Research conducted by Russ Alan Prince, a leading authority on affluent investors, found that clients consider their relationship with financial professionals to be four times more important than investment performance in gauging their overall satisfaction.
87% of affluent clients who fired their advisor say they did so because of a poor relationship. In fact, 96% of clients who fired advisors based on their poor relationship were actually "very happy" with their investment performance.
Solid investment performance isn't always enough.
Despite its importance, few financial professionals have an effective strategy to consistently meet the relationship expectations of their clients. It's obvious that if 87% of clients change their advisor because of a poor relationship, to remain competitive and successful in the long term you must find a way to stay connected at the personal level with all of your clients.
You must communicate personally as well as professionally
There never seems to be enough time in the day to do all the things you know you should to maintain and build the quality of your client relationships.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution.
One highly effective tool for connecting with all clients at the personal level, while keeping communication costs down, is the personal update note. The better clients feel they know you, the longer the relationship is likely to last.
This personal update note doesn't have to be any longer than 5-8 sentences. The key is that the note should be about you or the client -- not about business.
Twice a year is an ideal pace to let your clients hear from you personally, in addition to sending birthday cards.
These personal notes can now be printed for all your clients simultaneously and inexpensively. The newest greeting card services use variable data printing technology to allow each card's note to be individually personalized to each client.
And you replace canned sentiment with your real voice
Client newsletters may look professional, but usually free of your personality. Clients will respond much better when they hear from the real you, in your real voice. Your note card can better connect you, at a personal level.
Your personal note can inspire referrals.
Remember, in the eyes of the client, the relationship is four times more important than portfolio performance. Now is the perfect time to let the real you come through using a simple win-win approach that gives clients what they want most, while helping you to strengthen your relationships and build up your business.
It's easily done, so do it!
Copyright 2005 Custom Notes Ltd.
Frank Grisdale created www.LongTermClients.com for financial professionals who realize the advantage of using personalized notes inside greeting cards to bond more strongly with their clients and build loyalty. To learn more about this easily- implemented technique visit LongTermClients.com.
Your Biggest Advantage - To learn more about this author, visit Donald F. Pooley's Website.
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Donald F. Pooley
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Don Pooley, the author of this article,
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Copyright 2005, Donald F. Pooley, Inc.
Don Pooley CLU, CFP, CHFC, "The
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