Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
This is part one of a two-part series. Part two will appear tomorrow.
When I started my firm, Family Investment Center, back in 1998, I queried several local professionals about the design and delivery of their services. One local CPA offered this bit of wisdom: “Your clients will expect what you train them to expect.”
It was prophetic.
Registered Investment Advisory firms had been around since the 1940s, but the Charles Schwab organization and nascent technology were blazing a new trail. I was at the beginning, and there was no defined customer service model. I needed to create one.
Investment management and financial planning are intangible products. You cannot touch them. They are hard to define and hard to evaluate. As advisors, it is up to us to help prospects and clients appreciate our full value.
From the first time prospects and clients hear your name, these ideas will create an “ideal client experience” framework:
Public image is crucial to attracting new clients. Are you more like Charlie Sheen or Ronnie Howard? Advertising, direct mail, publicity, and public speaking create an impression of warmth, competence, integrity, and professionalism. The “most visible” advisor usually gets the new business; being visible and positive is intentional.
The physical office is a stage. When someone visits your office, it should project warmth, friendliness, cleanliness, and utility. The office should look good, smell good, and feel comfortable. Parking and access should be reasonable. Perception is reality, and your office should enhance good perceptions.
Not cluttered and disorderly … an accountant’s office I visited once looked like an episode of Hoarders. Not stuffy, pretentious, or intimidating … I once worked in an old-time bank trust department and most people seemed uncomfortable there. Seriously: warm, friendly, and clean.
Telephone queries should be met with friendliness, honesty, and professionalism. It shouldn’t sound like a Muppets Movie soundtrack or the Big Lebowski’s answering machine. Always be truthful. Some thoughtful communication strategies may enhance favorable impressions:
In my early days, I never answered the phone myself. Foster the impression that you are big and busy; at least big enough to have a receptionist and/or telephone operator. Whenever possible, use professional voices on the telephone system.
Ditch the words “out of the office” in recorded messages. Instead, we’re “busy with clients,” or “on another telephone line.” People want assurance that you will get back to them. During business hours, most callers will assume that you are busy with other clients – that’s a very good impression.
If someone is not available, tell the caller that they are “working with a client right now.” This is true; all work is for clients, and that is both understandable and acceptable.
Don’t publicly announce a specific schedule of hours or days (“I’ll be gone from Monday through Friday.”) on phone messages or in email replies. Instead, say when you will be back (I’ll be back in the office on Friday and return your calls then.”) The same with our colleagues’ schedules (He’s not here today. Never: He’s not in on Wednesdays.) All that matters is that they are not in right now. People will simply assume everyone is busy.
Show people some love. Telephone calls may be the only ongoing personal contact with certain clients. Make it enjoyable.
In new account “sign up” meetings, forms should already be populated, methodical, and easy-to-follow. At our office, it sometimes takes a Pike’s Peak mountain of paperwork to establish a new relationship. It’s common to have four or five separate applications along with transfer letters, beneficiary designations, trusted contact, and banking forms.
The ideal process should be accomplished in one visit and with minimum confusion. The standard should be a mortgage-closing ceremony, where an informed specialist gently walks customers through highly organized paperwork. “We can do this fast or slow, your choice.”
Quarterly statement packages should look polished, logical, and – more than anything else – understandable. This is the tangible “product” of all efforts. Finally, something clients can touch; is it a silk dress or a polyester pantsuit?
Public visibility is also critical to enhancing relationships with existing clients. One important and valuable role is to give clients comfort. “As seen on” the Wall Street Journal or CNBC carries a positive cachet! It comforts them and reinforces your expertise to see you with credible third-party sources.
Dan Danford, CFP® is a NAPFA member in Kansas City, Missouri. He learned early ideas about money from his late father, Thad Danford, who charged rent on the family lawn mower when Dan cut neighborhood lawns. Danford is a practicing investment advisor and author of Happy To Be Different: Personal and Money Success Through Better Thinking.
Read more articles by Dan Danford
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
