evidence is crystal clear: All things being equal, a growing number of consumers prefer to do business with someone who demonstrates a commitment to the community. The question is how to communicate the good work that you support in an appropriate and effective fashion without appearing to be exploiting your involvement.
Three steps to communicating your commitment
Three years ago, I wrote an article about how advisors can incorporate a signature charity into their client communication highlighted three steps to make this happen:
- Select the right cause – Pick a charity that you’re committed to and excited about and that you’d be supporting even if there was no business benefit to doing so. Regular readers of my articles know that the number one charity I have supported since 2004 is Amani Children’s Home in Tanzania, but that’s a very personal decision; the charity matters less than the enthusiasm and passion you bring to support that cause.
- Make this a long-term commitment – It can take years for your support for a cause to penetrate into clients’ awareness.
- Incorporate the cause into your ongoing client communication, looking for ways to seamlessly let clients know about your values and commitment. Emma’s decision to support the small catering firm wouldn’t have paid off if her assistant hadn’t thought to display that company’s brochure.
My article outlined different ways to let existing and prospective clients know what you’re doing in the community, including this excerpt describing how one advisor tells her story:
One advisor has profiled two foster children she supports in Bolivia in her quarterly newsletter for fifteen years. Every quarter she has a picture of these kids, in fact a couple of years she was in South America and visited these kids and had a picture of her and the two children, who were now 16 and 18 so no longer children.
She says it's remarkable how many clients have mentioned this to her and talk about watching those kids grow up. The key is the consistency of that photo appearing each and every quarter. The other thing she's done is that she's positioned this support as coming from her on behalf of her clients, and she has pictures of these kids over the years in her office, so that it really is something that's very visible to clients.
Incorporating your values into your day-to-day business
One final note: For clients to feel that your worldview is aligned with theirs, you can’t turn your values on and off. The advisors for whom this works best are those who genuinely incorporate their values into the day-to-day decisions in both their professional and personal lives.
Here are three ways to do this:
Give a social-enterprise catering firm in your city a try – not because you expect a positive response from clients, but because it’s something that can make a small difference. And even if you don’t send a positive signal to clients, you’re sending the right message to your team.
With the holiday season upon us, you have two alternatives. You can send clients a traditional gift or holiday card; while they may be appreciated, it’s unlikely that these will make a strong impact on clients. If you haven’t made any plans as yet, the other alternative is to send your clients an e-card with a personalized message, saying that you’ve made a donation on their behalf to provide a family in Africa, Asia or South America with clean water, the means to raise their living standards, or the ability to send one of their children to school.
Finally, many advisors have used their energy and network to organize a fund-raising event for a worthwhile cause. As you put together your plans for 2014, if you aren’t already doing something along these lines, consider whether this is something you should look at … not because you expect to attract new clients as a result, but because it’s something that you and your team can get excited about as one way to give back to the community in which you work.
conducts programs to help advisors gain and retain clients and is an award winning faculty member in the MBA program at the University of Toronto. To see more of his written and video commentaries, go to www.clientinsights.ca. Use A555A for the rep and dealer code to register for website access.
Read more articles by Dan Richards
