Third, ensure you can be consistent. The only way to make this work is to build this dataset on a client or prospect over time and leverage trends in engagement not only to build an understanding of your current contacts but also to help inform how best to engage new prospects that are yet to raise their hand indicating interest in your perspective.
Hortz: Any other thoughts or recommendations you would like to share with us?
Kenalty: Improving client communication is an easy and impactful win for advisors and firms with the right technology and strategy. Despite industry data saying how important it is for clients, we continue to see low importance and adoption by advisors due to perceptions of the effort being too labor and time intensive. Affordable technology though is now available making it easy to deliver relevant, proactive and high-impact communications at scale. It is time to try it before your competitors do.
Rogerson: When developing a financial plan for their clients, advisors innately begin with their client’s goals in mind. However, most marketing and sales campaigns conducted by or on behalf of these same advisors continue to be centered on the promotion of themselves, their services and their firm — rather than aiding a current or prospective client in their own self-directed research. Collecting this data alone, while helpful, cannot alone solve today’s communication challenge. It is only when one’s understanding is actually used to adjust what content is being delivered and how it is being packaged that advisors can truly take a client-first approach to communication.
The Institute for Innovation Development is an educational and business development catalyst for growth-oriented financial advisors and financial services firms determined to lead their businesses in an operating environment of accelerating business and cultural change. We position our members with the necessary ongoing innovation resources and best practices to drive and facilitate their next-generation growth, differentiation and unique community engagement strategies. The institute was launched with the support and foresight of our founding sponsors — Ultimus Fund Solutions, NASDAQ, FLX Networks, Pershing, Fidelity, Voya Financial and Charter Financial Publishing (publisher of Financial Advisor and Private Wealth magazines).