Personalized portfolio reviews and one-on-one contact with clients are essential, especially in turbulent markets such as those we’ve seen of late. But the challenge in stressful times is trying to reach everyone in person, given the number of people who will want to hear from you.

Town halls and conference calls can be effective supplements to regular contact. But during market turmoil, even these can fall short of the frequency of updates that some clients are seeking. That’s where a strategy comes in that one advisor employed in 2008 and began using again in the past month.



> Offer To Send Articles And Videos

In September of 2008, I sat down with Robert, a 20-year veteran of the financial services industry and a multimillion-dollar producer who wanted to talk about ramping up his client contact.

As a result of our conversation, Robert and two associates on his team began calling clients with this offer: “Given what’s happened to markets, we have ramped up the time we spend each week reviewing a variety of the very best sources for new insights. In light of the current uncertainty, I’d be happy to send you articles or video interviews I find especially relevant. Is this something that would be of interest?”

Almost without exception, clients expressed strong interest in this information.

Then, Robert and his team asked a follow-up question: “And how frequently would you like to get an article or video? I could send these to you once a week, once every two weeks or once a month.”

Most clients responded that they’d like to receive these items weekly, although some did choose another option. In each case, Robert promised to start sending these emails. He also asked clients to call or email if they had followup questions.



> Making Weekly Emails Happen

When I met with Robert, I suggested he send out the emails on Saturday mornings. First, because clients were more likely to be able to focus on the articles on a Saturday and, second, because of the message this implied that Robert and his team were going the extra mile and not treating the crisis as business as usual.

Robert and his team set up a schedule. First, they had to select the weekly item to go to clients by end of day on Wednesday; Robert’s branch manager agreed that if he received the article or video on a Wednesday, approval would follow no later than noon on the following Friday.

Each weekend, Robert and his team divided up responsibility for reviewing publications such as Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg Business Week, the New York Times, the Economist and the Financial Times. They also looked at Barron’s and the Wall Street Journal.

Robert and his team also looked for videos they could email to clients. The team began viewing the PBS interview shows hosted by Charlie Rose and Consuelo Mack, and also divided up responsibility for checking the schedules on the Bloomberg and CNBC networks for possible videos. Finally, Robert asked contacts at his head office and wholesalers he dealt with to forward articles that might be of interest to his clients.

On Wednesday morning, Robert and his team sat down to review candidates for the Saturday email. Their problem was never finding something to send; it was choosing only one item. In fact, partly due to client requests for more articles, Robert began sending out links to two items each week.

Once the team made its selection, Robert wrote a short note to go along with the article or video, which he submitted for compliance approval at the same time as the relevant item.

Finally, all clients were divided into three categories for the Saturday emails. For those who chose the weekly option, the email began: “When we spoke, you indicated you’d like to receive an article or video once a week. If you’d like to get this less often, please let me know.”

A similar email asking for individual preferences should be sent to clients who chose the biweekly or monthly options.



> Leveraging Client Communication With Prospects

The response from Robert’s clients was overwhelmingly positive. Several told Robert they looked forward to getting his Saturday email and mentioned that their friends weren’t getting anything like this.@page_break@As a result, Robert began adding a postscript to his email messages: “A number of my clients have asked if I could add friends or family members to the distribution list for these emails. Feel free to forward this email to anyone who might be interested. Should your friends wish to start receiving these, have them drop me a note and I’d be pleased to add them to the list.”

A few prospects were added to the distribution list as a result, but only a few. So, Robert and his team did two other things to extend the reach of their weekly emails.

When meeting face to face with clients for their reviews, most clients mentioned the weekly emails. When that happened, whoever was conducting the review would say that many clients had said that their friends weren’t getting anything like this. Then, the team member asked these clients to check with anyone they thought might be interested in the Saturday emails and to let the team know if the clients’ friends would like to receive those emails.

In addition, Robert and his team put together a list of potential clients, including accountants and lawyers for existing clients, prospects they met with who hadn’t signed on at the time and people Robert knew from his membership on a couple of boards.

Even in the face of crazy markets and full schedules of client calls and meetings, each team member set aside 30 minutes to call the people on their list at 11 a.m. on Fridays with this offer: “Given what’s happened to markets, each Saturday I’ve begun sending clients one article or short video from the past week that I’ve found especially useful, from sources such as Fortune, the New York Times and the Economist. For example, last week, there was an interview with the chief economist of the IMF. I’ve had an exceptional response from clients, and it occurred to me that you might find these useful as well. If you like, I’d be happy to add you to the list.”

Many people quickly accepted. Over lunch, Robert and his associates discussed the number of prospects who had agreed to receive the emails that day. If they had made at least two new additions to the list, Robert paid for lunch. But if he had added two more than the other team members had, they bought him lunch.

Three months later, Robert and his team checked in with those prospective clients. More than 25% of these calls led to a meeting with a potential client, with the most common comment being: “I hear much more from you than I do from my own advisor.”



> The Benefits Of Weekly Contact

Three clear benefits to these weekly emails emerged. First, retention among existing clients was almost 100%. In a period when most investors were complaining about lack of contact from their advisors, Robert and his team were in front of clients each and every week with an interesting, useful and credible perspective.

Second, the emails led to a record number of fruitful meetings with interested prospects, with many of these leading to new accounts.

Finally, as a result of the time spent each week on reviewing articles and videos for the Saturday email, Robert and his team felt more confident in their meetings with both existing and prospective clients. That confidence helped them keep existing clients calm.

With the success of these weekly emails following the 2008 crisis, you’d think that Robert and his team would have continued to send them. But you’d be wrong. With the onset of summer vacations in June of 2009 and with a return to better news in the economy and stock markets, Robert sent clients an email saying he was suspending those emails, as it appeared that the crisis had passed. He intended to start up again in the autumn of 2009 on a less frequent basis, but never got around to doing it.

Due to the dire headlines of the past month, Robert had a couple of clients ask if he was planning to resume sending out the articles. As a result, he again began sending his Saturday emails in early August. And, once again, he has received an extraordinarily positive response.

Robert recently told me he’d forgotten how much clients liked these emails. “In 20 years in the business,” he said, “nothing has gotten the response of those Saturday morning emails. This time, we’re sticking to them, regardless of what improvements we see to the economy and stock market. There’s no better way to stay in front of existing and prospective clients.” IE



Dan Richards is CEO of Clientinsights (www.clientinsights.ca) in Toronto. To read other columns by this sales expert, visit www.investmentexecutive.com.