Put on your game face: Demonstrating your value to clients

• 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)