Actionable Tip of the Week

Last week we touched on the importance of branding and the impressions we make on our clients either intentionally or unintentionally. An issue closely tied to this, and a question we often get asked, is whether or not to forward calls from clients directly to the advisor or to take a message and to return the call later. There is a full spectrum of options and consequences that should be considered.

1) Action: The advisor answers his or her own phone.
My Conclusion: As an outsider looking in I would come to the conclusion that my advisor has way too much time on his/her hands and probably can’t afford to hire an assistant. Furthermore, if they subsequently were free to talk to me for an extended period of time I would be thinking it was unfortunate that they did not have more clients and perhaps even wonder how much longer they were going to be in business. In this day and age a well thought out voice message with a promise to return their call within a reasonable period of time would be a better option than answering your own phone.

2) Action: The assistant always puts me through to my advisor.
My Conclusion: When I call I will appreciate the fact that they think I am important. But it seems a bit odd that the assistant only occasionally asks who is calling and often I am aware that I am interrupting a meeting. When I am the client in the meeting and someone else calls I find it quite rude and disorganized that calls are coming in to my advisor when his/her full attention should be on me. I start to think of them as well meaning but poorly structured and I begin to wonder if he/she really does know as much as I thought he/she did regarding financial advice.

3) Action: The assistant always asks who is calling and, as an A client, I am immediately put through to my advisor.
My Conclusion: In this case I know how important I am, or how important I think I am, but it still concerns me that I am occasionally interrupting other clients’ meetings or conversely my meetings are being interrupted by other clients. Ultimately, I will still be put off by my advisor’s lack of organization and be left wondering about his/her financial acumen.

4) Action: The assistant courteously asks who is calling and explains to me that my advisor is busy at the moment. The assistant then asks me if there is anything they can do to assist with the issue I may be having. (I may have called to book an appointment, change an address, perhaps discuss my investments or even to invite the advisor to a golf game.)
Many of these issues can be attended to by the assistant. If it requires the advisor’s attention the client can be politely informed that the advisor is currently busy but will return the client’s call within a reasonable period of time. Perhaps the assistant even tells them approximately when that will be and confirms that the client will be available to take the call. If not, the assistant sets a time when both will be available to give the issue their full attention.
My Conclusion: I get the same response whenever I call and I actually look forward to the friendly approach that the assistant provides me. I also learn to respect my advisor for the time that I get to spend with him/her and for the excellent advice that he/she provides. I know that any of my friends and associates would be thrilled to work with my advisor and if I referred them it would reflect well on me.

This is not complicated to implement. You need to review your current process and whatever it is ask yourself the same question: What conclusion will my clients draw from my actions? Explain the importance of a consistent, congruent approach to your assistant(s) and be sure that the entire team understands what action they are to take on all inbound calls.

The person answering the phone should have access to the CRM and be recording all pertinent information of the call in the client’s history. The advisor can refer to it later and make a judgment on whether or not they should do any additional follow-up.

If everyone on your team does not have access to your CRM solution it is important to remedy that immediately. A group calendar is essential for your business to run like a Swiss watch. Call us for a demo of The Pareto Platform powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM; we will show you how simple this can be.

The advisor is making the first move towards making his or her clients aware that they are not trying to be all things to all people but rather they are trying to be all things to some people—those people that matter. We will expand on this next week.

“I couldn’t run my business without the Pareto Platform. It ensures I deliver what I promise to my clients and has been invaluable in holding myself and my staff accountable.” -Tom from Cincinnati

“Let us know when you are ready for your ideal life.”

To arrange a demo, call 1-877-677-4585.

Continued success,
Duncan

By David Miller

One of the key principles to creating long term relationships based on trust is consistency. Consistency is the fundamental principle in branding. And if you don’t brand yourself by creating consistent processes for every aspect of your business your clients will come to their own conclusions and create a brand for you. Usually this isn’t what you want. For example:

“My advisor seems a bit disorganized about how he runs his business….I wonder if he really knows what he is doing regarding financial planning. Perhaps I should be working with another advisor as well just to be sure the advice I am getting is solid.”

To be consistent you have to attend to details. No matter how small and irrelevant it may seem, it all counts. One of the first places to start, for any business, is how the phone is answered and how calls are handled. Here are some questions to ask that will help you create consistency in how your phone is answered and will start to brand you in the way you want to be branded.

1. Is the phone answered the same way regardless of who picks it up?
2. Does my staff handle the clients’ requests in a similar and consistent manner?
3. Do they put all calls through to me if I am available? And if they do is that sending a message of being organized, structured and scarce? (scarcity is a subject we will touch on in coming weeks)
4. Are they always courteous and respectful or does their mood dictate their tone and helpfulness?
5. Is the over all impression one of professionalism, organization and helpfulness?

Next time we will expand on consistency and provide you with another actionable step you can take that will create long term relationships based on trust.

If you are having trouble being consistent one of the first things to consider is your CRM solution. Most are inadequate and not customized for an advisor’s business.

This would be a great time to call us and arrange a demo of our solution - The Pareto Platform powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

“I couldn’t run my business without the Pareto Platform. It ensures I deliver what I promise to my clients and has been invaluable in holding myself and my staff accountable.” -Tom from Cincinnati