The theme of this year’s Advisor Growth Summit might be positioning businesses for a future of innovation and growth, but to Richard Beckel, who leads the practice management group at RBC Wealth Management, that’s not a "someday" proposition.
“I would argue that the future is already here within the financial services industry,” he said as he led a session today on maximizing the client experience. “And as business owners, financial advisors need to connect with their clients on an even deeper emotional level that they have ever had to before.”
The lynchpin of client relations, he said, is understanding that client service and client experience are not the same thing. In fact, service is only one aspect of the client experience, and while it’s important, it accounts for less than half of the advisor-client relationship.
“If you book a vacation on the phone, and the travel agent you are speaking with is friendly and helpful, that’s really good customer service,” he said. “Yet, if your tickets arrive early with a handwritten thank you, and the hotel upgrades your room with flowers, chocolates and champagne, then that’s a great client experience.”
If flowers, chocolates and champagne seem overboard for the average advisory client, there are plenty of ways to deliver experience that are no-cost or low-cost. The role of an advisor’s marketing program is to come up with experiences that clients can’t help talking about to their peers—peers who could become clients—and then consistently deliver on that, Beckel said.
“Your brand promise is what you commit to deliver to your clients,” he said. “What does your brand evoke in your clients’ minds? Have you ever even thought about it? And your brand is probably your most valuable asset.”
The complete client experience is a series of trust-building interactions that are unique, consistent, proactive and demonstrate a reciprocal relationship, he said. It’s not easy or reactive or built on a one-size-fits-all approach.
“It’s a consistent pattern of touches that you could almost systematize so you are always connecting with your clients. It’s getting in front of your clients’ needs, wants and wishes and wowing them by reaching out to them before they are reaching out to you,” he said.
Doing that requires getting to know clients well, and making sure colleagues at the firm who interact with them know them well, too. Practices that connect with their best clients at least monthly have 56% higher gross revenue than those that do not, Beckel said.
So what drives the client experience?
“Client loyalty by definition is not rational. In fact, loyalty is a function of memory. In economic terms, rationality means people will choose the product or service that will provide the greatest reward at the lowest cost,” Beckel said. “Yet client loyalty means that a client is willing to forego purchasing lower-priced identical products because of an irrational affinity for a particular product or service.”