Financial advisors looking for millennial clients must build trust with that demographic through a blend of techniques, including applying technology as well as traditional relationship-building efforts, according to a panel of Dalhousie University students from Halifax who spoke the Institute of Advanced Financial Planners’ 13th annual symposium in Niagara Falls, Ont. on Thursday.

The students, who are millennials, shared their own experiences and research regarding ways advisors can overcome millennial distrust of those within financial services and build connections with the next generation.

Before advisors can get to know potential new millennial clients, advisors must ensure that they have a mobile-friendly online presence so that millennials can get to know the advisor before a first meeting, said Bryce Cross, one of the student panellists.

“Any time I’ve ever sought out information, it has been online and exclusively through Google,” said Cross. “I’ve literally never opened a phone book.”

When Cross is looking for a service, he is looking for important details, such as biography and professional accolades, he said. However, if that service provider’s website is not mobile friendly or difficult to use, he will move onto another service provider’s website.

Millennials are also looking to see if the service provider is popular with others through websites that rate professionals, he added, referring to websites in which the general public can score professionals such as doctors and university professors. He also referred to a U.S. website in which ratings are given to American financial advisors.

“As millennials get older and start to earn more money, we’re going to see millennials use these services more … when [we’re looking to distinguish] between financial professionals,” he said. “It’s already starting in the U.S., but this is something that is going to pick up.”

If regulators or firms’ compliance departments take issue with advisors using these types of technology to promote their businesses, the issue must be addressed because the demand from the millennial generation is there, said fellow panelist, Kyle MacLean.

MacLean also noted there are ways advisors can build trust through their face-to-face interaction with millennials, in addition to increased use of technology. Specifically, respecting the confidentiality of millennial clients is critical, he said.

In other words, advisors who work with their clients’ young adult children should respect the privacy of that younger generation and not report details of conversations to their parents, he said.

Although MacLean acknowledged that the suggestion might appear to be ironic considering his generation is prone to posting their personal details through social media, he said the quest for privacy is because millennials are looking to establish identities that are independent of their parents.

“Once you start your own job, become financially independent and make your own money, [those steps] automatically make us want to be individuals,” he explained. “We want that separation from our parents so that confidentiality becomes key for us.”

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