A prospect comes and sit right in front of you and you feel you're doing a great job of converting him as a client by telling him about your financial acumen, fund picking capabilities and how you've made great money for your existing clients. But it worries you that he still seems to be frequently going into a 'power-saver mode'.
Every advisor faces this dilemma especially in the early years of his profession. The natural impulse is to impress with all the superlatives about your information & knowledge prowess as a financial advisor. But the client doesn't seem to care about them. What is it that client cares about? A Good Healthy Trustworthy Relationship!
So how does relationship start, continue and strengthen over time?
Its simply like developing a friendship with somebody you instantly liked. Here are 6 tips to building a long lasting relationship with clients;
1. Put yourself in the client's shoes – See where it pinches and what is the most financially logical thing to do to ameliorate it. Clients want to talk to someone who attempts to understand their situation and genuinely empathises with them.
2. Admit that you don't know some things – Who said that you're the next Warren Buffet? Probably only you believe so – the client neither assumes nor wants that. 'You are human and not a robo-advisor' is a plus point and not minus. Read Patrick Lencioni's 'Getting Naked' first.
3. Aim to educate the clients without intimidating them – Clients want to know where we're taking them and why. They don't want to be Ph.D. in financial management but they aren't naïve or stupid too. Tell them financial things in simple words and don't intimidate them with jargons – the more complex how you convey it to them, the further away they move from you. Nobody wants such planner.
4. Listen to the clients – Generally, planners are in a hurry to 'say their piece'. Their monologue starts at the very first opportunity. The client doesn't get to say much in front of the all-knowing Planner. Such relationships are generally doomed from the start.
5. Clients want solutions and not products – Few clients do initially talk about portfolio returns and product choices and market movements. They do so due to their previous experience. Actually, they care about how their financial problems can be solved by you. You address it from the beginning and you'll find the jigsaw puzzle falling in place by itself.
6. For God's sake, keep in touch and provide good service – Nothing irks people more than being taken for granted. Pay them back with good service for the trust they have in you. And they will pay with furthermore trust and years of patronage.
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