Rethinking The Quarterly Client Meeting

September 22, 2010 • Page 2 of 2

Other advisors see problems with such an approach. They note that clients may not always be bold enough to ask for a meeting, even when it's in their interest. Clients also may hesitate to raise issues in a group setting.

David Katz, principal at Weiser Capital Management, an advisory firm with offices throughout the country and abroad, points to the example of a client in a sensitive financial situation--say, having to support a child suffering from a drug addiction. "You can't get to hear these things" outside a private, face-to-face meeting, says Katz.

Katz doubts his firm will ever abandon the quarterly meeting.

"It's a relationship business, and the meeting time is important in nurturing that relationship," he concludes.

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2 Comments

Comments

Bob Simpson 13 years ago

Ditch quarterly meetings?

Ditch quarterly meetings? I actually like the idea of a "structured series of classes" as a way to teach clients about investing and wealth management issues but regularly scheduled meetings are necessary to build client engagement and satisfaction. Instead of simply educating your clients, focus on helping them understand who they are (strengths, weaknesses, blind spots), help them set realistic personal and financial goals and then systematically solve problems relating to the different aspects of wealth planning. This is done through discovery. Imagine how different your meetings would be if you spent 70% of every meeting in discovery sessions. Your clients would feel much more engaged and would make much more confident and committed decisions. You feel better when your clients feel better and more confident and when they achieve greater results. Isn't it the worst feeling when you are jamming information and numbers at a client and their eyes start to glaze over? According to a Gallup study, when clients are more engaged, business performance increases by 70%. Client satisfaction happens when engagement happens. Education alone will not support sustainable growth for either clients or advisors. Instead only work with the right clients and spend the time (regularly scheduled meetings) to get all aspects of a comprehensive wealth plan in place and you both you and your clients will benefit.
[email protected] 13 years ago

Bill06

Do all of your clients wear the same size shoes? Type, frequency, and content of client contacts must be tailored to the needs of each individual client. With some you don't have to have very many quarterly meetings before you realize that isn't their cup of tea. Others may need to hear from you more frequently; often an email or telephone call will suffice. Most don't even require information on the performance of their investments or the current market climate in order to be satisfied with the contact. I have one client in particular who acts as if he's interested in buying into every "get rich quick" scheme he sees on the internet or on TV. After several years of this I'm now convinced he calls me on these things primarily so I can tell him No! He uses feigned interest as a vehicle to interact. And to be honest, I enjoy these opportunities to shoot down some of the cons just as much as he does presenting me with them. Any cookie-cutter approach will undoubtedly leave many of your clients dissatisfied. If you don't know them well enough to know which buttons require pushing, you have too many clients. That problem will probably rectify itself.

Rethinking The Quarterly Client Meeting

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