Retaining Millennials: Speak Their Language
Ultimately no firm will find lasting success if they cannot retain the interest of millennials in their financial advice offerings. The wealthy, long-time financial clients may still seem like the more attractive base to focus on, but they will be replaced in coming years as the industry faces a historic transfer of wealth to the tune of $30 Trillion. The key for wealth management firms to stay in business is to spend time and resources on understanding the new generation of clients, adapting to their desires and needs, properly segmenting them based on behaviors and real-time service, and marketing to them directly.
Many wealth management firms have a rocky road ahead of them. Navigating an entirely new customer base is never easy. With the rise and influx of digital innovation and the Internet of Things, they will be vying for millennial business against software solutions and against competitors who are pioneering the digital transformation curve in wealth management. The time to shift traditional thinking is now, or wealth management firms could succumb to software competitors.
Steven Ridder is a practice advisor for Business Transformation Group of Cisco Systems.