Build client loyalty with a strong communication strategy

Part 1 of 4

A strong communication strategy is vital for financial advisors, and improving your approach can help you earn client loyalty, according to communication coach Teresa Easler.

Easler is founder of Connect to the Core Inc., which helps individuals and companies improve their communication strategies. For financial advisors, she emphasizes the importance for communication to be consistent, relevant, and framed in a positive manner.

Maintaining regular contact with clients, particularly during challenging periods such as the market turmoil of 2008 and 2009, is critical for advisors, Easler said. In the past year, she said she witnessed many advisors scale back contact with clients because they were afraid of acknowledging the market turmoil.

“Clients are leaving those advisors in droves,” said Easler, speaking Friday to advisors in Toronto at a conference organized by Advocis. “They’re looking for other advisors who will talk to them.”

She urges advisors to be stay in communication more than ever during times of market uncertainty.

Furthermore, Easler said advisors need to make the communication relevant to clients. Rather than focusing conversations on markets and financial trends, she says advisors should talk to clients about things going on in their lives. Since clients can access market information on the internet, Easler said they aren’t looking to get this type of information from their advisor.

“Talk to them about things that are important to them,” she said. “It may have nothing to do with financial information. It may just be either listening to them or sending them information that is useful and relevant to their lives.”

Another strategy that Easler recommends for advisors, especially during periods of uncertainty, is a positive attitude: “Remain in a positive frame of mind,” she said.

She notes that since people are generally drawn to positivity, an optimistic advisor will be more likely to gain clients and make sales.

“It makes selling so easy, because you don’t have to sell,” she explained. “You draw people to you just by who you are.”

Using these communication strategies can help clients generate client loyalty, according to Easler, since loyalty is based on emotions — not intellect. By listening to clients and discussing issues important to them, she said advisors could establish a connection that engages the client’s emotions — something that cannot be established by discussing market data.