Distraction-Proof® Advisor Ideas

I keep seeing posts about surprising and delighting clients. Here’s what I think about that.
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As an advisor, you’re slammed. I’ve been an advisor myself; I get what you do. And I know from talking with advisors constantly, you are slammed. You have new compliance stuff to be thinking about. You’ve got Reg BI introductions to be thinking about. You’ve got a whole bunch of stuff going on! The thought of having to continually be on this hamster wheel of surprising and delighting your clients at every opportunity, I think, fatigues advisors and can almost have you feeling like you’re just not doing your job thoroughly.

Today, surprising and delighting your clients can be a pretty low bar to master. It can be as simple as doing what you told them you’d do. I know when somebody tells me they’re going to follow up with a piece of literature or they’re going to send me particular details that we’ve just discussed, and I have it either by email the following day (or even at the end of the day we spoke), or I have it in hard mail within 48 hours, I’m impressed! You followed through on what you said you were going to do, and, unfortunately, many people don’t. But, fortunately for you, all you have to do is follow through on what you’ve told people you’re going to do.

Then, of course, we want to service our clients well and go a little bit beyond at certain times. We do want to share important, memorable occasions with them, like 25-year or 50-year wedding anniversaries, or the birth of a new child. Occasions like that, yes, you do want to highlight, and you can send them a card. Handwrite a personalized note. Don’t just pass around a card through the office, with everybody adding their signature; that doesn’t mean too much these days. Personalize a note. Take five minutes to do that. Or in the case of a 25-year or 50-year wedding anniversary, send out a couple of movie tickets and a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant (which you’ve ascertained as you’re getting to know them as clients).

Yes, highlight those special things. But I see articles that are making advisors feel like for every client review, they’ve practically got to put on a Cirque-du-Soleil event. And advisors are saying, “Is this really necessary?” And I’m saying, “No—just do what you’ve told people you’ll do. And, occasionally, follow it up with an article of interest relative to them and their lifestyle—not market-related, but relative to a hobby they might have.”

So to most effectively surprise and delight your clients,

1. Follow up. Also, occasionally send them an article that’s relevant to their life, their hobbies, and other interests they have. Sometimes let them know you’ll put something in the mail, but other times just send it to them and have them surprised and delighted by that.


2. Systematize these contacts. Put notes in your CRM system about when you’ve sent out a particular article. Make sure you have it notated when there’s a milestone anniversary coming up, when there’s going to be a new child born, and then follow through.


3. Don’t panic and don’t go overboard. Don’t think that by not providing some exorbitant exhibition of how much you supposedly love your clients that they’re going to get bored with you.

Just do what you’ve told them you’re going to do. Occasionally, go a little bit beyond that, and you’ll see, like I experienced with my clients, they’ll come into your office with a file full of these little notes and cards to let you see they really appreciate your showing them that they’re staying top of mind and, most importantly, top of heart for you.

I look forward to bringing you another Distraction-Proof Advisor Idea next week.