Of course, we want people to know that our clients think very highly of our skills as investment advisors but it’s not the rest the world’s business who our clients are. Moreover, in a world with such heightened sensitivity about privacy and security of personal information I think testimonials could send a message that will not be as well received today as perhaps it might have been in the past.
Don’t discount the tacky factor. Think about it for a minute when you’re at your local club having a nice time and some guy starts talking about his clients, dropping names all over the bar. Do you think “Wow, he’s got some bigwig clients. I wish I could be a client, too.” or do you think, “I wonder if his clients know that he is running his mouth at the bar. What a jerk!”
I realize that tacky is a subjective term and a lot of this depends on your personal style but when I talk about client situations to people that aren’t clients, I never mentioned the client’s name or give any specifics such that they could identify who they are. I would never say “one of my clients is one of the area’s prominent neurosurgeons” for instance.
People do that to drop in that they work with a brain surgeon thinking it makes them sound smart. Instead of showcasing your abilities, you are also presenting a clear example of your lack of discretion. A simple, “I saw a case where….” is an adequate introduction to most cases.
How confidential are your confidential dealings with clients? Do you make promises about maintaining confidentiality and then drop client names at social functions?
What do you do when prospective clients ask for client references? Some people have clients that that love them and are willing to have those conversations. I know we have many that would do that for us but we don’t ask them to. We’re supposed to be serving the clients not getting the clients to serve us.
Again, don’t get me wrong. We love to have clients singing our praise out in the community and they do but we know they do this to help their friends, not us. We’ve done such a good job, they are confident we will be good to those they care about. We’ve been good to and for them, after all. It is a natural result of doing a good job.
Since it is really all about them, I am not interested in having total strangers calling our clients to ask them about their experience with us. There is plenty of evidence that we know what we’re doing and do it with care.
When the question comes, I gently explain that there is very little value in getting client references because no advisor would ever put them in touch with a dissatisfied client. The vast majority of prospective clients are referred to us by someone they trust or at least ran our names by someone they trust before visiting us, so in a sense, they already have a reference. Through our process, they get to know us and how we work first hand and can judge rapport and style.
Today’s consumer is doing more research on the Web, where there is a wealth of information about us. Our clients are fairly well-connected and they know plenty of lawyers and accountants. I’ve been working in the area over 20 years and these same professionals know us, what it is like to work with us, and whether they think we are any good.