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If you ask any advisor about his performance he is quite naturally likely to quote the rates of return he has achieved for his clients. However performance to women is much more than that. While you may think that you are being hired simply to deliver a good return on your clients’ money, you’re not.
The biggest risk to your practice is not underperforming in your portfolios. It’s failing to forge strong personal relationships with the people you serve or seek to serve.
But what does that mean? And how do you know when you’re doing it well? Ask yourself a few questions, not just about one client, but all your clients.
If you know or care very little about them and their personal lives, you probably don’t have much of a relationship. Would they consider you a friend? How much do you know about their family, their health, their pets, their careers, and their passions? Would you be comfortable enough together to go out for dinner – and not just to discuss their portfolio?
It’s that type of knowledge and connectedness that forge strong personal relationships. If you make friends with your clients, there is a good chance you will succeed in making them clients for life (and maybe even their kids after them). But if you know little beyond what they hold in their portfolio and you only talk to them once or twice a year, you’re at risk – whether you think you are or not.
So how do you go about getting to that point of “friendship”? Start with the women in your client roster. They are key to taking your relationship from “advisor / client” to “close personal relationship”.
Related: Are You Worth What You Charge?
Is there risk in getting close to your clients? Yes, if you try to fake it. Women especially will see your efforts as a “sales tactic.” But if you are genuine, the rewards are yours as an advisor and as a human being.
Takeaway: Risk more than your client’s money, risk being real.
For more insights on the benefits of and how to get close to your clients visit us at www.strategymarketing.ca