“Quirky” online videos can build client relationships

Have more meaningful conversations with clients by adding online videos to your practice.

The Investor Education Fund, a non-profit organization established by the OSC, has created 30-second videos explaining investment concepts like ETFs, GICs and retirement savings.

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They’re well-written and accurate, says advisor Bruce Cumming, who’s a senior investment advisor for Dundee Wealth in Oakville, Ont.

And the animated shorts are “quirky, fast and fun,” notes Kathleen Peace, an advisor with Bennett March in Toronto. Advisors can use them to prepare clients for in-depth conversations about investment needs, she adds.

“I don’t have to start the meeting with, ‘This is a stock, this is a bond.’ I can recap it, but it doesn’t have to take so much time. I can get down to the nitty-gritty of how we are actually going to manage their portfolios,” she explains.

Her firm is making its own videos. She’ll email them to clients to remind them of what they discussed in their last conversation or introduce new concepts for next time.

“It makes for a richer conversation,” she notes.

The IEF videos would be most useful to younger advisors and investors, says Kathy McMillan, an advisor at Richardson GMP in Calgary.

Cumming agrees. He recently helped the daughter of a client get her finances in shape.

“I was teaching her all that stuff, but I could have just as easily referred her, even as a follow-up, to just take a look at those 30-second vignettes,” he says.

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He appreciated the “comprehensiveness and quality” of the IEF spots, he adds.

When working with his actual clients, whom he describes as sophisticated investors, he prefers a more traditional approach.

“I spend a lot of time at my whiteboard explaining concepts, or just reinforcing what they already know, but I don’t use videos to do that,” he explains.

Videos shouldn’t replace face-to-face conversation, he adds.

“We walk a fine line, because I am the one who is to be teacher. I am the one who wants to build the relationship through my knowledge. I don’t want to send them to a video to learn the basics, which I feel I’m providing. So there is a bit of conflict,” he says.

Peace says the videos won’t replace her work, but rather complement it.

“I would never delegate it. There would always be a discussion before or after. It would never be, ‘You want to learn about TFSAs? Watch this video; see you next year,’ ” she says. “It’s more an expansion on what you’ve already discussed with the client, or what you’re going to discuss.”

Peace and McMillan note the videos would also be useful as icebreakers.

“They would be useful if you met a prospect, and after [meeting him] you sent one video and said, ‘I know you were asking about TFSAs. Check out this video — I thought you’d be interested,’ ” says Peace.

Most clients aren’t thinking about investment concepts or new products in between meetings, she notes. That’s where the videos come in.

“Any tool that can help make your client feel more empowered is a good thing,” says Peace.

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