Recently, I hosted a round-table lunch with a group of affluent investors. One woman, in her 60s, made a comment that caught the attention of everyone in the room.

“I don’t know how she does it,” the woman said, “but my financial advisor is amazing.

“About 20 years ago,” she continued, “I mentioned that I was taking up golf. And, three days later, a very funny book on golfing came in the mail with a note from her wishing me luck.

“Then, almost 10 years ago, I told her that my daughter-in-law was expecting our first grandchild. The next day, a courier arrived with a note of congratulations and three hilarious books of cartoons — one for me, and one each for my son and daughter-in-law.

“And then, to top it off, earlier this year, I told her that my husband and I were taking our six- and eight-year-old grandchildren to Disney World. And wouldn’t you know, she gives me a guide to taking kids to Disney World, with all kinds of tips and ideas.

“I ask you: how could you not love someone who cares that much?”

That testimony led to a conversation about how much the investors in the room felt their financial advisors truly cared about them. Most felt fairly comfortable about this, but a few did harbour some doubts. No one came close to the first client’s level of enthusiasm for her advisor.

After the lunch, one of the other attendees asked this woman for her advi-sor’s name.

> The Power Of Consistency At Work

Intrigued by this story, I also asked the woman for her advisor’s name, then called the advisor later that afternoon. The advisor laughed when I told her about the lunch.

“I’m glad that Susan is impressed,” the advisor said, “but there’s really no magic to this. When I came into the business 30 years ago, I decided I needed to do something to ensure clients knew how much I appreciated their business — something that really stood out.

I talked to some other advisors about what they did,” she continued. “Some took clients out golfing, to dinner or to the theatre.

“I thought about key moments in clients’ lives,” the advisor continued, “such as buying a house or having kids, and whether there was something I could do to tap into those events.

“I spent a Saturday afternoon at a bookstore looking for inexpensive, funny books that related to these moments. I found some great books of cartoons on these themes for about $5 and bought five copies of each. Whenever a client or prospective client mentioned that they were having a baby or buying a house, I would mail a book to them with a note.

“That was 30 years ago, and it has kind of become my signature.”

> Evolving An Approach Over Time

“This strategy works,” the advisor said, “because these books are personal, they tap into positive moments in clients’ lives, they’re unexpected and they’re upbeat and fun — and also because I do this consistently.

“Some things have changed, though. First, I’ve expanded the list of topics for which we send out books. There’s a cabinet in which we keep 10 copies of books on about 20 subjects that represent highlights in clients’ lives. Travel is a particularly popular topic.

“Second, I’m 30 years older and so are my clients. Today, most of the books are on topics such as retiring, turning 60 or going on a trip. One of the books that gets the best response is for women clients who are getting divorced: How to Ruin Your Ex-Husband’s Life, One Day at a Time, by Angela Martin.

“But we also keep books on issues that relate to adult children of my clients. Sending a client a book to give to their kids is a great way to open a conversation about meeting their kids, with a view to possibly opening an account.

“And, by the way, I don’t do this just with clients. If I’ve been talking to a prospective client for a while and they tell me they’re retiring or their kid is buying a house, I’ll send them a book on that topic. Or, if I’m talking to a client’s accountant and they say they’re going to Europe on holiday, I’ll send them one of Bill Bryson’s hilarious books about European travel. They’re always astonished, and often call to thank me.








@page_break@“Finally, today, it’s not just me who interacts with clients, but also my team of two associates and an assistant. Whenever anyone is talking to clients, we listen for things going on in their lives that we can respond to with one of our books. The key is that whenever a book is sent out, everyone signs it, so that clients know it’s from the whole team.

“I also encourage my team to suggest other topics that we should have a book on. We’re always looking for new subjects that we can tap into. In fact, the books for adult children were really the idea of one of my associates.”

> Making Initiatives Happen

“The cost of doing this really is trivial,” the advisor continued. “I still don’t wine and dine clients like other advisors in my office. If I spend $10 every two years to send a book to a client, that’s a fraction of what other advisors spend, but I consistently get phenomenal feedback, so I know it’s working.”

She concluded by saying that there are a couple of keys to making her strategy a success: “First, it’s something that my team and I really focus on. When we meet on Monday, we always take two minutes to talk about the clients that we sent a book to in the past week.

“We don’t do a lot of the stuff other advi-sors do in terms of relationship-building activity, so we can really concentrate on being good at this one thing.

“The second key is that we’ve organized this so that it’s easy to do. We keep those books in one place, already in envelopes, so all we have to do is grab a book, get everyone to sign it, and pop it in the mail.

“One of my assistant’s jobs is making sure we always have an inventory of all of our books. If we had to actually go out and buy the books we send each time, it just wouldn’t happen.”

> The Gap Between Intention And Action

I told this advisor how impressed I was by the discipline and focus she brought to the idea and her success in making it her signature activity with clients.

I also asked for permission to use it as a topic for this column.

Her answer was instructive: “You’re more than welcome to write a column on this, and I’ll email you a list of the books I use. Feel free to include it in your column. Frankly, if I thought that many advisors would copy this, I might hesitate. But over the years, I’ve been asked to talk about the idea at our Chairman’s Club meetings three times. It always got a great response. But, as far as I know, no one is actually doing it, so I’m not too concerned about a flood of advisors copying this idea.”

Whether this idea is one that appeals to you, there are four critical lessons.

First, it’s not enough to care about clients. You have to let them know that you care, in ways that really stand out and that are disconnected from anything that generates short-term revenue. One reason why this strategy has such impact is that it is unambiguously based on the agendas of the clients who receive them, not that of the advisor.

Second, the commitment and consistency in doing one thing and doing it well over a long period is important.

Third, note the impact things that seem minor on the surface can make if they’re aligned with the things clients really care about. What struck me the most about this whole conversation was that the client who brought this up had received three books in 20 years. She not only remembered them all, but saw those books as symbolizing her advisor’s commitment to their relationship.

The final lesson is in the need to find ways to streamline the execution of any ideas you have to ensure they can be sustained over time. For a list of the books this advisor sends to clients, see Books to send to clients to mark special occasions.

IE

Dan Richards is CEO of Clientinsights (www.clientinsights.ca) in Toronto. For other columns, visit www.investmentexecutive.com.