Admit it: for nearly
6 ½ years, the livin’s been easy for broker dealers, RIAs, advisors, and
financial reps. For market analysts,
media pundits and financial editors and producers it’s been downright
boring. So what if there’s an overdue
realignment happening in China, several geo-political flare-ups, an oil glut, and
one of the longest-running bull markets in history.
For long-term, goal-driven, risk-aware, and disciplined
investors, it is ALL noise. Really. Are your clients in risk-appropriate,
well-diversified portfolios with clear and comfortable time horizons? If not, you’ve been sleeping on the job and
all the hoopla about the DOL Fiduciary Standard was probably written with you
in mind.
For the vast majority of financial professionals, it’s
time to earn that fee. In case you’ve
forgotten or in case you entered this profession in the past five years, here
is a three-step strategy for building or reinforcing your most-important client
relationships.
- Reach out to your clients today…A, B, and C in that order…and advise them to turn off CNBC, disregard the market-related articles in their daily newspaper, and listen to music rather than talk radio in the car. A’s and B’s mainly by phone (leave detailed voicemails) AND email. C’s by email only.
- Remind clients that markets go through cycles and that fear, uncertainly, greed, and bad news sell airtime, print media, and professional services under the guise of help and hope. Counsel them to expect more than the usual doom-saying across most--even authoritative-- media, for a while.
- That unless their goals, risk-tolerance, or time horizon have changed, they are well-advised to stick with their current investment strategy and discipline.
As in all crisis communications, tell it early, tell it all, and
tell it yourself.
That’s all for now, there’s work to do.
I am a seasoned, globally-experienced financial industry executive (and gourmet food entrepreneur) who counsels broker-dealers, firms and advisors on asset growth and retention strategies and relationship management. You can find me on LinkedIn and @neilwernick. Email neil@rifkinwernick.com.
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| Neil Wernick |
