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This is part two of a two-part series. You can read part one here.
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:
Meetings should be structured and energetic. If your meetings are long, it is because you like them that way. For most people, a trip to the advisor rivals a trip to the dentist. No prospect or client enters your office seeking a two-hour meeting!
A rambling meeting sends several signals – and none of them are good; you lack focus, you are disorganized, and you have a lot of extra time on your hands. Yes, it is good to catch up and small talk can lead into heavier subjects. But no one outside your family wants to spend an entire morning with you.
Always under-promise and over-deliver. With intangible products, it’s important to manage client expectations. One way to do this is to always exceed the service standard promised. Add a day or two to deadlines and over-estimate costs or expenses. Deliver beyond your service promises. There is no magic better than this phrase: “We got your work done early.” Except maybe, “… and below budget.”
All technology should enhance the positive experience. When new people visit your website, the experience should be pleasant, comfortable, and helpful. All change is stressful; potential changes with finance and investments are even more so. De-stress every situation as much as possible. Photos of puppy dogs or motorcycles are way more fun than bank buildings or stock charts.
Educate. When prospects or clients visit, the experience should be gracious, relaxed, and easy-to-understand. Talk with them, not at them. There should be little financial jargon or intimidating big numbers (unless absolutely necessary to illustrate a specific point). The goal is to teach; the goal of teaching is to create understanding. Help people understand problems and the specific proposed solutions.
Specific research queries should be completed as soon as practical and documented by credible reference materials or reprints.
“Can I buy the house next door in my IRA?”
“Well, no, the IRS doesn’t allow that. Here is its publication describing what you can and cannot do. But I have some other ideas that might be helpful.”
Keep a copy of correspondence for your files and mail or email a copy to the client. This process answers your client’s direct questions (and places blame elsewhere if the answer is unpleasant) and protects you from liability.
Emphasize a team approach. Investment management and finance requires expertise, and advisors deploy a team to meet client needs. Each professional on the staff brings specialized knowledge and experience. There are transfer specialists, research specialists, investment specialists, and communications specialists (among others). This team is what makes you unique and valuable! (If you are a sole practitioner, your team might include quality custodians, research providers, and maybe your website or IT administrators.)
In follow-up meetings, materials should be carefully coordinated to promote insight and emphasize your abilities. Arrange materials in a step-by-step presentation. Work product should be easily transportable, expert, and – most of all – helpful to the client even if they choose not to retain you for further service. I often get referrals from people who are not even clients.
When clients depart, be polite, professional, and understanding. Document any disagreements or discussions for your files (send a letter or copy to the client if a genuine misunderstanding is evident). Always send a thank-you letter, and leave the door open for a future relationship.
Since 1998, many things in our profession have evolved. The Internet, smart phones, video, and imaging technologies blossomed in ways no one imagined. And they all fit into our professional practice in ways no one imagined back then. But the overall experience, well, that’s what we trained them to expect.
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.
