- You collect the information: One of your COI relationships has a child who chose Dartmouth over Harvard. After digging deeper, you learn the family always vacationed in New Hampshire, so the state holds particular meaning for the child and that factored into the decision to attend Dartmouth.
- You capture the information: By capturing the family’s personal interests along with the college selection information in your CRM system, that helps you institutionalize that knowledge and be positioned to show your clients that you listened and that you care about them.
- You capitalize on the information: For starters, you can send the client’s child a congratulations letter wishing them well along with a copy of a book about the 10 Secrets of College Success. At the start of the new school year, you send an email to your client with a few nearby shops and restaurants in the area that you’ve researched and know they would enjoy. You also send your client a gift certificate to a bed and breakfast near the campus, with a note wishing them well as they embark on a new adventure in an extra special place.
That level of personal touch will most likely have your client experiencing a level of engagement they typically haven’t experienced with others. These are the types of interactions that make a difference and help build loyalty.
Leveraging Across Your Client Base
On a broader note, once you’ve captured information on all of your clients, you can start to look for opportunities to scale activities that may appeal to a cross-section of your client base. For example:
- Do your clients share hobbies, interests or backgrounds?
- Are there consistencies in the types of things they care about?
- Are there similarities in professional background, charitable endeavors, family type, academic backgrounds, stage of life, or travel interests?
Use this information to plan events like seminars, workshops, dinners, and sports outings for like-minded clients and prospects. You can also use these themes to inform topic areas for educational forums, newsletter articles, or content for your Web site.
We’ve all heard it - “Knowledge is power.” The 3 Cs approach takes this a step further, emphasizing the fact that your knowledge is only powerful when you put it to work to help strengthen relationships. By collecting more valuable information, capturing it in a useful way in your CRM system, and capitalizing on that information in a meaningful way, you can deepen client engagement and perhaps even grow your business.
Ross Ozer is senior vice president and head of marketing for Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. He also leads the marketing consulting practice where he helps advisors maximize their marketing efforts to drive new growth for their businesses.