[Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series.]

How has Covid-19 changed retirement? What things are going on that will impact financial professionals more than others? How about clients? What do they need to be aware of? Are there ways we can capitalize on these emerging trends to not only highlight the adaptive nature of our profession and differentiate our individual firms, but also deliver better service and returns for our clients?

We all know that the pandemic has changed life as we know it, and while we all hope to return to some sense of normalcy, there are a number of trends unfolding that will continue to shape our society, the economy and the businesses of the future. I’ll start with three game-changing trends for financial professionals and then turn to three post pandemic retirement trends impacting clients. Both are designed to help facilitate business development conversations as well as client dialogue going forward.

To start, many of us began our careers meeting clients face-to-face and knee-to-knee, doing things like reflective listening and mirroring. But that’s all changed. People can no longer see your smile behind a mask, admire your wall of degrees and designations or displayed images of you in a newspaper or magazine.  Furthermore, a new client may not be able to or want to walk into your office and get a sense of your family or community involvement.   

Instead, they may only be able to see a small, 4x4 space behind your laptop. So, how will prospects garner a first impression and what will replace a firm handshake, hug or pat on the back in this post pandemic era of retirement planning? Reality is, a new set of trust factors has emerged that both new and existing clients will use to select and keep assets with us that includes social proof, screen skills and personal marketing.

Social Proof
What happens if someone googles your name? What comes up? Is it your LinkedIn profile, a personal Facebook page, your political rants on Twitter, or is it your generic bio on a company website? More importantly, what do you want to come up? Most advisors don’t have an answer to that last question but it’s taking center stage now.  Too often advisors assume their digital image reflects their personal perspective, but nothing could be further from the truth. Taking it one step further, what happens when people google your company name? Does it come up on the top of the page or is it buried at the bottom or on the dreaded second page? Does it show up correctly in a map app and have how people rated your service, good or bad?

The key issue here is that clients don’t necessarily hire your firm as much as they hire you. Additionally, they tend to work with people that are like them or have shared values. Therefore, your digital footprint should reflect the things that are important to you and your clients. In other words, they should be able to see who you are and what is important to you by looking you up online.

The biggest gap I see in this area for advisors is that on their company website and online communications say things like, “You aren’t just a number to us” or they label themselves as “holistic financial planners.” However, when you look at their online profiles and company websites, there is no proof in the pudding. Thereby suggesting, you’re just another regular advisor who talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. As a result, advisors need to take a hard, strategic look at their digital footprint and make sure they have social proof in terms of content, images and video links that not only paints the right picture of them but also helps differentiate them from others.

Screen Skills
We obviously know that many client meetings have moved online, but most people have very little experience interacting with people on this medium. Unfortunately, many advisors assume they are pretty good at it because they have never had someone complain or analyze their style and efforts. But the way you dress, your pace of speech, camera angle and distance from your face, the lighting, sound quality and how you use your hands are just a few of the essentials you need to consider.

In the last year, I have recorded dozens of videos for conferences, industry training designations, and online media platforms. During that time, I have had my video set-up and skills run through the ringer by media professionals who want things to look and feel high-end. That has meant investing in a separate 1080p camera, upgrading my mic but keeping it out of camera view, using two ring lights to reduce shadows and updating my wardrobe to more solid-colored dress shirts so lines don’t appear on lower quality cameras. Furthermore, camera height, looking into the camera rather than the people on the screen, and making sure the office HVAC system doesn’t kick on to disrupt audio quality are just a few of the things people haven’t given much thought to but all too often play out negatively on camera.

Personal Marketing
I am not sure how much advisors pay for generic marketing material but since social proof is so important going forward, advisors need to start to develop ways to produce content that reflects their personal values and their firm’s mission.

It’s a given that people love stories, especially personal ones, but it seems this very human approach to the marketing has all been forgotten and replaced by generic content in an effort to streamline things and make your website a so-called destination. But fact is, people don’t go to your website to see how markets are doing, to check IRS tax rates or to watch a video on what a 401k rollover is. Take a second to ask yourself if any clients have come in and said, “Hey, I watched a couple of the videos on your website (or read a couple of articles) and want to talk about beneficiary designations and a Roth conversion.” It’s not likely the case, so replace the generic stuff with more personal marketing that tells a story that includes something about you and lessons you have learned through experience or with other clients.

You can see a quick example of how I do this with the monthly column for Financial Advisor with these two stories, Stairway To A Better Retirement, and Shopping For A Better Retirement. Obviously, these articles are designed for financial professionals, but can easily be tweaked to make a similar point to clients. In essence, think of personal marketing as opening a door into your life and using it to help people see and plan for a better life after retirement. This is important for a couple reasons. First, it shows the human side of you that can never be replaced by a robo-advisor or other form of Fintech. Second, it builds what I call KLT—know you, like you, trust you. This is undoubtedly the new online foundation for not only attracting new business but also retaining existing clients. 

While these three trends are designed to help advisors adapt and thrive in a post-pandemic era of retirement planning, in part two of the series I will be discussing three trends that impact clients and their transition into retirement. They include a new “ism” that will spawn technology aides or nurses, the forming of social pods and the latest threat to client’s assets in retirement, the subscription drawdown.  

Overall, when it comes to post-pandemic life for advisors helping people transition into the world of retirement, its essential to recognize that there are a new set of trust factors that we have to acknowledge and begin to use.  That means making sure the way people previously viewed us in person are equally demonstrated online. That includes improving our screen skills and making sure our online meetings or presentations not only look and sound professional but also reflect our personality and style. Finally, the new era of retirement planning requires our content marketing to leverage our humanity. When people visit your website or social media pages, they want and need to get a glimpse of you, not the latest news or market insight.

Robert Laura is a best-selling author, nationally syndicated columnist and president of Wealth & Wellness Group. He is a seasoned conference speaker, corporate trainer and pioneer in “The New Era Of Retirement,” which focuses on the non-financial aspects of life after work. He can be reached at [email protected].