To better understand how to market and communicate with your clients, first we need to know what their expectations are. Clients judge the quality of their relationship with their adviser by the quality of the communication between them. "I cannot stress the importance of communication strongly enough," says Louis Harvey, President of Dalbar & Associates. "The number one reason an investor will leave a broker is that the client's expectations were not met and/or communicated clearly."
Failing to meet your clients' expectations will most definitely lead to losing that client. You must classify, define and understand your clients' expectations first; to better focus on meeting them.
I classify client's expectations in this manner — they have business, personal, and social needs, and consequently, expectations based on these needs. Meeting someone's expectations isn't merely meeting their needs, it involves fulfilling their needs as they wish. This could be entirely different! This is why it's important to not only discuss their needs, but to fully understand what their expectations are and how to meet them.
- Business Needs — This includes your professionalism, credentials, and quality of advice (completeness, appropriateness and presentation), your reporting and analysis and your performance record (ROI, preservation and volatility).
- Personal Needs — This includes trust, rapport, how much they think you care about them and their financial success, that your philosophy is in line with theirs, that you provide exceptional service and timely advice and that you bring exceptional value to the relationship by keeping your clients well informed about all issues that might concern them.
- Social Needs — This includes showing appreciation for their business, that your clients place value in having a more personal relationship with you and in social interaction, appreciation and gratification, providing opportunities to meet their social expectations and do they feel comfortable enough with you to refer you in social settings.
In order to understand what your clients' expectations are, you need to discuss each of these categorized needs. Only then will you be able to begin to fulfill their needs and exceed their expectations. The more you fulfill their various needs, the more comfortable they'll be in referring people to you and staying a loyal client for years to come. It's also good to know which needs are most important to them. Fulfilling these needs first makes you referable and promotes long-lasting relationships.
No matter what value clients place on each of these needs, one thing remains constant — communication is at the forefront of creating strong, long-lasting relationships. And guess what? We're in the communication age. If you don't embrace your communication skills and strategy, you will effectively lower your chances and level of success. What happens if you communicate clearly with clients and exceed their expectations? You effectively increase your chances of success and the level of success you will achieve.
Better communication isn't the end product; it's the means to an end — stronger relationships, which is what clients want. Clients want relationships that add value to what's otherwise an arm's length business transaction they can get at a bank or brokerage. Do you read me? But it's not just YOU that matters; it's US that matters most! As mentioned above, communication is at the forefront of building strong relationships with your clients. This program and collection of articles are aimed at helping you understand and formulate an efficient and effective, leading edge communication strategy.
Think-Exercise: Client Communications — How Do I Measure Up?
- How often do you contact or communicate with your clients?
- How well do you communicate? How consistently do you communicate your message? How appropriately do you communicate?
- How do you speak to clients, do you communicate effectively? How well is what you are trying to communicate understood?
- How well do you listen to what your clients are saying? Do you truly understand what your clients are trying to communicate, their wants, needs and concerns? Do you know how to get your clients to discuss their wants, needs and concerns?
- How well do you understand what they aren't saying? What are their expectations? How do you ask, clarify, and define their expectations so that you both have a good understanding of what to expect from each other?
- And which medium do you use to communicate?
The relationship between you and your client stems from your ability to communicate effectively with them including listening, discussing and understanding their wants, needs and concerns. With some advisers this comes naturally, but for most it means being aware and having a process.
