While advisors may think widows and widowers should be willing to start making important decisions again after a year or two of mourning, that is very often the period when they are most numb with shock, Bradley said.
The simple tactic of asking clients how they prefer to receive communication can help with client retention, she said. “Communication is a main tool for advisors to use with widowed clients who say they can feel unheard, misunderstood, at a loss of confidence and unable to understand financial advice.”
Get it wrong, and widowed clients flee, as statistics tell us.
“Get it right and it’s 70% of the reason why widows come in an advisor’s door,” Bradley said. “If you become the go-to for widows and widowers, you’ll never be at a loss for new business. You just have to get the human side right.”
Bradley will also be speaking at Financial Advisor's upcoming Invest In Women conference.