(Runtime: 7:00. Read the audio transcript.)
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Financial advisors create lasting value for clients not just through investment portfolios but through consistent communication, personalized service and helping clients feel secure about their financial future.
So says Chris Reynolds, author of the Six Circle Strategy: The Entrepreneur’s Journey to Wealth and Freedom, in Part 4 of our series exploring each circle of success.
“Value is not what you think you delivered. Value is what the client remembers,” he said on the latest episode of the Soundbites podcast. “And if they can’t explain your value using words that don’t include ‘asset allocation’ and ‘standard deviation,’ you might have a problem.”
Reynolds said creating value is not a one-off task, it’s an ongoing process.
“You create value, communicate it, reinforce it, refine it, learn from it, and then you do it again,” he said, adding that there’s a sure-fire way to know if the value you offer is not being noticed or appreciated.
“If you ever have a client bringing up cost, what they’re really questioning is value,” he said. “At that point, you shouldn’t be looking at, ‘How do I lower my cost?’ It should be, ‘How do I bring more value to that client?’”
Unfortunately, many companies drift away from their own value propositions over time.
“It’s easy for people to say, ‘We care deeply for our clients,’ but then send them to a phone tree where there are nine options,” he said. “You don’t want them to feel that they just entered a government portal with your logo on it.”
Reynolds said advisors need to resist the urge to automate processes at the expense of personal attention.
“Personal service … becomes valuable precisely when your competition is cutting theirs,” he said. “When clients start to feel ignored, the thoughtful person starts to put a personal touch into everything that they do. That’s the whole game.”
He said adding value to a wealth management practice can be as simple as showing interest in clients’ lives rather than simply discussing markets, offering good follow-up, sending personal notes and returning client calls promptly.
“It’s not revolutionary, but it is something that people remember,” he said. “I can tell you that the benefit of focusing on value is clients start to see you as part of their life. And when that happens, that’s when you really have a business.”
Having value-oriented employees is critical.
“Everybody has to live your culture. They either reinforce what you’re trying to do, or they’re quietly destroying it. There’s no real middle ground,” he said.
“One bad interaction can outdo all the beautiful planning meetings that you do. But one great interaction can create loyalty for life.”
Reynolds said creating value starts with figuring out what clients need to feel confident, understood and cared for. Every meeting should address two fundamental questions that clients care most about: ‘Am I going to be OK?’ and ‘Is my family going to be OK?’
“Redesign client meetings around those two questions, and those two questions only,” he said. “And if you do it in a personal manner, you show real value to that client. And if you do that better than anyone else, you create a business that clients not only never want to leave, but they can’t wait to refer to somebody else.”
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This article is part of the Soundbites program, sponsored by Canada Life. The article was written without sponsor input.