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Are You Neglecting Contact Cement

Written by: Donald F. Pooley

Article Overview: I’ve lost clients because I didn’t cement my relationships with enough personal contact.

Are You Neglecting Contact Cement

I should have phoned them, met them, and written to them before they called me about a need or a problem.

In his fine book, Promise of the Future, Duncan MacPherson tells me what I should have been doing. “One of the most efficient proactive techniques is a 90 Day Call Rotation. You initiate a call to each of your clients at least once every 90 days.” Calls initiated by clients don’t count.
If you’ve 400 clients, call 5 or 6 every day. Make this a a habit to protect your most valuable assets, your clients.

He tells of one financial advisor who after sending all his clients a questionnaire, received one back from one of his top revenue generators. It was blank except for this comment: “I’m thinking of moving my account. I never hear from you.”

The advisor was shocked. Today he faithfully adheres to the call rotation system, and has held onto that client.

But what do you talk about when you call a client out of the blue? It shouldn’t be about you, a product pitch, or a request for referrals. It should be about the client, and should focus on his or her interests and areas of concern.

Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Money (FORM) is what they’re interested in, so these are the things to discuss.

What you don’t know about, ask. You may know more than you realize about each client, because of the answers you got when you completed an application.

You know where they were born, and when. You may even have the same data about their spouse, and children. You’ll also know their past addresses, their occupation (and maybe that of their spouse), whether they indulge in dangerous sports, and so on. In short, you already know a lot about each of your clients, and can glean more by asking questions.

Know as much as possible about each client, and keep it in your contact management system. Before calling a client read over his or her file to see if something jumps out at you that you can talk about (a spouse’s birthday?).

Here’s how I call a client: “Hi Jack. Don here. Just called to touch base: to find out how you and your kids are doing, whether your job still sucks, how the golf game’s going, and so on. If now’s not a good time to talk, tell me, and I’ll call back.”

This even works if his answering machine answers.

Clients need personal contact to tie them to you as tightly as contact cement. So start calling them on a systematic basis such as the 90-Day Call Rotation.
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