Put on your game face: Demonstrating your value to clients

I once had the privilege of meeting an NFL coach. He told me about his 80- to 100-hour work week during which he and his fellow coaches would watch endless film, attend coach meetings, set drills, ran practice and much more. He poured his soul into preparing his players to win every Sunday. But there were no fans watching him analyze film, work out his players, or prepare a game plan.

No one cared.

The only thing the fans cared about was the 180 minutes on Sunday when they came to watch their favourite team win and be entertained. Everything the team did revolved around those 180 minutes when the team was in front of their very best customers.

The most successful advisors I know have the same mentality as the top athletes and coaches. They all understand the value of preparation, but they also realize it’s all meaningless unless they put their game face on during investor meetings and show exactly how they have been adding value for their clients.

The lesson: think of your client meetings as game day. You can work endless hours but the most important time you will spend is the time spent with your best clients. That is when you can best demonstrate your value to them. Here are three ways to show your clients all the work and preparation you do on their behalf:

1. Show clients that you are listening to their needs.

Try sitting down with your very best client and ask one simple question: “Tell me your story. Where did you grow up? How did you choose your career? How did you meet your spouse?” Keep quiet and take lots of notes. If you hear something interesting or something the client appears passionate about, ask additional questions if you don’t get all the details. It can be a little uncomfortable the first time, but I guarantee you will learn more than you expected. If there are some gaps in the quantitative aspects of their situation, try your best to gather that information before or after the meeting. Your best clients are often your busiest clients and the last thing they want is to spend an hour with you updating you on where all their money is and whether you have their correct postal code or e-mail address.

2. Go beyond portfolio performance.

Once you have all this valuable information, do not just file it, never to be used. What makes your clients competitor-proof and your biggest advocates is that you know more about them than anyone else. In essence, you now have an extensive scouting report on them and you can use this information to get them organized.

I give my advisor much more leeway with how my portfolio is performing because he got me organized. Here is the value he showed me beyond portfolio performance:

• a financial plan to give me clarity on how much I need to save to meet my current spending needs and for retirement
• the piece of mind that my family will be taken care of if anything were to happen to me
• income splitting to reduce our tax liability in retirement
• RESPs for our children
• a will that ensured our wishes were followed through with after my wife and I are gone

My investment portfolio is only one part of a larger complement of things we do together, and we moved my plan forward even in a year like 2008. With his contacts at the bank he helped me refinance my mortgage, which saved me money. I thanked him as I walked out of our 2008 year-end review.

3. Plan for the moment, not just the future.

After doing a deep analysis of your client’s situation, combine that information with the financial data you have to build your client a plan. Your next client meeting will be a review, using what we like to call a discovery agreement, which summarizes what the client told you was important.

Present your clients with a one-page roadmap that highlights how you are going to help them get all their goals accomplished. Do not make the mistake of going over the whole financial plan in one meeting, or you are bound to lose even the most attentive client before you are done. Present the highest priority issue first and leave the rest for future meetings, unless it is absolutely necessary. One of the greatest values advisors bring to their clients is the ability to prioritize what needs to happen today, what can wait three months and what can wait two years or more.

Showing client appreciation

Showing your value to clients comes in many forms and strategies, but in the end, it is all about providing the personal touch.

Consider designating someone on your staff the role of “director of first impressions.” Before every meeting our advisor sends us a note thanking us for the time we are going to spend with him, along with a copy of our roadmap, which outlines what we are going to review. When we arrive we are greeted by one of the staff and my wife is brought her hot tea and a copy of Architectural Digest. (We are renovating and my wife loves to decorate.) We always meet in a bright room with fresh flowers, cold water and a bowl of chocolates in case we missed lunch. By the time we start the meeting, we are always more relaxed than when we arrived and are ready to work on the tasks at hand.

Showing clients your value is all about helping them understand all the work you do behind the scenes to protect their portfolio and put them at ease. Just as in sports, you could argue that winning over clients in this business is 30% preparation and 70% demonstration.

Keith Pangretitsch is the director of private client services at Russell Investments Canada.

(10/13/09)