Don’t Orphan Your Clients

The Client Experience
The Pareto Principle states that 20% of your clients will generate 80% of your business.

There's a way to change the Pareto Principle in your favor. By improving the client experience, the clients will be more inclined to reengage in the encounter.

It's a bit awkward to follow up on clients without being a pest and diminishing the overall experience with your company. How important is it really to follow up with a more robust system?

Critically important.

The Value of a Client
What is a client worth? Most advisors don't have a clue. I know because I've asked audiences to raise their hands if they have conducted any research on the revenue they have generated from the average client over the last five years. Raised hands are in single digits with hundreds in attendance. If you don't know what a client is worth, you can't place a real value on client retention. Without value, you have no way of determining what is necessary to keep clients engaged.

A five-year study by an advisory firm determined that a consistent effort of keeping a client engaged increased the assets under management by over 100%, on average per client. One of the problems uncovered was that the firm's advisors tended to spend more quality time with clients they were more socially connected to and liked. However, they neglected the less social clients.

That means that clients doubled the firm's total AUM as long as they were engaged in consistent contact. The most astounding statistic was that the losses incurred by clients leaving the firm stagnated its growth. So, their conclusion was to commit resources to improve customer experience.

Client Communications
The first concern was communications. They knew that communicating with clients in a meaningful and personal way was time-consuming and erratic. Their communication schedules were constantly interrupted by more important distractions. The solution lies in a robust system of client communications that is automated, relevant, personal, and timely — most of all, interesting.

Email is one of the most convenient methods of communicating that can be automated, containing relevant, timely, and compelling information. It does have some shortcomings, however. It isn't as straightforward to be personal with written content. That's where video comes in to fill the void.

Video provides communication from the advisor to the client face-to-face, so to speak. If not able to converse, the client can still see and hear the advisor. In the short-term, this method will do. When the timing is right, you can talk with the client in person. With consistent video communications, the client makes the call when they're ready, but the advisor gets to stay in touch.

There are two types of video communications. Personal videos that address the client by name and evergreen videos that can be used multiple times. When appropriate, evergreen videos can be sent to several recipients.

At times, email can also have low open rates that don't increase beyond the teens. That can be improved with relevant, relatable information, delivered attractively, and engagingly.

People buy from people they like and trust. Your job is to help them like and trust you. Regularly, seeing and hearing from you is key in creating likability and forming trust. It's not the client's responsibility to remain a client. It is your responsibility to keep them engaged and not lose them to a competitor.

Kim Magdalein is an advisor with 30 years of speaking and writing experience about prospecting and marketing in the industry. Co-founder of Seminars for Less nearly 20 years ago, he is a leader in seminar marketing, assisting financial advisors and insurance agents. Contact Kim at www.seminarsforless.com.