Pitch services, not products

A new CIBC survey suggests that although clients believe they would benefit from financial advice, they’re reluctant to seek it

By: Tessie Sanci
February 27, 2015 October 30, 2019
00:00

Clients seem to be more skeptical about the objectivity of the advice they receive from financial advisors, which may be keeping those clients from asking for help, says Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning with Toronto-based Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce‘s (CIBC) wealth advisory services division.

In a recent CIBC survey, 66% of respondents said they believe they would benefit from additional financial knowledge or advice. Yet, although 52% of survey participants said they have struggled making financial decisions because of their lack of knowledge, 46% were not planning on seeing an advisor in the next year.

Clients need to believe they can talk to advisors about financial solutions, not financial products, Golombek says: “If a financial advisor can position [him- or herself] as the trusted source of good personal finance information, then [that advisor] would go a long way toward winning the client’s trust.”

Although helping clients choose their investments is important, you should focus on having broader discussions with your clients about retirement planning and mortgage payments, Golombek says.

The results of the survey could be a good topic of conversation between you and your clients, says Sara Gilbert, founder of Strategist Business Development in Montreal: “An advisor can share [the survey] with his or her clients and invite them to share it with people [they know].”

In fact, you could ask your clients questions about the results of the survey, such as whether your clients are reluctant to talk to you about certain issues and the concerns that keep those clients up at night.

“The relationship you have with your client is going to go up a notch [as a result of this conversation],” Gilbert says.

Financial services firms also have a role to play in improving client/advisor relationships. The broader financial discussions that advisors have with clients must have substance behind them – in the form of specialists that can offer advice in areas such as taxes, estate planning, debt, etc.

“You have to make sure your firm not only markets itself, but actually has this type of expertise [in-house],” Golombek says. “Many clients are looking for those types of full-service firms.”